Home Blog Page 5099

While Indian Government maintains a strong stance against Rohingyas, ‘Rohingya Football Club’ comes up in Hyderabad and elsewhere

OpIndia Staff
-
0
While Indian Government maintains a strong stance against Rohingyas, ‘Rohingya Football Club’ comes up in Hyderabad and elsewhere

Rohingyas have been deemed to be a national security threat and their illegal immigration into India is cause for immense concern and yet, they appear to have formed a football team of their own and have participated in local football tournaments. It appears that football is the medium through which the illegal immigrants are being normalised in the country.

Rohingya FC the team is called and the team has participated in numerous football tournaments in the past. No attempt is made to even hide the fact that football is used to whitewash their illegal immigration into India. Ali Johar, a Rohingya ‘youth leader’ from Delhi, said, “Rohingya refugees are often seen through a particular ideological lens. There is a lot of misinformation and stereotypes about our community. Football has given us positive exposure and enabled us to tell the world that we are just like them. We are normal human beings. We have also got the chance to make many new Indian friends. Football has paved the way for constructive change, but sustaining the momentum is proving to be a challenge.”

In 2018, Rohingyas also participated in a football tournament organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees (UNHCR). Among the 16 teams participating in the tournament organised at the Quli Qutub Shah Stadium in Ghansi Bazar, Hyderabad, three teams were from the Rohingya camps from Jalpally, Kishanbagh and Balapur refugee camps. “We are not playing for the sake of it. We want Rohingyas to be seen in a good light,” said Abdullah, a 24-year old player of the Rohingya Football Club (Balapur).

The three teams are called Rohingya Football Academy, Rohingya Football Club Kishanbagh and Rohingya Football Club Hyderabad. General Manager of Save the Children, one of the organisers of the event, said, “The objective is to increase visibility for refugees here. When we say refugees, we are mainly talking about Rohingya refugees, since in this region they constitute the majority of all refugees. Several of their children are unable to complete their education because of Aadhaar mandates.”

Rohingya FC came up sometime in Balapur, Hyderabad in 2016. Two years later, president of the Telangana Football Association (TFA) even said that the Rohingyas were welcome to seek their help in improving their game. “As long as they are here, they are welcome to play (with us). They can also come and practise with our players. We’ll also look into whether a coach can be appointed for them,” Mohammed Ali Zafar said.

Some of these players did not move from Myanmar to India but from Bangladesh, which makes them economic migrants, and they have no hesitation themselves in admitting that they moved from Bangladesh. “We left home in a boat and managed to reach Bangladesh after much difficulty. People known to us were living in India and we decided to come here. My parents, however, were too grief-stricken to undertake another journey. They decided to stay put in Bangladesh itself,” one of them said.

Several ‘human rights organisation’ have also come up to support the Rohingyas in India. One of them is the Rohingya Human Rights Initiative (ROHRIngya). It describes itself as “a local non-governmental, non-profit organization formed by young Rohingya activists in New Delhi, India.” It states, “We have committed to work with vision, passion, solidarity, hope, unity and perseverance. Our mission is to selflessly promote Human Rights of all human beings, especially people from Rohingya community and other disadvantaged minorities residing in India, Bangladesh and Myanmar.”

They further claim that they “are implementing all our projects, advocacy activities and interpretation services in accordance with the rules of law of India”. It does appear that the Rohingyas have been participating in football matches even earlier than 2016. There is at least one report from 2014 that speaks of a football match involving Rohingyas. Such teams have also come up in Delhi. One Indian Express report from 2017 says that Rohingyas used to gather under a tent in Shaheen Bagh for ‘football nights’.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has continued to maintain a strong stance against Rohingyas. Not too long ago, it was reported that 1300 Rohingyas had fled to Bangladesh from India fearing deportation to Myanmar. Rohingyas have also been regularly apprehended by local law enforcement. Union Ministers have also said that they pose a security threat to the country.

In October last year, Seven Rohingya Muslims who were lodged in jail since 2012 for illegally entering India were sent to Myanmar border for deportation. The government has also decided to deport 23 more Rohingyas, who have been staying at various detention camps in Assam after they were caught staying illegally in the state. Thus, at a time when the government has made its stance on Rohingyas clear, that illegal immigrants posing a serious threat to the country are being normalised through football is indeed a cause for grave concern.

Facebook’s India policy head is TMC MLA’s Bahu, party acknowledges link, says she had met Mamata with her father-in-law: Reports

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Facebook’s India policy head is TMC MLA’s Bahu, party acknowledges link, says she had met Mamata with her father-in-law: Reports

While the opposition and the left-liberal jamaat have hopped on the bandwagon to claim that Ankhi Das, the Public Policy Director in Facebook for India, and South & Central Asia, is a “BJP stooge’, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC members have admitted that Das has links with the party.

On Wednesday, in the Parliamentary Standing Committee meeting, the Trinamool members accepted that Das had met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee along with her father-in-law.

The admission of the TMC members came on the heels of Congress MPs’ allegations that Ankhi Das favoured BJP. When the Congress MPs reportedly alleged that Das had suggested that Facebook should not act against BJP’s Telangana MLA T Raja Singh in a hate-speech issue, the BJP members countered saying: “she is the daughter-in-law of a Trinamool lawmaker from West Bengal”. This is when Trinamool members in the panel accepted that Das has met West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee along with her father-in-law.

TMC has accused Facebook of bias too

Until now, interestingly, the Trinamool Congress was also a part of the bandwagon which accused Facebook of bias towards PM Modi and BJP. In a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, West Bengal’s ruling party, the Trinamool Congress, said the company’s recent blocking of pages and accounts in the state pointed to the links it had with the BJP.

Ankhi Das’ father-in-law an erstwhile minister in the Govt of WB

It is no secret that Ankhi Das’ father-in-law is a senior Trinamool Congress member. Rabiranjan Chattopadhyay is the erstwhile minister for the departments of Technical Education and Training, Science and Technology and Biotechnology in the Government of West Bengal. He is also an MLA, elected from the Bardhaman Dakshin constituency on a TMC ticket.

The ‘political allegiance’ of Ankhi Das with TMC

In fact, CPI(M) had also tweeted last month that Ankhi Das was in charge of handling media affairs of Mamata Banerjee led TMC during the 2011 assembly elections and was an integral part of the election war room in Bardhaman from where her father-in-law contested. CPI(M) also alleged that AnkhiDas played a significant role during 2016 assembly elections in WB in advising TMC in their social media endeavour. 

Ankhi Das’ links with TMC and AAP

Moreover, Ankhi Das’s old Facebook posts also suggest that she has been in awe of the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. In her post in December 2013, Ankhi Das had expressed open admiration for Mamata Banerjee’s political campaign of ‘poribortan (transformation)’.

In March Prior to the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, she had organised a ‘Facebook Talkslive’ with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at Kolkata Town Hall. The event was also graced by ‘journalist’ Madhu Trehan who runs the left-propaganda website, News Laundry.

Ankhi Das has also been found praising AAP for its campaigns on several occasions.

Many opposition leaders have been harping on the issue that Ankhi’s twin sister is a member of ABVP, the student wing affiliated to RSS. But Ankhi’s own political leanings and links do not seem to have garnered enough interests to allege ‘bias’ for them.

Mob raised ‘Allahu-Akbar’ and ‘Nara-e-Taqbeer’ slogans, Naveen’s home was attacked with petrol bombs: Fact finding report on Bengaluru Riots

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Mob raised ‘Allahu-Akbar’ and ‘Nara-e-Taqbeer’ slogans, Naveen’s home was attacked with petrol bombs: Fact finding report on Bengaluru Riots

A fact-finding committee on the Bengaluru Riots formed by Citizens for Democracy, consisting of retired judges, journalists, and bureaucrats, has said in its report that the riots were pre-planned and organised and specifically targeted certain Hindus in the area. It has also said that the rioting bore stark resemblance to the violence witnessed in Delhi earlier this year and in Sweden more recently. The Committee was headed by retired district judge Srikanth Babaladi.

The fact-finding committee also discovered that the local populace was actively involved in the execution of the riots and also had prior knowledge about it. The report added, “Despite attempts being made to project the same as political rivalry, it was undoubtedly communally motivated. The Committee is of the opinion that based on the kind of houses that have been attacked and people who have been targeted, the motive of the riots could also be fear mongering so as to change the demography and turn the area into a Muslim majority one.”

The Committee also said that SDPI and PFI were involved in the planning and execution of the incident. The report also mentions that the mob attacked the house of Naveen, the primary target of the mob’s wrath. It states, “Another group of rioters attacked the house of Naveen, much in the same manner as they attacked Srinivas Murthy’s house. As there was no security at Naveen’s residence, the rioters managed to break into the house and run amok while members of Naveen’s family had to quickly take shelter in their neighbour’s house. They used petrol bombs, stones, metal rods to destroy the house. Rioters used kerosene, petrol and other inflammable chemicals to set the house on fire.”

Naveen’s father, Pavan Kumar, told the Committee, “Upon personally witnessing the attack on the house me and my wife with my daughter and her children were scared for life and moved to the first floor and from there through a back door jumped into the neighboring house and got a shelter”. He stated further, “The unruly crowd gathering in front of the house threw petrol bombs on the house, poured kerosene in the house on sofa and furniture, and torched the house to burn. At the time of attack they have destroyed most of the furniture, electronic items and important documents. They have looted cash of around 5 lakhs, watches, gold chains belonging to me and around 15 lakhs of rupees of cash and jewels of my wife. One of the Muslim women from the neighboring house come to the rescue of my wife and helped her escape”.

Arun Gowda, an active member of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike who was with his 8-month pregnant wife at the time, told the Committee that his house was attacked and vandalised by Muslim youth of the same locality. Apart from attacks on the homes of Hindus, two police stations were damaged. KG Halli PS was partially damaged while DJ Halli PS was severely damaged. The report also noted that the mob was raising ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ and ‘Nara-e-Taqbeer’ slogans.

Based on its findings, the report said, “The pattern of the riots is common with that of Delhi and Sweden. Therefore, it is imperative for the state to investigate the incident holistically and not consider them to be isolated and local.” It also recommended, “Potential areas that might face such communal tensions must be identified by the Police in advance and short-term and long-term plans must be made to curb such tensions.”

The report recommends, “With the abolition of Section 66A of Information Technology Act, 2000, a mechanism has to be evolved to prevent and prosecute derogatory, abusive and hate content targeting any religion, race, class, organisation or sect of people.” It further recommends that investigations must be carried out to determine how the mob was able to procure weapons and petrol bombs at such a short notice.

Apart from monitoring the activities of PFI and SDPI, the Committee also said that the Karnataka Government must constitute a committee to study the source of religious extremism in the state. It was also of the opinion that demographic changes in major cities in the state should be studied and the role of illegal immigrants should be investigated in the rioting.

The Bengaluru Riots

A Muslim mob went on a rampage and unleashed extreme violence in Bengaluru on the 11th of August over a Facebook post that was allegedly derogatory to Prophet Mohammad. Subsequently, FIRs have been filed which names five individuals who are said to have led a mob of 200-300 on that particular day.

Three people were killed and 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.

Nepal: Devotees celebrating Rato Machhindranath yatra clash with police, say Communist govt wants to stop the over 1000-year-old tradition

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Nepal: Devotees celebrating Rato Machhindranath yatra clash with police, say Communist govt wants to stop the over 1000-year-old tradition

Thousands of protesters in Nepal locked horns with the police after the law enforcement officials used tear gas and water cannons to break up a religious rally carried out in defiance of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Nepal government had placed a ban on large gatherings to stem the inexorable spread of the Chinese coronavirus within the country. However, more than 2,000 people on Thursday took to one of the busiest thoroughfares of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, to haul a chariot of the rain God, Rato Machhindranath, a tradition practised for aeons.

Police officials donning riot gear were determined to stop the people from following the centuries-old ritual. Intending to disperse the congregation, the police came down brutally against the people, hurling water cannons and using tear gases against them, who in turn responded by pelting stones at the police force.

Devotees claim communist government in Nepal interfering in their religious and cultural practices

The violent confrontation between the people and the police force continued for hours, rippling through the other areas of the city, which too witnessed widespread violence and rioting after the Nepal police displayed unusual brutality against the people gathered to carry out the age-old tradition.

The adherents claimed that they should be allowed to follow the tradition that has lasted for more than 1000 years. They have objected to the government-imposed curbs, claiming that they are deliberate attempts by the communist government of Nepal to interfere in their religious practices and festivals.

The Communist government of Nepal had banned outdoor celebrations of festivals and large religious gatherings since the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, in a bid to stop the relentless march of the contagion. Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and surrounding districts have experienced a severe lockdown since last month that forbids people from leaving their residences.

Nepal went into the lockdown in March which was gradually lifted in July. However, the caseloads of coronavirus kept on spiking, prompting the government to impose prohibitory orders in areas witnessing the rise in the cases. Nepal has registered approximately 43,000 cases till date and 257 fatalities.

A 1,350-years-old tradition of pulling Rato Machindranth’s chariot

The tradition involving Rato Machindranath—a deity whose idol is created from clay and covered in red paint with eyes wide open—is pulled around the city for a month with the conviction that will please the gods, who in return will provide a generous rainfall, a bountiful harvest and prosperity.

‘This time, jail experience was horrible’: How Rajdeep tried to paint accused Dr Kafeel Khan as an innocent victim

OpIndia Staff
-
0
‘This time, jail experience was horrible’: How Rajdeep tried to paint accused Dr Kafeel Khan as an innocent victim

As soon as the Gorakhpur children’s death case accused Dr Kafeel Khan came out of the Mathura jail after a bail order of the Allahabad High Court, the liberal media have already begun their favourite exercise of whitewashing and victimising him. Controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai seems to be on a spree of interviewing the persons accused in different cases. After conducting a farcical interview of Rhea Chakraborty, the prime accused in the Sushant Singh Rajput murder case, Sardesai has now interviewed Dr Kafeel who was arrested in Mumbai for allegedly making a provocative speech in anti-CAA protests in the AMU.

Empathising with Dr Kafeel, Sardesai asked him about how he felt after coming out of the jail. A grinning Dr Kafeel, who is apparently overwhelmed on being interviewed by Sardesai, described his period in jail as a traumatising experience. He claimed that he was denied food for days in jail, and was subjected to physical and mental trauma. “Rajdeep Sir, this time in jail they harassed my like anything”, Dr Kafeel claimed. “The STF interrogated me for three days and asked me weird questions”, he added.

Maintaining his stand on the CAA, Khan said that he did not oppose the CAA per se but he had a problem when it is clubbed with the NRP and the NRC. Flaunting his legal knowledge a bit, just like how Sardesai does often, Khan said Article 21 of the Constitution grants him freedom of speech (it expressly conferred by Article 19) and the same was recognised by the Supreme Court.

What He said in his Anti-CAA Speech

Khan had made some inflammatory remarks in his speech delivered during the anti-CAA protests in Aligarh Muslim University. He had allegedly remarked against Home Minister Amit Shah that he was a murderer whose clothes are foul with blood. He had also said that the CAA made Muslims second class citizens. He alleged that the students in the RSS run schools are taught that people with beard are terrorists and that with the CAA the government has told us that India was not our country. Khan had urged people to fight for their existence.

Congress troll accuses Kangana Ranaut of being a BJP stooge, Kangana says she declined BJP ticket twice

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress troll accuses Kangana Ranaut of being a BJP stooge, Kangana says she declined BJP ticket twice

A day after Kangana Ranaut slammed Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for ‘openly threatening’ her not to come to Mumbai, several Congress trolls have hit out at the actress. Ranaut had said that Mumbai seemed like ‘Pakistan occupied Kashmir’, implying the veiled threat by a leader from the ruling party in the state.

On Friday, a well known Congress troll, Sanjukta Basu, came to Raut’s rescue by labelling the actress as a ‘BJP stooge’. She tweeted, “People asking why right-wing is not outraging against Kangana Ranaut’s Mumbai like PoK comment but outraged against Aamir Khan. Isn’t it simple? Aamir’s comment was a criticism of Hindutva violence against minorities. Kangana is playing BJP stooge attacking Maharashtra govt.”

Slamming the Congress troll for her insidious remarks, Kangana Ranaut informed that she had rejected election ticket from the BJP on two occasions. The accomplished actress wrote, “BJP stooge ha ha , I have denied BJP ticket twice, I am Kangana Ranaut…My popularity and yearly income (are) far more than many successful Ministers and politicians…Why not sometimes use your intellect, Madam intellectual?”

Kangana Ranaut compares Mumbai to POK

Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, in an article in Sena mouthpiece Saamana, had asked actress Kangana Ranaut to not to travel back to Mumbai after she had expressed fear stating that that the city police force was more threatening to her than the ‘movie mafia’. Responding to his remarks, she had tweeted, “Sanjay Raut Shiv Sena leader has given me an open threat and asked me not to come back to Mumbai after Aazadi graffitis in Mumbai streets and now open threats, why Mumbai is feeling like Pakistan occupied Kashmir?”

Kangana Ranaut’s statements against Mumbai Police had come in the backdrop of a recent controversy after Commissioner of Mumbai Police Param Bir Singh had ‘liked’ a tweet which had asked for public shaming of the actress.

Chinese multinational company that owns PUBG loses billions, sees second-largest valuation dip this year after India bans app

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Chinese multinational company that owns PUBG loses billions, sees second-largest valuation dip this year after India bans app

China’s gaming and social media giant Tencent’s shares crashed by more than 2 per cent on Thursday after India banned its popular gaming app PUBG along with 117 other mobile apps, claiming they were prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country and posed a threat to the defence, security and public order of India. The market value of this drop is estimated to be around USD 14 Billion in just a day.

Tencent becomes one of the biggest losers alongside banned TikTok app owner ByteDance

With Wednesday’s ban, Tencent became one of the biggest losers alongside China’s ByteDance, whose flagship product TikTok met a similar fate earlier. The Internet powerhouse- Tencent has more than 25 apps, which it owns directly or through affiliates, banned in India. This includes the chat platform WeChat and apps like QQ Newsfeed.

Tencent also has investments in the news and entertainment platform Newsdog, camera app YouCam and e-commerce platform Shein. All of these apps are now banned in India.

PUBG was one of the most popular gaming apps. India alone contributed almost 175 million installs to date, which is almost 24 per cent of its total installs worldwide. PUBG had over 50 million active users in India.

It is notable here that though the popular game PUBG was created by a South Korean company, its mobile version is owned by China’s Tencent.

As per reports, it is Tencent’s second-biggest valuation dip this year. The latest report has suggested that the total losses in market value may be near 34 Billion USD, and shares may have tumbled by 3%.

America lauds India’s bold move to ban 118 Chinese apps, asks all “freedom-loving nations” to join in

The USA has supported India’s move to ban 118 Chinese apps. In a Tweet, the US State Department quoted Under Secretary Keith Krach had lauded India’s move and urged “all freedom-loving nations and companies to join the ‘Clean Network’ drive.

China perturbed by another big jolt by India

Meanwhile, China, perturbed by India’s move, responded on Thursday by saying that India’s decision to ban 118 Chinese Apps is not beneficial to the Indian users nor to China’s businesses and claimed it violated (World Trade Organisation) WTO rules. The Chinese spokesperson Hua Chunying, raising concerns over the ban also noted that the US State Department on the same day cited New Delhi’s ban and called on other countries to join India to join the Clean Network programme. “I wonder if there’s connection or coordination between India and the US on this issue,” she claimed.

India bans 118 ‘malicious’ Chinese apps including Tencent owned PUBG

Invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India decided to block 118 mobile apps, on September 2.

This bold move by the Indian government came amidst the heightened tensions along the Line of Actual Control after the Chinese troops were found surreptitiously intruding into Indian territory in the southern bank of Pangong Tso lake on the intervening night of August 29 and 30. The Indian Army had outfoxed the Chinese manoeuvres and repelled the Chinese incursion.

Prior to this, the Indian government had banned 59 apps, mostly Chinese, including popular mobile apps such as TikTok, UC Browser and WeChat, citing similar reasons.

Reporter saying ‘F**king M***rch*d’ goes viral, Republic TV clarifies: Details

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Reporter saying ‘F**king M***rch*d’ goes viral, Republic TV clarifies: Details

A clip has gone viral on the internet earlier today in which a reporter was heard uttering derogatory words while reporting news on Republic TV.

Various social media users took to the internet to share the video accusing Republic TV reporters of using disparaging words on live tv. In the video that has gone viral now, it was seen that a reporter, allegedly working with Republic TV had uttered ‘F**k Ma**rch*d’ as one of their car chased officials from the Narcotics Bureau, who had carried out raids actress Rhea Chakraborty’s residence in Mumbai.

Netizens posted the live feed of Republic TV video to allege that it was one of Republic TV’s reporters who had used such words.

Republic TV clarifies

Following the social media outrage over such vulgar words being said on live tv, the Republic TV issued a clarification regarding the same and distanced itself from the controversy saying that the reporter who used such words did not belong to their organization. The Republic TV said that the one reporter, who did not belong to their organization, had taken a lift in one of the cars belonged to them.

In their statement, Republic TV asked social media users not to wrongly ascribe the incident to the Republic TV.

BJP worker dies while in police custody: Here is what BJP alleges, what the family wants and how the police defending itself

OpIndia Staff
-
0
BJP worker dies while in police custody: Here is what BJP alleges, what the family wants and how the police defending itself

The State of West Bengal is witnessing a political furore after a 24-year-old BJP worker named Anupkumar Roy reportedly died in police custody in Raiganj. He was a driver by profession and a resident of Nandangram in Itahar in Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal.

On August 28, miscreants robbed two businessmen of around a lac rupees on National Highway-34 at Ghughudanga in Raiganj in West Bengal. The police had initially arrested four people in connection to the incident. However, on Wednesday afternoon, Anup Kumar Roy was brought to the Raignaj police station for interrogation. According to the police officials, the BJP worker had fallen ill during his time at the police station. He was then rushed to the Raiganj Medical College and Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Sumit Kumar, the district Superintendent of Raiganj police said, “Anup fainted during interrogation at the police station. He was then taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead. We had conducted the post-mortem of the deceased’s body in accordance with the law. The preliminary report has suggested that he had died of a brain haemorrhage.”

BJP accuses the police of working in cahoots with the TMC, conducting illegal autopsy

BJP President (Uttar Dinajpur) Biswajit Lahiri said, “Trinamool Congress and the police are working in tandem to attack BJP leaders, workers, and supporters. Earlier, TMC miscreants had murdered BJP MLA Debendranath Roy in Hemtabad and the sister of the BJP booth President in Chopragaj. This time, Anup was forcibly taken to the police station over a false case and was murdered by the police.” Lahiri had demanded a CBI investigation into the case.

According to the BJP General Secretary Basudeb Sarkar, the police had conducted the autopsy in haste by illegally taking out the body from the morgue. He accused the police of coercing the family members of Anup to sign on the papers that stated their ‘consent’ before the post-mortem. “Until the autopsy is conducted again, we will not allow his body to be taken out from the morgue,” he cautioned.

While speaking to reporters, state BJP President Dilip Ghosh said, “A BJP worker, who had joined the party 8 months ago after leaving CPIM, was pulled up from his house in Itahar by the police. He was then assaulted severely so much so that his kidney got destroyed. He was then taken to another place and was shot 5 times. His family members were not informed. The civic police picked up his body, conducted post-mortem at night, and then informed the family to take away the body. All of this is illegal. Why was he taken to the police station? Why was he assaulted by the cops? And most importantly, why were bullets fired at him?”

(Video Courtesy: News 18 Bangla)

Besides, the official handle of BJP Bengal wrote, “Cold-blooded murder of BJP worker Anup Kumar Roy in POLICE CUSTODY in Raiganj. Postmortem (is) done hurriedly at night within 3 hours of death. Why the rush? Re-post-mortem and investigation a must. State administration is targeting BJP workers to stop BJP.”

The culprits must die, vows Anup’s mother

On Thursday night, Anup’s mother Geeta filed a complaint with the Assistant Sub-Inspector against five policemen for beating Anup to death. Speaking to Anandabazar Patrika, Anup’s brother displayed his support on the accusations made by the BJP against the Raiganj police.

Speaking to ABP Ananda, the helpless mother of the BJP worker asked, “Why did police do this to my son? If he had done anything wrong, then, he should have been jailed? Why did they murder my son? Call the cops. I will ask them directly. They have left my heart empty. I curse them to reach the same fate as me.”

(Video Courtesy: News 18 Bangla)

Desperate for justice, an emotional Geeta vowed, “The culprits must die. If they killed my son, then, I will avenge it. I want to see them dead.” She had also demanded a free and fair investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation. While the BJP has launched a protest seeking for justice, the Trinamool Congress has accused the party of using his unnatural death to gain political mileage.

OpIndia Vs Facebook: Reducing page reach from 20 lakhs to 2 lakhs, taking months to respond to emails

OpIndia Staff
-
0
OpIndia Vs Facebook: Reducing page reach from 20 lakhs to 2 lakhs, taking months to respond to emails

There has been a heated controversy regarding Facebook, of late. A lot has transpired in the last few days including the Facebook India chief appearing before a Parliamentary Committee and the Law Minister writing a letter with illustrations to the Facebook CEO. OpIndia also has its own experience to share on this issue, for we have been facing issues on the platform too.

Several questions have been raised regarding Facebook allegedly blocking the right-leaning pages and accounts. Obviously our own experiences of challenging the established Left ecosystem and treading off the beaten path have not been very good. Ever since we launched OpIndia Hindi, it has been catching people’s eye. We have constantly been at the target of the Communists ever since. But we faced the real persecution on the digital platform after Facebook launched latent attacks to stop us.

On many occasions, our Facebook reach was maliciously reduced down to 10 per cent from the usual. We were targeted for reporting the content that was already covered by various other media portals. This has now become routine. When we seek answers through mails, they take 40-50 days to respond. Various malicious tactics were employed to somehow reduce the reach of our Facebook page. The instant article service on our page was stopped. A direct impact of these tactics could be seen on the traffic on our page.

Let us clarify that the instant article service is the biggest demand of any digital media portal. This service allows readers to read an article on a website without wasting time and this also brings significant traffic to the website. To sum up, the instant article service benefits both the readers and the digital media. Many a time, OpIndia was prevented from reaching out to readers for frivolous reasons.

By July 13, 2020, the reach of OpIndia’s page stood at 20 lakh per day. However, we noticed that the traffic on our page began to fall again. From 20 lakh per day, the traffic fell to 1,71,000 per day. By this time, we were aware that Facebook has limited the reach of our posts. We tried to take this up with Facebook once again after which they said that they would check the quality of our page. On the contrary, it was clearly displayed on the page quality tab that this page was on the verge of being unpublished. A page is unpublished or taken down when there are at least three strikes on the quality page tab of Facebook, a ‘strike’ means facebook guidelines have been violated.

OpIndia has not actually violated any Facebook policies even once let alone three times. The one strike our page got was because of a report that we did on the tweet of Times of India journalist. A ‘dubious’ fact-checker website termed it as ‘fake news’ which was a bit strange. Even if that is taken to be a strike, how come our page came on the verge of being unpublished? And how does that explain the reduction in the reach from 20 lakh to 2 lakh?

What was more shocking to us what that this happened despite the fact that we had not violated any community guidelines on Facebook? Now the matter is around a month and a half old, but all we get in the name of response to our mail are the assurances that we would be informed of the updates, if any, in the matter. Neither have we been provided with any appropriate information nor has the reach of our Facebook page improved.

The first mail, in this regard, was written to Facebook on July 29. But instead of a satisfactory answer, we received the cliché ‘we are looking into it’. Now imagine how adversely the traffic on our website would have been affected in the meantime. Earlier, on September 25, 2019, our page was restricted for allegedly violating the community guidelines. On November 28, 2019, we demanded information from Facebook in relation to some of our posts that had allegedly violated the community guidelines.

After sending 22 emails (yes, 22 Emails), most of which were to remind that our previous mails were not addressed, they sent us some of our posts from December 2019 and told us that our page did not follow the image policy.

Isn’t that shocking? They showed us posts from December 2019 to explain why the instant article service on our page was suspended from November 2019. Anyway, this is hasn’t happened for the first time. We have been receiving such stupid replies from Facebook all the time. We have been noticing that the same images, the same stories are being openly covered by other media portals but they are not being countered in the same way.

For instance, a minor Dalit girl was gang-raped in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh on September 22, 2019. We did a report on the incident using a blurred image of the victim and the name of the accused in the headline. This report was taken down by Facebook without providing any reason. When we asked for an explanation, they pointed at the image we had used. Besides, we were told that AI decides which content violated the Facebook guidelines. Interestingly, the same report with the same image remained available on another website. If it was about the algorithm, a similar action should have followed on the other website as well.

This instance makes it clear that OpIndia was being targeted by some Facebook employees and not by AI. On many occasions, we have been asked indirectly to refrain from using certain words, phrases and diluting the tone of the report. On the other hand, several instances have come up where people were blocked by Facebook for using words like ‘Jai Shri Ram’, Jai Aanjaneya’ or ‘pig’. OpIndia had done a report back then on these issues. The report contained the posts of people whom Facebook had hidden.

The biggest problem with Facebook is not just that they do not handle this platform in a neutral manner but that even if someone tries to correct their ‘mistake’ as per Facebook standards, they don’t respond for months. As a consequence, a page suffers huge losses in terms of traffic and reach. The Facebook facility of redressal through mails exists in the name only. No actual redressal takes place there. They exhaust your patience by not responding to your mails in time and as a result, your website incurs losses for eight weeks straight. Thereafter, things begin to improve without any response.

This implies that Facebook gives veiled threats to use headlines as per their choice or else they will not just keep you waiting by not responding to your mails but will also reduce the reach of your page. Small portals give in to their bullying and refrain from reporting on a particular community. They even issue guidelines for their employees regarding the words not to be used.

Even today, we face the same problems using Facebook. OpIndia did not do any wrong and Facebook believes that too. Still, since July 13, 2020, we have incurred losses worth lakhs every week. But we haven’t been told so far when our issues will be resolved.

1...5,0985,0995,100...7,674Page 5,099 of 7,674