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New York Times columnist Bari Weiss resigns over bullying by far-left, says the media organisation is ‘caving in to the mob’

OpIndia Staff
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New York Times columnist Bari Weiss resigns over bullying by far-left, says the media organisation is ‘caving in to the mob’

Bari Weiss, an opinion writer for The New York Times, tendered her resignation on Monday, lambasting the organisation on her way out in a severely critical note describing in detail the reasons for leaving her job.

Relentlessly subjected to constant bullying by colleagues

In a blistering attack against the culture at the American news daily, Weiss claimed that the organisation is fostering an “illiberal environment” and accused her colleagues of subjecting her to constant bullying for having views at variance with them. She had also alleged that she was a victim of “unlawful discrimination” and her work and character were “openly demeaned” across the company’s internal communication channels.

“Some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly “inclusive” one, while others post axe emojis next to my name. Still, other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action,” Weiss wrote about the harassment she faced at the workplace.

Weiss also lamented that the organisation has caved in to the whims and fancies of the social media critics, claiming that “stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions”.

Twitter had become the ultimate editor of The New York Times

“Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor,” Weiss sharply noted in her resignation letter, adding that the company has betrayed its legacy as a “paper of record” and capitulated it to an agenda set by Twitter.

“The paper of record is, more and more, the record of those living in a distant galaxy, one whose concerns are profoundly removed from the lives of most people,” she said. “Nowadays, standing up for principle at the paper does not win plaudits. It puts a target on your back.”

Weiss, a centrist-liberal persistently challenged NYT’s left-leaning editorial line

In her brief 3-year-tenure as an opinion page editor and columnist at The New York Times, Weiss, 36, raised many hackles by persistently challenging the employer’s left-leaning editorial line, most notably at the peak of the #MeToo movement, during which she questioned the pervasive conventionality that women accusers should always be believed. Casting herself as a centrist-liberal, she wrote about anti-Semitism, Women’s March and lauded cultural appropriation.

Many journalists and intellectuals commented on the Weiss’ resignation, sharing concerns that the far-left ideology is ruling media spaces and anyone who doesn’t conform is being hounded.

“What rules that remain at The Times are applied with extreme selectivity. If a person’s ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinized. Everyone else lives in fear of digital Thunderdome. Online venom is excused so long as it is directed at the proper targets,” Weiss narrated about the deteriorating culture at The New York Times.

Trouble deepens for Kerala govt in gold smuggling case, call details reveal minister KT Jaleel was in touch with accused Swapna Suresh

OpIndia Staff
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Trouble deepens for Kerala govt in gold smuggling case, call details reveal minister KT Jaleel was in touch with accused Swapna Suresh

New details which have emerged in the high-profile Kerala gold smuggling case may deepen the trouble for Pinarayi Vijayan led CPI(M) government in Kerala. In another stunning revelation, the phone call records of Swapna Suresh reveal that the accused was in regular touch with the Higher Education minister KT Jaleel.

Close nexus between Pinarayi Vijayan-led government and Kerala smuggling case accused

According to the Call Detail Record (CDR), KT Jaleel had made several calls to Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the well structured smuggling racket, which is being probed by the NIA and Customs. The details revelead that the minister and Suresh exchanged several calls in the month of May and June. Jaleel’s two personal staff members were also in touch with Suresh.

According to the National Investigation Agency, Swapna Suresh and his accomplice Sarith Kumar, both former employee of the consular office, were actively involved in arranging the diplomatic papers for the delivery of the consignment. Swapna Suresh is currently working as the marketing liaison officer Space Park under the Kerala State IT Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) that comes directly under the IT department.

Swapna Suresh links with Vijayan’s principal secretary M Sivasankar had emerged

The alleged links of accused Swapna Suresh with Pinarayi Vijayan had also surfaced after it was reported that Vijayan’s principal secretary M Sivasankar was close to Swapna Suresh.

Now, the CDR has revealed that M Sivasankar was in touch with Sarith P S, the first accused in the high profile case. The two exchanged several calls, mostly lengthy ones, days before the matter came to light. Sivasankar too called both Suresh and Sarith.

Meanwhile KT Jaleel while speaking to the media, said that  he spoke to Suresh only about official matters as per the directive of the Consul-General. “I got a message from the Consul-General saying that Ramzan food kits are ready with them for distribution. He wanted me to get back if I was interested. Subsequently, I was asked to contact Suresh as per the direction from the Consul-General. The conversations were purely official,” he said, adding that he was not aware that Suresh was not a Consulate staffer any more.

However, the call details contradicted the minister’s statement as it revealed that the minister was in touch, and made several calls to the accused even after Ramzan.

Customs had earlier found that Suresh, Sarith and Sandeep Nair (another accused) frequently gathered at Sivasankar’s apartment in the state capital. The flat near the state secretariat was taken on rent by Sivasankar.

Last week, the Kerala government had removed M Sivasankar as the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister after his name surfaced in a high-profile gold smuggling case related to the UAE embassy in the capital of Kerala. He has now been replaced by IAS Mir Mohammad Ali. 

NIA revealed Kerala racket smuggled 150 kgs of gold since September 2019

Yesterday, the NIA found that the racket had managed to bring in 1.5 quintals (150 kgs) of gold in the country through diplomatic channels at Thiruvananthapuram airport since September 2019. The NIA had further disclosed that the smuggling of gold was not done for jewellery but funding terrorist activities in India.

On Monday, NIA remanded the suspects– Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, who worked for the UAE consulate, in the agency’s custody till July 21. The NIA has also found that the accused had forged UAE’s emblem to send the gold consignments.

The comedy of apologies: When the ones mocking Savarkar for mercy petition to British apologise to ‘secular goons’

Shashank Bharadwaj
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The comedy of apologies: When the ones mocking Savarkar for mercy petition to British apologise to ‘secular goons’

Since last few days, the assertive ‘internet Hindoos’ seems to have finally woken up from their slumber. Netizens have been unearthing the blatant anti-Hindu acts of these so-called ‘creative’ stand-up comedians and have exposed their nauseating attack on the Hindus, aimed at hurting the sentiments of people by making offensive remarks on the Hindu Gods and Goddesses, cracking jokes on historical figures and making disgusting sexual remarks.

The old tweets of these so-called ‘comedians’ highlights their extremely poor sense of humour, which emanates from harbouring pathological hatred for Hindus, Hindu customs, traditions and deities.

The controversy started when a lesser-known comedian Agrima Joshua, came to limelight for mocking on Maratha warrior Chatrapati Shivaji. Netizens were outraged over her ‘jokes’ which were not even funny to begin with. While facing severe heckling on social media, Joshua initially blamed the ‘BJP IT Cell’ and then pleaded to Uddhav Thackeray for help. Later, it was known that even members of MNS and Shiv Sena had aggressively attacked for her anti-Hindu comments.

After going on a tirade against ‘BJP IT Cell’, she eventually apologised. Except, apology was addressed to Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, NCP leader and Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and MNS’ Raj Thackeray. After blaming the ‘BJP IT Cell’ for threats, Joshua actually apologised to the ‘secular’ Maha Vikas Aghadi government of which Congress is a part.

Following Agrima Joshua, other self-proclaimed comedians – Aadar Malik, Sahil Shah, Azeem Banatwallah, Alokesh Sinha, ultra-left wing Sanjay Rajoura, Neeti Palta, Rohan Joshi, whose anti-Hindu tweets and acts were put up on social media, to highlight their inherent hatred for Hindus and its customs, historical figures.

As their old acts began to resurface on the internet, the ‘comedians’, who have been hailed as the champions of free-speech and often ‘spoke truth to power’, were soon hit with the reality and decided to run away from social media platforms as they deactivated their profiles.

These extremely unfunny and abusive ‘comedians’, fell over themselves to either deactivate or protect their account, perhaps to avoid action from the concerned authorities and also prevent the netizens from further publishing their Twitter tweets which could have provided them with more damaging content.

However, a day later, some of these free-speech warriors resurfaced again on social media platforms only to plead in front of the ‘secular’ Maharashtra government for hurting sentiments of people. Ironically, these stand-up comedians who have been fighting the ‘Fascist Modi’ all their life, hurried up to post apologies to the ruling Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra.

It was rather intriguing to many as to why they pleaded to the Shiv Sainiks and the likes of Raj Thackeray as it is a standard norm across the left-wing ecosystem to blame ‘BJP IT cell’ whenever they get abused or exposed by netizens. However, none of them apologised to the so-called fascist government, BJP and it’s allies or BJP followers, but pleaded by tagging Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, MNS Raj Thackeray and Congress leader Nitin Raut. 

Not only that, these so-called ‘comedians’ offered apologies to the Maharashtra government but not to people, whose sentiments they had hurt in the first place. May be, these ‘anti-fascist crusaders’ thought that pleading to the Shiv Sena-led government would save from the imminent arrest.

What more amusing about the whole ‘apology’ incident of the Krantikari comedians is the fact that these were the same set of people who often mock Hindu nationalist leaders such as Veer Savarkar for allegedly writing mercy petitions during the British rule. Savarkar was a political prisoner. He was ordered 50 years of rigorous imprisonment. Only natural for him to file a petition. In case we also forget, in 1920, even Mahatma Gandhi wrote a petition to the British for his release so that he could join the constitutional reform process. Motilal Nehru, too, pulled a few strings and his son Jawaharlal signed a bond to get out of Nabha jail in just two weeks of ‘harsh conditions’.

At Cellular Jail, Veer Savarkar was subjected to unconscionable torture and inhumane treatment that tested the very limits of his conviction. He was, reportedly, restrained in chains, flogged, and resigned to six months of solitary confinement. The British, made him pound coir with his bare hands where his hands were often dripped with blood. He had to manually turn a massive wheel, that would squeeze coconuts for oil and had to produce about 30 pounds a day. By some accounts, he was often forced to eat rotten food infested with worms and insects as punishment for his ‘crimes’ against the government. 

Unlike numerous political prisoners who were driven to insanity or committed suicide, Savarkar showed remarkable resilience. He wrote strategic letters of ploy to the Britishers, not only for himself but for others also, to get out of jail, which the Congress has been shamelessly twisting for decades now.

However, the left-liberal ecosystem, which often falls back to Savarkar’s mercy petitions to mock Hindus of the country, have themselves been begging for mercy in front of the so-called ‘liberal-secular’ establishment.

Many such ‘comedians’ and Congress supporters often mock Savarkar. Here are some samples:

Umm. Well, this ‘joke’ didn’t quite age that well, right? *laughs in ‘secular’*

These bunch of ‘comedians’, now resorting to pulling their victim card, to absolve themselves from the attack, have now cried for help from the likes of Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray to rescue from the wrath of their own minions.

Perhaps, these set of ‘comedians’, who seems to have finally understood that their courage to ‘speak truth to power’ or fight the establishment is hollow, have now chickened out in front of the very same establishment, which often scrutinises them for making vile Hinduphobic comments under the garb of achieving comedy.

Meerut: Hindu caretaker of a Shiv Temple beaten to death after he protested against remarks on his saffron attire, accused Anas Qureshi arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut: Hindu caretaker of a Shiv Temple beaten to death after he protested against remarks on his saffron attire, accused Anas Qureshi arrested

A shocking incident has been reported from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, where a caretaker of a Shiv Temple was brutally beaten to death by one Anas Qureshi after he protested against the latter’s comment on his saffron attire, reports Hindi daily Jagran. Meerut police took to Twitter to inform that an indictment has been registered in the above case, in which the accused, Anas Qureshi has been arrested and sent to jail.

Kanti Prasad beaten to death in Meerut for objecting to Qureshi’s vile comments on his saffron attire

Kanti Prasad, the committee vice-president and also the caretaker of a Shiv Temple located in Abdulapur market of Bhagwanpur village in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, who usually used to be clothed in saffron attire, had gone to pay the electricity bill in Ganganagar on July 13 (Monday). While returning, the accused, Anas Qureshi aka Janaleva crossed Kanti Prasad’s path near Global city. On seeing Kanti Prasad clad in a saffron robe with a saffron scarf around his neck, Qureshi mocked his attire and passed religiously hateful remarks, which irked Kanti Prasad.

When Kanti Prasad objected to his vile comments, Qureshi started beating up the priest in the middle of the road. Kanti Prasad somehow escaped from there. After reaching his village Prasad went to Qureshi’s house to apprise his family about the incident.

According to reports, Qureshi allegedly came from behind and started mercilessly beating up Kanti Prasad at his house. When Kanti Prasad’s family learnt about the incident they rushed to Qureshi’s house. After rescuing Kanti Prasad, his family members took him straight to the police station, to lodge a complaint against Qureshi.

On reaching the police station Kanti Prasad’s condition started deteriorating. Police called for an ambulance and immediately sent Kanti Prasad to the medical college nearby. Kanti Prasad succumbed to his injuries the next day.

Based on the complaint, Meerut police lodged an FIR against Qureshi. He was thereafter arrested and sent to jail.

This brutal murder comes close to the heels of the Palghar lynching incident, where two Hindu Sadhus and their driver was lynched by the Christian-converted tribals in Palghar, Maharashtra.

Palghar Mob Lynching incident

On 16th April 2020, two Sadhus associated with the Juna Akhara, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj, and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgadewere were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Sadhu when a frenzied mob of more than 100 people attacked them. The Palghar police had stood there like mute spectators while the unruly mob lynched the Sadhus ruthlessly.

Later, it was also revealed that the killing of the Sadhus was intentional and it was done due to political reasons and it was also suspected that Christian missionaries backed by NCP, left parties were behind the lynching of two Hindu Sadhus.

Since then, there have been several incidents where Hindu Sadhus and temples have come under attack.

GST exemption on hand-sanitiser has the potential to increase price of domestic products and incentivise import from China: Read how

OpIndia Staff
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GST exemption on hand-sanitiser has the potential to increase price of domestic products and incentivise import from China: Read how

Yesterday the Authority of Advance Ruling (AAR) for GST said that all alcohol-based hand-sanitisers will attract 18% GST. The authority was responding to a Goa-based sanitiser maker which had contended that the product should be taxed at 12% as it is covered under the medicament category. But the AAR ruled that although the hand-sanitisers have been listed as an essential commodity during the Coronavirus pandemic, there is a separate notification for exempted goods and services under GST laws, and alcohol-based sanitisers are not in this exempted category. The GST authority has ruled that sanitisers fall under heading 3808 of the Harmonised System of Nomenclature (HSN), the GST rate for which is 18%, and some manufactures are paying 12% GST by wrongly classifying the product under heading 3004 with 12% tax rate.

This ruling has reignited the debate on GST on essential commodities. Many people on social media criticised the government for taxing hand-sanitisers during the current situation, when this product has become one of the most essential products to combat the Coronavirus. Several people demanded that hand-sanitisers and items required in the fight against the Chinese virus should be exempted from GST, given their essential nature.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury demanded that Modi government should immediately exempt all taxes on sanitisers and other essential items to save human lives.

Although whether hand-sanitisers should be taxed at 18% is a matter of debate 12%, the demand for GST exemption is actually counter-productive, although it may seem that prices will come down if the tax rate is zero, that is not true. This is because the GST is actually a VAT (value added tax), where tax is imposed on value added at each stage of production. Under this system, manufactures can claim input tax credit (ITC) for GST already paid on raw materials and capital goods. But if the GST of a product is nil, the manufacture can’t claim input tax credit. Therefore, the entire GST paid on the raw materials used in the product will get added to the final price of the product, which will drive up the price, instead of reducing it.

Actually, this matter was already settled during the debate on GST on sanitary napkins three years ago. Responding to the growing demand for nil tax on sanitary napkins from politicians, activists and media, the then finance minister late Arun Jaitley had explained why it is not logical to do so. He had said that lots of raw materials used in napkins are taxed at 18%, which the manufactures can claim as input tax credit, while the GST on the final product is 12%. Now if the GST is withdrawn, the manufactures can’t claim the ITC for tax already paid on raw materials, which will have to be added to the selling price. This will make the sanitary napkins costlier then imported products, which are also taxed at 12%, therefore the locally made product will be at a disadvantage compared to the imported products.

The government at that time had to give in to demands from activists, and GST on sanitary napkins was reduced to zero in July 2018. But this didn’t result in any significant price reduction. While some companies did reduce price by a very small amount, many others didn’t, claiming that removal of the input tax credit has offset the benefit of 0 tax, and retained the same price.

The same calculation applies in the case of essential items like sanitisers and other such items, as prices as unlikely to come down if GST is exempted as the ITC will be blocked. Moreover, this will also increase the compliance burden for the manufacturers, as they will be required to maintain separate accounts for inputs, input services and capital goods. In case a manufacturer is not in a position to maintain separate account, they will be required to reverse the input tax credit on all inputs/ input services used in manufacture of exempted items after applying detailed calculations.

Moreover, exemptions tend to discourage domestic manufacturing and incentives imports, as the price of domestic products go up due to blockage of ITC. As there will no change in import duties, the cost of imported products remains same, while the cost of domestic product go up. Thus, if the GST is exempted, it will increase imports, which will be mainly from China.

Manhunt launched after terrorists kidnap BJP leader in Jammu and Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Manhunt launched after terrorists kidnap BJP leader in Jammu and Kashmir

The police have launched a massive search operation to determine the whereabouts about the BJP leader Mehraj-U-Din Malla from Baramulla after he was reportedly kidnapped by the terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Malla, the vice president of the Municipal Committee(MC) Watergam Sopore in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, was kidnapped by an unknown person on Wednesday morning. As per reports, he was pushed into a car and taken away. It is not yet clear whether he had any security cover. His father, who was also with the BJP, acted as a general secretary of the party.

Assassinations and Kidnappings in Jammu and Kashmir on the rise

The abduction of the BJP leader comes on the heels of the assassination of the former Bandipora BJP president Wasim Bari, who was killed along with his father and brother on July 8. The Jammu and Kashmir police had alleged that two Lashkar terrorists were behind the murder of the BJP leader.

Earlier last month, a Kashmiri Pandit Sarpanch was shot dead by terrorists in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. Congress Sarpanch of Lokbowan Larkipora, identified as Ajay Pandita, was fired upon by the terrorists while he was working in his orchard in Anantnag.

An increased spurt in the terror activities, especially targeted assassinations and kidnappings, have been witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent times, highlighting the desperation among the Pakistan backed terrorists appears palpable in the wake of the annulment of the Article 370, stripping the state of its special status and its subsequent conversion to the Union Territory. On the other hand, ceasefire violations from the Pakistani side along the border have also increased dramatically, as a bid to gin up tensions along the Line of Control.

Pakistan: Hindu boy’s throat slit with sharp weapon, body dumped in river in Sindh province

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Hindu boy’s throat slit with sharp weapon, body dumped in river in Sindh province

Atrocities on Hindus in the Sindh province of Pakistan, which is home to nearly 90 per cent of Pakistan’s Hindu population continues unabated. In yet another gruesome incident, a Hindu youth’s body was dumped in a river in Hala, Mitiari, Sindh-Pakistan after his throat was slit with a sharp weapon.

Pakistani activist Rahat Austin took to Twitter to share the news. He wrote that the dead body of a Hindu youth named, Mohan Bagari, was recovered from the river in Hala city, which is a Taluka in Mitiari district of Sindh, Pakistan. The youth’s throat was slit with a sharp weapon confirmed Austin.

Sharing that the youth’s family, which was already starving, were now worried about the youth’s funeral as they did not have the means, Austin accentuates the horrid plight of the religious minorities in Pakistan.

Such incidents, where religious minorities are being oppressed and victimised are very common in the terror state of Pakistan. Though such incidents are regularly reported, Imran Khan government is doing little to save its religious minorities from the atrocities being meted out at them almost every other day. 

102 Hindus in Sindh forced to take up Islam

Last month, we reported how 102 Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam in the Golarchi district which falls under Badin district of Sindh province, Pakistan. This was not all, it has also been reported that all the idols of Hindu gods kept in a local temple were destroyed and the premises was converted into a mosque.

14-year-old Hindu girl abducted in Sindh

In fact, last month the activist had shared a video, where the mother of an abducted Hindu girl was seen broken down with grief. She kept on saying that “It’s a curse to be born in an Islamic country.” In the incident, which reportedly happened on 27th June in Saedabad, Hala Mitiari, of Sindh province Pakistan, a 14-year-old Hindu girl was abducted and taken for sexual exploitation. She was also forced to convert to Islam, confirmed Rahat Austin.

Pakistan has a history of atrocities against the minority community. Non-Muslims in Pakistan, Hindus especially are persecuted greatly by the Muslims of the country. Women are raped at an alarming frequency, forcibly converted to Islam and life is made hell for them. To help the non-Muslims of the country, the Indian Parliament has passed the Citizenship Amendment Act which reduces the residential requirement for naturalisation from 11 to 5 years for persecuted religious minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

No funeral rites for PLA soldiers killed in Galwan clashes, China ordered families to cremate them silently, say reports

OpIndia Staff
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No funeral rites for PLA soldiers killed in Galwan clashes, China ordered families to cremate them silently, say reports

After a loss of face for China against India during the recent clashes along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, the Chinese government has reportedly passed strict orders to the family of the deceased PLA soldiers not to hold a public funeral for them as it could reveal details regarding the real losses to the Chinese in the recent clashes along the LAC.

According to some reports, China is not willing to accept that its soldiers have been killed in the recent border clash with the Indian soldiers at Galwan Valley to hide the losses in the incident and present a tough image to the outside world.

The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs has reportedly directed the family members of deceased Chinese soldiers who killed in the Galwan Valley that they should abandon conventional burial services and instead cremate the soldiers in a discreet manner. The family of the Chinese soldiers may hold the funeral remotely and not in person.

“The reality is they don’t want to create martyr soldiers,” said the source, stating that, “So they (Chinese government) have banned functions where friends and families can pay their respects for the PLA deceased.”

China trying to undermine deaths of its own soldiers

It is being reported that the latest attempt by China to hide the details of the deceased soldiers was to undermine public awareness and delete any reminders of the violent clashes at Galwan. According to experts, China fears that images of gravestones for its fallen soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army could further stoke those sentiments if spread on Chinese or international social media.

The Chinese government has only acknowledged the deaths of some soldiers but never revealed the actual numbers. However, Indian intelligence has revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including the dead and seriously injured. Even, American intelligence estimates that 35 of the Chinese soldiers were killed in the Galwan clash.

On June 15, the Chinese troops had attacked the Indian troops along the LAC near Ladakh border. The clashes had resulted in India losing 20 of its soldiers. The fallen Indian soldiers were honoured by the government and their last rites were performed in the presence of government representatives, according them the due status of martyrs. PM Modi and the COAS had also visited to meet and speak to the injured soldiers.

China is yet to accept any deaths or even injuries to its soldiers in the violent clash.

Watch: Bull refuses to be parted from cow, reunited after video of him chasing the vehicle cow was being transported in goes viral

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Bull refuses to be parted from cow, reunited after video of him chasing the vehicle cow was being transported in goes viral

A touching video of affection between a bull and a cow in Tamil Nadu is doing the rounds on the Internet. In the video, a bull is seen circling a lorry, sticking his head in to protest against the transportation of the cow he is smitten with. The heartbreaking visuals show the bull tenaciously chasing the lorry carrying the cow for over 1 kilometre in order to stop it from taking away the cow.

The moving visuals from Palamedu in Madurai went viral on Monday morning in which the bull was seen desperately circling the lorry over and over again, presumably in a bid to rescue the cow that was being transported. The bull tries to stick his head in through the grills of the vehicle and grunts, opposing the transportation of the cow. The cow too looks at the bull, clearly unable to step out of the carrier and unite with him.

Bull and cow were reared together

Manajamalai, the bull was reared with the cow, Lakshmi, by a resident of Palamedu, Manikandan, who runs a tea shop in the area. Manikandan sold his cow and had loaded it to his carrier for transportation. However, the bull could not tolerate the separation and valiantly followed the vehicle for over 1 km, attempting to stop it from taking away Lakshmi.

“The cow in the video is Lakshmi and she belonged to my family for the last four years. We are facing financial difficulties because of the lockdown and had decided to sell Lakshmi to a milk farm. We were transporting Lakshmi on July 12 afternoon at around 1 pm and the village bull came in search of it,” Manikandan said.

Bovines reunited after the video pulls at the heartstrings of the residents

The touching video of affection between the two bovines pulled at the heartstrings of the residents across the state who saw the video, and soon people began contacting Manikandan to offer him money to bring Lakshmi back. The current owner of the cow had asked Rs 40,000 from Manikandan to get Lakshmi back.

This incident also came to the notice of Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, O Panneer Selvam’s son, O. Jayapradeep, who extended his assistance by paying up the money sought by the buyer and recovering the cow. He later donated the cow to the temple and reunited the bovines.

Rahul Gandhi to postpone his ‘current affairs show’ because Congress is currently facing Rajasthan crisis

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi to postpone his ‘current affairs show’ because Congress is currently facing Rajasthan crisis

The much-anticipated video series on history and current affairs by the Rahul Gandhi which was supposed to be launched on Twitter on Wednesday has been put on hold due to the political crisis in Rajasthan.

On Monday, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had taken to Twitter to announce his new show in which he said that he will expose “fascist interests” in the media. The Congress leader had alleged that the “hate-filled narrative” being spread through television channels was tearing India apart and he would bring out the truth of many such reports.

Image Source: Rahul Gandhi

Reportedly, the first part of the video series was expected to be on India-China border row, was likely to be aired on Twitter on Wednesday.

However, with speculations regarding the stability of the Rajasthan government and possible MLA crisis, Rahul Gandhi has now decided to postpone his video series. Some media reports stated that the first video may be shared on Thursday.

Rajasthan political crisis

The rift within Rajasthan Congress has widened after the infighting became public. After the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly elections, a power tussle ensued between Congress’ old guard Ashok Gehlot and youth leader Sachin Pilot for the coveted post of the Chief Minister.

Pilot, though regarded as the man behind Congress’ victory in Rajasthan, was sidelined and Gehlot was made the CM. After a long-drawn battle and speculations of Pilot’s jump to BJP, the Congress party sacked Sachin Pilot from the post of Deputy CM yesterday.

On Wednesday, Sachin Pilot is expected to speak to the press to announce his future political plans.

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