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Executive Officer of TTD during Congress regime discloses that the then Chairman called off meeting of Dharmacharyas saying it might annoy ‘madam’

OpIndia Staff
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Executive Officer of TTD during Congress regime discloses that the then Chairman called off meeting of Dharmacharyas saying it might annoy ‘madam’

Retired IAS officer, IYR Krishna Rao, who was the Executive Officer (EO) of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) during the Congress regime today took to Twitter to make a startling revelation.

Rao discloses that during those days when he held the post of the EO of TTD, they were supposed to hold a meeting of all Hindu religious mutt heads called ‘Dharmacharya Sadassu’. However, at the last minute, the then chairman of TTD called off the meeting since he felt it may annoy ‘madam’ aka Sonia Gandhi, furthered IYR Krishna Rao.

IYR Krishna Rao was responding to a Tweet by the renowned columnist Tarek Fatah sharing a video from Republic TV where Arnab Goswami had criticised Sonia Gandhi.

The said debate was aired on Republic Bharat on April 21, anchored by the Editor-in-chief of the Republic TV Arnab Goswami where he had launched a scathing attack against the interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In that debate, Goswami questioned if Sonia would have maintained the silence she is exhibiting today had Christian padres been killed instead of Hindu sadhus in the horrifying lynching incident in Palghar. Tarak Fateh Tweeted: “#ArnabGoswami blames the lynching of two Hindu sadhus at the feet of Italian-born Catholic leader of the opposition Congress, Ms Sonia Gandhi”.

Arnab questioned Sonia Gandhi over her silence on Palghar mob-lynching

Arnab in his debate said: “I would like to ask the country, would the country had remained silent if Maulvis or Christian Padres would have been targeted the way Hindu saints were? Would Italy’s Antonia Maino (Sonia Gandhi) have remained silent then? I would like to tell you if the victims had been Christian padres, Sonia Gandhi, who had come from Rome, would not have remained close-mouthed on the issue.” 

Arnab further alleged that he feels Mrs Gandhi is deep down happy that Hindu saints have been killed by the frenzied mob in a state that is governed by her party. He also contended that Mrs Gandhi would prepare and send a report to Italy saying she had been successful in eliminating Hindu saints in a state where she had formed the government.

Arnab Goswami, known for not mincing his words, also slammed the media channels who have fought shy of covering the gruesome murder of the Hindu sadhus by a rampaging mob in Gadchinchle village of Palghar. He questioned why the media outlets are silent on the cold-blooded murder of the Hindu saints.

Palghar Sadhus lynched

The blood-curdling incident happened on 16th April 2020 in Palghar, Maharashtra. Two Sadhus, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgade associated with the Juna Akhara were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Sadhu. At Gadakchinchale village, a wild and frenzied crowd of over more than 100 people attacked them. The villagers deemed them as thieves and started attacking them. Videos of the incient showed the local police ignoring the pleas of the bleeding Sadhus and handing them over to the murderous mob.

People of the Sadhu community say that this village is tribals dominated and most of them are Christians while some are Muslims. Some even say that the police, out of fear of the tribals, handed over the Sadhus to the mob which later beat up those Sadhus to death with sticks. Reportedly, when the tribals of a particular religion started beating up the Sadhus, the police did not intervene.

Arnab Goswami attacked by Congress goons

Incidentally, a day after Arnab castigated Sonia Gandhi for her silence on the Palghar Sadhu lynching episode, he and his wife were attacked by Congress goons in the wee hours of the night. In the intervening night of 22nd and 23rd April, after his regular edit call post the 10 PM debate, Arnab Goswami and his wife were driving back home when two bike-borne assailants attacked their car.

Rahul Kanwal has claimed twice in a row that India Today beat Republic TV hollow in terms of viewership: Here is what BARC data says

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Kanwal has claimed twice in a row that India Today beat Republic TV hollow in terms of viewership: Here is what BARC data says

The Coronavirus pandemic is arguable the biggest ‘story’ for journalists and news channel in this decade. A pandemic that has engulfed all countries of the world and at home in India, it has caused over 5000 positive cases with tens of deaths. Other than the scale of tragedy that has been unleashed on the world, there are several other underpinnings to this story as well, such as the role of China, WHO and here in India, the role of Tablighi Jamaat. Most news channels have approached these aspects of the story in accordance with their ideological inclinations. While some shielded China and the Tablighi Jamaat, others exposed them threadbare. When there is a story of global importance to be told, there are also TRP wars that news channels indulge in invariably. In this regard, Rahul Kanwal declared himself and his channel India Today victorious with a thumping pat on his own back today. Taking to Twitter, Rahul Kanwal first said that viewers are spending twice the time on India Today (according to BARC) as they do on their competition’s, and their ‘competition’ would obviously mean channels like Times Now and Republic.

Following that assertions, Rahul Kanwal said that “Bloated egos and noise factories can polarise but they can’t report on a fast moving story”.

Tweet by Rahul Kanwal

The obvious reference of Rahul Kanwal’s tweet was Republic TV and Arnab Goswami. Several elites in the news industry, who invariably align with Left-wing politics, refer to Republic TV as a ‘noise factory’ and Arnab Goswami as someone with a bloated ego. The reference was also clear because Kanwal used his self-congratulatory tweet to slam “polarisation”, which essentially would mean that Rahul Kanwal and India Today disapprove of the manner in which Republic TV has taken it upon themselves to expose the nefarious designs of Tablighi Jamaat, that led to the spread of Coronavirus in India.

Further, Rahul Kanwal claimed that Aaj Tak and India Today were “number 1 this week”.

Tweet by Rahul Kanwal

Today again, Rahul Kanwal took to Twitter to declare that India Today was the reigning supreme as far as English News Channels were concerned.

Self-Congratulatory tweet by Rahul Kanwal
Self-Congratulatory tweet by Rahul Kanwal

Rahul Kanwal seems to feverishly compete with Arnab Goswami and Republic, week after week, by declaring repeatedly that India Today has far more viewers than Republic TV and that their form of news is far more ‘insightful’ compared to Arnab Goswami.

However, when one looks at the BARC data, Rahul Kanwal’s self-laudatory tweets ring hollow and dishonest.

What BARC Data sys – Who is ahead, India Today or Republic TV?

Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India is a Joint Industry Company founded by stakeholder bodies that represent Broadcasters, Advertisers, and Advertising and Media Agencies. Every week, BARC comes up with several combative charts that tell people which channel is ahead of its competitors in different genres, like English News, Hindi News etc.

It is pertinent to note that Rahul Kanwal congratulated himself on the 9th April and then again on the 23rd of April. So approximately, we must look at data right from the 28th of March up until 17th of April to ascertain if Rahul Kanwal is lying and misleading his viewers when he claims that India Today is the heavyweight champion in the English News category according to BARC. For the data from 17th April onwards, we will have to wait for another day, but it is unlikely it would differ too much from the preceding 3 weeks.

When one looks at the BARC data, it becomes extremely clear who the reigning supreme channel is in the English News category, and it is Republic TV, led by Arnab Goswami all the way.

From the 28th March 2020 to the 3rd of April 2020, according to BARC, Republic TV had a substantial lead over India Today. In fact, Times Now was second to Republic TV and India Today was a distant third.

BARC Data for Week 13

Week 14 (4th April to 10th April) was worse for India Today. While Republic scored 1896, India Today scored only an 866, slipping to the number 4 spot.

It is pertinent to note that Rahul Kanwal had congratulated himself first on the 9th of April. As evident from the BARC data, he was lying if he was talking about the previous week (Week 13) or the current week as the per tweet (week 14). India Today was nowhere close to Republic TV on these two weeks.

BARC Data for Week 14

The next tweet by Rahul Kanwal is on 28th April. Though this week’s numbers are yet to be released, the preceding week, Week 15, from 11th April to 27th April show that India Today is way behind Republic TV.

BARC Data for Week 15

It remains to be seen what the data for Week 16 states and whether India Today has truly overtaken Republic. But it is pertinent to note that since the first week of its inception, Republic TV has consistently occupied the number 1 spot per the BARC Ratings.

As far as the Hindi News channels go, India Today’s Aaj Tak is certainly the number 1 channel by a mile, however, Republic also features in the top 5, which is a relative feat for a new channel in the Hindi News segment.

It thus begs an important question – Is Rahul Kanwal truly brazen enough to lie about data that is available for public consumption or does he not know that BARC publishes its viewership data on its website, available for anyone to analyse?

Congress and AAP IT cell join hands to spread falsehood that the attack on Arnab Goswami was staged

OpIndia Staff
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Congress and AAP IT cell join hands to spread falsehood that the attack on Arnab Goswami was staged

The assorted trolls of the Congress party, joined by Aam Aadmi Party IT cell, on Thursday embarrassed themselves on social media as they tried to weave a conspiracy theory to claim that the attack on Republic TV editor by the Congress workers was staged.

Republic TV Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami was attacked on the wee hours of Thursday at 12:15 AM by Congress workers in Mumbai. The attack by Congress party workers against Arnab Goswami had come as a result after Sonia Gandhi was questioned by the senior journalist over her silence on Palghar mob lynching.

Attack was pre-planned: Congress IT cell

However, according to the trolls, the attack on Arnab Goswami was a planned one as netizens had allegedly revealed the information much before Republic TV had put out an official tweet from its Twitter handle. The trolls took to Twitter to claim that attack on Arnab Goswami was a fake one as Right-wing social media users had already known about the attack much before it was revealed by the channel.

Rifait Jawaid, an Aam Aadmi Party supporter who claims to be a journalist, claimed that BJP leader Sambit Patra and Ashoke Pandit had tweeted about the attack before Republic TV broke the story.

Congress worker Vinay Kumar Dokania also resorted to spread the same lies asking whether Sambit Patra knew before Republic TV was aware of the attacks.

Another Congress troll also came up with conspiracy theories that filmmaker Ashoke Pandit knew ten minutes before the attack took place.

However, the claims made by the Congress IT cell is just another falsehood. If you observe closely, BJP leader Sambit Patra had tweeted about the attacks on Arnab Goswami at 01:05 AM and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit had tweeted the same at 12:55 AM.

Even though the official tweet from the Republic TV was put out at 01:06, the news of Congress workers attacking Arnab Goswami was already being telecast live on Republic TV from around 12:35.

Here is a visual of Republic TV broadcasting the news of attack on Arnab Goswami at 12:42.

Republic TV reportage at 12:42

This image bursts propaganda of the Congress IT cell, which was making false claims based on the timeline of tweets made by social media users, to claim that the attack on Arnab Goswami was a pre-planned one.

Congress IT cell’s Gaurav Pandhi made another allegation saying that a video message of Arnab Goswami after the attack was made hours before the attack took place. He posted a screenshot of metadata of the video, which showed that the video was created at 8:17 PM yesterday.

But this claim is so baseless that even pro-Congress pro-AAP Alt News founder Pratik Sinha had to point out that this is wrong analysis because Twitter strips all metadata from media files uploaded to the site. Moreover, the screenshot of the metadata of the video being circulated by Congressis do not show the time zone, so it can’t be claimed that it is Indian time. And as servers of Twitter and most other websites are located outside India, they do not show Indian time. Most servers record the time in UTC, which is 5.30 hours behind India time. Therefore, if the video was uploaded at 8:17 PM UTC, the Indian time would be 1:47 AM, which is almost one and a half hour after the incident.

Attack on Arnab Goswami

In a shocking incident, Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was attacked by two goons in the wee hours of the night.

In the intervening night of 22nd and 23rd April, Arnab Goswami and his wife were driving back home when two bike-borne assailants attacked their car. According to Republic TV, the goons confessed that they were from Congress and the attack took place only 500 meters away from Goswami’s residence.

Following the horrific attack on him, Republic TV’s Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami released a video narrated the incident.

Narrating the incident, Arnab Goswami said that he and his wife were driving back to their residence around 12.15 AM at Ganpatrao Kadam Marg when two bike-borne attacked him. Arnab added that his security detail later informed him that the attackers belonged to Youth Congress workers, who confessed that they were given instructions by their higher-ups to carry out the attack.

In a video released after the attack, Arnab went on to hold Sonia Gandhi personally responsible for the attack while asserting that neither he or his network will be cowed down by the attack.

“I will hold you personally responsible for any consequences and any attack on me. If anything ever happens to me, it is Sonia Gandhi and Vadra family, who cannot take my questions, are responsible,” had added Arnab Goswami.

Mumbai: Man arrested after delivery boy claims customer refused delivery because he was Muslim

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai: Man arrested after delivery boy claims customer refused delivery because he was Muslim

A 32-year old man delivery boy has alleged that a 51-year old man refused to take delivery of goods delivered by him because he was Muslim. The customer has now been sent to judicial custody in Mumbai on Tuesday.

According to the reports, 51-year-old Gajanan Chaturvedi, a resident of Kashimira locality in Thane was arrested for allegedly refusing to take delivery from a Muslim person. The arrested person was produced before a Thane court and sent to judicial custody. 

The incident took place on Tuesday when the 32-year-old delivery man went to deliver groceries at Srushti Complex home of the Chaturvedi at Mira Road. Patel was required to deliver parcel outside the gate of the apartment complex. Just as he was about hand over the parcel, Chaturvedi refused to collect the order.

Mira Road incident

A part of the video has gone viral on social media where the delivery boy is asking the customer why is he refusing delivery. The man can be heard saying he had earlier informed he will not take delivery of goods. “Will you not take goods from Muslim?” The delivery boy recording the video asks. Man waves his hands and says no before walking away.

The delivery boy Patel finally registered a complaint at Kashimira police station on Tuesday. The police booked Gajanan Chaturvedi under the Indian Penal Code section 295 (a) for committing a deliberate or malicious act with the intention of outraging Patel’s religious feelings and beliefs.

Sanjay Hajare, senior inspector, Kashimira police station, said that the accused was found at the address where Patel was to deliver the groceries and identified as the man recorded in the video.

Meet Arun Borade and Prateek Mishra, Congress workers named in FIR in attack on Arnab Goswami

Nirwa Mehta
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Meet Arun Borade and Prateek Mishra, Congress workers named in FIR in attack on Arnab Goswami

On 23 April, 2020, Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami and his wife were attacked by two bike-borne assailants about 500 mtrs from his residence in Mumbai. Gowami and his wife filed a written complaint to the NM Joshi Marg Police station naming two individuals, Arun Dilip Borade and Prateek Kumar Shyam Sunder Mishra of Mumbai who had allegedly attacked the couple. In his written complaint, Goswami mentions that the duo had confessed they were part of Yuva Congress. Soon after the attack, Congress leader Alka Lamba had hailed Yuva Congress on social media.

OpIndia investigation has revealed that the two individuals named in the written complaint indeed appear to be associated with the Congress.

Arun Borade

Arun Borade’s Facebook profile

Arun Borade, on his Facebook, which he joined in May 2011, mentions that he is President of Indian Youth Congress, Sion Koliwada Assembly block.

He has regularly shared pro-Congress posts on his Facebook page.

May 2018 pro-Congress post

He also has pictures with senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

Arun Borade with Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge

Mallikarjun Kharge had earlier warned of ‘raktpaat’ (bloodshed) if constitution is changed and had even compared PM Modi to German dictator Adolf Hitler. The original constitution of India as it stood in 1949 and formed under the auspices of Dr Rajendra Prasad and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was amended by Congress leader and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in its 42nd amendment during the Emergency. “Sovereign Democratic Republic” was changed to add ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in the preamble.

2017 picture with Youth Congress

Prateek Mishra

While Prateek Mishra’s Facebook profile does not specify what post he holds within the Congress, but it does show his association with the party.

Prateek Mishra’s Facebook profile

On 5 February 2020, Mishra had posted a few images on Facebook along with one picture with Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and thanked a local Congress leader for giving him an opportunity to work in Sion-Koliwada constituency. He had posted a picture of himself getting appointment letter from Kharge.

2017 image of Mishra with Congress scarf

Mishra also seems to be a fan of NDTV India Editor Ravish Kumar.

Prateek Mishra as Ravish Kumar fan

Police refused to add Youth Congress in FIR

Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami has alleged that the NM Joshi Marg Police officer refused to name Youth Congress in its FIR. As per the written complaint filed by Goswami, DCP Abhinash Kumar refused to name the duo as members of Youth Congress as ‘it is a matter of investigation’. “I must place on record that I had to make multiple requests in the presence of my colleagues to get an FIR registered which amounts to pure harassment from a citizen who has been subjected to assault by the ruling party in the state,” he states. Goswami also mentioned Congress leader Alka Lamba’s jubilant congratulatory message for Yuva Congress just hours after the attack.

Telangana minister KT Ramarao fact-checks India Today’s claims over PPEs in the state, calls it disgraceful journalism

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana minister KT Ramarao fact-checks India Today’s claims over PPEs in the state, calls it disgraceful journalism

India Today’s Rahul Kanwal had shared some infographics on social media claiming that the Telangana state does not have adequate number of PPEs needed for its healthcare professionals engaged in the battle against coronavirus.

Taking to Twitter, India Today managing editor Rahul Kanwal put up an infographic which listed out the number of PPEs available in coronavirus designated hospitals in India’s 12 most affected states. According to Kanwal, Maharashtra has the maximum number of PPEs at 1,22,133. The lowest, according to him was Telangana with 3,132 PPEs.

Inaccurate reporting by India Today, says KT Ramarao

Reacting on the same, Telangana minister KTR slammed India Today and Rahul Kanwal for their inaccurate reporting.

In a tweet, KTR asked Rahul Kanwal not to publish ‘nonsense and confusing data’ in these troubling times if he did not have accurate details. KT Ramarao asked whether India Today and Rahul Kanwal will apologise if he proved that Telangana had 100 times more PPEs than what the data projected by India Today revealed.

“Sorry but this is disgraceful journalism Rajdeep Sardesai,” tweeted the Telangana minister.

Seconds later, he followed it up with another tweet giving the exact number. “For your information, we currently have more than 3.6 lakh PPEs with us already and 6 more lakh PPEs with be with us shortly”, he said again in the tweet.

“I hope you will have the decency to withdraw this fake & baseless graphic”, KTR concluded.

However, Rahul Kanwal soon responded back to the allegations made against India Today by KTR. Kanwal claimed that the data was indeed true as it was taken straight away from Union Health Ministry records. He also stated that they can update the numbers as soon as the real numbers reflected on government records.

More than 940 positive coronavirus cases have been reported in Telangana. 23 people have died due to the Chinese pandemic while 194 people have been cured of the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus positive cases in India rose to 21,370 by Thursday, with 681 of them dead.

Mumbai Police refused to name Youth Congress for the attack on him, says Arnab Goswami in his complaint

OpIndia Staff
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Mumbai Police refused to name Youth Congress for the attack on him, says Arnab Goswami in his complaint

A complaint has been filed by Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami following the attacks against him and his wife on the wee hours of Thursday by two alleged Congress party workers while they were driving home back from their studios.

In a written complaint filed at the NM Joshi Marg Road police station in Mumbai, Arnab Goswami narrated the incident regarding how two bike-borne assailants had followed him and attacked him while he was on his way to his residence on Wednesday night.

An FIR has also been registered by NM Joshi Marg Police station under sec 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of IPC.

Mumbai police reluctant to name Youth Congress in FIR

In the complaint, Arnab Goswami has stated that the initially Mumbai Police had identified the workers as Youth Congress but later backtracked to name the Congress party in the FIR. Shockingly, in his complaint, Arnab Goswami has said that the Mumbai police has refused to name the Youth Congress attackers in the FIR.

According to Arnab Goswami, DCP Abhinash Kumar was reluctant to name Youth Congress in the FIR, who instead said he would instead carry out an investigation to find out whether the Congress party had involved in the attacks against Arnab Goswami.

Arnab Goswami, in his complaint, stated that the refusal to name the Congress party in the complaint came despite Mumbai police officials themselves acknowledging initially that it was Youth Congress members who had attacked the editor.

“This was a clear U-turn and an attempt to change the facts,” said Arnab Goswami in his complaint. Later in the night, Arnab Goswami himself went to the nearby police station to file a complaint.

“I went to NM Joshi Police station at 3:30 AM and was shocked when DCP lied to my face saying that the Youth Congress attack on me was not known to him and that he will have to investigate the matter,” Arnab Goswami’s complaint read.

The Youth Congress workers are identified as Pratheek Kumar Shyam Sundar Mishra and Arun Dilip Barode.

‘Bring it on, Sonia Gandhi’, says Arnab in video

Following the attack, Republic TV’s Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami had released a video narrating the incident, in which he had held Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi responsible for the attacks against him and his wife.

Narrating the incident, Arnab said that his security detail later informed him that the attackers belonged to Youth Congress workers, who confessed that they were given instructions by their higher-ups to carry out the attack.

In a video released after the attack, Arnab went on to hold Sonia Gandhi personally responsible for the attack while asserting that neither he or his network will be cowed down by the attack.

“I will hold you personally responsible for any consequences and any attack on me. If anything ever happens to me, it is Sonia Gandhi and Vadra family, who cannot take my questions, are responsible,” added Arnab Goswami.

Arnab Goswami asserted that he has the support of the people of the country and challenged Sonia Gandhi asking her to “Bring it on”.

Liberals and custodians of free speech come together to justify attack on Arnab Goswami and his wife by Congress goons

OpIndia Staff
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Liberals and custodians of free speech come together to justify attack on Arnab Goswami and his wife by Congress goons

Republic TV’s Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was attacked by two bike-borne assailants little after midnight on 23 April, 2020 near his residence in Mumbai. Soon after, he released a video wherein he said that the two men belonged to Yuva Congress and had attacked him to ‘teach him a lesson’ after he had questioned Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s silence on Palghar sadhu lynching.

However, soon after the attack on Goswami, the liberals and the defendants of freedom of press implicitly justified and defended the attacks on Goswami.

Instead of condemning the attack on a fellow journalist, no matter how much of difference of opinion one has, Wagle implied that the attack on Arnab is justified since his criticism of Sonia Gandhi over Palghar lynching does not fall under Freedom of Expression. Another columnist Ravi Ratan implied that the attack on Goswami was ‘a story’ created to ‘divert attention’ from the imminent arrest. He further urged Maharashtra government to first arrest Goswami and then investigate the attack. He wrote attack in double quotes, implying the attack was staged. NYTimes columnist Aatish Taseer, who usually likes to claim that freedom of press in India is stifled, referred to Goswami as ‘ridiculous creature’.

Taseer’s Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card was recently revoked as he had concealed that his father was a Pakistani citizen. He has regularly displayed Hinduphobia and spoken the same language of the Islamists who killed his father in Pakistan.

NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan slyly referred to Goswami as the pandemic India is facing.

Some even cast aspersions on allegations of Arnab Goswami that he was attacked and already passed judgement that his claims are false. A man associated with an online portal also took to Twitter to downplay and dismiss the attack on Arnab.

Congress supporters attack Arnab, this time virtually

Meanwhile, Congress supporters on social media have started trending ‘DramaBandKarArnab‘ hashtag.

Congress IT cell members accused Arnab of concocting up the attack on him. Bollywood starlet turned Congress leader Nagma accused him of crying foul for questioning Sonia Gandhi because she is a widow of a former PM. Congress spokesperson Akhilesh Singh seems to have thought of competing with his colleague Alka Lamba on who puts up more despicable tweets.

Earlier, Lamba had hailed Yuva Congress after Goswami released a video stating that the two men who had attacked him were Yuva Congress workers.

Attack on Arnab Goswami

In the intervening night of 22nd and 23rd April, after his regular edit call post the 10 PM debate, Arnab Goswami and his wife were driving back home when two bike-borne assailants attacked their car. According to our sources, the assailants parked their bike in front of Arnab Goswami’s car in order to get him to stop the car and then attacked it. Arnab Goswami and his wife have escaped unhurt. The assailants, after attacking the car and trying to break the windows, also threw ink at the car. According to Republic TV, the goons confessed that they were from Congress and the attack took place only 500 meters away from Goswami’s residence, according to Republic TV.

US President Donald Trump orders the navy to shoot down and destroy Iranian gunboats if they harass American ships in the gulf

OpIndia Staff
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US President Donald Trump orders the navy to shoot down and destroy Iranian gunboats if they harass American ships in the gulf

US President Donald Trump has sent a strict warning to Iran stating that the US Navy won’t tolerate harassment in the sea by fellow Iranian ships. Donald Trump said, “I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.”

As per reports, last week, the US military chief had accused Iran of provocative actions in the volatile waterway. However, Iran dismissed the reports as ‘baseless’ and claimed that ‘illegal and aggressive’ presence of the US in the gulf waterways is causing uncertainty in the region. Defence Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said, “What leads to insecurity in the Persian Gulf region is actually the illegal and aggressive presence of the Americans who have come from the other end of the world to our borders and make such baseless claims.”

The US military had reported last week that 11 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came dangerously close to the US navy’s six warships in a ‘dangerous and provocative way’ in the Persian Gulf. Such clashes are common occurrences in the gulf waterways a few years ago but had been largely stopped.

The US ships issued several warnings through bridge to bridge radio, blasts from the ships’ horns and long-range acoustic noise maker devices.

The US Military in a statement said, “The IRGCN’s dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision, and were not in accordance with the internationally recognized Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “We’ve talked as a team. We’re evaluating how best to respond and how best to communicate our displeasure with what took place.”

As per reports, close interactions with the Iranian military vessels were not common in 2016-17. Several times, US Navy fired warning shots at Iranian vessels as warning shots.

Iran refuted the claims

Iran had refuted the claims of harassment by the Iran navy made by the US calling it ‘baseless’ and termed the presence of the US in the Gulf waterway as ‘illegal and aggressive’.

The IRGN stated, “We advise the Americans to follow international regulations and maritime protocols in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and to refrain from any adventurism and false and fake stories. They should be assured that the Revolutionary Guards navy and the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran sees the dangerous actions of foreigners in the region as a threat to national security and its red line and any error in the calculation on their part will receive a decisive response.”

Timed with Iranian military satellite launch?

The US president’s tweet seems to have come hours after the launch of Iran’s first military satellite ‘Noor’ from a mobile launch vehicle. Though the exact role and capabilities of the satellite are not clear, it is seen as a rare success by the Iranian authorities after repeated failures. US Secretary of Space Mike Pompeo had condemned the launch and called it a violation of the UN Security Council resolutions.

‘Bring it on Sonia Gandhi, We have the support of the country’: Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami releases a video after the attack on him

OpIndia Staff
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‘Bring it on Sonia Gandhi, We have the support of the country’: Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami releases a video after the attack on him

In a shocking incident, Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami was attacked by two goons in the wee hours of the night.

In the intervening night of 22nd and 23rd April, Arnab Goswami and his wife were driving back home when two bike-borne assailants attacked their car. According to Republic TV, the goons confessed that they were from Congress and the attack took place only 500 meters away from Goswami’s residence.

Following the horrific attack on him, Republic TV’s Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami released a video narrated the incident.

Narrating the incident, Arnab Goswami said that he and his wife were driving back to their residence around 12.15 AM at Ganpatrao Kadam Marg when he noticed two bike-borne men kept driving parallel to him for a while looking inside his car.

Arnab added that the two bike-borne assailants suddenly overtook his car and stopped their bike. As he tried to avoid them and drive away, the men began hitting on his car’s window, in an attempt to break it.

According to Arnab Goswami, he then attempted to escape the attackers by driving to his left, but the Congress party goons began throwing liquid-filled bottles at his car. He ultimately stepped on the gas and swerved his car away from the spot.

Arnab Goswami said that the duo was then ultimately caught by his security personnel who were following behind him.

Attackers belonged to Congress party

Arnab added that his security detail later informed him that the attackers belonged to Youth Congress workers, who confessed that they were given instructions by their higher-ups to carry out the attack.

Later in the night, Arnab went to the nearby police station to file a complaint. Republic TV has claimed that the Mumbai police has refused to name the Youth Congress attackers in the FIR.

“Bring it on Sonia Gandhi”, says Arnab Goswami

In a video released after the attack, Arnab went on to hold Sonia Gandhi personally responsible for the attack while asserting that neither he or his network will be cowed down by the attack.

“I just want to tell you Sonia Gandhi, you are the biggest coward in the country right now. You (Sonia Gandhi) tried to carry out an attack against me when I was driving back from work. You have no guts,” said Arnab Goswami while holding Congress interim-chief Sonia Gandhi for attacks against him and his wife.

“I will hold you personally responsible for any consequences and any attack on me. If anything ever happens to me, it is Sonia Gandhi and Vadra family, who cannot take my questions, are responsible,” added Arnab Goswami.

Arnab Goswami asserted that he has the support of the people of the country and challenged Sonia Gandhi asking her to “Bring it on”.

Arnab Goswami attacked for questioning Sonia Gandhi’s silence over Palghar mob-lynching

Congress leaders and journalists who identify themselves as neutral on Wednesday had attacked Arnab Goswami after the Republic TV Editor-in-Chief questioned UPA chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi over her silence on Palghar mob-lynching in which two Hindu Sadhus and a driver were killed by an unruly mob.

Launching an attack against Sonia Gandhi, Arnab Goswami had questioned if she would have maintained the silence she is exhibiting today had Christian padres been killed instead of Hindu sadhus in the horrifying lynching incident in Palghar. However, soon after, Congress leaders and many journalists started abusing Arnab and by extension Prime Minister Modi implying he was responsible for Arnab questioning Sonia Gandhi’s silence.

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