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NDTV publishes report claiming Arunachal tribals are hunting snakes due to rice scarcity, gets called out by minister and state govt

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV publishes report claiming Arunachal tribals are hunting snakes due to rice scarcity, gets called out by minister and state govt

Prominent BJP leader and the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Minister of State in the Ministry of Minority Affairs of India, Kiren Rijiju, denounced the misleading report published by NDTV that claimed tribals in Arunachal Pradesh are hunting snakes to fight starvation amidst the alleged scarcity of rice in the state.

Taking to Twitter, Rijiju sharply criticised NDTV for publishing an unsubstantiated story about the hunting of snakes for consumption in Arunachal Pradesh. “Dear @ndtv please don’t make stories without verification! I’m dead against hunting and killing of animals so is the State Govt. But to say that there’s no rice left for the people leading to the killing of cobra is rubbish! No one hunts snakes for consumption in Arunachal Pradesh,” the BJP leader said.

NDTV had published an article in which it claimed that due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown amidst the coronavirus outbreak, tribals in Arunachal Pradesh have resorted to killing cobras to fulfil their dietary requirements as rice has been in the short supply. Sharing a photo of a group of hunters with a 12-feet long cobra slung over their shoulders, the NDTV report said that the tribals have been left with hunting animals for their food as they have ran out of stocks of granaries amid the coronavirus lockdown.

This claim was also contested by the Arunachal Pradesh government. Rubbishing the NDTV report for its fake assertions, the official Twitter account of the Arunachal Pradesh government issued a clarification stating that there is no paucity of rice stocks in the state. It said that the state has at least three months stock at all places and is providing free ration to those who have all lost their livelihood due to the lockdown. Around 20,000 people have been provided with free ration till date, it said.

The state government’s sharp rebuke had forced NDTV to update its report. The report now incorporates the state government’s stance that it has enough ration to provide to the needy people of the state for the next three months but it still retains the hunters’ account in the article, who claimed that the rice stocks in the state had dried up forcing them to go hunting for the wild animals.

Besides, a case has been filed against the group of hunters who killed the Cobra under the Wildlife Protection Act, according to the state officials.

The King Cobra is a protected reptile under the law and killing it is an unbailable offence. Arunachal Pradesh is home to a large number of endangered snake species.

Following Arunachal Pradesh and Goa, Manipur becomes third Indian state to become coronavirus-free

OpIndia Staff
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Following Arunachal Pradesh and Goa, Manipur becomes third Indian state to become coronavirus-free

The chief minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh informed on Twitter that his state is coronavirus-free as both the patients in the state, who were earlier declared coronavirus infected, made a full recovery and tested negative for the infection.

“I am glad to share that Manipur is now Corona free.Both patients hv fully recovered and have tested negative.There are no fresh cases of the virus in the state.This has been possible because of cooperation of public &medical staff and strict enforcement of lockdown @PMOIndia,” Singh tweeted Sunday evening.

The first case in the state was of a 23-year-old woman with a travel history to Europe. She had recently returned from the United Kingdom after which she was tested positive for the coronavirus. The second case in the state was of a 65-year-old man who was found to have contracted the infection after he returned from the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Markaz Nizamuddin.

Indian states which are coronavirus free

The declaration by the chief minister of Manipur of having defeated the highly contagious infection came on the heels of the announcement made by another Indian state, Goa, which yesterday claimed that it had successfully thwarted the spread of the coronavirus and all the seven patients who had tested positive for the contagion initially have recovered from their illness. Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday announced that Goa is now a ‘zero Coronavirus case’ State after the seventh patient tested negative in the state on Sunday. Prior to that, the lone coronavirus patient in Arunachal Pradesh had also recovered. Sikkim, too, has managed to steer clear from the pandemic.

As per the notification issued by the Union Home Ministry regarding the relaxations in the lockdown, which has come into effect from Monday, these states can allow business activities while following the mandatory safety protocol.

MEA trashes Imran Khan’s rant of religious discrimination in India, says Pakistan should instead focus on its own dwindling minorities

OpIndia Staff
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MEA trashes Imran Khan’s rant of religious discrimination in India, says Pakistan should instead focus on its own dwindling minorities

On Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava dismissed the false allegations of “discrimination against Muslims” levelled against India by Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan.

Amidst the humanitarian crisis caused due to the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak, Imran Khan has not given up his pursuit of attributing baseless claims to the Indian Government. On Sunday, he claimed that the Modi Government was racist and Hindutva supremacist. Not only that, he compared the treatment of Muslims in India to that of the Jewish treatment by Nazis.

Slamming the leader of the Islamic Republic, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stated, “The bizarre comments by the Pakistani leadership are an attempt to shift focus from the abysmal handling of their internal affairs. Instead of concentrating on fighting Coronavirus, they are making baseless allegations against their neighbours.” He added that the Pakistan Government must instead focus on its dwindling minority communities who are subjected to discrimination in the Islamic Republic.

MEA slams USCIRF for spreading false propaganda

On April 15, the Indian government slammed the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for falsely criticising the country by citing fake reports that coronavirus patients were being segregated on the basis of religious identity in an Ahmedabad hospital.

In a statement, the MEA asked the USCIRF to stop adding religious colours to the Indian government’s efforts in fighting the Chinese pandemic. Anurag Srivastava said, “As if its peremptory commentary on religious freedom in India is not enough, the USCIRF is now spreading misguided reports on the professional medical protocols followed to deal with [the] spread of COVID-19 in India.”

London: Vijay Mallya’s plea against extradition to India rejected by UK High Court

OpIndia Staff
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London: Vijay Mallya’s plea against extradition to India rejected by UK High Court

The UK High Court has rejected liquor baron Vijay Mallaya’s plea against his extradition to India. As per reports, Mallya had appeared in the High Court against his extradition in February this year.

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two presiding justices hearing the appeal in a two-judge bench of the Royal Courts of Justice in London rejected the appeal today. The verdict was reportedly handed down remotely, due to the coronavirus situation.

Mallaya had appealed against the verdict of a lower court in 2018. Mallya is wanted in India as an economic offender in a 9000 crore loan fraud case.

After the UK High Court’s verdict, the case will now go to Home Secretary Preeti Patel for a final decision on this regard.

The justices, in a 46 page judgement, stated, “In the judgment, the SDJ (senior district judge Emma Arbuthnot was entitled to find that there was a prima facie case of fraud by false representation. We reject the submission that the SDJ was wrong to find a prima facie case of conspiracy to defraud”.

“It is clear beyond any doubt that the SDJ directed herself properly. It is clear she had the criminal burden and standard in mind when she considered whether there was a prima facie case”, the verdict added, as per a report in the Hindustan Times.

Mallya’s lawyer Claire Montgomery had appealed against the SDJ’s verdict on six grounds. The six grounds were dismissed by the High Court bench.

Mallya was declared a fugitive economic offender in India. He is wanted by the CBI and the ED.

Last year, Mallya had claimed that the Indian authorities had already attached his properties worth more than what he owed to the banks.

Here’s the difference in how media reported lynching of Muslim victims and the Palghar lynching of innocent Hindu Sadhus

OpIndia Staff
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Here’s the difference in how media reported lynching of Muslim victims and the Palghar lynching of innocent Hindu Sadhus

The brutal mob lynching of three in Palghar, Maharashtra including two Sadhus has shocked the nation. The sheer depravity of the whole scenario combined with the Policeman’s seeming unwillingness to offer their protection to the deceased has sent shock waves across the country. The incident occurred on the 16th of April 2020. Since then, 110 have been arrested so far.

As heinous as the crime was, it was another incident where the duplicity of the mainstream media came to light. The duplicitous manner in which the media reports on cases of mob lynching became evident in the wake of the murder of the Sadhus at Palghar. In a sane world, the victims of such brutal murder would receive similar coverage by the media. But now, it is more clear than ever that it’s definitely not the case. In this report, we shall highlight how the mainstream media reported on the mob lynching of the Sadhus at Palghar and how it has reported on such crimes when the victim happens to be Muslim.

The Wire

Far Left propagandist outlet The Wire decided that playing politics over the matter was the best course of action. In its report, it accused BJP leaders of pushing the ‘Communal angle’.

Source: The Wire

Contrast this with the manner in which The Wire reports on cases where a Muslim is the victim of a mob lynching. The following screenshot is from a case which occurred last year.

Source: The Wire

The difference could not be clearer. Unfortunately enough, this is consistent with their overall ridiculously biased coverage under the garb of ‘independent media’ and neutrality.

The New Indian Express

The conduct of The New Indian Express has been equally deplorable. As has become the norm, when the victim is a Hindu, the mainstream media completely downplays the religion of the victim but in the case of a Muslim being the victim, the medi goes out of its way to emphasize the victim’s religion. The following is the screenshot of the TNIE’s report on the Palghar mob lynching on the 19th of April”

Source: The New Indian Express

Only 10 days prior, the same media outlet had published a report on the incident of a Muslim man being thrashed on the suspicion of spreading the Wuhan Coronavirus but in that instance, the subheading made it clear that the man was unfairly targeted. Furthermore, the headline mentions the religious identity of the victim as well.

Source: The New Indian Express

The selective emphasis on the religious identity of the victim depending on the victim’s faith is a familiar pattern that we will witness again and again.

The Hindu

The Hindu, too, has engaged in journalism where the emphasis on religious identity depends on the religion of the victim concerned. In the case of the Palghar mob lynching, the headline read, “3 lynched in Palghar after rumours over mistaken identity”.

Source: The Hindu

When it comes to cases of mob lynching of a Muslim, however, the religion of the victim automatically takes precedence over its feigned ‘secularism’. Here’s the screenshot of its report on the mob lynching of a Muslim man in June 2019:

Source: The Hindu

The differential treatment that Hindus and Muslims receive in mainstream media is abundantly clear from such instances.

Hindustan Times

The Hindustan Times also follows the familiar pattern. The headline of its report on the Palghar mob lynching read, “Mistaken for thieves, 3 lynched to death by 200-strong mob in Maharashtra’s Palghar”. The headline makes no mention of the fact that two of the victims were Sadhus, or even Hindus.

Source: Hindustan Times

Now, consider the manner in which the same newspaper reports on cases of mob lynching when the victim(s) belong to the Muslim community. Here’s a report on one such case from June 2018:

Source: Hindustan Times

Needless to say, all of this is part of a dedicated campaign to create a false narrative that only Muslims can be the victim of mob lynching.

Scroll.in

Far-Left propagandist website Scroll.in, obviously, could not be far behind. Their headline on the Palghar mob lynching read, “Maharashtra: Suspected of being thieves, three men beaten to death by mob in Palghar”.

Source: Scroll

Unlike others, Scroll.in does very little to hide its bias and even takes pride due to it. This, of course, reflects on their coverage of events as well. It’s headline for its report for the now infamous Tabrez Ansari murder read, “Jharkhand: Muslim man dies four days after mob beats him up, forces him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’”.

Source: Scroll.in

It is pertinent to note here that not only does Scroll.in go out of its way to mention the religion of the victim in the Tabrez Ansari murder, it also files it separately under the topic ‘Attacks on minorities’. The mob lynching at Palghar, however, receives no such treatment and is filed under ‘state news’. It is, of course, one of the many ways in which such far-left websites engage in propaganda.

What It Tells Us About The Mainstream Media

The manner in which the mainstream media reports on cases of mob lynching tells us a lot about its worldview and its moral bankruptcy. It is widely known and acknowledged that the mainstream media is heavily invested in creating a false perception among minorities that they are under attack from ‘fascist’ Hindus with active cooperation from the State machinery. However, reality is starkly from that and when law and order is compromised, Hindus and Muslims suffer in equal measure regardless of their religious identity.

Islamists express their glee over UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s father’s death

OpIndia Staff
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Islamists express their glee over UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s father’s death

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s father Anand Singh Bisht, after suffering from liver and kidney ailments, passed away today at 10.44 AM in AIIMS. He was undergoing treatment at AIIMS for the past month against a long illness.

According to the reports, CM Yogi Adityanath was in a meeting when the news of the death of his father was conveyed to him. The CM, however, continued his meeting and got up only after completing the meeting on coronavirus situation in the state. Subsequently, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also wrote a heartfelt letter expressing anguish at his father’s passing away and also, apologised for not being able to attend his funeral.

While it is a moment of grief for Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath after he lost his father this morning, some morally depraved and mean-spirited individuals could not stop themselves from expressing glee over the UP CM’s loss. Soon after the news of the demise of Yogi’s father broke, scores of perverted Islamists reacted to it with euphoria and happiness.

Islamists expressing glee over Yogi Adityanath’s father’s demise
Islamists expressing glee over Yogi Adityanath’s father’s demise
Islamists expressing glee over Yogi Adityanath’s father’s demise
Islamists expressing glee over Yogi Adityanath’s father’s demise

It is worth noting that while Yogi Adityanath is a Hindutva leader and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, he is also a son who is aggrieved by the loss of his father. However, the Islamists, having shunned their last vestiges of humanity and awash with a pathological hatred for Yogi, had no qualms in celebrating the death of an individual. Y

Yogi Adityanath’s father passed away today

A letter penned by CM Yogi Adityanath after his father’s death underscores the profound agony suffered by him. In his letter, Yogi wrote that it was his father who had taught him the principles of hard work and working honestly and selflessly for the greater good of the people.

Yogi Adityanath also wrote that it was his wish to see his father one last time in his last moments, however, due to the fight against Coronavirus and the responsibility of protecting 23 crore people of his state from the pandemic, he could not do so. Furthermore, he said that due to the lockdown and the responsibility of fighting the Coronavirus pandemic, he is not being able to partake in the funeral of his deceased father.

Yogi Adityanath is known for his no-nonsense approach against the Islamists who habitually threaten to disrupt the law and order in the state. During the anti-CAA campaign that swept across the country, Yogi government particularly came down hard against the Islamists in Uttar Pradesh who resorted to stone pelting, vandalism and arson in the name of carrying out ‘peaceful protest’ against the new Citizenship Law. Yogi has also been stringent in enforcing the lockdown restrictions, not allowing the Islamists to congregate for their namaz prayers. The UP government has also been on its toes to identify and isolate the Tablighi Jamaat members in the state to avoid further transmission of the coronavirus. Perhaps, these actions by UP CM Yogi Adityanath have not gone down well with the Islamists.

Why defending Tablighi Jamaat is the biggest disservice to the Indian Muslim

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Why defending Tablighi Jamaat is the biggest disservice to the Indian Muslim

Lately, Tablighi Jamaat has been dominating the discourse in India amidst the nation battling the Coronavirus pandemic. The news of the participants from Tablighi Jamaat being super-spreaders has overtaken the mind space of millions of Indians who have joined hand and come together to do amazing work during this time of crisis. The positive news of pensioners donating their life’s saving, people contributing to kitchen run by volunteers which are feeding millions and individuals making efforts to supply PPE to hospitals in need have, unfortunately, taken a backseat with the Tablighi Jamaat members overwhelmingly turning out to be Coronavirus positive, and to a large extend, hindering the fight of the nation against Coronavirus.

From how the Nizamuddin Markaz had to be evacuated, the speech of Maulana (Emir) Saad to the volunteers of Tablighi who are constantly getting ‘Discovered’ from various mosques across India, the people saw it all. The news, highlighting the behaviour of the Jamaati’s is now known to everyone. What really is astonishing that there are people who are still defending it and calling the reporting on this issue as contributing to Islamophobia.

History of Tablighi Jamaat

What should be noted that despite being founded in 1926 which makes them a 104-year-old organisation, which is believed to have a presence in over 150 countries, was not known to a majority of Indians. Most people heard about Tablighi Jamaat only after it was reported that they had belittled India’s fight against Coronavirus.

Read: The Life and Crimes of the Tablighi Jamaat amidst the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic: All You Need To Know

This organisation was founded by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi, an Islamic scholar from Deobandi School of thought from Saharanpur. This organisation was started in Mewat, where few Meo Rajputs had converted to Islam but had retained their cultural roots of Hinduism. Giving the slogan of: “O Muslims, become true Muslims.”, he based his organisation of six tenants of Islam as prescribed in Quran and Hadith. His idea was only to interact with converted Muslims and inspire them to the true form of Islam on how it was practised at the time of the prophet. This automatically meant that any other way like Sufism etc was not seen as a pure form of Islam. Also, it won’t be incorrect to say that the organisation goal was to cut the umbilical cord of the recent converts with their native culture and practices. 

First spotlight – Swamii Shradhanand and more

The organisation usually worked very silently and much wasn’t known about it. Just before Tablighi was founded, Swami Shardhanand also known as Mahatma Munshi Ram Vij, who was an Arya Samaji educationist/Lawyer was running a “Shuddhi” movement apart from fighting the Indian Occupation via various forums. His “Shuddhi” movement was to facilitate the converted Muslims back to the Vedic fold. His programme became quite popular amongst the recently converted Meo Rajputs of Mewat. On 23rd December 1926, he was assassinated by Abdul Rashid, who visited him in Delhi, posing as a visitor. Mohamad Rashid was believed to be from Tablighi Jamaat, according to reports, and the organisation became embroiled into controversies the same year it was founded. While the security agencies pointed fingers at the Tablighi Jamaat, the alleged link could not be proven.  

The involvement of this Jamat has surfaced many times in various terror activities across the globe. From bombing in Barcelona, Portland Seven, 2006 Transatlantic plot, 7/7 London bombings, Glasgow International Airport Attack to the famous charging of Zacarias Moussaoui in the twin tower attack in the US. While the organisation was under the radar of various authorities, such linkages were never discussed in the Indian domestic sphere. 

Tablighi Jamaat does not believe in much interaction with non-Muslims. Its volunteers who have dedicated their time to the faith, travel to far corners of India and world t interact with Muslims only and convince them to practise the pure form. When they travel, their accommodation is usually arranged at the local mosques or by other volunteers, all of them belonging to the same school of thought (I’m purposely not using the word ‘faith’). Hence where they go their first and only point of contact are always Muslims. If whereabouts of the members are not shared with the relevant Authority and the Jamaatis do not come forward by themselves, the first victim of this infection will be Muslims themselves. As they travel to far corners, they will be infecting members from the Muslim community where the facilities of treatment/testing might not even be present, in which case the infection might turn deadly. 

The disservice to Muslims by those who defend Tablighi Jamaat and their conduct

To say the least, Tablighi is a subsect of one school of thought in Islam. When people defend them or their behaviour by whataboutery are doing the biggest disservice to Indian Muslims, many of whom, might not even belong to this subsect. To the people who prefer to use ‘Single Source’ instead of Tablighi, you don’t realise that such generic term assists in generalising the whole community than a group of people from a particular organisation. Just like Indian Muslims should not bear the guilt of the acts committed by the fanatics in Twin-Tower attack, similarly, the vast majority on Indian Muslims should not be asked to bear the burden of a very secretive society, actions of which are just indefensible.  

One thing to keep in mind is that the elite Muslims who defend the behaviour or the people who are not coming forward, are doing so from the comforts of their own homes, where they are maintaining isolation. They are no less than Hurriyat leaders who instigated the young Kashmiri Youth to come out on the streets and throw stones, while they themselves sat in the comfort of their homes and their kids acquired education in various prestigious schools and collages in India and abroad. 

I would like to end with one irony. The Tablighi Jamaat was founded as an antithesis to Sufi Islam and had a huge role in eclipsing Sufism in South Asia. Today its international headquarters, the Tabligh Markaz at Banglewali Mosque is battling its own demons while the Sufi Mosque of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, which is located right across it stands tall.  

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya attacked by Islamists for an out of context tweet. Here is the truth

OpIndia Staff
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BJP MP Tejasvi Surya attacked by Islamists for an out of context tweet. Here is the truth

Scores of closet Islamists, some of them belonging to the royal family of the Islamic dictatorial regimes in the Middle East, appear to have launched a coordinated smear campaign against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya and the Indian government for the perceived ill-treatment of Muslims in India. Sharing an old out-of-context tweet posted by Surya in which the BJP MP from South Bengaluru quotes Canadian author Tarek Fatah’s personal opinion, the Islamists portrayed the tweet by the BJP leader as a recent one meant to attack Arab women after they partook in harassing and targeting expatriate Hindus in the Middle East.

One lawyer from Kuwait with the Twitter account @MJALSHRIKA posted a cropped image of the tweet by Surya with no time-stamp and demanding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take punitive action against Surya for his disgraceful tweet for the Arab women.

Another Kuwaiti national, Al Nassar, who seems to be more interested in India’s response against the COVID-19 than his country’s preparation against the contagion, shared the screenshot of tweet posted by Surya and demanded PM Modi to drop his membership. Nassar, a staunch anti-India ideologue, had shared a raft of propagandist videos and tweets posted by the Indian Islamists to assert that Indian Muslims are subjected to injustice.

One Noora AlGhurair of the United Arab Emirates too joined the orchestrated campaign against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya to slam him for posting what was essentially Tarek Fatah’s views. Condemning his tweet, AlGhurair threatened that if Surya is bestowed with the Foreign Ministry someday, he will not be welcomed at the United Arab Emirates. This tweet will be remembered, she sinisterly warned.

A Saudi Arabian propagandist, Abidi Zahrani, who routinely shares propagandist videos and tweets of Muslim subjugation in India, endorsed the hate campaign ran by the Arab maximalists against Tejasvi Surya.

Abidi Zahrani retweeting the misleading tweet by Tejasvi Surya

Quite predictably, Indian Islamists, too started peddling the hate-filled propaganda against BJP MP Tejasvi Surya. Samar Halarnkar, infamous for instituting a faulty hate-tracker that only tracked hate-crime when a victim was Muslim, made a snide remark against Tejaswi for tweeting Tarek Fatah’s opinion.

Another Islamist, Sam Jawed, who is also the co-founder of Alt News, endorsed the coordinated attack on BJP MP Tejaswi Surya for a 5-year old tweet. Other AltNews cofounders also like to spread unverified claims over the internet regularly.

Tejasvi Surya, long before he was elected as a Member of Parliament from the South Bengaluru constituency, posted a tweet with excerpts from a tell-all interview of a Canadian journalist Tarek Fatah, known for his trenchant views against the Islamists. The interview happened 5 years ago, in 2015, and Tejaswi had posted the tweet on March 23, 2015. In fact, Surya also defended himself Congress IT Cell member Srivatsa pointed out the risque nature of his tweet. Surya had then said that it was not his personal opinion and he was simply quoting Tarek Fatah said.

Tejasvi Surya’s 2015 tweet

However, such details of the incident were lost on the Islamists with the sole agenda of peddling hatred against the keepers of the law associated with the Modi government. The attacks unleashed on Tejaswi Surya are glossing over the larger point made by Tarek Fatah about the Female Genital Mutilation witnessed in many of the Arab countries. Instead, the tweet posted by Tejaswi Surya is quoted out of context without the time stamp so that he can be projected as an anti-Muslim leader.

This opinion was made by Tarek Fatah in his interview with Swarajya Magazine in 2015. Answering the question of why the countries in the Middle-East failed in embracing democracy despite the Arab Spring that upended the region in 2010, Tarek Fatah responded, “I didn’t believe that. The biggest minority is the individual and if he has no rights there are no human rights. Even at demonstrations in Cairo women were being sexually assaulted by men. What Arab Spring are we talking about? Ninety-five per cent of the Arab women have never had an orgasm in the last few hundred years! Every mother has produced kids as an act of sex and not love. Women’s genitals have been cut for thousands of years. What sort of a society are you creating with only one category of people?”

Surya simply quoted the personal observation made by Tarek Fatah in his interview. Surya’s tweet read: “95 % Arab women have never had an orgasm in the last few hundred years! Every mother has produced kids as an act of sex and not love:@TarekFatah”.

Relevant section of Tarek Fatah’s Interview which was quoted by Tejaswi Surya in his tweet in 2015

Targeted harassment by Islamists

After harassing the Hindu diaspora residing in the Middle East countries for voicing their concerns over the role of Tablighi Jamaat in contributing towards the precipitous rise of coronavirus cases in India, Islamists based out of the Gulf countries as well as those in India have once again colluded to spew venom against Hindus.

It is pertinent to note that these Islamists from Arab countries and those staying in India recently targeted Hindus staying in the Gulf countries for raising uncomfortable facts about the criminal role of Tablighi Jamaat in the spread of the coronavirus in India. Hindus who held Tablighi Jamaat culprits as the reason for a large number of COVID-19 cases in India were accused of spreading hate and Islamophobia and were reported by a large number of Indian Muslims to Arab authorities in order to tame them and stem their criticism of the orthodox Muslim organisation.

Supply chain disrupted, livelihoods affected, Haldia in West Bengal facing a shortage of medicines: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Supply chain disrupted, livelihoods affected, Haldia in West Bengal facing a shortage of medicines: Report

The restrictions imposed by the West Bengal Government in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak, after a delayed response to the pandemic, have now led to a shortage of essential medicines and breakdown of the supply chain in several hotspots (microspots), reported India Today. As of April 20, the Wuhan Coronavirus has infected 339 people and has claimed 12 lives in the State of West Bengal.

Restrictions in Micro-spots of West Bengal

The West Bengal Government has identified three red zone districts in the State, namely, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, and Kolkata. They will remain under complete lockdown until April 30. The red zones have further been classified as micro spots wherein tighter restrictions will be enforced. In such clusters, the movement of outsiders is restricted. Only essential goods can be delivered at specific times by authorised people with valid permission.

Lack of supplies

The extension of lockdown in microspots has added to the inconvenience of the shopkeepers who are unable to make ends meet due to limited customers and restrictions in procuring supplies from the farmers.

“We show licence to police and request them to allow the goods into the market but they do not allow. We find it difficult to import goods and other produce. If it comes to the market, we will be able to sell the products somehow”, a local shopkeeper named Ajay Sahu was quoted as saying.

Shortage of essential medicines in Haldia

The city of Haldia in West Bengal fell to the Coronavirus pandemic after a Telangana resident who worked at the Haldia dock returned to the city on March 24 following his visit to the religious congregation at the Nizamuddin Markaz. After several cases of the Chinese virus were detected in the city, several areas have now been marked as ‘microspots.’

As per the India Today report, besides urging people to co-operate with the administration during the lockdown in the State, SDPO (Haldia) Tanmoy Mukherjee conceded the acute shortage of essential medicines in the area.

“We are not getting the medicine of blood pressure. Police are very strict in this area. Sanitiser is not available. I request the government to help because my father is a senior citizen and suffering from many diseases. I work in a private company, I am not sure whether I will get my next salary or not”, a local resident Bishan Singh shared his story.

Moreover, due to limited movement within the hotspots, grocery shops are reeling under shortage of supplies. The breakage in the supply chain has added to the grievances of the local residents. The threat of the pandemic has been aggravated by ‘educated’ people flouting social distancing norms in microspots, despite the efforts made by volunteers and the police to enforce social distancing guidelines in the vulnerable areas.

West Bengal sitting on a time bomb

The suppression of facts and fudging of data has become a major worry for authorities and health experts in West Bengal, which has now snowballed into a huge controversy between the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government and doctors who are whistleblowing against the state government for forcing health authorities not to declare deaths from coronavirus unless certified by a state government-nominated panel.

According to a Sunday Guardian report, the manipulation of data on coronavirus cases by the Mamata Banerjee-led government, expectedly, has come under fire from officials of the Kolkata-wing of the Indian Council of Medical Research, who have blamed the TMC-led government for slowing down the mandatory tests related to the deadly virus.

The worst part is that the state government has not even responded to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Central government’s declaration that the whole of Kolkata city and some of its districts should be declared as Coronavirus hotspots.

Yogi Adityanath will not be attending the last rites of his father: Read the heartfelt letter where he explains why

OpIndia Staff
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Yogi Adityanath will not be attending the last rites of his father: Read the heartfelt letter where he explains why

UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s father, Anand Singh Bisht, passed away in AIIMS at 10.44 AM today. He was suffering from liver and kidney ailments. Reportedly, CM Yogi Adityanath was in a meeting when the news of the death of his father was conveyed to him. The CM, however, continued his meeting and got up only after completing the meeting on coronavirus situation in the state. Now, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has written a heartfelt letter expressing anguish at his father’s passing away and also, apologised for not being able to attend his funeral.

Letter written by CM Yogi Adityanath on the death of his father

CM Yogi Adityanath wrote that he is deeply anguished at the death of his father. It was his father who had taught him the principles of hard work and working honestly and selflessly for the greater good of the people.

Yogi Adityanath then writes that it was his wish to see his father one last time in his last moments, however, due to the fight against Coronavirus and the responsibility of protecting 23 crore people of his state from the pandemic, he could not do so. He also says that due to the lockdown and the responsibility of fighting the Coronavirus pandemic, he is not being able to partake in the funeral of his deceased father.

Read: UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s father passes away, was admitted in AIIMS

In the heartfelt note, Yogi Adityanath then appeals to his mother and the members attached to his ‘previous life’ that they should respect the Coronavirus lockdown orders and ensure that only few people partake in the last rites of his father.

Paying respects to his father, Yogi Adityanath ends his note by saying that only after the lockdown is lifted, he will meet his grieving family.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath had accepted ‘Sanyas’ at an early age and hence, has referred to his family as ‘Purvashram’ in his letter. His family is from Uttarakhand. Yogi’s father was a retired government employee. Yogi Adityanath, born as Ajay Singh Bisht in 1977, had taken Sanyas, renouncing family life and social relations at a young age when he had joined the Nath sect in 1994. 

Yogi Adityanath is the fifth child of his parents Anand Singh Bisht and Savitri Devi. 

Despite Yogi Adityanath being an MP from the age of 26 and eventually becoming the CM of Uttar Pradesh in 2017, his parents and siblings have maintained a humble lifestyle.

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