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Gujarat: 100 swords seized from Mangrol, arms dealer Hasan Vanjha along with 4 others arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: 100 swords seized from Mangrol, arms dealer Hasan Vanjha along with 4 others arrested

The Rajkot police have seized a parcel containing 100 swords and arrested four people from whom the parcel was recovered last week. The accused, namely Shoaib Chhapara, Imtiyaz Bumadia, Yakub Bumadia and Qadar Girnari were arrested in Mangrol of Junagadh district. The police have also arrested the arms dealer, Hasan Vanjha, who had supplied the arms to the accused, as per reports.

According to the police, the swords came in a parcel in the bus from Narayan Sarovar in Kutch. The parcels were put in the bus at Anjar, said the report.

The police was acting on a tip-off that the consignment containing swords was supposed to come. As the accused, Shoaib Chhapara (20), Imtiyaz Bumadia (18), Yaqub Bumadia and Qadar Girnari, both aged 35, took the delivery of the parcels and were going on their bike, the police

When nabbed the accused produced a false bill of cutleries to prove their innocence. However, when the police checked the consignment, they found swords in it. During interrogation the accused divulged that one Hasan Vanjha had sought the supply of the arms from Anjar. Following this information, the Rajkot police arrested the arms dealer from Mangrol.

On being interrogated Hasan revealed that one Irfan from Anjar had sent the supply of the weapons. He had procured the swords with an intention to sell them, said Hasan. Now, police have launched a manhunt for Irfan.

Dhinchak Pooja is back with a new song spreading awareness on coronavirus and we can’t keep calm

OpIndia Staff
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Dhinchak Pooja is back with a new song spreading awareness on coronavirus and we can’t keep calm

While the Coronavirus pandemic has been taking a toll on people across the globe, singing sensation Dhinchak Pooja makes has made a smashing comeback with a song full of serious advice for the people grappling with the Covid-19 scare.

The popular ‘singer’ who became an internet sensation overnight with her song ‘Selfie maine le li aaj’, has now come back to take her fans by storm, and by the eardrums with another song called ‘Hoga Na Corona’.

In her latest video, she is seen grooving with a group of people, who have worn masks and have stethoscopes around their necks. The lyrics of the song intends to educate the viewers about the novel coronavirus disease. Pooja’s song is full of deep concern and serious advice for the general public.

Dhinchak Pooja, in her typical offbeat style, has attempted to make the world aware of the symptoms and the precautions people need to take to keep themselves safe from the Coronavirus. At this time, when people are having cold feet, dealing with the epidemic, Pooja, as a responsible citizen, seems to have taken up the moral responsibility to elucidate and exemplify to the people across the globe the guidelines for the novel Coronavirus.

The concern she has shown for the society is completely overwhelming and reassuring. At one point of time in the video, Pooja has actually taken the trouble to demonstrate how and when people need to get themselves tested for the novel Covid-19. She says ‘chheek jo aaye test karana’ (get yourselves tested when you sneeze).

She asks people to care for their ‘Babus’ She also displays it when she kicks her ‘Babu’ out the moment he coughs. She also asks people “Bahar na jana, videsh na jana, ghar ka khana” (don’t go outside, don’t go abroad, and eat home-cooked meals)

While we wait to see how people react to this new video of hers, considering the hatred and criticism she has received for her previous musical masterpieces, she should definitely be hailed for her deep concern and solicitude for the people around her.

The video shared here in public interest because we don’t believe in suffering, sorry enjoying alone.

This is not the first time that Pooja has showed her dedication to the problems of society and common Indians. In another song, Pooja had lamented over the problems faced by every single young person in the country like the end of data plans and cash shortage. One of her songs goes “Jeb main na thi koudi, aur khatam ho gaya data”

Pooja’s previous song also had a deep philosophy behind it. She had asked people to forget their worries, dance and go to sleep. The lyrics went “Pagal ho ke naacho, aur naach ke pagal ho jao, jahan mile khatiya, tum chadar taan ke so jao”

“Make masks not gallows”, lawyer of Nirbhaya gangrape and murder convicts make bizarre comments, calls the case a media trial

OpIndia Staff
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“Make masks not gallows”, lawyer of Nirbhaya gangrape and murder convicts make bizarre comments, calls the case a media trial

As only a few hours remain before the convicts in Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case are executed, unless the courts grant yet another stay, the lawyer of the convicts have not stopped trying to save their lives. Today lawyer AP Singh, who is claiming that one of the convicts Pawan Kumar Gupta was a juvenile at the time of the gruesome crime, called the entire case a media trial, and made a bizarre comment that govt should be making masks instead of hanging ropes.

AP Singh made the comments while talking to reporters after the curative petition filed by Pawan Gupta was dismissed by the Supreme Court today. Pawan had filed the curative petition challenging the Supreme Court order dismissing his earlier review petition making the same claim.

A visibly upset AP Singh said, “the curative petition of Pawan Kumar has been dismissed, now we will get the order, after getting the order we will see, you give us the order, it is a media trial case, so you only give us the order. We will see what happened to Pawan’s juvenility, has the Supreme Court made a case against his father and school also. If the documents showing him as juvenile are wrong, if he is not juvenile, then there should be action against them. But as nothing has been ordered, this means they have agreed that the documents are correct, Pawan was juvenile at the time of the incident. But the court is not saying that due to media pressure.”

A P Singh also accused the courts of being biased, as he said that courts already make decisions before hearing them. Replying on his next step, he said, “After we get the order, we decide on filing something. First, we will read the order, actually what happens in our petitions is that order is typed before the petition is filed, it is already readied and you people get it.”

Read- Nirbhaya’s mother breaks down in court, says convict will continue to use delay tactics after court offer legal aid to one of the convicts

When a reporter asked that in earlier cases execution was done immediately after the second mercy petition was rejected, so how can he expect favourable verdict, the lawyer said that it is unfortunate the convicts are being compared with terrorists. He said that rapist-murderers are not hard-core criminals, not habitual or professional offenders, and Pawan was just a kid of sixteen and a half years at the time of the crime. He said, “you are making hanging ropes from threads, ropes, but not being able to make masks for the corona of nature. Do not buy hanging ropes, buy masks to protect from corona”.

When one reporter asked how can he link the case with coronavirus, he said there is a link because injustice is being done. That is why today Supreme Court is closed, people are not able to make photocopies, take printouts, do attestations.

Ever since the mercy petition of Mukesh Singh, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur and Vinay Sharma were rejected by the President, the lawyers of them have been using one delaying tactic after another to postpone their hanging. As the death warrants are issued giving a time of fourteen days, they have been filing petitions separately. Every time a petition of one convict is rejected, another one files a petition, starting the process all over again. But now seems they have almost exhausted all the opportunities of legal review, as no court have stayed the death warrant issued by a Delhi court this time.

The four convicts in 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case were sentenced to death by a trial court in September 2013, and the verdict was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in March 2014. After that, the convicts had approached the Supreme Court, which constituted a bench to hear the matter over one and a half year later.  The trial court judgement was upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2017. The apex court had also dismissed their review petition in July 2018.

After that, the convicts took their time in filing mercy petitions with the president of India. All of them had filed mercy petitions separately, which were rejected by the president. In November 2019, the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition from Akshay pleading for mercy. In January 2019, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court rejected the curative petitions filed by Vinay and Mukesh.

Following that, a death warrant was issued by a Delhi court on 7th January, setting the execution date as 22 January. After that Mukesh filed a mercy petition with the President, which was rejected on 17th January, but before that the execution was stayed due to pendency of the mercy plea. On the same day, the Delhi court issued a second death warrant for 1st February, allotting the mandatory gap of 14 days. On 17th itself, Pawan filed a petition in Supreme Court challenging the Delhi Court order which has rejected his claim that he was minor at the time of the crime. The Delhi HC stayed the execution on 31st January as the convicts had not exhausted their all legal options yet.

On February 17th, a third death warrant was issued for 3 March, and the fourth death warrant was issued on 5th March, setting the date of hanging as 20th March. Every time death warrant was issued, the Tihar Jail authorities have been making arrangement for the hanging. Pawan Jallad, a hangman from Meerut, reached Tihar jail on 17th for the fourth time in three months in this regard. The Jail authorities have already prepared the gallows, and dummy hanging took place on Wednesday to make sure that everything goes well on the day of execution. According to reports, the jail has procured 8 manila ropes, 4 to use and rest 4 to keep as standby.

After asking Italian priests to visit coronavirus patients, Pope Francis “asks” God to stop the pandemic “with his hand”

OpIndia Staff
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After asking Italian priests to visit coronavirus patients, Pope Francis “asks” God to stop the pandemic “with his hand”

Mr Francis of the Vatican church has claimed that he has asked God to stop the coronavirus epidemic “with his hand” and said people should use their time in quarantine to reconnect with their families. As per reports, while speaking to Italian publication La Repubblica on Wednesday, Mr Francis said he had asked God to stop coronavirus epidemic in Italy ‘with his hand’.

Italy, the country that surrounds Vatican church is battling with the most acute outbreak of COVID-19 outside of China, with 31,506 infections and 2,503 deaths as of Tuesday. Mr Francis, who is the Pope of the Vatican church, has been spending the last few days in the Vatican. However, despite the lockdown, he prayed for the victims of coronavirus in two churches in the Italian capital. 

“I asked the Lord to stop the epidemic,” Pope Francis said, describing how he prayed on Sunday afternoon when he walked on “pilgrimage” along the streets of Rome, which has been devastated by the Corona outbreak. “Lord, stop it with your hand. That’s what I prayed for,” said Francis to the media.

The 83-year-old Francis continued, “We must rediscover the concrete nature of small things, of making small gestures toward those around us – family, friends. They are gestures of tenderness, of affection, of compassion, which is nonetheless decisive and important – for example, a hot dish, a caress, a hug, a phone call.” Covid-19 Coronavirus is highly contagious and health advisory across the world have been insisting on social distancing which minimises physical contact like hugs between people.

Addressing the people who have lost their family in the coronavirus crisis, Francis said, “I ask everyone to stay close to those who have lost loved ones, to be close to them in every possible way.” On Sunday, he strolled through the empty streets of the Vatican and walked to two churches to pray for those affected.

Pope Francis’ move comes days after he had urged Catholic priests in Italy to go out and meet the sick and accompany health workers and volunteers. However, when the healthcare workers are in middle of a highly contagious epidemic, it is unclear how the priests accompanying healthcare workers might help the patients.

Italy has emerged as the second most affected country in coronavirus after China with death toll nearing 3,000. On Wednesday, Italy reported 475 new deaths. Over 35,000 people in Italy have been infected.

Telangana: Seven Indonesian nationals who tested positive for Coronavirus attended Islamic evangelical event Ijtema in Karimnagar

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana: Seven Indonesian nationals who tested positive for Coronavirus attended Islamic evangelical event Ijtema in Karimnagar

Seven Indonesian nationals who travelled from Delhi to Karimnagar in a train to attend the Islamic evangelical event of Ijtema have been tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus. The Islamic event organisers had allowed them to stay at a local madarsa during their stay in Karimnagar without even screening them.

According to the reports, on Wednesday evening, the Directorate of Public Health announced that seven more patients, all Indonesian nationals who were travelling on the same train, were tested positive.

The Indonesian nationals came to Karimnagar from Delhi on March 13 in a train. During the journey, they were accompanied by three Indians at Karimnagar. These Indonesian nationals had come to Karimnagar to attend a religious programme and were staying at a mosque.

The Indonesian nationals had approached the police, who asked them to get medical certificates and sent them to a local hospital. One person was detected with coronavirus symptoms. However, they continued with their Ijtema event, where they apparently went about meeting people in some localities in the town.

With one of them testing positive for coronavirus, the district administration has now launched efforts to prevent the spread of the virus in areas where the Indonesians stayed and visited.

The infected Indonesian nationals are currently under isolation at Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad. Interestingly, while the Ijtemas have a faith revival element, what were the Indonesian Muslim’s got to do with a congregation in a Tier-2 or 3 towns in the interiors of India.

Reportedly, the first Indonesian who tested positive was a 58-year-old man. His test results were confirmed on Tuesday. The 58-year-old man already had flu symptoms when he boarded the rain, which worsened after he reached Karimnagar by road from Ramagundem.

Read: How the century-old Islamic evangelical event which originated in India spread coronavirus in South East Asia

Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender said the 10-member team stayed in a Karimnagar mosque for two days. The 58-year-old man along with others have been isolated at a government hospital on Monday and their samples were collected for tests.

The Health Minister added that officials have identified passengers in the coach who had travelled more than 1,400 km with the Indonesians. The health staff is tracking people from Telangana and they will be isolated or quarantined soon.

Tablighi Jamaat and Ijtema

Tablighi Ijtema is a 3-day ‘show of strength’ event of Muslims which is all about moral reform of individuals and is often described as ‘making Muslims true Muslims’. Tablighi Jamaat, of which Tablighi Ijtema is an integral part, is a global Islamic missionary movement which urges Muslims to return to the way Islam was practiced during the time of Prophet Muhammad. The focus is on rituals, dress and personal behaviour and is considered one of the most influential Islamic religious movements of 20th century. It has become world’s second largest Muslim congregation after the Islamic holy pilgrimage of Hajj.

UK: Man cheated wife to visit Italy with Mistress, catches Coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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UK: Man cheated wife to visit Italy with Mistress, catches Coronavirus

A married man who has been quarantined in the United Kingdom after he tested positive for the coronavirus contracted the virus during his trip to Italy with his mistress. The man confessed before the public health coordinators in the north of England on how he picked up the virus during his secret trip to Italy, reports The Sun.

According to the reports, an unidentified man, who is in his late 30s informed his wife that he was on a business trip to the United Kingdom. On his return, the man tested himself for COVID-19 symptoms and his results were positive.

During his confession to the doctors, the man revealed that he had an affair with a woman but refused to reveal her identity. While the man has been quarantined, his wife has isolated herself at their home in the north of England.

The man confessed what he had been up to in Italy and that his wife has no idea, the report said. Reportedly, the wife thinks that her husband caught COVID-19 on her business trip.

“Despite his infection, he is expected to survive the outbreak, unlike his extra-marital relationship. He thought he had the perfect alibi to carry out his affair but hadn’t reckoned on the coronavirus meltdown. The patient is just relieved he got home before flights were cancelled – that would have taken some explaining,” a source close to the patient said to the Sun.

The report also revealed the man to have a “high-flying job”. However, he has refused to name the woman he was on the Italy trip with. “Nothing would persuade him to name his mistress,” said the report. The man is likely to make a full recovery.

The report further added the man was in a panic state not because of his health but more with the fact that his extramarital affair may be exposed. A nationwide lockdown has been instituted in Italy, which has witnessed nearly 60 per cent of the deaths due to COVID-19.

iPad in one hand and Aarti thali in another, Yogi proved his critics wrong

Shantanu Gupta
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iPad in one hand and Aarti thali in another, Yogi proved his critics wrong

When, three years back, 44 years old Yogi Adityanath took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, very few looked at his strong political resume. Five times member of Lok Sabha, being in the top quartile among MPs for participation in Parliament in question hour, debates and private member bills, having a close pulse of the people by virtue of running a janta darbar even without being a chief minister from two decades at the Gorakhnath Math and managing four dozen educational and health organizations of the Math like a super CEO, is no small feat.

But out of the hate for his saffron attire, many political pundits wrote him off, even before he took oath. With massive governance transformation in the areas of Power, PDS, Transport and Education, in last three years, Yogi Adityanath has silenced all.

Uttar Pradesh has been infamous for power-failures and complete blackouts. Today with its drive called ‘Sabko Bijli, Paryapt Bijli and Nirbadh Bijli’ (Electricity for everyone, Enough Electricity and Uninterrupted Electricity), UP is able to provide 24 Hours of electricity in District Headquarters, 20 Hours in Tehsils and 18 hours in villages. The hanging wires that once entangled ‘UP ke Ladke’ Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi in 2017 election campaigning, are finally going underground.

30 critical projects in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh have been taken up by the Yogi government that focuses on making these wires go underground. 22 projects in 19 districts have already been completed in the last three years. The 1.2 Lakh hamlets of Uttar Pradesh that were un-electrified since independence, have been electrified in the last three years. 1.24 crore new household connections have been given in Uttar Pradesh, under schemes such as Prime Minister’s Saubhagya Yojna and that has resulted in 53% increase in the electricity demand in UP.

Read: Three years of governance, trust and development: Yogi Aditynath writes on completing 3 years in office

The production capacity of UP has been increased by 5323 MW in the last three years – 1890MW in thermal, 138MW in Hydro, 1350MW in solar and 1945MW in non-solar, to cater to this increased demand of electricity. As a popular move, the past governments have been soft in recovery of electricity dues but the Yogi Government has started to solve this challenge through smart prepaid meters. The installation process for the 9 lac pre-paid meters out of the target of 40 lac pre-paid meters by 2022, has already been completed.

In order to set an example for politicians and bureaucrats to pay their electricity dues on time, Srikant Sharma, the Power Minister of UP got the pre-paid smart meter installed in his own official residence. On the contrary, Akhilesh Yadav’s close aide Azam Khan is facing charges of power theft.

Read: After buffaloes, Samajwadi Party leader and land mafia Azam Khan now booked for stealing goats

Yogi Government has brought massive revolution in ration distribution in the state. UP’s ration distribution system was marred by the existence of ineligible and ghost beneficiaries, siphoning of food grains during transportation, irregularity in quantity of food grain distributed by the ration shop owners and untimely arrival of food grains. Yogi government did Aadhar seeding of 3.5 Crore ration cards with 14.38 crore ration beneficiaries of Uttar Pradesh in last three years.

The government also provided ePOS machines to all the 80,000 ration shops. As a result, 97% of all ration shop transactions in UP are happening through Aadhar-enabled biometric validation. In the process, 25 Lakhs ghost ration cards have been identified and more than 1200 crores have been saved by the state.

All the food supply vehicles are GPS enabled now and are tracked on a vehicle tracking system. One can track the supply and distribution of food grains till the last ration shop and to the beneficiary even in the remotest village of Bundelkhand, sitting in Lucknow through data-based dashboards.

One of the major success stories of the Yogi Government has been in transport. The state-run transport corporations across India are quite known for making huge losses. As per the Ministry of Road Transport’s Annual Report 2018-19, 55 State run Transport Units have reported a combined loss of more than Rs 14,000 crore in the financial year 2016-17. Even the best of the State Transport Corporations, like Telangana State Transport Corporation (TSRTC), and Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) have also been under huge losses. Until March 2017, when Yogi took oath as CM of Uttar Pradesh, even the Uttar Pradesh State Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) was also not in a great shape. But, in the year 2017-18 UPSRTC clocked a record of 123cr as profit and in the current financial year 2019-2020, by January itself UPSRTC has touched a profit of 83 crores.

It was achieved with the expansion of Uttar Pradesh’s transport services to new routes, exploiting technology to the maximum, cracking down on unsafe and unauthorized private bus services, saving on expenditure, tapping effectively on non-fare revenue and providing quality experience to the passengers. With the use of Sarathi and Vahan platforms of the central government, the driving license application process and the new vehicle registration process is completely online in Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh. The state has started installing sensor-based Automated Driving Testing Tracks (ADTT) in order to avoid manual processes and hence scope of corruption in issuance of the driving license. Kanpur and Bareilly have already got functional automated tracks and the work is in progress for 20 more tracks for other cities.

Educationists should certainly watch out for Yogi’s Uttar Pradesh when it comes to primary education. Development in domains like education tend to show slow results but with the conclusion of Yogi’s term in 2022, the other states would have a benchmark to follow in order to maintain quality learning in government schools. Merely developing School infrastructure is the primary response of governments across India, when it comes to schools. First time a Chief Minister and his team is talking the language of ‘learning outcomes’ in such a comprehensive manner, which is a is music to the ears of any education policy expert.

Read: Uttar Pradesh: Yogi Adityanath govt to build India’s first transgender university in Kushinagar

‘Mission Prerna’ started by the Yogi government ensures measurable learning outcomes for children. Under this mission, Prerna Lakhsya or grade-wise measurable learning goals are established for Hindi and Mathematics – such as word identification, reading speed, reading comprehension, number identification and basic arithmetic operations. Once the block education officers (BEOs) become confident of their students’ readiness for Prerna Lakshya, they are supposed to self-nominate the block for a third-party independent evaluation of the learning levels of the children. As the block achieves that learning level, it will be termed as the Prerak Block.

To cater to the infrastructural issues, a list of 23 basic facilities has been curated by the Yogi government. All the 1.6 lac schools of Uttar Pradesh should have these facilities under the Operation Kayakalp. There is a time-bound target set by the government for the schools to make these facilities available. By the first half of 2020, 7 of these facilities including toilets, water facility, electricity, boundary wall, school gate and additional classrooms would be made available in every school. By March 2022, all the schools would have 100% of these facilities available.

For many critics, a priest can only pray at the mutt but cannot rule a state like Uttar Pradesh. But with an iPad in one hand and Aarti ki thali in another, Yogi has proved that both can and shall exist together and proved his critics wrong.

Yogi Adityanath completes three year in office on 19th March 2020 and I sincerely hope that other states and leaders will look beyond their prejudice of Yogi’s saffron attire and learn from the massive governance initiatives of Yogi Government in different areas of statecraft.

Wuhan coronavirus: A pandemic that was started in China, covered up by China but China thinks calling it Chinese is ‘racism’

Sanghamitra
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Wuhan coronavirus: A pandemic that was started in China, covered up by China but China thinks calling it Chinese is ‘racism’

While the world battles the deadly pandemic of coronavirus that started from China’s Wuhan, a media campaign fanned by the Chinese government seems to be keen on peddling victimhood and shift the focus to vague claims of ‘racism’ and ‘bias’ instead, with active support from the so-called ‘liberals’ in the international media and political sphere.

While it is well known now that the coronavirus infection had started and was spreading as early as November 2019, till January 14, the Chinese authorities have claimed that the Covid-19 did not show human to human transmission. A tweet by WHO that has now gone viral on social media reveals how China has been misleading the world about the pandemic.

The WHO tweet cites the claim by the Chinese authorities that the novel coronavirus does not show human transmission, a claim that now lies shattered as thousands of deaths are reported from China and now in Italy, apart from other nations in the world, with large-scale human to human transmissions being one of the main causes of the spread.

The coronavirus is a family of viruses that are zoonotic, which spread from animals to humans and among people. Coronavirus is a highly contagious, deadly respiratory disease, the outbreak of which was first reported from Wuhan, China. The transmission of the virus takes place when someone who is infected comes in contact with another person. According to medical experts, coughing, sneezing or even shaking hands with an infected person can cause exposure.

In South Korea, 1 ‘super spreader’ who had defied quarantine and had attended services of the controversial Sinchionji Church is believed to have spread the disease to over 1160 people. Italy, which received a large number of Chinese travellers through business and tourism, is the second most affected nation.

Reports have now emerged on how the Chinese authorities actively tried to silence doctors and researchers who had tried to raise alarm about the disease and its potential dangers.

8 doctors were arrested by police in Wuhan on allegations of ‘spreading rumours’ about a SARS-like epidemic, Global Times headline on January 1.

Ai Fen, a doctor from Wuhan central hospital’s emergency department had reportedly shared diagnostic reports with colleagues on December 30, expressing concerns about a SARS-like epidemic, but was criticised by the hospital authorities over ‘spreading rumours’. The doctor was even forbidden from speaking about it to her family.

Dr Li Wenliang, the doctor who had tried to warn others about a SARS-like epidemic in Wuhan, had died on February 7, after days of treating coronavirus infected patients at a hospital in Wuhan. He was also one of the doctors who were warned by Wuhan authorities not to ‘spread rumours’.

China had also brought in travel restrictions and lockdown very late. Chinese officials even allegedly destroyed test samples of patients, threatened whistleblowers and even actively covered up concerns and reports of a potential epidemic spreading fast. Now it has even emerged that genomics samples being tested were destroyed by the order of Wuhan authorities. On January 3, China’s National Health Commissioner had reportedly ordered all the labs not to publish any information and took away all the test samples of the virus. A report by WION has summarised the developments.

After countries worldwide fell victim to the pandemic and started imposing travel restrictions, China even tried to cry racism and peddled wild conspiracy theories about the US Army being responsible for the pandemic.

As US President Donald Trump asserted the term ‘Chinese virus’ the Chinese media, international ‘liberals’ and many organisations across the world have been trying to peddle victimhood, claiming that calling the pandemic a Chinese disease and terms like Chinese virus and Wuhan virus is ‘racism’.

China’s hyperactive propaganda machinery is also working overtime to claim racism and guilt-trip the rest of the world about relating to them a global pandemic that was started on their soil and made worse by their efforts to cover up.

Despite India sending medical help to China, Chinese media is actively claiming that India is spreading ‘anti-Chinese’ conspiracy theories about the pandemic.

A study by the University of Southampton states that had the Chinese authorities started their taking active measures in preventing the spread of the disease at least 1 week, 2 weeks or 3 weeks earlier, they could have prevented the coronavirus spread globally by 66%, 86% and 95% respectively.

The Wuhan coronavirus started in China’s wildlife and seafood markets. China’s demand and consumption of wildlife have contributed significantly to a number of species being driven to the brink of extinction. The negligence and cover-up of Chinese authorities have pushed the world to battle a pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives and impacted global economies heavily. But China is ‘offended’ at the disease being called ‘Chinese’, let that sink in.

Gayatri Mantra vs ‘Hum Dekhenge’: NDTV deletes video of Gurugram residents singing in balcony as ‘seculars’ mock the sacred chant

OpIndia Staff
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Gayatri Mantra vs ‘Hum Dekhenge’: NDTV deletes video of Gurugram residents singing in balcony as ‘seculars’ mock the sacred chant

As the country is fighting the deadly pandemic of COVID-19, many citizens have quarantined themselves to be safe from being contracted from the virus. To battle out the self-isolation, the citizens are coming up with creative ideas to not only keep themselves busy but also cheer up others during these testing times.

In one such incident, drawing inspiration from Italians who have taken to singing in balconies while under self-quarantine, residents of a housing society in Gurugram were seen chanting ‘Gayatri Mantra’ and ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’. Sukriti Dwivedi, a ‘reporter’ at NDTV, shared videos showing residents of an apartment at Gurugram’s Sector 28 residents coming out on their balconies to sing prayer songs “Gayatri Mantra” and “Hum Honge Kamyaab”.

As the video went viral on social media, netizens praised the residents for indulging in activities that boost the morale of the residents, who have chosen to self-quarantine themselves in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

Unsurprisingly, the chanting of Hindu hymns by the residents of the society did not go well with the “liberal-secular” ecosystem. The troll army comprising Islamic trolls, members of secular-liberal intelligentsia did not take this event lightly. The trolls took no time to teach secularism to the residents of the society.

They claimed that Gurugram was not locked-down and called the residents chanting Hindu hymns on loudspeakers as another stunt. Some trolls also complained that the residents were just disturbing the other members of the society by chanting Hindu hymns on loudspeakers.

A total of 17 people have tested positive in Haryana and a precautionary measure, the state government has ordered closure of schools, colleges and anganwadis to help contain the spread of the virus.

Another Islamic troll mocked the women of the society by claiming that this was a staged event. Resorting to sexist attack, the troll called the event was a promotional event setup by some ‘aunties’ of the society.

Another troll who goes by the name Anjali Mody took offence against residents singing Hindu hymns as she drew comparisons with a similar event in Italy, where people were singing songs to battle out the isolation. The troll claimed that people in Italy sang their hearts out and did not chant hymns with microphones, loudspeakers and the national flag.

Haters also wondered if any of these singing ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ would have gone to Shaheen Bagh to do the same because clearly, you couldn’t do one thing if you haven’t done the either.

At a time when the entire world is facing one of the worst health crisis in recent times, there have been brave attempts by some section of the society to keep the hope alive to fight the deadly virus. The collective efforts of the society to boost the morale of the citizens is a must at these times and some residents of the society have done outstanding work to provide some sort of psychological support to the fellow residents who have self-quarantined themselves inside their residences.

However, NDTV pulled down the video as they received the wrath of Islamists and liberals for posting videos that were fundamentally against their secular standards.

NDTV’s deleted video

NDTV’s move to remove the video also irked the netizens who wondered if Gayatri Mantra wans’t up to the ‘secular’ credentials.

Perhaps, NDTV was hoping that the residents sang Islamic poems like “Hum Dekhenge” instead of the Gayatri Mantra to beat the Coronavirus blues, but they seem to have got disappointed and deleted the viral video which had caused severe heartburn to their followers.

If you had gathered courage when Babri was demolished, your mothers and sisters wouldn’t be here: Shaheen Bagh ‘protestor’ gives call to violence

OpIndia Staff
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If you had gathered courage when Babri was demolished, your mothers and sisters wouldn’t be here: Shaheen Bagh ‘protestor’ gives call to violence

As the nation fights the coronavirus outbreak on war footing, the ‘protestors’ at Shaheen Bagh continue to lie, spew hatred and fear-monger with zero regard for public health and safety. in a video uploaded by Facebook page ‘Jamia World’, one of the ‘speakers’ at Shaheen Bagh continued to indulge in spreading lies about the NRC, fear-mongering and spewing hatred as the ‘protestors’ defied government advisory prohibiting gatherings in large numbers.

In the above video, the ‘speaker’ at Shaheen Bagh at around 3 minute 30 seconds hails the jihadist tyrant Tipu Sultan. “Listen Narendra Modi, our mothers and sisters gave birth to Tipu Sultan,” he says. “After 70 years of independence, today Modiji is saying Muslims will have to undergo NRC, Amit Shah says will do the NRC. What NRC? Is the Red Fort of your ancestors? Is this Qutub Minar of your ancestors? Is the Taj Mahal where you took Trump of your ancestors? It is of our ancestors. Listen, those who ask for document in NRC, this Red Fort is our proof. The Taj Mahal is our proof and the Qutub Minar is our proof. Why are you unfurling the tricolour on the Red Fort? I say you should do it at the toilets you built,” he says.

Further laying ‘claims’ on the monument, he says, “Why are you unfurling the tricolour on the Red Fort? It is ours. You built the toilets, you fly your flags there. That will show you are real Hindustani.”

Read: From dead infants to circumventing Delhi govt directions on coronavirus, Shaheen Bagh ‘protestors’ have zero respect for public safety

“Our time is now. The time when we used to walk behind you is gone,” he says while urging the ‘protestors’ to develop the courage within themselves. “If you had developed courage when the Babri Mosque was demolished, then you wouldn’t have to see this day. Your mothers and sisters would not have to sit on the roads. Your conscience was dead. I don’t care if you feel bad. Because today our brothers and sisters are insulted and killed. If you don’t come out of the house today, next will be you,” he says while giving call to violence.

“We are scared only of Allah. We are not not afraid of anyone else,” he said.

In another video, the another ‘speaker’ called for economic boycott of products of Reliance Group and Adani Group as ‘economic loss to them will hit Modi and Shah’.

In the video, he can be heard saying “Modi and Shah will be hurt if the business of ones who are supporting him, Adani and Ambani, are hurt. The fight should be planned, not an emotional one. It is being repeated here often and I will say it again. Stop using Jio phones. Till the time you continue using Jio phone we cannot win this fight. Ultimately, it should hurt them. Their business should incur losses. They are poisoning our community. Hence, we must make sure that the products we use are not from them. We will have to boycott their products.”

Speaking on coronavirus, he says he is not afraid. “They pray to Lakshmi, they are afraid of coronavirus. We do not pray to Lakshmi so we are not afraid. Firstly take the Jio sim and break and throw it away. It will be painful but we have to win this fight,” he says. The speaker further dismisses coronavirus outbreak as a conspiracy. “There is no such thing as corona-vorona. They want to shut down on international level. They don’t want us to leave our homes. This is their planning. They are sitting there and spreading this propaganda,” he adds.

Read: Deoband: 43-day old infant dead in anti-CAA protests, mother says she carried her to protest site every day to ‘make her strong’

This is not the first time provocative speeches have been given at the Shaheen Bagh ‘protests’ where the ‘protestors’ are continuing to sit on the dharna despite the government advisory banning public gatherings in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed thousands of lives worldwide. They have referred to their ‘protests’ as ‘call from Allah’ and have said they do not fear coronavirus.

Recently, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 and declared a new set of restrictions to limit the spread of the highly contagious disease. In order to flout the diktat, the Muslim protestors gathered there in smaller groups and have now decided that they would not end the protest, but spilt themselves into groups of 50 and take precautions by sitting at a certain distance. The ‘protestors’ have apparently been praying and reading the Quran at the protest site, believing that praying to Allah would safeguard them from the coronavirus crisis.

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