At first glance, this looks like just another banking scam. But peel back the layers of the Rs 590 crore fraud detected at IDFC First Bank’s Chandigarh branch, and what emerges is a textbook case of how insider access, weak oversight, and family-linked shell operations can be combined to quietly drain public money until a routine administrative request blows the cover.
It began with a simple request and exposed a massive hole
The entire scam came to light not because of a whistleblower or an audit, but because a Haryana government department asked for its account to be closed and the balance transferred elsewhere. When bank officials began the process, they noticed something that should never happen in a government account: the numbers didn’t match. The balance on paper and the actual money available were not the same.
Once this discrepancy surfaced, other Haryana government-linked accounts at the same branch were checked. The result was multiple mismatches across accounts. What initially looked like a clerical issue quickly snowballed into the discovery of a suspected fraud running into hundreds of crores. That is when IDFC First Bank informed regulators that around Rs 590 crore had been siphoned off through unauthorised and fraudulent activities, allegedly involving its own employees and outside beneficiaries.
The alleged architects: insiders who knew the system
The Haryana Anti-Corruption Bureau has so far arrested four people in the case: Ribhav Rishi, the former branch head; Abhay, a former relationship manager at the same branch; Swati Singla, Rishi’s wife; and Abhishek Singla, Swati’s brother. According to investigators, Ribhav and Abhay were not minor functionaries but officers who understood the bank’s internal processes, controlled client relationships, and had access to sensitive systems.
In other words, they allegedly knew exactly where the guardrails were and how to drive around them. Both had left the bank months before the scam became public, which suggests this was not a one-off act of opportunism but a scheme that may have been running quietly for a considerable period.
Follow the money: from government accounts to a family-linked firm
The most incriminating aspect of the case is the money trail uncovered so far. Investigators say around ₹300 crore was transferred from Haryana government-linked accounts to a private company called Swastik Desh Projects. On paper, it appears to be an ordinary firm, but its ownership structure immediately raises red flags. The company is largely owned by Swati Singla, the wife of the former branch head, with the remaining stake held by her brother Abhishek Singla.
In simple terms, a massive chunk of public money allegedly moved from government accounts into a company controlled by the prime accused’s immediate family. From there, the money was reportedly routed further onwards, a classic layering technique commonly used in financial crimes to make tracing funds more difficult and to blur the audit trail.
The geography puzzle: Chandigarh, Haryana, Mohali and blurred oversight
Another detail that has drawn the attention of investigators is the unusual geographical spread of the transactions. The bank branch involved is in Chandigarh, the account holders are Haryana government departments, and at least some of the recipient transfers went through a bank branch in Mohali.
On a map, these places are close to each other, but administratively they fall across different jurisdictions, involving two states and one Union Territory. Investigators have questioned how and why government accounts were being operated and routed in this manner without earlier scrutiny. In complex financial frauds, such jurisdictional grey zones often become convenient cover, not by accident but by design.
Why this is not just another “bank scam”
This case cannot be brushed aside as a routine instance of bank fraud. At its core, it involves public money allegedly being siphoned off from government departments, which means the ultimate victim is the taxpayer. It also points to a serious breach of trust, because the main accused were not outsiders breaking into the system but insiders who allegedly used their authority and access to manipulate it. Most importantly, it exposes systemic failures, because for such large sums to move without immediate detection, internal controls, audits, and supervisory mechanisms clearly did not function as they should have.
The bank’s damage control: pay first, investigate later
Amid the unfolding investigation, IDFC First Bank has said it has already repaid 100 per cent of the claimed amount, around ₹583 crore including principal and interest, to the Haryana government departments. The bank’s public stance is that depositors should not suffer because of wrongdoing that occurred within the system. While this step may limit the immediate financial damage to the state, it does not answer the more uncomfortable question of how a scheme of this scale was allowed to operate undetected in the first place.
What happens next
The Anti-Corruption Bureau has made it clear that the investigation is still at an early stage. In the coming weeks, more details are expected to emerge about how internal controls were bypassed, whether more people were involved, where the remaining money went, and how long the alleged operation had been running. What already seems evident, however, is that this was not an accidental error or a one-off lapse. If the allegations hold, this was a carefully structured, insider-driven operation that treated a government account like a private cash pipeline, until a routine transfer request finally pulled the curtain back.
The bigger takeaway
The Rs 590 crore IDFC First Bank fraud is a reminder of an uncomfortable reality in financial systems: the most dangerous breaches often do not come from outsiders forcing their way in, but from insiders who already have the keys and know exactly which doors do not squeak.
OpIndia has been documenting crimes against Hindus in India and globally. Covering persecution of Hindus based on their religious identity has earned us massive community support, making OpIndia one of the most unapologetically vocal Hindu media outlets. For this reason, the Hinduphobic Islamo-leftist lobby has long been targeting OpIndia to push us into silence through FIRs, court cases, hitjobs, campaigns to slash OpIndia’s ad revenues, trashy ‘research’ papers and whatnot.
OpIndia has been targeted (again) for its 2022 Leicester violence reportage. This time by a Soros-funded ‘inquiry’ published by the SOAS University of London.
On 23rd February 2026, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) released its 218-page report titled ‘Better Together: Understanding the 2022 Violence in Leicester’.The inquiry ditches its initial claim “no single community or group is to blame” for the violence, distrust, and tensions in Leicester; by repeating blame on Hindus, and dedicating a full chapter and recommendations to portraying Hindus and Hindutva. OpIndia reported earlier that the SOAS University researchers with an anti-Hindu past, presented Hindutva or Hindu nationalism as a ‘clear factor’, a ‘state-backed international project’, and a form of ‘extremism’ equating it to what they called “political Islamism”.
Unsurprisingly, the propaganda report prepared by the SOAS University targeted OpIndia for its Leicester violence coverage. In the segment analysing the impact of social media on the incidents in Leicester back in 2022 and vice versa, the report almost ridiculed Hindu social media users for raising their voice against Islamist attacks on Hindus in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, particularly in Leicester under the hashtag #HindusUnderAttack.
The report claimed that social media narrative manipulation was at play during the Leicester violence in 2022, with OpIndia being a significant contributor.
“Of the top 30 shared URLs in tweets, 11 were from OpIndia, a media outlet that strongly supports Narendra Modi, the BJP and Hindutva politics,” the report claimed. “Building on Henry Jackson Society researcher Charlotte Littlewood’s interview with GB News, reports from OpIndia alleged that ‘Islamists’ were calling for the removal of Hindus from Leicester as they had done in Kashmir,” it added.
OpIndia does not support Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP or Hindutva politics. OpIndia supports Hindus, Hinduism and Hindutva sans politics. Adding the ‘politics’ suffix to suggest that we are a part of or an extended arm of any political party is factually incorrect. We have, as exemplified in OpIndia’s coverage of the outrageous UGC caste discrimination guidelines issue, been critical of the BJP, the Modi government and their specific policies as and when required.
This, however, is not the first time that OpIndia’s Leicester violence coverage has irked the Islamo-leftist cabal.
As OpIndia articles reportedly topped social media trends highlighting attacks on Hindus in Leicester, the BBC cried hoarse
Notorious for peddling fake news and propaganda about Hindus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and contextualising Islamist violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, the BBC had published a report on 24th September 2022, wherein it claimed that the top 30 URLs shared under the hashtag #HindusUnderAttackinUK were of OpIndia articles. The BBC tried to dismiss the hashtag as inorganic. It also highlighted the massive reach of one of OpIndia’s articles based on Henry Jackson Society researcher Charlotte Littlewood’s concern that at least nine families had left Leicester due to threats of violence from Muslims.
Since the Leicestershire Police back then said that they were “not aware” of Hindu families leaving Leicester, the BBC tried to suggest that OpIndia peddled misinformation. However, it was seen how the BBC itself downplayed the disinformation and violence by the Muslim side.
Of the 30 OpIndia URLS, BBC claimed trended under #HindusUnderAttackinLeicester, the British state media chose to highlight only the ‘Hindus leaving Leicester’ report, in a classic case of cherry-picking material useful for pushing ‘international Hindutva-aligned actors’ peddled more misinformation than the Islamists.
“The BBC examined the top 30 URLs that were shared using these hashtags. Of them, 11 were links to articles written by news website OpIndia.com, which describes itself as “bringing the right side of India to you”. As well as potentially inauthentic accounts, these articles were also widely shared by genuine accounts including some with hundreds of thousands of followers,” the BBC article stated.
“One of the OpIndia articles cited British researcher Charlotte Littlewood, from the Henry Jackson Society, who told GB News that several Hindu families had left Leicester due to threats of violence from Muslims. The article was retweeted nearly 2,500 times. Leicester Police have since said that they were unaware of any reports of families having to leave,” it added.
OpIndia had highlighted back in 2022, how the BBC’s Leicester violence reportage was riddled with anti-Hindu bias, with a deliberate attempt at villainising Hindutva and the BJP-RSS, even though there was nothing linked to RSS, BJP of so-called Right-Wing extremists or fascist orientation to the violence at all. BBC’s Leicester violence coverage had sparked significant backlash from the British Hindu community back then.
In its report titled Did misinformation fan the flames in Leicester?”, BBC said, “Some people link the disorder and the reaction to it to the Hindutva ideology. They believe that Indian politics is being imported to the city, but thus far the BBC has found no direct link to such groups in the run-up to the disorder”.
While on the face of it, it appeared that the BBC was being unbiased by not directly linking Hindutva with violence in Leicester, the BBC, despite conducting an ‘investigation’ into the violence, could not find any evidence to support that it was Muslims who started the clashes, even as video evidence corroborated the same.
Despite mentioning the names of Islamists like Majid Freeman, who was among the top instigators of violence against Hindus, the BBC did not shun its balancing act and blamed Hindus for spreading misinformation. In fact, Freeman was interviewed by the BBC to set the narrative in favour of the Muslim perpetrators.
OpIndia had highlighted back then that the BBC went on to suggest that the desecration of a sacred saffron flag from the Shivalaya Mandir by a Muslim man may have been done by a Hindu.
The BBC had also lamented that the Hindus in Leicester found support from Hindus in India, the Hindu-majority nation. Indians have a massive social media presence, and yet the BBC, based on its analysis of 20,000 tweets in English about Leicester violence originating from India, suggested that this was a “manipulation of the hashtags”, insinuating that the Hindu support from India somehow worsened the violence in Leicester. This clownish assertion finds mention in the recently released SOAS Inquiry as well.
Newsclick amplified the BBC’s anti-Hindu propaganda
Leftist propaganda outlet Newsclick had amplified the BBC report to push the propaganda against Hindus in the context of the 2022 Leicester violence. Even while highlighting the fake news peddled by Majid Freeman about Hindus kidnapping a Muslim girl, Newsclick called him a ‘community activist’ and not the main instigator of the violence against Hindus.
Newsclick’s anti-Hindu bias is not hidden. Moreover, Newsclick is also under scrutiny for its alleged connections with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 2023, an investigation by the New York Times uncovered an ecosystem of activist organisations, non-profits, shell corporations, and their intimate ties to China and Chinese propaganda, with Neville Roy Singham at its helm. A Delhi Police chargesheet filed in 2024 called the Chinese state the “ultimate paymaster”, with funds routed to stoke anti-India narratives, especially regarding Kashmir, and farmers’ protests. The case is ongoing in the court.
In 2021, OpIndia conducted a detailed investigation into the links of NewsClick and uncovered how it was linked to several individuals who regularly spew venom against India, from Urban Naxals to those like Teesta Setalvad, Abhisar Sharma and several others. That investigation by OpIndia can be read here.
The Bridge Initiative, full of Pakistanis, publisheda ‘Hindutva in Britain’ propaganda report blaming Hindutva for Leicester violence, targeted OpIndia for not peddling Muslim victimhood bogey
In November 2023, The Bridge Initiative under Georgetown University in the US published a report titled “Hindutva in Britain”. At the very onset, the report attempted to distinguish Hindutva from Hinduism by reducing Hindutva to a mere ‘political ideology’.
“It is important to stress that Hindutva is not Hinduism. Hindutva is a modern political ideology, used by individuals and groups to carve out an exclusive identity and justify discrimination and violence against minority communities. Hindu nationalists seek to create an ethno-religious state known as the Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation), claiming that their Hindu-ness is integrally tied to the land they reside on (the secular nation-state of India),” the report said, adding that this exclusionary viewpoint of Hindutva is in stark contrast to the teachings of Hinduism.
In the chapter titled “Case study: The 2022 Leicester riots”, The Bridge Initiative peddled the same and repetitive Muslim victimhood bogey, even as the clashes were started by Muslims. The report cited Islamist sympathisers like Chris Allen, The Guardian’s Aina J Khan and Hanah-Ellis Peterson, Hindutva Watch’s Pakistani admin Raqeeb Hamid Naik, and other such notorious Hinduphobes to establish Hindutva as a bigger threat than Islamic Jihadism.
It must be recalled that Chris Allen was named by Leicester mayor Peter Soulsby to lead an ‘independent inquiry’ into the Leicester violence; however, he had to step down after local Hindu organisations protested.
The report had also amplified Muslim victimhood propaganda by Islamists like Shockat Adam, who had a problem with Belgrave being supposedly called a ‘Hindu area’, but no such objections to the Green Road area being a Muslim area. OpIndia reported earlier that Shockat Adam is associated with a radical Islamic outfit named ‘Muslim Engagement and Development’ (MEND) for quite a long time, even holding the position of ‘Leicester Chair.’ Shockat Adam had attempted to downplay the Islamist violence in Leicester carried out by his co-religionists by labelling it as a ‘reaction to provocation.’
The Bridge Initiative- Community Policy Forum report also attempted to paint Hindus as ‘Islamophobes’ for objecting to the application for the construction of a mosque in the Hindu-dominated area, as if there are at least two to three temples in Muslim-dominated areas in the city.
The Bridge Initiative also targeted OpIndia, particularly the Editor-in-Chief, Nupur Sharma, for her tweet raising concern over claims emerging that, amidst rising tensions, several Hindu families, as many as 200, were displaced from Leicester. In her tweet, Sharma had tagged Leicestershire Police, clearly with the intent to solicit a clarification from the police, and yet, The Bridge Initiative then and the SOAS Inquiry now have used the same tweet to suggest that OpIndia was peddling misinformation.
There’s a reason why OpIndia, in its report on the SOAS Inquiry, called the Soros-funded report a “recycled propaganda”. Much like the SOAS report, The Bridge Initiative had also tried to discredit the claim by Charlotte Littlewood of the Henry Jackson Society, about nine Hindu families leaving Leicester due to fear of violence.
It also cited the BBC report, which claimed that 11 of the top 30 URLs that used the hashtags “#ProtectLeicesterHindus”, “#StopLeicesterIslamicTerrorism”, “#HindusUnderAttackInLeicester”, #” HindusUnderAttackUK”, and “#HinduHateInUK, linked to articles written by OpIndia. Apparently, much like the BBC, the SOAS, and The Bridge Initiative were also irked by OpIndia’s “extraordinary international reach”.
Akin to the pattern seen in the SOAS Inquiry, The Bridge had also briefly highlighted the Islamist-manufactured and amplified anti-Hindu disinformation; however, it refrained from calling Islamist instigators like Majid Freeman and Mohammed Hijab as Islamists but rather, called them “community activist” and “Muslim social media influencer”.
The report described Mohammed Hijab as a mere Muslim social media influencer, despite quoting his video statement, which was filled with pejoratives against Hindus. Unsurprisingly, The Bridge Initiative did not find Allahu-Akbar-screeching Muslim mobs attacking Hindus offensive and terrorising, but somehow, the sacred Jai Shri Ram slogan became a ‘Hindu nationalist war cry’.
The background of The Bridge Initiative and its past shenanigans are even more interesting. In October 2022, the Initiative published a 40-page report claiming that Muslims are in the 8th stage of genocide in India. It suggested that India is seeing serious genocide of Muslims, which is allegedly on the 8th stage in a 10-stage scale created by Gregory Stanton. The eighth stage includes expropriation, forced displacement, ghettos, and concentration camps. In reality, however, there is no religion-based targeting of Muslims in India.
It also painted the Ayodhya Ram Mandir judgement and Kashi’s Gyanvapi dispute as “anti-Muslim”. In addition, they also peddled fake news that the CAA was an anti-Muslim policy of the Modi government, when the fact is that the CAA only accelerates granting citizenship to persecuted minorities in neighbouring countries.
The Bridge Initiative is described as a “multi-year research project on Islamophobia”, and it functions under the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) at Georgetown University in Washington DC. The ACMCU was set up with a donation of $20 million by Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud in 2005. Talal has been a controversial businessman and was arrested on corruption charges.
The lead researcher mentioned in the report is Mobashra Tazamal, a Pakistan-origin researcher who has done her Master’s degree in Islamic Societies & Cultures. Her profile on the Georgetown University website states that “her current research centres on global Islamophobia with a particular focus on China’s campaign targeting Uighur Muslims and its use of surveillance technology, the rise of ethno-nationalism, and the financial and trans-Atlantic connections of the Islamophobia ‘industry’.” She is the associate director at the Initiative.
Other prominent members of The Bridge Initiative include Arsalan Iftikhar, another Pakistan-origin researcher. Arsalan Iftikhar is infamous for his racist comments against American politician Bobby Jindal, when Jindal was Louisiana’s governor. Appearing on MSNBC, Iftikhar had said about Jindal, “He might be trying to, you know, scrub some of the brown off his skin as he runs to the right in a Republican presidential exploratory bid.” This remark had triggered massive outrage, and MSNBC had announced that Iftikhar would not be appearing on the channel again.
Another member of the Initiative is Farid Hafez, who was investigated by Austria for suspected terror funding and association with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Austrian authorities raided his Vienna house in 2020 and questioned him after monitoring him for years under Operation Luxor.
Clearly, behind the intellectual façade, The Bridge Initiative is an Islamist propaganda machinery targeting Hindus and other communities and leaders who resist Islamist dominance and intransigence.
Commonwealth Magazine, The Times, Vice and The Caravan: Names change, but target remains the same— OpIndia
A concerted effort by the Islamo-leftist media in India and abroad to target OpIndia for its Leicester violence coverage has been seen since 2022. In this vein, the UK-based Commonwealth Magazine had published a propaganda piece on 28th September 2022, wherein it not only peddled the Muslim victimhood bogey, blaming Hindus for Leicester violence, but also cried hoarse of OpIndia calling anti-Hindu violence in Leicester as what it was— “Islamist rampage”.
What better to have been expected from the Magazine when it quotes Islamists like Scroll’s Shoiab Daniyal in a report.
Joining the anti-Hindu and Hindutva smear campaign, US-based Vice also amplified the same ‘Hindutva is bad’ bogey, Hindu nationalism imported in the UK, villainising the Jai Shri Ram slogan, etc. It not only highlighted the BBC report, which claimed that OpIndia articles were linked in most of the tweets under the hashtag #HindusUnderAttackinLeicester, but also lamented OpIndia’s Editor-in-Chief, Nupur J Sharma’s massive Twitter following. It also declared OpIndia’s content as “anti-Muslim”, apparently, for Islamo-leftists, there is pro-Muslim content or anti-Muslim content; there is no in between.
The Guardian whitewashed Islamist violence in Leicester
Back in 2022, Opindia exposed the tactics adopted by The Guardian journalist Aina J Khan to blame the violence against Hindus in Leicester on themselves.
In an intellectually dishonest piece published on 19th September 2022, Khan had distinctly associated religious identity with groups of Hindu protestors, with phrases such as “unplanned protest of Hindu men,” and “Hindu men were filmed marching.”
However, she shrewdly chose not to point out the religious affiliation of the man who desecrated a Hindu temple and uprooted a saffron flag. In a bid to shield her co-religionist who desecrated the Hindu place of worship, Aina J Khan used the bait of a ‘good Imam.’
The Guardian journalist thereby shifted the public discourse from the vicious attack on a temple by her co-religionist to the alleged benevolence of a ‘bystander’ Imam. When OpIndia pointed out the obvious discrepancy in her reportage, Aina J Khan cried foul and dubbed the criticism as ‘Islamophobia.’
On 17th October 2022, the antisemitic organisation ‘Stop Funding Hate (SFH)’ went on an unhinged tirade against Opindia for exposing ‘The Guardian’.
‘Stop Funding Hate’ desperately wanted to strip OpIndia of advertisement revenue for showcasing the true plight of Leicester Hindus to the world, who were left at the mercy of Islamists and their sympathisers in the media industry.
Meanwhile, UK-based ‘counter-extremism’ think tank, Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), had in October 2022, published a ‘dispatch’ titled “Violence in Leicester: Understanding online escalation and offline fallout,” wherein it largely blamed Hindus for Leicester violence, downplayed the role of Islamists like Majid Freeman and Mohammed Hijab. It also targeted OpIndia over British patriot and activist Tommy Robinson sharing an OpIndia article, which rightly described Muslims as the instigators of the 2022 anti-Hindu Leicester violence.
The Times also echoed the ‘Hindutva’ escalated tensions in Leicester bogey and accused OpIndia of being prominent ‘Hindu nationalist actors’ behind amplifying disinformation about the incidents in Leicester in September 2022.
Similarly, Indian far-left propaganda magazine The Caravan, which prioritises studying the caste composition of martyrs from the Indian Army in Islamic terror attacks, had also targeted OpIndia for the latter’s Leicester violence coverage. In its hit-job titled, “Agent Orange The toxic business of OpIndia’s anti-journalism”, Caravan author Amrita Singh, portrayed OpIndia as a hate amplifier in Leicester coverage for the latter calling the Islamist-orchestrated anti-Hindu violence as what it was: Islamist-orchestrated anti-Hindu violence.
‘Academic paper’ by Mohan J Dutta labelled OpIndia a part of ‘Hindutva propaganda infrastructure’ over Leicester coverage
A research-cum-propaganda paper, one Mohan J Dutta vilified Hindutva and Hindus, particularly in context of the 2022 Leicester violence, and also attacked OpIndia. It called X handles of OpIndia and its Editor-in-Chief Nupur Sharma, “part of the Hindutva propaganda infrastructure producting hate.”
It also echoed The Guardian journalist Aina J Khan’s fake ‘Islamophobia’ victimhood after OpIndia exposed her anti-Hindu bias reflected in her Leicester violence report.
Further, it framed OpIndia’s report calling out Islamists planning protests against Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir by falsely accusing it of involvement in violence against Muslims in Leicester, as a “protest against the far-right ideology of Hindutva.”
UK Parliament submission attacked OpIndia
A written submission made anonymously in the UK Parliament had previously peddled an alarmist and apocryphal narrative about the imaginary ‘democratic backsliding in India’. The submission had vilified Hindutva and the Hindu rights group, describing Hindutva as an ‘extremist’ ideology. It went on to target OpIndia, claiming that the Hindutva-aligned media organisation’s content borders on “hate and religious polarisation.”
CIA-front Bellingcat targeted OpIndia for its unapologetically pro-Hindu reporting
Bellingcat, which has previously been exposed as a CIA front, had also attacked OpIndia in the past. In a report authored by brown sepoy Pooja Chaudhari, Bellingcat criticised OpIndia’s pro-Hindu reporting, critical of Islamist crimes, as somehow “anti-Muslim”. It quoted Islamist fake news peddlers like Alishan Jafri, who equated OpIndia with Nazi propaganda newspapers like Der Stürmer. Besides the general attacks on OpIndia’s editorial style and tone, the Bellingcat garbage also blamed OpIndia articles for the escalation of tensions during the Leicester violence.
It further targeted OpIndia’s revenue sources and cried hoarse over platforms like Facebook and Google not heeding the leftist smear campaign to demonetise OpIndia.
Interestingly, Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based “open source investigations” collective lauded by Western media for its work on Russia, Syria, and other conflict theatres, is a crucial component of the network highlighted in the OpIndia-CSDS study.
Bellingcat has received donations from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a US-Congress-funded organization specifically established to assist organizations that promote US interests overseas. Additionally, it gets funding from various Western government-affiliated institutions and benefactors, notably European and British sources. Bellingcat has been directly accused by the Russian government and others of being a Western intelligence cutout, citing instances in which its “open source” conclusions coincidentally matched classified disclosures and biased attributions of culpability in disputed occurrences. Bellingcat also has links with the anti-India Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) outfit.
In fact, Bellingcat’s co-founder Allen Weinstein once publicly disclosed: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”
Source: Washington Post article from 1991
From Middle East Eye to Madhayamam, leftist media amplifies the anti-Hindu SOAS Inquiry into Leicester violence, even as Hindus condemn it
All the articles and research papers targeting OpIndia we discussed here cited each other as ‘credible’ sources, creating a loop of citations to lend ‘academic’ credence to the ongoing attempt at establishing a narrative that Hindutva is a massive menace of religious extremism, apparently, even bigger than Islamic Jihadism. The Islamo-leftist media is also playing its role in amplifying the anti-Hindu propaganda quite efficiently.
Ever since the Soros-funded SOAS University Inquiry into the 2022 anti-Hindu Leicester violence was published on 23rd February 2026, the Islamo-leftist media globally have amplified it with headlines like ‘Hindutva permeated Leicester violence’.
Indian news outlet Madhyamam headlined its report as, “Hindutva-inflected chants permeated Leicester mobilisation, conditioning unrest: Inquiry.”
Meanwhile, Middle East Eye published its report with the headline, “Leicester riots: Inquiry finds Hindu nationalist ideas and disinformation played role in unrest.”
Islamo-leftist propaganda portal The Wire has amplified the anti-Hindu trash produced by the SOAS University and headlined its report as, “Hindutva chants led to escalation in 2022 Leicester violence: Report.”
Conclusion
Clearly, there is a coordinated echo chamber that has been recycling the same old, and most importantly, debunked anti-Hindu propaganda to whitewash Islamist extremism and violence. These attempts to delegitimise OpIndia’s exposure of anti-Hindu violence in Leicester, by recycling the same tropes since 2022, will not deter OpIndia from its mission. Be it Leicester violence, persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan or in India, or in any corner of the world, OpIndia has and will report what leftist and mainstream media would ignore, equivocate or suppress. We will not allow scapegoating of Hindus and Hindutva for the Islamo-leftist pursuit of whitewashing and humanising Hindu-hating violent Islamists, no matter how many ‘research papers’, hit jobs, and smear campaigns come our way.
A controversy has erupted in Gujarat’s Kutch district after a Muslim teacher at Archana St. Xavier’s School in Nakhatrana was accused of snatching a Hanuman Chalisa booklet from a Class 6 student and throwing it away inside the classroom. The incident has led to protests from Hindu organisations and parents, leading the school administration to relieve the teacher from duty. However, demands are now growing for legal action in the matter instead of closing the issue at the school level.
According to information shared by local groups, the incident took place on 11th February. The student was sitting in the classroom with a small Hanuman Chalisa booklet when the teacher entered. Soon after noticing it, the Muslim teacher reportedly took the booklet from the child and threw it aside.
A Hindu girl accidentally carried Hanuman Chalisa in her bag to St. Xavier's School in Kutch, Gujarat.
The teacher snatched and threw it away.
Hindu groups protested, filed complaint and the teacher fired.
The entire incident was recorded on the school’s CCTV cameras, which have now become an important part of the controversy.
Protests by organisations and parents
After the matter came to light, members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) reached the school and raised objections over the incident. Representatives from the two groups, along with police officials, spoke with the students in the classroom to understand what had happened.
Nakhatrana, Gujarat: A teacher allegedly snatched the Hanuman Chalisa from a sixth-grade student and used offensive language about Hinduism. The incident sparked strong protests and widespread outrage from the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad). pic.twitter.com/IYpjkmA4CM
Members of the VHP stated that the students told them the teacher had scolded the child and made comments about the Hindu religion rituals while taking away the Hanuman Chalisa. They further claimed that after the incident, the student was pressured inside the school and made to record a video saying that nothing inappropriate had happened.
The organisations later submitted a memorandum to the local education officer demanding strict action against the teacher as well as accountability from the school management. Protests by parents and activists continued until the school administration announced that the teacher had been relieved from duty.
Despite this step, Hindu organisations maintain that removing the teacher alone is not enough since the incident took place within the school premises. They are insisting that a formal legal case should be registered so that similar incidents do not occur in the future.
VHP leader shares details of the incident
In a conversation with OpIndia, Kutch Division Minister of Vishwa Hindu Parishad Chandubhai Raiyani stated that the school initially tried to prevent the matter from becoming public. According to him, smaller incidents had taken place earlier as well, but were handled internally without wider attention.
He said that in this case too, efforts were made to settle the issue quietly and that the student and her parents were reportedly put under pressure. Raiyani claimed that the child was made to record a video denying the incident and that there were concerns raised about the student’s future if the matter continued. He added that action was taken only after CCTV footage surfaced and protests intensified.
Raiyani also mentioned that the school had faced controversy earlier. He referred to a past case where a teacher reportedly collected money from students by promising to take them to a sports academy and later disappeared, after which police action was taken.
Activists connected with Hindu organisations have also expressed concern about increasing religious conversion activities in Nakhatrana and nearby rural areas. They say missionary groups frequently visit remote regions, and therefore, incidents inside missionary-run schools are being closely watched by local communities.
School responds, denies religious remarks
When contacted regarding the issue, the school administration confirmed that the concerned teacher is no longer working at the institution. However, the school stated that it is not obligated to initiate further legal action since the teacher has already been removed from service.
The school also rejected claims that any religious remarks were made during the incident. According to the administration, the teacher handled subjects like mathematics and science, which do not involve religious discussions. School representatives suggested that the situation has already been addressed through internal action.
On the other hand, Hindu organisations continue to stand by the students’ version of events, saying children present in the classroom stated that comments were made at the time the Hanuman Chalisa was taken away.
Demand for legal action continues
At present, the school considers the matter closed after relieving the teacher, but protests from organisations and parents have not completely stopped. They argue that legal proceedings are necessary to set a clear example and ensure respect for students’ religious beliefs within educational institutions.
Parents involved in the protests say the issue is not only about one incident but about creating confidence that children’s faith and sentiments will be respected inside schools. Organisations have indicated that they will continue to pursue the matter with education authorities and local administration until further action is taken.
The incident has now become a topic of discussion across the region, with many awaiting clarity on whether authorities will step in and initiate formal proceedings following the protests and demands raised by community groups.
The power-hungry politics of the Indian National Congress blurred the lines between its animosity towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the nation itself. The desperation to regain New Delhi has continued to intensify as the party persistently drifted further away from it, resorting to absurd claims and falsehoods in an attempt to push the public into supporting the devious narrative, despite its legacy of repeatedly spectacular failures.
Now, in a similar pursuit of achieving some degree of success in its agenda, the Congress has chosen to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the trade deal between India and the United States, following the Supreme Court’s judgement which pronounced President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs as illegal.
Rahul Gandhi confronts PM Modi with outrageous lies, dares him to cancel non-existent India-US trade deal
On 24th February (Tuesday), Rahul Gandhi referred to the trade pact between the two sides as an “arrow piercing the hearts of Indian farmers,” declaring PM Modi as a compromised leader who completely surrendered and insisting, “He was trapped and forced to sign it.” He even implicated Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and industrialist Gautam Adani as two reasons for the approval of the agreement.
“The US Supreme Court has annulled the tariffs that were imposed by Trump on various countries. Afterwards, these nations promptly terminated their trade agreements. Nevertheless, Narendra Modi has not uttered a single word. I extend an open challenge from this platform to him to revoke the India-US trade accord. If you have the courage, do it,” he dared in a “Kisan Mahachaupal” rally in Bhopal.
He added, “I am telling BJP workers that he will not do anything due to the pressure exerted by America and Trump. He will not act because of the impending threat of the Epstein files and the serious allegations against Adani. India has been betrayed. This is the truth.”
मोदी जी, खुली चुनौती है – India-US Trade deal रद्द कर के दिखाइए।
अमेरिकी सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने ट्रम्प के टैरिफ़ रद्द कर दिए, दुनिया भर के देशों ने अपने समझौते renegotiate कर दिए – आप क्यों खामोश हैं?
सारा देश जानता है आप ये नहीं कर सकते – क्योंकि आप अमेरिकी Grip में Choke कर पूरा… pic.twitter.com/DWODIeF9z7
The Rae Bareli MP stated that Trump even tweeted about how PM Modi talked to him and assured him that he would sign the pact which had been stalled for four months. He charged, “The prime minister fled from the lower house and the next day made a bogus excuse that Congresswomen were planning to attack him. The truth is that he could not stand in the Parliament and phoned Trump.”
The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha subsequently named Union Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari to assert that the cabinet had not been consulted prior to his conversation with Trump.
“Millions of Epstein files are held up in the US. There are at least 30 lakh documents with videos, emails and messages which have not been released. Hardeep Puri’s name was released to threaten the government to comply or more details are going to be unveiled,” he stressed, while announcing the alleged first motive behind the deal.
चार महीने से अमेरिका के साथ ट्रेड डील रुकी हुई थी।
लेकिन प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने सिर्फ दो कारणों की वजह से इसे साइन कर दिया।
⦿ पहला कारण-
अमेरिका में लाखों Epstein फाइलें बंद पड़ी हैं। लाखों फाइलों के ईमेल, मैसेज, वीडियो अभी तक रिलीज नहीं किए गए हैं।
Gandhi also referenced Anil Ambani, who appeared in the infamous files and demanded, “Anil Ambani is not my friend but PM Modi must clear his relationship with him. There are more such individuals who are yet to be disclosed.” He then shifted to Adani and labelled him as the second and more important factor.
“Adani has taken over the country, from airports to cement. The name is everywhere. It is not a small company. It is the financial structure of Narendra Modi and the BJP. Adani faces criminal charges in the United States. He cannot go to America or Europe and is scared of being imprisoned. The target of the case is PM Modi, not Adani. These are the two reasons why Modi ran away from Parliament and told Trump of his willingness to accept all conditions and ink the deal,” he accused
India-US agreement and the veracity of allegations levelled by Congress
The truth predictably stands in stark contrast to the statements made by the Gandhi scion, as no such accord has been executed between the two trading partners. The Modi government has only given a nod to a framework arrangement, and extensive negotiations are currently underway, as is the case with free trade agreements (FTAs).
These discussions can take several months and often extend over years before a conclusion is reached and mutually acceptable terms are established. In fact, a delegation from India was scheduled to travel to Washington for negotiations to finalise an interim trade settlement, but the trip was postponed in light of the decision delivered by the apex court of the United States.
The centre’s strategic patience and methodical approach to bilateral trade negotiations have turned out to be smart and far from being caught off guard, unlike other nations that have formed deals with the United States. India presently has more room to reconsider and possibly negotiate better conditions.
Likewise, it is clearly apparent how New Delhi has maintained its stance and practised an independent sovereign policy under the Modi government, which did not falter despite 50% tariffs imposed by the White House, relentless threats to halt imports of Russian oil and even refuted Trump’s boastings in relation to negotiations for a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
On the other hand, the opposition and its ecosystem have continually tried to incite farmers after every significant agreement to create unrest and cast PM Modi unfavourably. However, the government has regularly emphasised that these deals are designed with the interests of farmers at heart.
Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, pointed out that the accord with the United States completely protects India’s agricultural interests, especially those of the farm and dairy industries. He mentioned that “no market segment has been opened in a manner that could harm Indian farmers.”
“For us, the interest of farmers is the foremost priority. India will never compromise the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I believe, personally, I will have to pay the price, and I am ready for that,” PM Modi had vowed last August.
Additionally, PM Modi did not escape from the Parliament because he was unable to face the opposition or was under any pressure, but he was instructed by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla not to attend to prevent an unwarranted situation there. “I received credible information that several members of the Congress party could have approached the prime minister’s seat and caused an unforeseen incident,” Birla voiced.
“If such an incident had occurred, it would have severely damaged the dignity of the nation. To avoid this, I urged him not to come to Parliament,” he outlined.
The repetitive Adani rhetoric
The Congress has sought refuge in jibes directed at Adani and Ambani after realising its inability to defeat the saffron party in the electoral battlefield. Gandhi again borrowed from the old playbook and alleged that PM Modi is in cahoots with Adani and has hurt national interest to protect him in the United States. He earlier went so far as to invite Trump to leverage the mogul against India. The absurd claims of collusion have not only been denied by the tycoon but also lack any supporting evidence.
However, the double standards and blatant hypocrisy of the party have been remarkably visible as its governments engage in business with him while frequently attacking him without any proof. “You can never get any personal help from PM Modi. You can speak to him about policies in the national interest but when a policy is framed, it is for all, not only for the Adani group,” he expressed during his interaction with Rajat Sharma on Aap ki Adalat in 2023.
“We want to make maximum investments in every state. The Adani group is working in 22 states, and all these states are not BJP-ruled. We are working even in Left-ruled Kerala, in Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal, in Naveen Patnaik’s Odisha, in Jaganmohan Reddy’s Andhra Pradesh, even K Chandrashekar Rao’s Telangana,” he added, exposing how different regions, regardless of ruling parties, are conducting business with him.
The swift rise of Adani and Ambani occurred during the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), despite assertions that the Modi government practised crony capitalism and aided their ascent. Interestingly, the head of the Adani Group doubled his wealth to Rs 33,211 crore in 2011, making him the nation’s top wealth generator.
Moreover, neither the Adani Group nor the Reliance Group was on the list of those who acquired electoral bonds, which further discredited the contentions of ties between them and the BJP. However, the unyielding assaults have been sustained by Congress irrespective of the merits of the arguments and after being invalidated by the Supreme Court of the country.
Hardeep Puri’s inclusion in the propaganda
Hardeep Puri’s name was included in the Epstein files, and Congress intended to exploit it as a “gotcha” moment to trap the Modi government. Nonetheless, the truth is that the emails were professional and bore no connection to the sinister conduct associated with the late disgraced banker. The same was noted by BJP leader Amit Malviya while reacting to a post by a Congress spokesperson.
Sit down.
Read the entire email thread and you’ll see there is no reference whatsoever to anyone being supplied with girls — nothing in the conversation even points in that direction.
Epstein is writing to Kathryn Ruemmler, then White House Counsel in the Obama Administration,… https://t.co/ZNZ8lI4SK9
“Just three-four references out of three million emails. I met Epstein on a few occasions as part of a delegation and exchanged just one email. Our interactions had nothing to do with his crimes. We talked about Make in India,” Puri stated in an interview with NDTV. “I had no interest in Epstein’s activities. For them, I was not the right person,” he highlighted.
“By the way, I don’t want to be defensive on it. I meet a lot of people in my life. Many of the people I interact with at the political level have been convicted of something. Yesterday, somebody was talking to me about somebody who was convicted of organ trading,” he conveyed strenuously, suggesting the ridiculousness of holding him accountable for Epstein’s behaviour due to the brief professional relation.
“After I resigned as India’s ambassador to the United Nations, I was invited to join the International Peace Institute (IPI) a few months later. I was not part of the IPI. I was secretary general of the Independent Commission (ICM) on Multilateralism, set up in the IPI as a project. My boss in the IPI, Terje Rod-Larsen, was the person who knew this Jeffrey Epstein and it was as part of a delegation of the IPI or the ICM that I met him on a few occasions, three or maximum four,” he reiterated in a press conference.
“Chowkidar chor hai” to “PM is compromised”: Another Congress blunder in progress
Congress and the entire opposition raised the issue of a purported scam involving Rafale jets in the lead-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Gandhi even invokedthe Supreme Court to promote his fabrications of “Chowkidar chor hai (Watchman is a thief)” against PM Modi to thwart the BJP juggernaut. However, the latter seized the opportunity to mention how watchmen have been dubbed as robbers and insulted by the Congress.
PM Modi launched a “Main bhi Chowkidar (I am also a watchman)” campaign, which struck its mark, rendering the daunting ecosystem incapacitated. The opposition, which wanted to thrash him, had to endure a profoundly humiliating loss. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a commanding majority of more than 353 seats, with the BJP exceeding 300 seats, whereas the grand old party was reduced to fewer than 55 seats.
Gandhi himself was defeated in his family stronghold of Amethi and would have spent the next five years outside Parliament had he not opted to contest from Wayanad in Keralam. Furthermore, he was compelled to apologise in the Supreme Court for misusing its name to peddle his political discourse.
A similar narrative has been unfolding with Gandhi’s “PM is compromised” remark. It was also echoed by shirtless officials of the Indian Youth Congress during a protest at the AI Impact Summit in Bharat Mandapam to damage India’s global image. The stunt was rightly described as “dirty and shameless politics” by PM Modi after which Gandhi released a video, threatening, “I and the lion-hearted warriors of the Congress will continue to defend the country, we won’t retreat even an inch.”
The latter restated the egregious allegations that are currently being incessantly circulated, resembling the aforementioned 2019 phrase, as the strategy has been rehashed with outdated content and boring rhetoric, offering nothing fresh or inspiring to the voters.
As a result, the negative tactics do not garner public support, which exacerbates the opposition’s resentment and bitterness. Besides, mockery or personal attacks on the prime minister have, in any case, not been beneficial for these parties as has been consistently illustrated. However, Congress does not learn from its mistakes and insists on sticking to its political game plan without any consideration of the harm it might inflict on its electoral prospects or the country at large.
The massive demolition drive conducted by the administration in the Jungleshwar area of Rajkot has once again brought about a familiar discussion in the country. While the government has claimed that the demolition drive was required to remove the illegal structures and establish law and order in the area, several news reports have mainly focused on emotional visuals of affected families, crying residents and demolished homes.
As bulldozers rolled into the community situated along the banks of the Aaji River, discussions quickly shifted from legal implications to the stories of human suffering.
Scenes shown in various news reports included broken houses, scattered school books, women in tears and residents protesting on the streets. However, supporters of the demolition drive have pointed out another important question: whether these structures were legally built, and whether they have largely remained missing from public discussions.
According to officials and local sources, the land where demolitions took place had been under dispute for a long time, and many structures were constructed without proper approval.
The Jungleshwar region has been reported to be a sensitive zone for several years. Residents who spoke with OpIndia claimed that the locality had gained a reputation for criminal activity and was considered difficult even for the police to enter. The area had earlier come into focus during a major electricity-related scam related to PGVCL, which involved crores of rupees. It has also been reported that several people involved in illegal activities have been arrested from the same region in the past.
Administration says that the action was part of its legal responsibility
Government officials claim that removing illegal encroachments is not an act of punishment but a regular obligation of the government. Urban planners often point out that unauthorised constructions on riverbanks, government property, drainage areas or public-use spaces create serious long-term risks.
These areas have the potential to increase the risk of flooding, block water flow, increase fire hazards and make city management difficult.
The Jungleshwar slum, which is located near the Aaji River, has been reportedly linked to all these problems for a long time.
According to the administration, demolition drives of this scale are usually undertaken only after conducting surveys and administrative formalities are carried out over a period of time. According to the administration, the enforcement of land rules becomes necessary when repeated violations continue despite warnings.
The authorities have also pointed out that if the demolished buildings had proper approval or ownership documents, residents could have challenged the demolition in court.
So far, there has been no concrete legal evidence that the buildings were legal, and the discussion has been centred on the emotional response and humanitarian aspect of the issue as reported in the media.
Supporters of the drive say that sympathy for displaced families is understandable, but it should not replace discussions about land ownership, planning rules and legal compliance.
They believe that allowing illegal occupation of land simply because people have lived there for years would weaken the rule of law and encourage further encroachments in growing cities.
Claims of crime hub add another dimension
Another major aspect highlighted by the state government relates to security concerns linked to the Jungleshwar area. Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghvi said, “The locality had slowly become a safe space for criminals”.
Officials say unplanned settlements often create conditions where monitoring becomes difficult due to narrow lanes, lack of proper addresses and absence of official records of residents.
The police also believe such environments can unintentionally protect illegal networks. Sanghvi indicated that several individuals connected to ganja and drug-related activities had earlier been arrested in this area. According to authorities, ignoring such developments could allow criminal systems to grow stronger over time.
Officials argue that when any locality begins functioning outside normal administrative control, the government is left with limited choices: either delay action and allow problems to grow or take strict measures to restore order. While strong action may cause short-term hardship, authorities say it helps prevent larger security and governance challenges in the future.
Media coverage and the debate over emotional reporting
The demolition has also sparked criticism about how anti-encroachment drives are reported in parts of the media. Several news outlets highlighted emotional headlines focusing on personal tragedies faced by residents.
One report described a widow questioning where she would go with her children after losing her home during the removal of over 1,000 structures. Another headline spoke about bulldozers moving forward while young girls cried outside their demolished houses. Yet another report focused on families struggling to survive with limited income after losing shelter during the demolition of nearly 1,400 homes.
Newspaper Publications such as Divya Bhaskar, Gujarat News and BBC Gujarati published reports that were largely centred on the grief, anger and uncertainty of residents. Critics of this reporting argue that the coverage presents only one side of the situation by emphasising emotional reactions without equally examining the legal status of the land or the administrative process behind the demolition.
The same trend was also visible on several YouTube-based news platforms such as Jamavat, Nirbhay News and Newsroom Gujarat. These channels conducted ground reporting by speaking directly to affected families and projecting themselves as voices representing displaced residents. While such coverage brought attention to human struggles, supporters of the government action argue that it rarely addressed questions related to illegal occupation or long-standing law enforcement concerns.
It has been observed that similar trends have been noticed in previous anti-encroachment drives in Gujarat and other parts of India, including drives in the Chandola area of Ahmedabad. In many such cases, emotional storytelling dominated headlines while discussions about land legality, planning violations or security risks received comparatively less attention
Balancing compassion and law enforcement
The situation in Jungleshwar highlights a larger challenge faced by governments across rapidly growing cities, balancing humanitarian concerns with the enforcement of urban laws. No demolition drive happens without affecting lives, and displacement naturally leads to distress among families. At the same time, authorities argue that ignoring illegal settlements can lead to bigger problems in the future, including uncontrolled urban expansion and increased criminal activity.
Supporters of the demolition believe that showing suffering without context creates a partial picture. According to them, compassion has an important place in journalism, but it should be accompanied by facts about ownership, notices issued, legal challenges filed and reasons behind administrative action.
Certain observers also point out that past experiences in other regions have shown how illegal settlements later became centres for organised crime or illegal migration networks. They argue that preventive action, though unpopular at the moment, may help avoid serious risks later.
Action seen as a preventive step for the future
Although the administration has not yet shared every detail explaining why the demolition drive was initiated at this particular time, statements from senior officials suggest that long-standing concerns regarding crime and unauthorised occupation played a major role.
The Deputy Chief Minister of the state, Harsh Sanghvi, has made statements about the arrests that have occurred in the past due to drugs and illegal activities, which have strengthened the administration’s stand.
Supporters of the move believe that delaying action could have allowed the area to grow into a larger problem affecting not only Rajkot but also wider regional security and urban management. According to this view, strict enforcement today may prevent more serious consequences years later.
The demolition in Jungleshwar has therefore become more than just a local administrative procedure. It has turned into a wider discussion about governance, media responsibility and the balance between empathy and legality. While the emotional stories continue to receive widespread public attention, authorities insist that maintaining the rule of law sometimes requires decisions that may not be popular but are considered necessary for public interest.
As debates continue, one thing remains clear: the Jungleshwar demolition has once again brought forward the ongoing national question of how cities should deal with illegal encroachments while addressing the human impact that inevitably follows such actions.
In a chilling revelation, a sex and conversion racket being run by two Muslim sisters has been busted by police in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Two sisters named Amreen and Afreen had been running the racket, luring vulnerable Hindu women with lucrative job offers.
On Monday (23rd February), the police arrested Amreen, Afreena and their associate Chandan Yadav. The police are looking for three other accused, Bilal, Chanu, and Yasir. The two sisters, who were earlier slum-dwellers in Abbas Nagar, recently moved to a posh housing society called Sagar Royal Villas near Ashima Mall in Hoshangabad, Bhopal. An FIR has been lodged by the police against six persons under Sections 64, 123, and 351 of the BNS and relevant provisions of the MP Freedom of Religion Act.
How the racket was uncovered
The case came to light after two victims approached the Bagh Sewania police station on Sunday night (22nd February). The victims approached the police separately, but the police noticed a striking similarity in their cases.
According to police, the two sisters lured women from low-income backgrounds with promises of domestic jobs paying around ₹10,000 a month, along with free housing and meals. One of the victims, aged 21 and 32 years, is from the Mungeli district in Chhattisgarh, and the other is from Bhopal. Both the victims said they were drugged and raped by many people in Bhopal, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Victims drugged, raped and forced to convert to Islam
The victim from Bhopal worked as a maid at Amreen’s house. She told the police that Amreen left her alone at the house of Chandan Yadav’s sister in Narayan Nagar, where he raped her. She said Chandan Yadav blackmailed her and threatened to kill her if she disclosed the incident to anyone. She also accused Bilal, Yasir and Chanu of drugging and raping her multiple times.
The victim from Mungeli, who is a beautician, told the police that she was taken to Ahmedabad in December 2025 in the guise of work. However, on reaching there, she was raped by Amreen’s relative, Yasir. She said that Bilal laced her tea with a sedative and raped her after she fell unconscious. She accused Chandan Yadav of raping her on multiple occasions between August 2025 and January 2026. She managed to escape in January and stayed with her relatives in Chhattisgarh. She returned to Bhopal in January before filing the complaint.
The activities of the racket were not limited to the sexual exploitation of young Hindu women but involved forcefully converting them to Islam. According to the FIR, Chandan Yadav told one of the victims that he had converted to Islam. He asked her to convert to Islam and offered to get her married into a good family. The victim was forcefully converted to Islam and was forced to wear a burqa and offer prayers.
Both the victims were also forced to wear skimpy clothes and socialise with rich men at parties, pubs and lounges. They were intoxicated and drugged against their will. They alleged that they were sexually exploited by the men in some cases. The victims said that whenever they spoke of leaving the job, they were given threats. The accused had captured their obscene photographs and were using them to blackmail them.
Photographs of victims found on the phones of the two sisters
After arresting the Amreen, Afreen, and Chandan on Monday, the police seized their mobile phones for examination. On Amreen’s phone, the police found suspicious WhatsApp chats and photographs of multiple young women. Since the victims were taken to different cities in different states to meet strangers, the police suspect that the accused might be linked to a wider network operating across states.
Confirming the incident, Additional DCP Gautam Solanki said that a case has been filed at Bagh Sewania police station. “The female complainant has filed a rape report. A crime has been registered, and further investigation is underway. The victim worked as a maid at the accused woman’s house. The accused persons are being questioned,” Solanki said.
Police are looking into the financial transactions of the accused, their travel records and digital communications to ascertain if they were part of a bigger network or operated on their own.
In a major push to transform the once red terror-hit regions, the Chhattisgarh government has announced that Abujhmad and Jagargunda in the Bastar region will be developed into “modern education cities.” An allocation of ₹100 crore was announced on Tuesday, 24th February, for this purpose in the 2026–27 state Budget.
Chhattisgarh budget: Rs 100 crore allocated for construction of 'Education Cities' in Abujhmad and Jagargunda in Bastar region. pic.twitter.com/HdHFQVFyum
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai later explained that the education cities are part of a broader push under the “Five Chief Minister Missions,” each receiving ₹100 crore annually for the next five years. These include the CM’s AI Mission, Sports Excellence Mission, Tourism Development Mission, Infrastructure Mission, and Startup & NIPUN Mission aimed at preparing youth for new-age industries.
The proposed education cities in Abujhmad and Jagargunda will have an integrated system from primary to higher secondary schools, along with sports facilities, roads, and hostels for students from remote villages. Officials said the aim is to create a safe and supportive environment for tribal children and those from weaker sections. The campuses will also offer IT and skill development training so that local youth can access employment-oriented education and explore self-employment opportunities.
‘Dark chapter’ over, Chhattisgarh budget sets Naxal hotbed Bastar on path to ‘education cities’ & tourism
The Budget has a strong focus on Bastar’s overall development. In the irrigation sector, the state has proposed the construction of Matnar and Deurgaon barrages on the Indravati River for ₹2,024 crore, which is expected to irrigate an additional 32,000 hectares of land. The government has also created 1,500 new posts for Bastar Fighters, a special police unit. Other allocations include ₹720 crore for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), ₹10,000 crore under the Krishak Unnati Yojana, ₹4,000 crore for rural employment, ₹250 crore for industrial parks, and ₹100 crore for EV subsidies.
The announcement was part of the ₹1.72 lakh crore Budget presented by Finance Minister O.P. Choudhary in the Vidhan Sabha. Last year’s Budget stood at ₹1.65 lakh crore. Capital expenditure this year has been increased slightly to ₹26,500 crore from ₹26,341 crore last year. The state’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has also seen a healthy rise of 12.4%, increasing from ₹6,31,920 crore to ₹7,09,553 crore. Officials said the fiscal deficit stands at 2.87% of GSDP, lower than last year’s 2.91% and within the permissible 3% limit.
समग्र विकास का SANKALP… "विज़न विकसित छत्तीसगढ़ 2047" की दिशा में ऐतिहासिक कदम।
ज्ञान से गति और अब समग्र विकास की ओर बढ़ता छत्तीसगढ़ – किसानों, युवाओं, मातृशक्ति, जनजातीय समाज और हर नागरिक के सशक्त भविष्य का भरोसा बनकर उभरा है।
The Budget announcement comes at a time when Abujhmad, which was known as the strongest Maoist stronghold in the country, has witnessed a sudden transformation. In November, last year, Narayanpur Superintendent of Police Robinsons Guria said that almost 80% of the Naxals operating in the Abujhmad area have surrendered. He also said that security forces now have dominance over almost two-thirds of the area.
#WATCH | Narayanpur, Chhattisgarh | On the surrender and rehabilitation of Naxals in the district, SP Narayanpur, Robinson Guriya says, "Currently in the Abujhmarh area, 80% of the Naxals have surrendered, across levels. Many partners and all members have surrendered. We feel… pic.twitter.com/BAlrOyw5sI
Abujhmad was isolated from the mainstream of development for several decades. There was no proper revenue survey, no land rights for the villagers, and hardly any roads, hospitals, or communication infrastructure. The Maoists had made it their stronghold in the 1990s and 2000s, and they had destroyed all the infrastructure, burned down schools, and established a parallel administration called “Jantana Sarkar.” The people lived in fear, and any development work was either stalled or destroyed.
The security scenario has been changing in the past few years because of the continuous efforts of central and state security forces. The turning point came with the killing of top Maoist leader Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basavaraju, in May 2025 in the forests of Narayanpur. Basavaraju, the general secretary of CPI-Maoist and one of India’s most wanted insurgents, had a bounty of ₹1.5 crore on his head. His killing was described as a landmark achievement in the fight against Left-Wing Extremism.
Due to Naxalism, this area had little to no civil administration. With a population of around 40 to 45 thousand, mostly Abhujhmadhia tribe people, Abujhmadh included the Orcha block and some regions of the Narayanpur district. Abujhmadhia are among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of Chhattisgarh and are entitled to special benefits and rights from the government meant for endangered groups like them.
There have been no roads, hospitals, and other basic facilities in Abujhmadh since the Naxalites would not allow any development work or any step towards mainstreaming of this region and its people take place. As per locals, Naxalites used to set buses ablaze if they entered villages in Abujhmadh. Maoists made sure that no land deeds were earmarked in Abujhmadh, no motorable roads were constructed, and no development ever reached the villages on this hill. To ensure this, the Maoist terrorists would either resort to violence or propaganda, mostly both.
Before that, Operation Black Forest, conducted along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, neutralised several Naxals and destroyed hideouts and explosive stockpiles. Many cadres surrendered, and senior officers described the last two years as decisive in breaking the backbone of Maoist networks in Bastar.
Former Maoist commanders who surrendered have publicly said that Abujhmad is no longer the “Red citadel” it once was. According to police, only a handful of senior leaders remain active, and their ability to operate has been severely restricted.
Despite the challenges, the security forces and the government relentlessly continued their efforts to end the Naxal menace not only in Abujhmadh but the entire Dandakaranya region.
In February 2025, a former Maoist, Giridhar, told TOI that Abujhmadh, the red citadel of Maoists, has “fallen”. The former commander of PLGA, who surrendered and quit Naxalism in 2024, said, “Abujmarh is no longer an impregnable Red citadel. The liberated zones have been smashed, commandos are conquering every inch of Dandakaranya jungles. Maoist cadre base has been practically wiped out.”
Highlighting the change in mindset of the youth in Naxal-infested areas and the administration’s friendly approach towards them, Giridhar, who masterminded the 2009 ambush that killed Rajanandgaon SP Vinod Chaubey, said, “Our cadre base was fast depleting. Police seemed friendlier, with their civic actions, freebies, jobs, and promise of a better life. With education and the lure of urban dazzle, nobody wanted to join us. The youth did not want to die with a police bullet in their head.”
Development push: Giving Bastar a fresh start
With the security situation improving, the government is now focusing on ensuring that people in these areas finally get access to basic facilities and opportunities. For decades, villagers in Abujhmad and surrounding regions lived in fear of violence. Development projects rarely reached them, and many families remained outside the formal education and healthcare systems.
The new education cities are being seen as a symbol of this transition. The idea is simple: once an area is cleared of violence, it must be stabilised quickly with roads, schools, hospitals, communication networks and livelihood opportunities. The state has already taken steps such as installing mobile towers, opening operation theatres, expanding road connectivity and increasing recruitment in local police units.
Efforts are also being made to bring more people into the electoral and administrative mainstream. Revenue surveys, welfare schemes and employment programmes are gradually reaching once inaccessible villages.
Officials say that development is the long-term answer to extremism. When children can attend school safely, when farmers have irrigation facilities, and when youth have skill training and job opportunities, the chances of insurgent groups regaining ground reduce significantly.
Operation Kagar and the Modi govt’s push for a Naxal-Free India
At the national level, the Modi government has amped up operations in Naxal strongholds to entirely uproot the Maoist cadres. The government has adopted a two-pronged strategy of eliminating the Maoist cadres through military operations clubbed with development-oriented works such as expansion of roads, transport facilities, water, electricity and other welfare schemes of the government reaching the villagers.
As part of this strategy, the central government launched Operation Kagar in January 2024 to wipe out Naxalism in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra (Gadchiroli), Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana. As part of the operation, about 1 lakh para-military forces, including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite forces CoBRA (Commando Units of CRPF), District Reserve Guards (DRG), and state police forces, armed with modern technology, have been deployed in the areas affected by left-wing terrorism to completely root out the naxal terrorism from its last remaining strongholds.
The success of the centre’s anti-Naxal operation can be judged by the fact that, from 2015 to 2025, the number of Naxal-affected districts reduced from 106 to 18. Of these districts, 12 were considered the worst-affected by Naxalism. However, this number was further reduced to only 6 worst Naxal-affected districts, including Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, and Sukma in Chhattisgarh, West Singhbhum in Jharkhand, and Gadhchiroli in Maharashtra.
On 19th February, Bihar authorities announced that the state is now “Naxal-free” after the surrender of prominent Maoist Suresh Koda, also known as Mustakim, who had a reward of Rs 3 lakh. He surrendered himself to the Special Task Force (STF) of the Munger district police a day ago. It is pertinent to note that the number of districts affected by left-wing extremists (LWE) has also decreased to seven, as per a recent analysis of the affected region.
BREAKING NEWS 🚨 📢
Officials declare Bihar 'Naxal-free' after Naxalite Suresh Koda with bounty of ₹3 lakh surrenders in Munger. pic.twitter.com/fkb3fRld8N
Last month, the Centre released a detailed 10-point plan to ensure that areas cleared of Left-Wing Extremism remain peaceful. The plan is meant for the post-Left-Wing Extremism phase and focuses on stabilising districts that have lived through years of violence. It aligns with the development-oriented part of the Cen.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reiterated that the government is determined to wipe out Naxalism before 31st March, 2026. The current operations and the collapse of the Maoist strongholds like Abujhmad are being seen as significant milestones in this direction.
As Bastar is all set to welcome the modern education cities in the regions that were earlier known for violence, the region is at a crossroads. For thousands of families who had lived for decades in the shadow of fear, the hope is that development and opportunities will finally come in place of the decades of violence.
Churning out propaganda material to whitewash Islamist crimes and blame the non-Muslim victims has been a tried and tested tactic of the Islamo-leftist cabal globally. The same Soros-funded coterie comes up with reports, analysis, documentaries and whatnot, laden with pro-Muslim bias, while packaging their content as unbiased ‘inquiry’. In continuation of this ‘intellectual fraud’, the London-based SOAS University, on 23rd February, published a report on the 2022 anti-Hindu Leicester violence.
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) report titled ‘Better Together: Understanding the 2022 Violence in Leicester’, claims that its findings show that “no single community or group is ‘to blame’ for the violence, distrust, and tensions that erupted in 2022.” However, the report conveniently picked Hindus, Hindutva, and the BJP government in India to blame for violence and communal polarisation in Leicester in 2022.
While the 218-page report does mention incidents of Muslim mobs attacking local Hindus, a Muslim man pulling off the Shivalaya Mandir’s saffron flag, and the stabbing of a Hindu man, the report framed Hindutva as the biggest driver of the violence in Leicester in 2022, even as it was Islamic intolerance of Hindus that triggered violence against Hindus.
The SOAS report attempted to present an alleged May 2022 attack on a Muslim youth by Hindu men as the “main trigger” that led to the eventual large-scale violence in August-September 2022. “For many Muslim groups, this incident initiated what unfolded later,” the report claims.
It further claimed that it was the ‘provocative’ behaviour of the Hindu youths, including congregations outside mosques and car convoys inthe Green Road Muslim-majority area, especially on India’s Independence Day (15th August), that offended and instigated Muslims. The Hindu youths were mainly from the Daman and Diu regional community.
The tone and the framing of the events of the 2022 Leicester violence in the SOAS report essentially insinuates that it was Hindus who provoked, started, and escalated communal violence by victimising and terrorising ‘peaceful’ Muslims. The report’s ‘findings’, or rather, a dishonest blend of 40 per cent facts and 60 per cent anti-Hindu narrative, come across as suggesting that whatever violent and offensive actions Muslims indulged in against Hindus were reactionary.
The report does intermittently drop balancing statements like ‘Both Hindu nationalist and political Islamist actors actively sought to inflame division for political ends.’ However, it portrays ‘Hindutva’, Hindu ‘nationalism’, and by extension Hindus as the bigger problem, the trigger, the promoter, and the perpetrators of the Leicester violence in 2022.
“Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) was a clear factor in the 17 September march, in narratives about the events from late August, and in the reaction to the events of that Summer. Hindutva narratives about the events took on international dimensions after the late August cricket match events; these intensified following the 5-6 September violence. Hindu nationalist ideology influenced the march, even if not all marchers subscribed to it,” the report reads.
While initially, the SOAS report claimed there was no specific religious community, neither Hindus nor Muslims were to blame for the violence, the researchers soon exposed their hypocrisy and put the larger blame on Hindutva narratives. They insinuated that while the Islamist narrative was confined to local actors, the Hindutva narrative around the events related to Leicester violence was more international, and often coordinated in their approach, reflecting the fact that Hindutva is a state-backed international project.”
After claiming ‘No communities to blame for Leicester violence’, the SOAS University of London report villainises Hindus hailing from Daman a.nd Diu
Even as it was Muslim leaders and Islamists like Majid Freeman who were found guilty of instigating violence against Hindus, the SOAS report claimed that Hindus from India’s Daman and Diu “were central actors in the events from May until September.”
Further villainising the Hindus, the SOAS report says, “They (Hindu Daman and Diu communities) were blamed for antisocial behaviour, unregulated religious celebrations, a culture of drinking, and harassment and provocations outside mosques.”
Moving forward, the report highlights how social media was used to amplify misinformation and disinformation to further incite tensions and violence. Despite mentioning that several Leicester Muslims made false stabbing and mob attack claims on social media to instigate violence against Hindus, the SOAS report did not mention specific names like those of Majid Freeman, Mohammed Hijab, and others, despite there being ample evidence.
It must be recalled that in September 2024, Majid Freeman, the Muslim ‘activist’ who had spread lies and misinformation about the role of Hindus in the 2022 anti-Hindu Leicester violence, was jailed for 22 weeks for attempts to spark violence during the same unrest. Freeman was charged with inciting terrorism and lending support to the proscribed terrorist organisation, Hamas. OpIndia had reported back then on how Freeman published disinformation on social media against Hindus, including false claims of Quran desecration.
It seemed that the SOAS report tactfully used balancing language to apparently maintain the façade of unbiasedness. However, the manner in which the so-called ‘Hindu mobs’ raise the Jai Shri Ram slogan is highlighted, while no noticeable mention of violent Muslim mobs screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’, the SOAS researchers, despite advocating “Better together”, are bitter towards Hindus.
‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogan carries ‘Hindu nationalist’ sentiment: As per SOAS, raising the victory to the motherland slogan by Hindus is problematic
After India won a crucial cricket match against Pakistan in August 2022, the Indian diaspora in Leicester burst into celebrations. Indian national flags were raised, and celebratory car convoys dominated Belgrave Road, Melton Road, and nearby areas. The Indian people were celebrating in Belgrave, a largely Hindu-dominated area, and raising slogans like India! India! And Bharat Mata ki Jai. Despite Bharat Mata ki Jai being the most common slogan raised by not only Indian cricket fans but by all patriotic Indians, the SOAS report shrewdly linked it to ‘Hindu nationalist’ sentiment.
While Islamists in Leicester raised the ‘Allahu Akbar’ slogan, a literal Islamic war cry that even ISIS used before beheading Kafirs was not deemed problematic or inflammatory, the SOAS report insinuated that even a harmless Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan can be deemed inexcusable and offend Muslims.
The report further delved into the religious demographics of Leicester to point out that among just South Asian people, there are approximately equal numbers of Hindus (64,391) and Muslims (63,871).
The study, however, comes back to its central motive of blaming the Hindu Indian communities for the 2022 Islamist mob violence. Throwing its weight behind ‘interviewees’, the SOAS report claims that they said “the match celebrations took on a communal dimension because some groups supporting India equated Hindus with India and all Muslims with Pakistan, even though most South Asian Muslims in the city are Indian.”
The report further relied on unnamed ‘locals’ and ‘interviewees’ to peddle a one-sided Muslim victimhood bogey by claiming that Hindu mobs vandalised Muslim-owned shops. There is a pattern in the entire report: long, less-facts-more-victimhood paragraphs on Muslims, followed by small but noticeable mentions of anti-Hindu abuse.
Despite the 2022 Leicester violence being a case of Islamist intolerance of unapologetic Hindus and India, the SOAS University of London report found Hindutva to blame. In fact, they even suggested that the clashes were a result of prevailing tensions between two primarily Gujarati communities: East African Asian Muslim and Indian Daman and Diu.
In conclusion, the SOAS University of London report again subtly blames and villainises Hindus by suggesting that Hindus celebrating a match victory saw mosques as ‘Pakistani’ even though most worshippers there would be Indian Muslims.
In essence, the researchers blamed ‘Hindu communalism’ which “reflects communalism in which all Muslims are Pakistanis, all Indians are Hindus, and the relations between them are seen as inherently antagonistic.”
Between 4th and 7th September, Hindus were attacked by Muslims. A local Ganesh Chaturthi celebration was disrupted by Muslim mobs, who threw eggs at Hindu sacred symbols. A Hindu man was attacked. In another incident, after Majid Freeman falsely claimed that Hindu men had attempted to abduct a Muslim girl, a Hindu man was doxed. The police later revealed that the whole story was fabricated.
The SOAS University of London propaganda report, although it mentioned the attack on the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration, somehow inserted the Muslim victimhood narrative here as well.
Regarding the events of 17th and 18th September 2022, the report explicitly blamed a Hindu march by around 300 young men for the subsequent Muslim mob violence. While the likes of Mohammed Hijab openly deployed ‘Muslim patrol’ gangs to intimidate and attack Hindus, the SOAS report suggested that the orientation of the 17th September protest march by Hindus was “determined, purposeful and intended to cause fear and intimidation.”
Hindu temple attacked by Islamists in Leicester, yet the SOAS University report says the incident ‘energised’ the political “Hindus under attack” narrative
Highlighting the Shivalaya Mandir attack by a Muslim mob wherein a Hindu religious flag was pulled down and burnt, in addition to smashing of windows and throwing of missiles, on 17th September 2022, the SOAS University report said that videos of the incident went viral on social media, and the Indian media also gave it widespread coverage.
Distinguishing Hindus from Hindutva groups, the report said that while the local Hindus saw the Shivalaya Mandir incident as an attack on their religion, temples, and on them as Hindus, for ‘Hindutva’ groups, it energised their political narrative of ‘Hindus under attack’ (see Insight UK and the Leicester Events).
Amusingly, the report also features the ‘Muslims form human chain to protect temple’ bogey. This carefully concocted narrative of Muslims protecting Hindu temples during Islamist violence gained attention during an Islamist mob attack in Bangladesh in 2024 after PM Sheikh Hasina’s forced ouster.
Citing ‘eyewitness’, the SOAS University report says that Muslim counter-protestors had gathered outside the Shivalaya Mandir to guard it and ensure that the Mandir remains unharmed. The report, however, did not comment on why Muslim protestors who gathered to oppose a Hindu protest march would deploy Muslim youths to ‘guard’ a Hindu temple from Hindus.
Exposing its anti-Hindu bias again, the SOAS University report concluded that the march by Hindus on 17th September 2022 was “an unprecedented communal event whose novelty related to the expression of street-level Hindu nationalist ideas during violent actions.” It further asserted that the Hindu march was essentially taken out to “intimidate, threaten and attack” Muslims.
The report dedicated a segment to establishing that Hindu nationalism alone is to blame for the violence in Leicester. From casting aspersions on the denial by the UK Overseas Friends of the BJP, and other ‘Hindutva’ groups of involvement in mobilising Hindu youths in Leicester, to claiming an unnamed old Hindutva figure inciting Hindu youths to take out a protest march in Belgrave, the SOAS University report resorted to weaving a warp and weft of conspiracy theory-level lies to villainise Hindus.
Unsurprisingly, the researchers of this propaganda report expressed disappointment over UK politicians like Bob Blackman, local Hindu organisations, and the RSS in India, condemning the anti-Hindu violence in Leicester.
“Much of the political response to the 17 September violence followed the same paths of communal and religious division that led to the violence in the first place. It is disappointing that many political figures in the UK and abroad sought to amplify narratives of one innocent religious community being the victim of another hate-driven aggressor,” the report states.
Interestingly, the Islamo-leftists become uncomfortable and even disappointed with Indian Hindus and Hindu rights groups expressing support and solidarity for their coreligionists abroad, and frame it as ‘ Hindu polarisation’, but there is no such framing when Muslims across the world cry and are outraged for the distressed people in Gaza solely because of their religious identity. Muslims supporting Muslims is humanity, solidarity, and unity, but Hindus supporting Hindus is ‘polarisation’, Hindutva nationalism, ‘growing intolerance’ and whatnot.
Notably, while the report does make mention of the inflammatory speeches and activities of Islamic fanatics like Mohammed Hijab and Ali Dawah, the “political Islamist disinformation” portion is way too short and downplays the Islamic Jihadist mindset of these instigators when compared to the report’s focus on Hindutva and villainization of Hindus.
George Soros-funded SOAS University report dedicates entire chapter to Hindutva after initially claiming ‘no community is to blame’
In a sharp contrast to all previous reports and investigations into the 2022 anti-Hindu Leicester violence, the SOAS University report outrightly blames Hindutva, Hindus and the BJP government in India for the riots in Leicester.
Even though the SOAS inquiry, chaired by human rights expert Prof Juan Méndez, claimed that there was no religious community to blame for the incidents of violence in Leicester, the inquiry devoted an entire chapter to Hindutva, in a stark contrast to the Henry Jackson Society report.
It must be recalled that in November 2022, the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) released a 39-page report titled “Hindu-Muslim civil unrest in Leicester: ‘Hindutva’ and the creation of a false narrative.” The findings were clear: No evidence of Hindu extremism was found in Leicester. The riots were instigated by Islamist misinformation and mobilisation, not “Hindutva terrorism.” Social media influencers linked to Dawood Ibrahim, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and even Taliban sympathisers exploited the chaos.
The report warned that media outlets, including BBC, The Guardian, and Reuters, amplified the false Islamist narrative by giving platforms to the very agitators spreading hate, thereby deepening mistrust and endangering Hindus.
The SOAS inquiry delved into the origins and evolution of the Hindutva ideology, the role of the RSS, and its relevance in Modi’s India.
Expectedly, the report villainised the RSS, Hindu rights groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, trivialising the real existential threat Hindus face by suggesting that the Hindutva ideology instils ‘Hindu khatre mein hai’ fear in the Hindu community to justify persecution of Muslim and Christian minorities.
“The presence of Muslims (and Christians) in India is considered a threat and is articulated as the persecution of Hindus by minorities, who constitute about 80 per cent of India’s population. The idea of Hindus under permanent siege, persecution and attack by (primarily) Muslims is a dominating theme in Hindutva ideology,” the report claims.
While dismissing the idea that Hindus are under threat despite the Kashmiri Pandit exodus, frequent attacks on Hindu festival celebrations, and rapidly shifting religious demographics, SOAS University highlighted the 80 per cent Hindu population; however, while pushing the Muslim victimhood bogey, it used the term ‘minority’ even as they are the second largest religious community in India.
The inquiry also portrayed sacred slogans like Jai Shree Ram, Har Har Mahadev, patriotic slogans like Bharat Mata ki Jai, as somehow aggressive, inflammatory, and the idea of Akhand Bharat problematic.
The SOAS inquiry into Leicester violence argued that Hindutva influenced Hindu communities in Leicester. It went to label Bageshwar Dham’s head priest, Pandit Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, a vocal advocate of Hindu rights, a “radical and militant preacher”. The report lamented that despite Shastri advocating for a Hindu Rashtra, a theological Hindu nation where all other non-Hindu communities would also be allowed to reside and have rights, the Leicestershire Police awarded Shastri an ‘NPA [Neighbourhood Policing Area] Commanders Award for Recognition of Service’ on 27 July 2023.
SOAS University researchers irked with OpIndia for reporting the Islamist anti-Hindu Leicester violence exactly as what it was
Analysing the impact of social media on the incidents in Leicester back in 2022 and vice versa, the SOAS University report, although brief, did cover Muslim social media disinformation; its central focus remained on the Hindutva narrative.
The report claimed that Hindutva organisations and their UK-based supporters amplified a Hindu ‘victimhood’ narrative on social media under the hashtag #HindusUnderAttackinUK.
The SOAS University report describes the broader “Hindus Under Attack” phrase as a social media tag created by the RSS and its supporters in India, exclusively referring to “Muslims attacking Hindus and is part of the RSS’s ideology of Hindus living in a state of permanent siege from Muslims. Hindutva organisations often use the phrase to refer to the situation of Hindu minorities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Kashmir.”
The propaganda report further cites a BBC report to claim that social media narrative manipulation was at play during the Leicester violence in 2022, with OpIndia being a significant contributor.
“Of the top 30 shared URLs in tweets, 11 were from OpIndia, a media outlet that strongly supports Narendra Modi, the BJP and Hindutva politics,” the report claimed.
“Henry Jackson Society researcher Charlotte Littlewood’s interview with GB News, reports from OpIndia alleged that ‘Islamists’ were calling for the removal of Hindus from Leicester as they had done in Kashmir,” it adds.
SOAS inquiry does not blame any community for Leicester violence but recommends confronting Hindutva ‘extremism’ and makes no such case for countering Islamic extremism
The Open Society Foundations (OSF)- funded inquiry also made several recommendations based on its findings regarding the 2022 anti-Hindu violence in Leicester. A specific recommendation that exposes the fundamental bias and dishonesty of the inquiry nobody asked for is the “Political will to confront Hindutva extremism”. The report recommended the UK National government to determinately recognise radical and militant Hindutva as a form of extremism as just like militant political Islamism.
“Determined attention to recognising radical and militant Hindutva (Hindu nationalism, Hindu supremacism) as a form of ‘extremism’, like militant political Islamism and far-right white nationalism, that is an important threat to community unity and positive community relations,” the report reads.
It is criminal to put Hindutva on par with “political Islamism” for UK extremism policy. British Hindus have never carried out terror attacks in the country; Islamists, on the contrary, do it for a hobby. In fact, the term ‘political Islamism’ itself is fundamentally dishonest. There is Islam and only Islam, no political Islam, biological Islam, regional Islam, musical Islam or stuff like that. The only thing that separates terrorist and non-terrorist Muslims is the degree of strictness in adherence to Islam. Hindutva, on the contrary, despite advocating for a Hindu Rashtra, does not call for a genocide or removal of legitimate non-Hindu Indian citizens.
India-hater George Soros funded SOAS University garbage on Leicester violence
It has become almost a rarity that a link between any piece of anti-Hindu and anti-India propaganda and Hungarian-American philanthropist and known Modi detractor, George Soros, does not emerge. The SOAS University’s Leicester violence inquiry-cum-propaganda report is funded by Soros-linked Open Society Foundations (OSF).
The OSF is accused of engineering regime change operations around the world through civil society groups and activists. The OSF describes itself as the world’s largest private funding agency of groups supporting human rights, justice and accountable government. In reality, however, it is dedicated to toppling non-left governments and stirring unrest in target countries.
The Open Society Foundation has, in the last decade, made several grants to the SOAS University. As per the records available on OSF’s website, the Foundation gave a grant of $730,754 in 2023 to the SOAS University for a 21-month term, to “support the creation and work of a commission of inquiry into intercommunal violence in the UK in 2022.”
In a separate grant to the varsity in 2022, the OSF gave $1,439,918 to “support fellows working to improve democracy and human rights in the South Asian diaspora.”
Source: Open Society Foundations
Who are the authors of the Soros-funded SOAS University inquiry that paints Hindus and Hindutva as the aggressors of the violence unleashed by Muslim in Leicester
The ‘Better Together: Understanding the 2022 Violence in Leicester’ inquiry’s panel included five members, namely, Juan E. Méndez, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Schona Jolly KC, HR Lawyer, Subir Sinha, Reader in Development Studies, SOAS, Chetan Bhatt, Professor of Sociology, LSE, and Suresh Grover from The Monitoring Group.
All five members of the SOAS inquiry panel have a track record of peddling Hinduphobia and coddling Islamists in the UK.
The panel head, Juan E. Méndez, has a record of peddlingthe Muslim victimhood narrative. Previously, Méndez had given an interview to Qatari-state-funded Al Jazeera wherein he called for UN and international intervention in India to “protect Indian minorities”.
Méndez, however, never made similar appeals for Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh despite them being religious minorities subjected to unending persecution and discrimination by the Muslim majority.
Meanwhile, another panellist, Schona Jolly, an HR lawyer, earlier appeared in a webinar alongside Professor Mukullika Banerjee, who was involved in an incident targeting Indian student Karan Kataria from the London School of Economics (LSE). Jolly is also reported to be a supporter of Kashmiri separatism, making her a direct enemy of India’s territorial integrity. Banerjee is reported to close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The next is Subir Sinha, a Reader in Development Studies at SOAS, who has previously equated Hindutva with the genocidal Nazis.
3. Subir Sinha, Reader in Development Studies, SOAS. Sinha has many times equated Hinduism with Nazis. 4/7 pic.twitter.com/aJ82G3VUxj
— Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN) (@HinduHate) June 9, 2023
Another researcher, Chetan Bhatt, Professor of Sociology, LSE, had previously written a propaganda article in The Guardian, blaming Hindus for Leicester violence. He equated the RSS with Islamic terrorist entities like Pakistan’s Jamat-e-Islami and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
Suresh Grover, from The Monitoring Group (TMG), in an interview with convicted Leicester violence instigator and Islamic fanatic Majid Freeman, blamed Hindus and the RSS for the violence.
No wonder the SOAS inquiry into the 2022 Leicester violence is riddled with propaganda villainising Hindus and blaming them as the perpetrators of the Islamist violence.
While the spinning of propaganda and false narratives by Islamo-leftists against Hindus and Hindutva, in connection with Leicester, will remain an unending story, the truth remains that the High Court of Justice in England has already debunked fake news about the involvement of ‘Hindutva’ inthe 2022 Leicester violence.
In August 2025, during the hearing of a defamation case filed by an Islamist and Leicester violence instigator, Mohammed Hijab against the weekly British political and cultural news magazine, The Spectator, the court said, “The claimant’s (Mohammed Hijab) account as to his basis for attributing responsibility to the Hindutva does not withstand scrutiny. He had not been in Leicester in the days and weeks leading up to his speech. He had no first-hand knowledge of the events and was not in a position to make a direct first-hand informed assessment.”
Debunking the ‘Hindutva involvement’ claim by Hijab based on a video clip of masked men chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ and marching past a Muslim neighbourhood, which also is found in the SOAS University inquiry report, the court noted, “he claimant relied on the chants of “Jai Shree Ram” but he did not have any convincing reason for asserting that this was necessarily an indicator of the Hindutva as opposed to Hindus who do not subscribe to the Hindutva ideology. The claimant, in his oral evidence, said he had seen Hindutva flags when he was in Leicester. This was not in his witness statement. In any event, he did not profess any detailed knowledge of Hindu vexillology, and he was in no position reliably to attach particular significance to individual flags.“
Evidently, the SOAS University’s report is neither an inquiry nor credible research; rather, it is recycled propaganda by a Hindu-hating Soros-funded institution. It brazenly aims to resurrect lies that courts have already debunked and evidence has conclusively disproven, all to smear Hindus, Hindutva, and the BJP-RSS. Unsurprisingly, Islamo-leftist propaganda portal The Wire has amplified the anti-Hindu trash produced by the SOAS University as some universal truth.
Hindu community and groups unequivocally reject the so-called “Independent” SOAS inquiry report
The so-called “independent” SOAS inquiry into the 2022 Leicester violence has now concluded, and its report has been published. From the moment it was announced in 2023, the inquiry… pic.twitter.com/HNZzH1Ka5A
Meanwhile, the British Hindu community and various Hindu rights groups have condemned the not-so-independent inquiry by the Soros-funded SOAS University into Leicester violence.
The Indian Navy’s Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capabilities are soon going to receive a significant push after the commissioning of “Anjadip,” the third member of the Arnala-class eight-vessel ASW Shallow Water Craft (SWC) series.
Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff, is scheduled to preside over the event on 27th February(Friday) when the warship will officially join the Eastern Naval Command at Chennai Port. The Navy has planned to put the second next-generation destroyer into service with the goal of finding enemy submarines in shallow waters.
The state-of-the-art marvel was created especially to handle the difficulties of the littoral warfare environment, which includes the shallow and coastal waters that are critical to the security of the country. The ship is intended to operate as a “Dolphin Hunter,” whose primary mission is to locate, track and destroy enemy submarines in coastal regions.
INDIAN NAVY TO COMMISSION ANJADIP
The Indian Navy is set to enhance its Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capabilities with the commissioning of Anjadip, the third vessel of the eight-ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft (ASW-SWC) project. The warship will be formally… pic.twitter.com/XskjKT60I2
“The ship is a reincarnation of the erstwhile INS (Indian Naval Ship) Anjadip, a Petya class Corvette decommissioned in 2003. The ship derives its name from Anjadip Island located off the coast of Karwar, Karnataka, underscoring India’s commitment to safeguarding its expansive maritime domain,” the Navy outlined.
It further highlighted, “The Shankh symbolises divine energy, purity and the sound of creation. Anjadip’s operational prowess – encompassing its Anti-Submarine Capabilities is powerfully encapsulated by its motto – Seek the enemy, and be ever victorious.”
The ship, which was delivered to the Indian Navy on 22nd December in Chennai, has been designed and built locally by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
Unveiling the crest of Anjadip, the third ship of the eight ASW-SWC built by @OfficialGRSE. The Shankh symbolises divine energy, purity, and the sound of creation. Anjadip’s operational prowess – encompassing its Anti-Submarine Capabilities is… pic.twitter.com/FuATfzsQRI
“The ASW SWC ships have been designed and constructed as per the Classification Rules of Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) under a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) of GRSE with M/s L&T (Larsen & Toubro) Shipyard, Kattupalli, thus demonstrating the success of collaborative defence manufacturing,” the Navy informed.
The ship’s prominent features and capacities
These vessels, which are about 77 metres long and powered by waterjets, are the biggest Indian Naval Warships. They are outfitted with cutting-edge lightweight torpedoes, indigenous anti-submarine rockets and shallow water sonar, which enable the efficient identification and confrontation of underwater threats. The ship would boost the Navy’s minelaying, coastal surveillance and anti-submarine capabilities.
It features ASW weaponry and sensor packages, including the Hull-Mounted Sonar Abhay. The agile and exceptionally manoeuvrable battleship is capable of performing search and rescue missions and Low-Intensity Maritime Operations (LIMO) in addition to its core ASW task. With its high-speed Water-Jet Propulsion system, it can reach a maximum speed of 25 knots for swift response and uninterrupted operation. It can be employed for both military and humanitarian purposes due to these attributes.
The official statement declared, “Anjadip’s delivery is yet another milestone in the Indian Navy’s quest for indigenous shipbuilding, ng upholding the government’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat with over 80% indigenous content. The ship stands as a testament to a growing domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem and reducing dependency on imports.”
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the purchase of 16 ASW ships in December 2013 at a cost of more than Rs 13,000 crore. Furthermore, contracts for the production of 16 ASW SWC were signed. Cochin Shipyard Limited is to construct 8 of these Mahe-class ships, while the remaining Arnala-class would be made by GRSE.
The recently commissioned Mahe, Malvan, Mangrol, Malpe, Mulki, Magdala and Machilipatnam are parts ofthe formero,rmer while Arnala, Androth, Anjadip, Amini, Abhay, Agray, Ajay, and Akshay constitute the latter. The success of indigenous warship design and building is best demonstrated by this substantial project.
A golden feather in the “Made-in-India” cap
Notably, coastal surveillance is crucial for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations in India because of its vast 7,516-kilometre coastline, 12 major ports, 184 smaller ports and 1,197 island territories. Therefore, ASW SWC inductions are helping the Navy fill a prolonged operational gap by offering the vital strength for spotting and deterring stealthy diesel-electric submarines moving along the shore, an area that is inaccessible to bigger surface warships.
They are key to protecting harbour approaches, sea lanes connecting to main ports, offshore energy assets and operational bases, which are vulnerable and economically important marine assets because of their low draught, excellent sonars and great mobility.
The Indian Navy’s ability to protect the nation’s extensive marine interests and coastal approaches, such as the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry region, has been presently reinforced by Anjadip’s deployment. This accomplishment is yet another important step in making the Navy a powerful “Builder’s Navy.”
Similarly, India’s continuous efforts to become self-sufficient in shipbuilding and defence technology are reflected in the launch of Anjadip. The ASW SWC program also shows the nation’s dedication to generating innovative military platforms in the country through homegrown design, manufacture and advanced systems integration.
There is something deeply unsettling about a society that mistakes virality for virtue and outrage for intellect. The recent glorification of 14-year-old Ashwamit Gautam by sections of the media and the usual ecosystem of left-wing influencers is a textbook example of how India’s attention economy preys on minors and rewards provocation over education.
At an age when children are supposed to be in classrooms, grappling with textbooks, building foundations in mathematics, science, and language, Ashwamit Gautam is being paraded as a “fearless political voice”, armed with a smartphone, a clip-on mic, and a script carefully tailored for maximum algorithmic impact.
Media houses like The Print have gone out of their way to publish hagiographic profiles, portraying him as a child-prophet of dissent, while conveniently ignoring the most basic and uncomfortable question: why is a 14-year-old being turned into a full-time political content creator in the first place?
Source: The Print
Is it the desperation to replace PM Modi that every and all measures are being undertaken to paint the BJP in a bad light and gaslight the public into looking for an alternative regime at the centre? Well, the helplessness of the Left, especially in more than 10 years of Modi at the helm, has acquainted us with the ecosystem willing to grasp at straws even if there is a remote possibility of a measure accomplishing their political objectives.
Nevertheless, let us strip away the sentimental packaging. What we are seeing is not “courage”. It is the industrialisation of rage. Social media platforms reward the loudest, angriest, most polarising content with views, followers, and donations. A teenager, like any other human being, responds to incentives. When the incentive structure tells him that attacking the Centre, exaggerating claims, and producing rage-bait will fetch him popularity, gadgets, and celebrity treatment, that is exactly what he will do. This is not political awakening. This is behavioural conditioning by algorithms.
The Left-liberal ecosystem, of course, is thrilled. A minor is the perfect political mascot: emotionally evocative, morally armoured, and largely immune to criticism. Any attempt to question the wisdom of pushing a child into the toxic arena of daily political combat is instantly reframed as “silencing dissent” or “attacking a Dalit voice”. This is intellectual dishonesty of the highest order. Caste or background cannot be used as a shield to justify pulling a child away from structured education, throwing him into the meat grinder of social media politics, and then rationalising his views as repressed public anger.
In fact, if questioned about why a minor is weaned away from education, the Left can spin the narrative against the Centre, blaming it for ‘forcing’ the marginalised child to abandon education for social media activism. But make no mistake, by his own admission, he left regular schooling because he was asked to stop making political videos. In other words, this is not a case of the system denying him education; it is a case of choosing virality over studies. That distinction matters. A lot.
But for the usual suspects, Kunal Kamra, Dhruv Rathee and the broader propaganda industry, this is a feature, not a bug. They have found a new symbol to weaponise: a teenager who can be showcased as “brave” while parroting the same tired, predictable talking points about the Modi government, the RSS, and “shrinking dissent”. He is invited, amplified, gifted equipment, and showered with praise. Not because this is good for him as a child, but because he is useful to them as a narrative device.
There is a deeper rot here. We live in a time when a child holding a mobile phone and chasing trends is celebrated more than a child holding a book and building a future. We are told this is “democratisation of voice”. In reality, it is the commodification of childhood. The metrics of success are no longer grades, skills, or knowledge, but views, likes, and follower counts.
None of this is to deny that teenagers can have opinions. They can. They should. But there is a world of difference between having opinions and being turned into a full-time political influencer before you are even legally allowed to vote. Politics is not a game. It is a brutal, cynical, high-stakes arena that even adults struggle to navigate without being consumed by it. Pushing a 14-year-old into this space and then applauding ourselves for “encouraging free speech” is not progressive. It is reckless.
The real indictment here is not of the child. It is of the adults, media houses, influencers, and activists, who see a minor not as someone to protect and guide, but as content, as a tool, as a symbol to be monetised and milked for ideological mileage.
A society that rewards children more for outrage than for education should not pretend it is building a better future. It is merely building a louder, angrier, and far more hollow one.
