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Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri says ‘sobbing’ Muslim cabbie in The Quint’s video is a part-time actor who was hired for the video

OpIndia Staff
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Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri says ‘sobbing’ Muslim cabbie in The Quint’s video is a part-time actor who was hired for the video

A controversy has erupted over a video shared by The Quint where a Muslim cab driver is seen hyperventilating over the proposed National Register of Citizens. The person in the video appears to be putting some special effort into exaggerating concerns about the NRC and invents scenarios that are detached from reality. “What wrong have we done to deserve this?” the driver asks rather dramatically before adding “What is our crime?”


The alleged Muslim cab driver, Irshad Ahmed, fearmongers about the NRC without any rebuttal from the journalist. He says, “My heart starts pounding on just thinking about NRC. I don’t have land, neither do I have documents for land. What will I tell them to prove that I am an Indian.” The Quint does not bother to point out that owning land is not the only way of proving citizenship.

Read: Bangladeshi journalist visits Kolkata, participates in anti-NRC protest holding ‘Modi go back’ poster

Furthermore, Ahmed would have needed to provide documents for acquiring his driving license, which is likely to be enough evidence of citizenship in the proposed NRC. Therefore, his fearmongering does not make any sense at all given the fact that he already has the documents necessary to prove his case. Furthermore, if he is driving the cab without a valid license or if his license happens to be fraudulent, then his immediate concern should be the fact that he has broken laws of the country and not the NRC the details of which haven’t even emerged yet. The same was pointed out by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.


The gravest of allegations, however, came from filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. He has alleged that the Muslim cab driver is, in fact, a part-time junior actor in Bollywood. He has claimed that Ahmed was paid by The Quint to act out the scene from a written script.

Vivek Agnihotri has also challenged The Quint to not just deny this allegation mounted by him, but also to prove that he was indeed a cab-driver and not an actor hired by the media outlet.


The filmmaker even responded to BJP MP Subramanian Swamy reiterating that the man shown in The Quint video is a hired actor and not an actual cab driver.


The controversy comes at a time when reports have emerged of Muslim cab drivers in Delhi forming WhatsApp groups where they collecting data of pro-BJP riders and sharing it on WhatsApp group to give them low ratings on online cab booking apps. The claims, although not verified as yet, raises troubling concerns about cab drivers of a particular religious orientation profiling their customers on the basis of their political ideology based on their personal information.

Read: NDTV spreads fake news again, this time during a ‘fact check’ on the government’s claims on NRC and NPR

It also raises pertinent questions about The Quint’s editorial policies. As we know, the media outlet’s parent company partnered with Bloomberg News to found the BloombergQuint. Bloomberg News was founded by Michael Bloomberg, one of the Democrat Presidential aspirants for the 2020 US Presidential Elections.

In the past, The Quint has also offered tutorials to protesters on how to avoid facial recognition by wearing masks. We are also aware that Bloomberg’s news coverage is affected by their ownership. Thus, given what we know, one has to wonder whether The Quint’s coverage is affected by their association with Bloomberg News, which can be said to serve as the propaganda wing of a US politician from the Democrat party.

Exclusive: After Minister Piyush Goyal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to meet Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos

OpIndia Staff
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Exclusive: After Minister Piyush Goyal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to meet Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Inc and the owner of Washington Post is in India for a tour even as several small traders are planning to stage protests against the retail giant for distorting the local market. India’s antitrust chief Ashok Kumar Gupta told Reuters on Tuesday that big e-commerce companies in India should not offer deep discounts which can potentially hurt and small-scale brick and mortar retailers in India. Amidst the ruckus, Union Minister Piyush Goyal had decided not to meet the WaPo owner Jeff Bezos during his three-day India visit. Now, sources have confirmed to OpIndia that Prime Minister Modi too will not be meeting Jeff Bezos personally.

The e-commerce player has come under investigations on multiple counts, including deep discounts and exclusive tie-up with preferred sellers, in India. On Monday, in a major setback ahead of Bezos’ India visit, fair market watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an enquiry into the operations of both Amazon and Flipkart on multiple counts, including deep discounts and exclusive tie-up with preferred sellers.

Read: Minister Piyush Goyal not to meet Jeff Bezos during his India visit: Washington Post anti-India stand showing effect?

Finding merit in the allegations levelled by traders” body Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, the Commission asked its Director General (DG) to complete the investigation in 60 days from the receipt of the order.

However, other than Amazon’s market practices, there could be another crucial feature that has got Minister Piyush Goyal refusing a meeting with Bezos. In 2013, Jeff Bezos had purchased the Washington Post. Recently, Washington Post, owned by Bezos has launched a vicious campaign against India and its internal matters, whether it is the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir or even the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Washington Post harbours a deep-seated and mindless hatred for the Indian Prime Minister and has, on several occasions, written lie-ridden, baseless article to malign India and its ruling, democratically elected dispensation.

Read: In opposing Narendra Modi, progressives at Washington Post reveal they are a mirror image of the ‘AltRight’

Washington Post has increasing been peddling an anti-India narrative with a special target painted by them on the back of Hindus.

When OpIndia reached out to sources about Minister Piyush Goyal not meeting Jeff Bezos, they confirmed that other than the unfair trade practices of Amazon, Washington Post’s sans-fact rhetoric against India is also one of the factors that have gone into the decision of not meeting Jeff Bezos.

Read: Washington Post publishes ‘Rising hate in India’ story based on fake data

With Prime Minister Modi and Minister Piyush Goyal declining to meet Jeff Bezos, India seems to be sending a strong message to international media and businesses. India is concerned about protecting its interests and global players need to be mindful to not indulge in attempts to hurt domestic interests by indulging in petty propaganda or unfair trade practices.

Fact check: Did Central govt ‘ignore Left-ruled Kerala’ in releasing flood relief fund, as claimed by India Today

NR Nigam
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Fact check: Did Central govt ‘ignore Left-ruled Kerala’ in releasing flood relief fund, as claimed by India Today

Many of us saw the IndiaToday article claiming that Centre has not allocated any funds for Kerala flood relief. They try to further sensationalise this news by raising apprehensions about political vendetta by BJP since Kerala is ‘Left’ ruled state. The headline of the article read, “No flood relief to Kerala, Centre ignores Left-ruled state again in fund release”.

India Today headline

The news looks shocking in first glance and raises the immediate question that ‘Out of Rs 5908 Crores allocated for 2019-2020, why there was zero funding for Kerala’? Our mainstream media often follows the principle of ‘Dont let facts come in the way of propaganda’. And we at Opindia are determined to ruin their propaganda. So I decided to probe this charge based on publicly available information which India Today and other news portals also have access to.

Like it happens often with such news items, this is also the case of relying on people’s limited memory and author’s ability to confuse people by selectively quoting data. We all remember how devastating floods ravaged Kerala recently. We also remember there were attempts to portray the Centre government as a villain.

People cheered the news of (non-existent) Rs 700 Crore grant from UAE and mocked the Modi government. But wait! When was this? Last year? No, it was in the year 2018. And the Rs 5908 Cr grant Centre has approved (from NDRF kitty) is for 2019-20.

Read: Was the ‘UAE extends Rs 700 crore aid for Kerala flood’ assertion just a big fat lie?

Floods hit Kerala in 2019 too but the magnitude wasn’t as big as 2018 and hence it wasn’t declared a national calamity, therefore NDRF funds were given to the states that needed more help.

The disaster management division website defines the NDRF fund as below:

The National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), constituted under Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, supplements SDRF of a State, in case of a disaster of severe nature, provided adequate funds are not available in SDRF.

It must be remembered that the NDRF fund is allocated in 2 phases. The first instalment of Rs 10,000 Cr was announced earlier and next one (5908 Cr) came recently on which these news portals are reporting.

A quick look at the state-wise fund allocation for Disaster relief will throw more light on this. In 2019, Centre allocated Rs 168.75 Cr and Kerala Govt allocated Rs 56.25 Cr for Kerala’s SDRF. Out of this Rs 52.275 Cr were utilised by Kerala govt. It means Kerala SDRF has a balance of Rs 173 Cr available from 2019 allocation quota. Why Left lead Kerala govt didn’t utilise funds, can these analysts tell us which vendetta Kerala govt was doing?

NDTF fund allocation 2019-2020

A little more digging on the NDM India website will tell us Kerala state already has a balance of Rs 2107 Cr available as on 1st April 2019 (that was not utilized during 2018 floods which were 4 times more devastating than 2019 floods in terms of human causalities)

So Kerala has Rs 2107 Cr available from the Year 2018, add to it Rs 173 Cr which were not spent in 2019 (Rs 2280 Cr) which is mostly provided by Centre government itself. And people are seeing vendetta here?

Read: From Fani, Titli, Gaja, Kerala floods to Karnataka: Here is how the Modi government has responded to natural disasters

Since people are so fond of crying vendetta, I would wonder how do they explain the omission of Gujarat, UP, Uttarakhand (BJP ruled states) in phase 1? How do they explain granting Rs 1000 Cr, Rs 3000 Cr and Rs 500 Cr to Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra (neither of them is BJP ruled) in phase 1? How will they explain Rs 1749 Cr to MP and Rs 956 Cr to Maharashtra in phase 2 (both of them are non-BJP states)?

Congress govt in Chhattisgarh move SC seeking declaration of UPA-I legislated NIA Act of 2008 as unconstitutional

OpIndia Staff
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Congress govt in Chhattisgarh move SC seeking declaration of UPA-I legislated NIA Act of 2008 as unconstitutional

The Congress-led Chhattisgarh government has approached the Supreme Court demanding the declaration of NIA Act of 2008 as unconstitutional. The Chhattisgarh government, in their plea, has argued that the NIA Act grants arbitrary powers to the Centre to deal with the terror-related crimes across states without special permission from the states.

The suit was filed under Article 131 of the Constitution by the Chhattisgarh government which provides for the state to move directly to the Supreme Court in matters of a dispute against the Centre. The state government filed plea read: “The state respectfully submits that the NIA Act is ultra vires to the Constitution and is beyond legislative competence of Parliament since the Act empowers the defendant (Centre) to create an agency for investigation, which, notwithstanding the NIA, is carried out by state police, which is a subject matter of the state under entry 2, List 2, Schedule 7, of the Constitution.”

Interestingly, the NIA Act of 2008 was brought into force by the Congress-led UPA government at the centre to effectively grapple with the terror-related incidents across the country. The reason cited then to float the NIA Act was the gruesome attacks of 26/11 in Mumbai when 12 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists entered the city and carried out attacks and shootings, leaving 166 people dead and scores of others injured.

Read: After NIA and UAPA amendments, Amit Shah needs to go after conversion mafia

The National Investigation Agency Act 2008 conferred powers to the Central Government to form a National Investigation Agency (NIA) to combat terror in India. The agency acts as the Central Counter-Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency and is empowered to deal with terror-related crimes across states without special permission from the states.

According to the constitution of the National Investigation Agency Act 2008, “Any officer of the Agency of, or above, the rank of Sub-Inspector may, subject to any orders which the Central Government may make in this behalf, exercise throughout India, any of the powers of the officer-in-charge of a police station in the area in which he is present for the time being and when so exercising such powers shall, subject to any such orders as aforesaid, be deemed to be an officer-in-charge of a police station discharging the functions of such an officer within the limits of his station”.

Now, the Congress-led Chhatisgarh government has stated in their plea to the apex court that the NIA Act 2008 autocratically snatches the authority of the probe authorised to local police under the constitution and grants arbitrary power to the centre. In the petition, the Chhattisgarh government has demanded the Supreme Court declare the Act as “Unconstitutional”.

Kejriwal and Sisodia sold MLA ticket for 21 crores: Sitting AAP MLA alleges as many new faces emerge as AAP candidates

OpIndia Staff
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Kejriwal and Sisodia sold MLA ticket for 21 crores: Sitting AAP MLA alleges as many new faces emerge as AAP candidates

The AAP government in Delhi has been claiming that they will seek votes on the basis of stellar work done in the last 5 years of their rule. However, seeing their current list of candidates, speculations are being made whether the party doesn’t even trust the ‘work’ of its sitting MLAs.

The party had issued the list of candidates on 14 January. 15 sitting MLAs seem to have lost out in the ticket race. However, the party has reportedly fielded 5 such ‘new faces’ who had joined AAP just 24 hours prior.

ND Sharma, the sitting AAP MLA from Badarpur seat has alleged that he was called to deputy CM Sisodia’s residence where he was informed that the party has given the ticket for his constituency to one Ram Singh. Sisodia allegedly told Sharma that Singh wanted the ticket and has paid Rs 21 crores for it. Sharma has further alleged that Sisodia had demanded Rs 10 crores from him for the ticket to his constituency.


One of the ‘new faces’ fielded by AAP is Vinay Mishra who has obtained the Dwarka ticket. He is the son of former Congress MP Mahabal Mishra. The Dwarka seat was won in 2014 by Lal Bahadur Shashtri’s grandson Adarsh Shashtri on an AAP ticket. Shashtri has not been given a ticket this time.

The other new faces apart from Vinay Mishra are Rajkumari Dhillon, Naveen Chaudhry (Deepu), Jai Bhagwan and Ram Singh Netaji (Badarpur).

As per reports, AAP is repeating only 46 MLAs. In the list of candidates shared by AAP, 24 seats are getting ‘new faces’. 15 of these constituencies are those where sitting MLAs have been denied tickets. The MLAs in 5 seats have had their membership cancelled and 4 seats are under BJP.


Apart from Badarpur MLA ND Sharma, Seelampur MLA Haji Ishrak and Delhi Cant MLA Commando Surendra have also reportedly voiced objections over the ticket distribution. They have stated that they will meet the CM over the denial of tickets.

Muslim cab drivers collect and share info of pro-BJP riders over WhatsApp group, give them low ratings, viral Facebook post suggests

OpIndia Staff
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Muslim cab drivers collect and share info of pro-BJP riders over WhatsApp group, give them low ratings, viral Facebook post suggests

A Facebook post has gone viral on social media which suggests that Muslim cab drivers in Delhi are collecting data of pro-BJP riders and sharing it on WhatsApp group to give them low ratings.


As per a tweet by Twitter user @pokershah, in a Facebook post, a protestor returning from Mandi House anti-CAA protests held last week was injured and hence booked a cab. According to the post, the protestor overheard the cab driver, one Aslam, talk to someone and managed to catch ‘Sanghi saale’ being spoken from other end.

As the protestor was injured, Aslam went to nearby medical store to get some first aid when the protestor looked into the phone and saw a WhatsApp group wherein Aslam and few other Muslim cab drivers were sharing details of their riders. They were allegedly discussing giving low ratings to pro-BJP riders.

Read: Uber driver Imrom turns Amit, then Irshad: Activist raises concerns about safety of customers

As per the Facebook post, these Muslim cab drivers also collected information of pickup and drop locations of these ‘Sanghis’ so they could ‘avoid’ them. The rider, instead of feeling alarmed that someone is profiling them and collecting personal information, actually thought this was funny.

Later, as per the rider, the cab driver Aslam told her that some riders cancel their rides when they see the driver is a Muslim. Hence, when cab riders ask him his political views, he just tells them he is a Modi supporter. That way, the pro-BJP riders give him higher ratings and he ends up giving lower ratings to these riders.

While OpIndia could not independently verify the claims in the above post, if true, this raises a number of questions. How is anyone, irrespective of religion, collecting and sharing personal information of riders safe? How do ‘liberals’ find the idea of cab drivers collecting and sharing personal information and profiling people based on political ideology funny?

Sabarimala: Notice to close meat shops during Thiruvabharanam procession angers ‘seculars’, meat and animal carcasses found on path later

OpIndia Staff
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Sabarimala: Notice to close meat shops during Thiruvabharanam procession angers ‘seculars’, meat and animal carcasses found on path later

Meat and animal carcasses were reportedly found thrown on the road where the annual Thiruvabharanam procession for Sabarimala temple was set to pass through. As per reports, the Thiruvabharanam procession is a traditional procession of Lord Ayyappa in Sabarimala where the jewellery to be worn by the deity is taken in a grand procession from Pandalam to the main shrine at Sabarimala.

Three sacred caskets are used for carrying Thiruvabharanam ornaments made by the Pandalam king for his son, Lord Ayyappa, along with pooja utensils to Sabarimala temple. They are the Thriuvabharana Petti (sacred ornaments casket, the silver vessel casket, and the Kodi Petti (flag casket). The Thiruvabharanam procession takes a traditional route to Sabarimala, covering a distance of 83 km on foot. The boxes are carried on the head by 12 people. Thousands of devotees participate in the grand procession.


As per a report in Organiser, meat and animal carcasses were found dumped on the Mandiram-Vadaserikkara road, where the Thiruvabharanam procession was to pass. Devotees, led by several Panchayat members, had spotted the meat and animal carcasses hours before the procession was to pass and had rushed to wash and clean the spot.

As per reports, an order was passed by Panchayat Secretary on January 6 to keep all the meat and fish shops along the Mandiram-Vadaserikkara road on 13 and 14 January for the Thiruvabharanam procession.

Some local groups, reportedly Islamist and communist outfits had objected to such an order. They had reportedly stated that such an order is against the Kerala government’s ‘progressive’ stand. Many social media users had also shared the order and had outraged over the issue, complaining that it is against ‘secular’ values.

meat and carcasses on Mandiram-Vadaserikkara road being cleaned before the procession, image via Organiser

However, Panchayat President Shaji Manappallil of the Congress had stated that the order to close meat and fish shops during the days of Thiruvabharanam procession has been a regular practice since the last few years after local Hindu outfits had complained of poultry waste being discarded in an unhygienic way the nearby river and polluting the area.

Local Hindu outfits had complained that while the order of closure of the meat and fish shops has been a part of routine procedure being followed in the last few years, some groups are now deliberately trying to communalise the issue.

Panchayat officials have also stated that the controversy over the closure order of meat shops is misplaced as it is a part of regular practice to lower waste production and poultry waste dispersal.

Jyothi S, the Panchayat Secretary was quoted by Times Of India as saying, “It is a normal practice. We had cleaned up the path for the procession and still poultry waste was dumped yesterday. The notice is being misinterpreted. We have a facility for collection of poultry and meat waste, but some of the merchants don’t co-operate with it and that’s why the notice was issued as a precautionary step to avoid dumping of waste along the path of procession since it could lead to other issues also”.

Read: Congress, communists and Muslim League have attacked the root of our faith in Sabarimala: PM Modi in Tamil Nadu

The Thiruvabharanam procession has started from Pandalam on Monday and had passed through Vadaserikara on Tuesday. Saima S, the deputy director of the Panchayat Directorate had also stated that the issuance of notice to close meat and fish shops to avoid the dumping of meat and poultry waste is a routine affair. Some people are unnecessarily trying to create communal tension in the area by highlighting it.

She added that the Panchayat Secretary only wanted to ensure that the Hindu religious procession is carried out smoothly and there is no dumping of poultry waste on the path. It is a peaceful and proper way to conduct a religious event.

Minister Piyush Goyal not to meet Jeff Bezos during his India visit: Washington Post anti-India stand showing effect?

OpIndia Staff
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Minister Piyush Goyal not to meet Jeff Bezos during his India visit: Washington Post anti-India stand showing effect?

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Inc and the owner of Washington Post is in India for a tour even as several small traders are planning to stage protests against the retail giant for distorting the local market. India’s antitrust chief Ashok Kumar Gupta told Reuters on Tuesday that big e-commerce companies in India should not offer deep discounts which can potentially hurt and small-scale brick and mortar retailers in India. Amidst the ruckus, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has decided not to meet the WaPo owner Jeff Bezos during his three-day India visit.

The e-commerce player has come under investigations on multiple counts, including deep discounts and exclusive tie-up with preferred sellers, in India. On Monday, in a major setback ahead of Bezos’ India visit, fair market watchdog, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered an enquiry into the operations of both Amazon and Flipkart on multiple counts, including deep discounts and exclusive tie-up with preferred sellers.

Finding merit in the allegations levelled by traders” body Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh, the Commission asked its Director General (DG) to complete the investigation in 60 days from the receipt of the order.

However, other than Amazon’s market practices, there could be another crucial feature that has got Minister Piyush Goyal refusing a meeting with Bezos. In 2013, Jeff Bezos had purchased the Washington Post. Recently, Washington Post, owned by Bezos has launched a vicious campaign against India and its internal matters, whether it is the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir or even the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Washington Post harbours a deep-seated and mindless hatred for the Indian Prime Minister and has, on several occasions, written lie-ridden, baseless article to malign India and its ruling, democratically elected dispensation.

Washington Post had rallied against the decision of Gates Foundation to present Narendra Modi with an award for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. They are in staunch opposition of the decision to abrogate Article 370 and also the NRC and are accusing Narendra Modi of committing gross human rights violations.

Suchitra Vijayan and Arjun Singh Sethi, writing for the Washington Post, argue that the Indian Prime Minister’s “Hindu nationalist party has incited violence against minorities, silenced dissent and curtailed freedom of expression.” They add, “In light of Modi’s record, including promoting repressive policies in the past month in Kashmir and the northeastern state of Assam, he should not be given the award.”

Read: In opposing Narendra Modi, progressives at Washington Post reveal they are a mirror image of the ‘AltRight’

The same old tropes were peddled by Washington Post to demonise PM Modi without understanding the historical context of the Kashmir conflict, the India-Pakistan conflict, and, based on complete conjectures and lies.

So biased was there reporting on Kashmir that several Kashmiri Pandits from the USA had decided to demonstrate outside the Washington Post office and had even written a letter of dissent to the Editor taking strong exception to their Kashmir reportage.

“In the historic first, many Kashmiri Americans demonstrated peacefully outside your office against the biased news coverage on Kashmir following the removal of Article 370, a temporary provision governing the Federal state Constitutional relationship of Jammu and Kashmir,” read the memorandum submitted to Martin Beower, the executive editor of Washington Post.

The Kashmiri Pandit group also respectfully requested the Washington Post to publish the contents of this press release to ensure that their readers get a fair and balanced reporting of what has transpired.

Read: Dangerous reporting with use of Hindu-Muslim binary fanning religious polarisation: Kashmiri Americans write a scathing letter Washington Post

“Your coverage has not addressed the dejure lawlessness that existed in the State of J&K due to Article 370 accompanied by Article 35A which supposedly granted special status to the State,” the Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora said in a memorandum submitted to the Washington Post. “Nowhere in the Washington Post media narratives is their mention that in this lawless State the most heinous genocide was committed against the aboriginal people, the Kashmiri Pandits, resulting in their virtual exile,” the organiser said.

The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora also accused the daily of fanning religious polarisation in the region through their reporting. “The most dangerous framing of the issue is your reporting in fanning religious polarisation with the use of Hindu-Muslim binary,” said GKPD in its memorandum.

“Washington Post’s biased reporting ignores the inconvenient truth that Article 370 and Article 35A…have denied democratic rights to minorities, women and weaker sections of the society while throttling Kashmir’s economy…(and) Kashmir Valley became breeding ground for rampant corruption, separatism,” said Mohan Sapru, the chief coordinator of the rally.

Read: The Washington Post headline on Baghdadi’s death: Another progressive step in the long march of liberalism

In fact, after the Ayodhya verdict that gave the ownership rights of Ram Janmabhoomi to Hindus, Washington Post published an article headlined, “India’s Supreme Court endorses right-wing vision relegating Muslims to second-class citizens”. The article was written by hate-monger and fake news peddler Rana Ayyub who has been regularly given a platform by Washington Post without her hateful assertions being verified by the publication at all.

While the Washington post whitewashes even the terrorist-in-chief of ISIS, Al Baghdadi, and call him an “austere religious scholar”. However, when talking about an elected representative in India, Washington Post derides him shamelessly simply because he wears saffron.

Washington Post headline about Yogi Adityanath

Washington Post has had a long history of taking a stand which is diametrically opposed to the interests of India and has been an active participant in spreading propaganda against India, the ruling dispensation and even Hindus.

Read: Washington Post publishes ‘Rising hate in India’ story based on fake data

When asked if Washington Post’s anti-Hindu, anti-India propaganda is the reason for Minister Piyush Goyal’s decision to not meet Jeff Bezos, sources alluded to the fact that this could be one of the main reasons along with Amazon’s faulty trade practices.

It should be kept in mind that Minister Piyush Goyal has on several occasions reiterated the fact that India will not tolerate any trade practises that hurt its local traders. The investigation into Amazon’s trade practices along with the deeply anti-India stand that Washington Post has taken recently is being attributed as the two prime reasons why the minister has refused to meet Jeff Bezos during his three-day India trip.

With the step, the Modi government is clearly signalling that the government is likely to take a zero-tolerance approach to propaganda that is routinely published in the foreign press and such shenanigans come with a cost.

Aligarh Muslim University to file FIR against police for ‘crossing the mandate’ and entering hostel without permission

OpIndia Staff
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Aligarh Muslim University to file FIR against police for ‘crossing the mandate’ and entering hostel without permission

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor on Tuesday said that the varsity will file an FIR against the Uttar Pradesh Police for entering the hostel without permission. After the anti-CAA protests got violent on December 15, the AMU VC had given UP Police permission to enter the campus to maintain law and order. The AMU students were taking out a solidarity march with Jamia Millia Islamia students when things got violent at AMU.

As per the reports, the VC has now said that the police exceeded the mandate and while the permission was given to restore peace on campus, the police allegedly entered residential hostels.

Read: AMU students were aggressive and deliberately created disturbances, Police used non-lethal weapons for self defence: Aligarh SSP on anti-CAA riots

AMU spokesperson Shafey Kidwai reportedly said in a statement that an FIR would be lodged against the police to “raise voice against police high-handedness”.

Following the violence in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, where Jamia Millia Islamia university is situated, it was reported that students of AMU had also clashed with UP Police on the night of 15 December. OP Singh, the DGP of UP, stated that after Jamia incident, rumours had spread to AMU where students were gathered. He added that despite the police interacting with the students to remain calm and not resort to violence, some students started stone-pelting.

After the fracas at the Aligarh Muslim University on the night of December 15, social media was flooded with assertions that the Uttar Pradesh police may have entered hostels, thrashed students and indulged in vandalism at the Aligarh Muslim University on Sunday night while dealing with a student protest over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Read: Complaint filed in Aligarh police station over ‘Yogi teri kabar khudegi, AMU ke dharti par’ slogans: Watch the video

The police stated that despite the proctoral team’s attempts, many students had scaled the gates, and had come outside to clash with the police at AMU circle. Another video showed the police warning the students not to resort to violence and breach orders of unlawful assembly. When the rioters continued to pelt stones, the police had to fire tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

Madhya Pradesh: 6 tribal infants dead in 12 hours at Shahdol district hospital, probe ordered

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: 6 tribal infants dead in 12 hours at Shahdol district hospital, probe ordered

6 tribal infants have died in Madhya Pradesh’ Shahdol district hospital within a span of 12 hours, as per reports. The deaths have been reported between Monday night and Tuesday morning.

As per a report in the Times Of India, the hospital administration has stated that all the children were very ill and some of them were brought to the hospital in a critical condition. They asserted that there were no lapses in duty by the medical staff.

However, Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Tusli Silawat has ordered a probe into the deaths.

Among the deceased infants, two were reportedly admitted a fortnight back. 2 were in the general ward where other two were in the Special Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) and the Pediatric ICU of the hospital. All the infants were less than six months old.

Three of the infants reportedly died in a span of four hours on Monday evening. The fourth infant was declared dead at 3.30 am and te fifth at 6 am. The sixth infant died at 7.30 am on Tuesday, 14 January.

As per reports, all the infants were diagnosed with pneumonia. Two more infant deaths were reported in Satna too. After the deaths were highlighted the media, the state health minister had ordered a probe. As per a report in the Dainik Bhaskar, the minister has ordered the respective district collectors and health officers to probe the incidents.

Kamalaeshwar Patel, the minister of Rural Development and Panchayat had visited the Shahdol district hospital on Tuesday morning and spoke to the families of the infants.

CMHO Dr Rajesh Pandey has stated that two of the six infants were on the ventilator. He added that efforts were made to save their lives but they were unsuccessful. He added that though initial probe may hint at medical negligence, a clear case will emerge only after a detailed probe.

Civil Surgeon in charge Mukul Chaturvedi has stated that two of the infants were brought there from other hospitals and were unconscious. He added that negligence can not be alleged on the hospital staff. He, however, added that a probe will be conducted.

Read: NCPCR issues notice to Kota Health Officer over deaths of kids in JK Lon Hospital, finds several irregularities in the govt hospital

It is notable here that recently the deaths of over 100 infants were reported from the JK Lon Hospital in Rajasthan’s Kota in the month of December. The incident had caused a furore nationally after Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot was seen reacting insensitively to the issue.

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