At least 100 organisations, many of them obscure, will unite to protest against the National Population Register(NPR), National Register of Citizens(NRC) and the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, said the Swaraj Abhiyan Party President Yogendra Yadav at a national coordination committee meeting held in TISS on Monday.
The discussion which was held to chart the future course of action regarding protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was attended by Rashtriya Seva Dal President Ganesh Devi, student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, United Against Hate member Umar Khalid, Kavita Krishnan, Medha Patkar and the controversial activist Harsh Mander, known for constituting skewed hate-tracker.
According to Yadav, the meeting saw participation from about 100 organisations across the country during which a month-long campaign was planned to be held across the country, under the banner ‘We The People of India’. The organisers asked all the protestors to hold protests under the same banner-which is also the first four words of the Indian Constitution.
As of now, at least six national-level protests have been planned to happen in the month of January. The first protest is intended to happen on Savitribai Phule Divas, January 3, 2020. The next protest is a planned Bharat Bandh on January 8. The third protest is envisaged on the Youth Day (January 12) while the fourth one is planned on the death anniversary of Rohith Vemula/social justice day (January 17). Fifth and sixth protests will be held on January 26(Republic Day) and January 30(Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary).
Accusing the government of repressing the voice of the people in connection with the recent clampdown on the rioters by the police in different parts of the country, Yadav asserted that the protest will entail a call for a boycott of NRC, NPR and CAA by the participating organisations. He also added that a request will be made to the government to declare their intentions regarding the implementation of the NRC in a standard formalised manner.
Days after enactment of newly amended Citizenship Act, eight Pakistani refugees, who were living in Kota, Rajasthan since 2000, have been given Indian citizenship on December 30 (Monday). All refugees had come from Sindh in Pakistan fleeing religious persecution. They all received certificates from the district collector of Kota.
Though the Congress government led by CM Ashok Gehlot had refused to implement CAA and NRC in the state of Rajasthan it is being believed that since most of the Hindu migrants in Pakistan have connections in Rajasthan, there is immense pressure being put on the Chief Minister by the people waiting to get the Indian citizenship to consider the implementation of the Act in the state.
Though the local administration has called it a routine process of granting citizenship, this pressure from the Hindu migrants has probably compelled the Rajasthan government to recognise the newly introduced Act.
Expressing their happiness, the Hindu immigrants said that they’re very happy about it. “We came here because our families are already here. We are very thankful to India for giving us citizenship. I am so happy and I have no words to express it,” said one of them.
Another one said, “We have been living here since 20-25 years. We have never faced any problems here. And all the Sindhis living there want to come to India. We are very happy here. We have not faced any kind of problem here until now.” He further said that they were supported by everyone even before they became citizens of India.
They also said that Sindh is not a place where minorities can stay and that they had no other option to flee there and come to India. They expressed relief about the fact that now they can lead lives according to the Indian constitution as an Indian citizen.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Indian Parliament earlier this month and became an Act with Presidential assent on December 12.
The new Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees who came from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014. It applies to those who were forced to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion. It aims to protect such people from proceedings of illegal migration. The cut-off date for citizenship is December 31, 2014, which means the applicant should have entered India on or before that date.
The year 2019 witnessed a massive Battle of Narratives. It also witnessed the collaboration between the mainstream media and opposition parties to target the ruling dispensation without even bothering to hide their intentions. However, despite the continuous barrage of propaganda directed against the NDA government, the ruling dispensation still managed to come out on top every single time. In this article, we look at the 5 big Narrative battles of 2019 and the manner in which the propaganda was defeated.
In 2019, there was a spate of ‘hate crimes’ which gained great press coverage. However, despite the media hype, they turned out to be fake. In spite of that, such stories continued to fly thick and fast to build the narrative of ‘Dara Hua Musalman’. We documented a list of a dozen fake hate crimes, some of them with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ knitted into their story. In most of these cases, the crimes that were committed, if any, had nothing to do with the religion of the victims but they were deliberately distorted in order to turn them into communal crimes. The list of fake hate crimes can be read here.
In other news, IndiaSpend’s faulty FactChecker.in, which was infamous for having a track record of manipulating facts to suit their preconceived notions and agenda has finally decided to shut their propaganda shop ‘Hate Crime Watch’ after being exposed several times for Hinduphobia and bias. Faulty FactChecker.in announced that they are ‘moving’ their propaganda machinery ‘to a new home’ and effective and immediately ending their association with it. They claimed that they had identified a ‘gnawing gap in crime reporting’.
A lot has been said over the narrative of ‘Dara Hua Musalman’. The secular camp has carefully constructed the narrative with its abundant resources, initiatives have been launched which maintain a dubious ‘hate tracker’ record to further the narrative.
We have often seen how crimes involving a Muslim and Hindu where Muslim is victim, at least as reported, take mammoth proportions as the ‘liberal’ coterie scream “Hindu extremism” at every given pretext. The attempt to create a narrative that India is a majoritarian state that heaps atrocities on its minorities, especially Muslims, is rampant.
The basic premise of the ‘dara hua Musalman’ narrative is that the individual Muslim is scared to profess his religion in Modi’s India and is under attack for no other reason but because they are Muslims. That the Muslim community is docile and powerless in front of the Majority Hindu population that has turned fascistic after the Prime Minister came to power.
To further this narrative, every crime by a Hindu, even ones not motivated by religious motivations are amplified and hate crimes committed by Muslims in the name of their religion are ignored. The “secular” narrative is hurt by the truth and thus, the truth is often hidden under the rug.
To bust this narrative, we documented 50 genuine hate crimes committed by Muslims against Hindus that bust the narrative of ‘Dara Hua Musalman’. There are several incidents that we may have missed in this list, nonetheless, this list accurately represents the larger picture of how crimes committed by Muslims often don’t feature in the outrage priority list of the “liberals”. The entire list can be read here.
Politicians from the so-called secular establishment have been making a concerted attempt to create a ‘Dalit-Muslim unity’ narrative. The mainstream media, its propaganda wing, has been aiding their efforts by furthering a favourable narrative. However, as the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections have amply demonstrated, such efforts are destined to fail.
We documented the ‘community crimes‘ committed by Muslims against Dalits in recent years that make the much fantasized ‘Dalit-Muslim vote-bank’ nonviable. We documented 25 such hate crimes that can be read here.
Furthermore, only yesterday, Shehla Rashid demanded that Dalits sacrifice a portion of their reservations by accommodating ‘Dalit Muslims’, a category that does not exist in the real world.
4. The Fake Narratives over abrogation of Article 370
A host of fake news was peddled after the abrogation of Article 370 by the mainstream media. And regularly, their narrative was busted by the Indian Government and other media outlets. As early as merely three days after the abrogation of Article 370, the USA had to come out and deny a report published in The Print that claimed that the Indian government had briefed them about their decision to abrogate Article 370.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta cited an OpIndia report in the Supreme Court which debunked the lies being spread by IndiaSpend on the Kashmir issue. The OpIndia report that Solicitor General was referring to in the Supreme Court was an article that debunked the lies spread by IndiaSpend and The Wire after the abrogation of Article 370. In the article, IndiaSpend had twisted data and laced it with lies to claim that mental health issues were on the rise in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. The OpIndia report can be read here.
The Liberal Establishment spread numerous lies regarding the abrogation of Article 370 that include the claim that the effective repeal of Articles 370 and 35A nullify the Instrument of Accession signed between JK Maharaja and India and Manmohan Singh’s blatant lie that the Congress voted in favour of the abrogation of Article 370. The J&K administration also rubbished an India Today report that claimed that SPOs in Kashmir may be involved with terrorists and their weapons had been seized.
5. The Anti-CAA Campaign
From the very beginning, it was obvious that the anti-CAA protests were driven primarily by Islamic Extremists and political parties and they were not ‘spontaneous’ as they were made out to be. However, the mainstream media continued to project the protests as ‘secular’ and ‘spontaneous’.
OpIndia exposed the manner in which the Congress party was instigating protests across Universities. We also exposed the unholy nexus between Islamic Fundamentalists, ‘Urban Naxals’ and foreign funded NGOs behind the anti-CAA campaign. The anti-Hindu and Islamic Extremist nature of the protests were exposed by the protesters themselves. We documented 9 such occasions when the protesters revealed the ugly hatred that is driving them. It was also revealed that the Jamia ‘Shero’ had given a call for Jihad before violence erupted across the national capital. We also documented why the Jamia Milia Islamia University could not be disassociated from the violence that erupted across Delhi and why the entire campaign was Khilafat 2.0.
The mainstream media narrative over the anti-CAA protests collapsed so spectacularly that the entire edifice of the Liberal Establishment is falling apart. The alliance between Islamic Extremists, Secular Political Parties, the Mainstream Media and the Leftist Intelligentsia is falling apart as has been demonstrated by Shashi Tharoor’s backtracking and Shehla Rashid’s Twitter meltdown.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government expanded its cabinet yesterday, with the inclusion of 25 ministers and 10 Ministers of State(MoS). The expansion of the cabinet, almost a month after the government formation in the state due to disagreement between the alliance partners has drawn criticism from several quarters for the inclusion of contentious ministers.
One of the newly incorporated legislators in the extended cabinet is Abdul Sattar, who according to Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamana, had close ties with the gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his underlings. In a scathing article published in Saamana in 1994, it alleged that Sattar, who was then in Congress, was in thick with the Dawood Ibrahim gang, the conspirators of the Mumbai Bomb Blasts 1993.
However, despite the allegations published in its mouthpiece about 25 years back, Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray not only offered membership of the party to Sattar but he also went ahead to anoint him as a Minister in the newly expanded Maharashtra cabinet.
Besides Sattar, the inclusion of Congress MLA Aslam Shaikh too attracted staunch criticism from the opposition parties as they alleged that Sheikh had been at the vanguard of the campaign demanding clemency for the terrorist Yakub Menon, one of the co-conspirators of the Mumbai Bomb Blasts 1993, and who was awarded death penalty by the highest court of the country.
Shaikh, the Congress MLA from Malad West, had earlier written to the erstwhile President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking mercy for Menon in the serial bomb blast case. Shaikh, along with several current and former legislative office-bearers of the Congress such as Naseem Khan, Amin Patel, Shaikh Asif, Shaikh Rashid, Muzaffar Hussain, Husanabano Khalife, Yusuf Abrahani and Javed Juneja had made this demand to the President.
It is also noteworthy to mention that Shiv Sena party, which is currently in alliance with ideological rivals-NCP and Congress in Maharashtra had then welcomed the capital punishment against Menon.
As the debate over the CAA, NRC and NPR continue both on streets and on social media, it has emerged that huge amounts of money are being spent on rigging polls and public opinion against the initiatives of the government. A Reddit user, who goes by the username onosmosis, has claimed to have been running dozens of web servers on the Internet to run campaigns against the BJP government at the centre.
The Reddit user posted the following message on r/india subreddit, informing about his ‘project’:
For the last three months, I have been running more than 40 servers on AWS to analyse social media, particularly Tweets from 2 lac+ bot accounts and run a campaign against the IT Cell of the current regime. This has been a resource-intensive task, and as you can see in the screenshot attached, it has been expensive as well. But the report and results of the campaign are showing. It’s consistently defeating the rigged Twitter polls of the IT Cell and giving more energy/voice to the people protesting against this draconian law. I will publish this extensive report later tomorrow on my blog for you all to consume. What makes me happy is that government with so much power and money are not able to do a thing if men and women are willing to think. Let’s keep protesting. I am contributing with my technology skill till I can.
The user claims that by running as many as 40 servers on Amazon Web Services to campaign against the government, he is able to consistently defeat “rigged Twitter polls of the IT cell”. Which means the technological resources are being used to vote on polls to defeat the IT cell. The user claims to be running or manipulating more than 2 lakh bot accounts on Twitter, which if true, is more than enough to rig any Twitter poll.
In a follow-up post, the user says that as we are not living in an ideal scenario, he decided to monitor and manipulate Twitter accounts of bots run by the IT cell of BJP. He adds that it took a lot of money and energy, but it was worth it. He has promised to release the results of his manipulation soon on his blog.
He also attached a copy of transactions with Amazon Web Services for the 40 servers he has rented. It shows that an amount of ₹2,00,361.42 was paid on 20th November, and another amount of ₹2,11,869.90 is due to be paid. This means more than Rs four lakhs have been spent in just two months to manipulate Twitter polls to show that people are not supporting CAA and NRC.
The posts received responses from numerous Reddit users offering their help in ‘defeating BJP IT cell’ by using technology. Many of them claim to be highly qualified in the fields of data science, programming, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, software development, and other areas of information technology, offering their help in collaborating in the ‘project’. Many of them also suggested moving the discussion to Slack or Telegram so that it can’t be seen by others. Some users also offered help in reducing the AWS bill, and many suggested running a fundraiser campaign to pay for the bills.
Going by the Reddit posts and the huge number of supportive comments they have received, it can be said that full fledge campaigns are being run to defeat BJP on the Internet. When some online poll shows people voting against CAA or NRC, it may because of more than 2 lakh hijacked bots voted against them, not real persons. And this is just one user, there may be many such online resources being dedicated behind the curtains.
After it has been established by the Uttar Pradesh Police that radical Islamist groups like Popular Front of India (PFI) and mainstream political parties conspired to perpetrate violence and unleash riots during the anti-CAA protests in various parts of the state on December 20, the Uttar Pradesh DGP, Om Prakash Singh, has written a letter to Home ministry, requesting to ban PFI in the state as soon as possible.
While the Home Ministry of Uttar Pradesh government will go through the recommendations to ban Islamist outfit PFI before sending the letter to the Centre, the deputy CM of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya has come out to second the proposal made by the Uttar Pradesh DGP Headquarter.
He clearly implied that since there is sufficient proof that PFI was behind the anti-CAA riots in the state, it leaves no doubt that the organization should be banned.
#Breaking | Watch the first reaction from U.P Dy CM @drdineshbjp after U.P DGP @OP_Singh83 wrote to the Centre seeking a ban on the PFI.
The request was made in the backdrop of a probe conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Police which found PFI’s involvement in the violent protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC) that took place on December 19. OP Singh said that objectionable material was found with people associated with PFI.
In wake of violent protests in the state against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the Uttar Pradesh Police has said that it has devised a strategy to neutralise the Popular Front of India (PFI), seen as the inciter of most of the violence, and if all goes as per plan, the organisation will not be able to counter the action taken by them.
In a conversation with IANS over the phone on Monday, Om Prakash Singh had said: “We arrested as many as 23 PFI activists from various violence-hit areas and this makes clear who was the primary instigator. We have got significant information from the arrested PFI members but cannot disclose it at this point in time…..much of this information is shocking and destabilising. First of all, we need peace and amity. If peace is there, then only can there be law and order.”
The state police have obtained enough evidence and witnesses to build a tight case for banning the organisation,” furthered DGP OP Singh.
The UP Police had on December 26 asserted that members of radical Islamist organisations – Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political front, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), including political parties like Samajwadi Party were involved in instigating Muslim mobs to indulge in violence across the state during the anti-CAA protests.
Three people associated with the radical Islamic organisation PFI, including UP state head Waseem, had been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for orchestrating violence by spreading misinformation through social media platforms.
The PFI is currently active in seven states of India. According to Uttar Pradesh police, PFI has been active in different parts of India since 2010 and the members of this group have been involved in disrupting the peace and harmony in the country.
According to Singh, rioters have damaged public property worth around Rs 100 crore in seven districts during the protests. Singh said the UP police have arrested 865 people and filed 135 cases in connection with the protests.
Following the violence, the Uttar Pradesh government had taken strict actions against the culprits by attaching their properties for causing violence.
Mother Teresa has been suspected for a long time of being a fraud. Her chequered past, hobnobbing with dictators and criminals, and the terrible facilities at the shelter homes she ran have left a bitter taste in the mouths of people who had earlier been fond of her. However, as it turns out, such sins, as bad as they were, come nowhere close to the latest allegations that have surfaced against her. A victim of an infamous Jesuit preacher, Rev. Donald J. McGuire, has now claimed that Mother Teresa knew about his sex crimes and yet, turned a blind eye to it.
Robert J. Goldberg, now 61, has claimed in a lawsuit that Rev. Donald J. McGuire, a Jesuit with close ties to Teresa, abused Goldberg “more than 1,000 times, in multiple states and countries,” Associated Press has reported. The sexual abuse, that occurred almost on a daily basis, included “sexual touching, oral copulation and anal penetration.” Goldberg’s attorneys claim that the abuse occurred over a period of time when powerful Church leaders, including ‘Saint’ Mother Teresa knew that McGuire was sexually abusing children. The lawsuit alleges that the Church went to great lengths to cover it up.
Goldberg, who was being raised by a single Catholic mother after the death of his father, was in need of money. Thus, his family came to rely on the 300$-500$ that McGuire paid him to work as his assistant. The sexual predator used Goldberg’s dependency to continue to abuse him and exploit him sexually.
McGuire eventually went on to become Teresa’s ‘Spiritual Adviser’ while vetting nuns seeking to join the Missionaries of Charity. McGuire had a history of sexually abusing children. One official in Austria wrote in the 1960s that McGuire had “much relations with young boys, particularly some boys who work in our kitchen and who used to go to his room.”
The AP report says, “Each time the Jesuits received complaints that McGuire was sexually abusing boys, they would move him to another post, where he would continue his predatory behaviour. Even after a psychiatric evaluation showed McGuire was sexually attracted to underage boys, the Jesuits continued to insist he was a priest in good standing, in part due to the urging of Mother Teresa.”
Teresa wrote in a letter dated February 2, 1994, “I have confidence and trust in Fr. McGuire and wish to see his vital ministry resume as soon as possible.” The ‘saint’ got her wish, and McGuire continued his world-wide ministry, “openly travelling with young boys as his companions,” according to Goldberg’s lawsuit. In June 2003, the first of several lawsuits against McGuire and his superiors were filed which eventually led to a trial. During the trial, nuns from Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity wore buttons that said: “I support Fr. McGuire.”
The organized sexual abuse within Christian religious orders has become a known fact since then. Worse is the fact that there was a cover-up of the entire series of crimes right from the very top. It brings into question whether the entire clerical hierarchy of Christianity has been compromised. It is common knowledge now that the Church officials have actively participated and covered up heinous crimes of sexual abuse within their ranks. Mcguire was not removed from service until 2007 and was defrocked in 2008. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crimes he committed.
Mangaluru Cyber Crime Police has arrested one Moindeen Hameez for allegedly spreading communal hatred through inciting messages.
Moindeen Hameez’s Instagram post (image: @likhitraaai on Twitter)
In his Instagram post, Hameez had called for revenge against Mangaluru Police and had said that neither the police nor police station will stay for long.
Four people have been booked by Mangaluru Police for putting up posts on social media to incite communal hatred. In two cases, the police has booked the accused for sedition as well. Seven criminal cases have been registered against holders of Facebook accounts who had posted inflammatory messages. Cases have also been registered against Facebook pages of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Ansar Mangaluru, Nizam Farangipete, Sahil Vedra, Idunamma Dhvani, Muslim Yuva Sene and Siddique and notices under section 41A of CrPC have been issued against them. They are supposed to appear at the Cyber Crime Police Station on 2nd and 3rd January, 2020.
According to a report by The News Minute, one Mohammad Irfan was booked for allegedly creating an image with inflammatory text on it. “We tried implementing Ambedkar’s pen but the Sangh did not give in. Now, we will hold up Tipu’s sword,” the police officer attached to the case told TNM.
As per the report, in a Facebook group called Idu Namma Dhvani, messages which read, “We cannot tolerate this any longer. It is not a crime it seems to fire bullets at people and resort to lathi charge. Before the sanghi police take more lives, chase them and assault them’ and ‘They are sanghis without uniforms who hold lathis and have blended in to look like the police. If you see such sanghis come with the police, pelt stones at them’. These kinds of messages are inflammatory’ were circulated.
Mangaluru Police has also urged the youth to desist from posting communal posts.
In the background of few miscreants sending inflammatory messages inciting communal hatred, criminal cases have been registered, accused have been served notices & legal action is underway. An appeal is made to all to desist from sending any such messages in contravention of law. pic.twitter.com/2pJdRS2pLT
Following the passage of Citizenship Amendment Act, violent protests erupted across the country. Several CCTV videos have now emerged that conclusively bust the myth peddled by Islamists and the anti-Indian establishment that the anti-CAA protests were peaceful and spontaneous in nature.
More videos of CCTV footage have emerged from Mangaluru which exposes Islamists, in which it can be clearly seen that the riots were pre-planned meticulously by these mobs. These plans even included arranging of stones by Muslim mobs to target the common man and police officials.
2019 has been an extremely fruitful year for us at OpIndia. It has been a year of growth and prospects. It has been a year where we bettered our own performance and continued to get undying support from the ones who matter: our readers.
These are the top 10 articles that you helped go viral and made them the most read this year. You can click on the preview images or the link below the images to read the respective articles:
1. NDTV suspends Deputy News Editor for celebrating Pulwama terror attack, may take further action
Nidhi Sethi, Deputy News Editor of NDTV, had posted a comment on Facebook which seemed to glorify the terror attack by Jaish-e-Muhammad. She had written, “where a grisly 44 has been proven to be greater than the mythical 56”. With this, she had added a hashtag #HowstheJaish, a take on the famous dialogue ‘How’s the Josh’ from the recent movie Uri: The Surgical Strike.
NDTV had announced on its official Twitter handle that the news organisation strongly condemned the comments made by the Editor. She was suspended for 2 weeks. This news report became the most read report of 2018 on OpIndia.com.
NDTV suspends Deputy Editor Nidhi Sethi. Click on the image to read the article
2. Here is what may have triggered Rajdeep Sardesai’s own colleague slamming him for being a pliant journalist
After the 2019 interview that Prime Minister Modi gave to Aaj Tak, Anjana Om Kashyap took to Twitter to sarcastically say that she knows of one journalist who conducts coaching for asking on-air questions. She said he is the same journalist who himself could not ask questions beyond ‘saas-bahu’ and he now goes around distributing certificates to other journalists. She also said that he was frustrated for having to wait outside the door and not being let in.
This report became the second most-read article of 2019.
Read why Anjana may have been talking about Rajdeep Sardesai.
Why Anjana Om Kashyap may have chided Rajdeep Sardesai. Click on the image to read the article
3. Filmmaker Daniel Shravan says rape victims should carry condoms and cooperate in rape to avoid their murder afterwards
Amidst the spate of gruesome rape and murder incidents being reported from across the country and the horror that followed the Hyderabad rape and murder, filmmaker Daniel Shravan had suggested a shocking measure to tackle the growing menace of sexual assault and murder.
Shravan had suggested that instead of calling for police help, women should carry condoms and save themselves from the fate of murder. He suggested that when women are assaulted by rapists, they should cooperate in the act and offer the rapist a condom so that they are not killed afterwards.
Read the other horrific comments by this “filmmaker”.
Read the shocking statements made by this filmmaker by clicking on the image
4. Here is why Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy were stopped at the airport and were not allowed to leave the country
NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and his wife, Radhika Roy, were prevented from leaving the country recently. In a statement published on its website, the channel had called it a ‘subversion of media freedom’. NDTV in a statement said that they had been stopped on the basis of a “fake and totally unsubstantiated corruption case” filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation about an ICICI Bank loan that their company, RRPR Holdings, had taken.
While NDTV cries hoarse about ‘freedom of the press’ being curbed, the allegations of financial impropriety against Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, the promoters of NDTV are extremely grave. More importantly, judicial bodies and statutory investigation agencies have found them in violation of major laws and in some cases held them guilty of fraud, manipulation and use of “deceptive financial instruments” to hide real ownership of NDTV.
Our investigative report about the shenanigans that led to the ICICI loan scam and the details of the ICICI loan scam by NDTV became the 4th most-read article of 2019.
Read all about the ICICI-NDTV loan fraud and the troubles of NDTV promoters that started much before this fraud
5. Sagarika Ghose calls the most decorated officer of the Territorial Army an ‘idiot’ because he respectfully disagreed with her assessment of ‘war’
Sagarika Ghose is not exactly known for her intellect. In the past year, Sagarika Ghose had once assumed that she knows far more than the man who trains with the Indian Army every year and has pledged to fight for his country when the need arises.
Sagarika Ghose had in July 2019, resorted to calling Major Navdeep Singh an ‘idiot’ while arguing about military matters and wars.
This report became our 5th most-read article of the year.
Read why Sagarika Ghose went mental:
Click on the image to read why Sagarika Ghose went more mental than usual and called the most decorated officer of Indian Territorial Army an ‘idiot’
6. ‘Mea culpa’: Rajdeep Sardesai finally admits Modi wasn’t responsible for 2002 and that media sensationalised the riots
In an interview, Rajdeep Sardesai, the Michelangelo of Indian journalism, who made a career out of demonising Narendra Modi for Gujarat riots seems to have finally found some remorse for his relentless campaign against Prime Minister Modi for the unfortunate incidents that followed after the train burning at Godhra that left Hindus dead.
Surprisingly, after years of lies, Rajdeep Sardesai had in this interview admitted that he personally believed that Modi was not responsible for the 2002 riots that followed after the Godhra massacre.
Read what Rajdeep Sardesai had said.
Read what Rajdeep said by clicking on the image
7. What you did in that ICU is not journalism, Anjana Om Kashyap, it is insensitive, creating a nuisance and endangering lives
In June 2019, there was an outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar some other places. The death toll in Bihar went up to a shocking 100.
A video came to light earlier where Anjana Om Kashyap, a senior journalist from the India Today group was seen heckling and questioning a doctor inside the ICU.
OpIndia’s editorial called out the irresponsible journalism, making it our 7th most-read article of 2019.
Read OpIndia’s editorial calling out this shameful, irresponsible journalism by clicking on the image
8. Who is instigating violence in colleges: Congress, NSUI, a sinister WhatsApp group and anti-CAA protests
The country has been seeing massive violence by Muslim mobs after the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. OpIndia had infiltrated a WhatsApp group which revealed how NSUI, Congress’ student’s wing, was organising and coordinating anti-CAA protests that had often become violent.
You can read the investigative report here.
Read the OpIndia investigative report by clicking on the image
9. Interview: Former RAW officer makes further shocking revelations about Hamid Ansari after alleging that he endangered lives of RAW officers in Iran
Former RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) officer had recently made explosive allegations. He had alleged that former Vice President Hamid Ansari who has served as Indian Ambassador to Iran between 1990-92, endangered the lives of RAW officers in Tehran and even ended up exposing the RAW set-up in Tehran. Journalist Chiranjeevi Bhat conducted an interview with Former RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) officer NK Sood who made further revelations about his time in Iran, Hamid Ansari and the vilified scientist Nambi Narayanan.
Read the explosive interview:
Read the explosive interview of a former RAW officer that made explosive revelations about ex-VP Hamid Ansari by clicking on the image
10. Shobhaa De wrote an article advocating ‘plebiscite in Kashmir’ under influence of Pakistani establishment, reveals Abdul Basit
In an interview with one Pakistani blogger, Farhan Virk who calls himself a part of ‘Team IK’ (Team Imran Khan), the former Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit has revealed that he managed to influence ’eminent’ journalist Shobhaa De to write an article on Kashmir in the aftermath of terrorist Burhan Wani’s death.
Read the shocking revelations and which article of Shobhaa De was presumably talking about.
Read the shocking revelations and the supposedly planted article written by Shobhaa De by clicking on the image
And with that, Team Opindia wishes you all a happy, prosperous, opinionated and media-lies-free (sorry for the joke) 2019! We hope you enjoyed reading our articles as much as enjoyed publishing these gems for you!
Since the decade is about to over, let’s see who all can make it to the final XI of this decade for ODIs.
Rohit Sharma (7991 Runs, 27 Hundreds, 59 Catches) – The best opener of the decade. He made most runs and hundreds as an opener in this decade. With three double hundreds and the highest score of 264, he is the ultimate choice as the first opener of this XI. Rohit also has been quite a successful outing in World Cups. He smashed 5 World Cup Hundreds this year, the most by any batsman in a single World Cup edition.
Hashim Amla (7265 Runs, 26 Hundreds, 77 Catches) – He might have lost the touch in the last year of the decade but he remained the second-highest run-scorer as an opener of the decade with a high average of 49.74 and a strike rate of almost 90. He also scored 27 ODI hundreds in this particular decade, just third behind Kohli and Rohit. If Rohit gets out early, he can play the role of an anchor.
Virat Kohli (11036 Runs, 42 Hundreds, 115 Catches) – He can make it to any all-time World XI of ODIs, past, present, decade or century. That’s how good he is. Had he not missed converting few hundreds this year, he would have topped the list of most hundreds in ODIs. Kohli is amazing in chases too.
AB de Villiers (6485 Runs, 21 Hundreds, 119 Catches) – He is the modern-day Viv Richards. The record holder of fastest ODI 50, 100 and 150. He can accelerate at any time and with his 360 shots, he can just frustrate any kind of bowler. His fielding is the bonus.
Shakib al Hasan (4276 Runs, 5 Hundreds, 177 Wickets, 34 Catches)- Bangladesh’s most successful cricketer of all time. He has shown his class in World Cup this year where he became the first player to score more than 600 runs and took 15 wickets in a single edition. The proper all-rounder will be a great asset as a spinner to this team.
Ben Stokes (2682 Runs, 3 Hundreds, 70 Wickets, 45 Catches) – The man who won the World Cup for England. Stokes’ influential knock in the World Cup final kept England in the hunt for the Title. He is the Freddie Flintoff of this decade. His bowling and fielding are a bonus.
MS Dhoni (5640 Runs, 4 Hundreds, 170 Catches, 72 Stumpings) – His captaincy and wicket-keeping can secure his spot in any World XI of this decade. Won a world cup and champions trophy as captain. His keeping behind the wickets especially against the spinners is lightning quick and he is still one of the smartest brains in cricket.
Rashid Khan (133 Wickets) – The best spinner of the decade in limited-overs cricket. He can spin like Warne and bowl fast like Kumble. He can also bat. Yes, down the order he won several matches for Afghanistan.
Mitchell Starc (172 Wickets) – Most wickets in two consecutive World Cups. The left-hander pacer is quite deadly with the new ball. and is a perfect choice for the ODI XI. Wickets per 25 balls – the best strike rate in ODIs of the decade.
Jasprit Bumrah (103 Wickets) – The Indian sensation is probably the greatest death over bowler in the history of limited-overs cricket. Every time you expect him to defend the total, he has, not only for India but also for his T20 team, Mumbai Indians. Inspired by Malinga, he is the perfect choice for a new ball attack.
Lasith Malinga (248 Wickets, 77 Catches) – The old deadly fox. His incoming slow yorkers still make the batsman look stupid. The most hat-tricks in International cricket and only bowler to take 4 in 4 balls twice in limited-overs, has the most number of wickets in the current decade. If you survive the opening spell of Starc and Bumrah, there is no respite as Malinga is ready with his toe crushing yorkers.
