Responding to the Lok Sabha question raised by the BJP MP from Mumbai North, Gopal Shetty, about the steps taken by the government to confer Bharat Ratna upon great revolutionary Veer Savarkar, the Home Ministry said, “no formal recommendation for granting Bharat Ratna is required, the decision is taken from time to time”.
MHA reply to an LS question on whether govt has received public representations to confer Bharat Ratna on Veer Savarkar: “No formal recommendation for Bharat Ratna is necessary. The decisions regarding award of Bharat Ratna are taken from time to time” pic.twitter.com/2lIqTUqAq8
Shetty had sought details of steps taken by the government to confer Bharat Ratna on freedom fighter Veer Savarkar and whether the government has received representations from the public representatives over it.
Nityanand Rai from the Ministry of Hime Affairs issued a reply saying, “Recommendations for Bharat Ratna are routinely received from several quarters, however, no formal recommendation for this award is necessary. The decision regarding the award of Bharat Ratna is taken from time to time.”
In the run-up to the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP had proposed Bharat Ratna for Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar. The election manifesto released by the Maharashtra BJP unit said that it will ask the NDA government at the centre to confer the highest civilian award of the country on Savarkar.
Congress, on the other hand, was derisive in condemning BJP’s demand to grant Savarkar a Bharat Ratna. Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “If on the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this government thinks of conferring Bharat Ratna on Veer Savarkar, then all I can say is God save this country.”
After being shunned by almost every country for its cheap theatrics over India’s abrogation of the special status for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, flustered Pakistan is up to trying another dirty trick with India.
As per a report in Zee News, Pakistan has halted the release and repatriation of five Indian nationals and many fishermen who have completed their sentence and were waiting to be sent back.
According to the last exchanged lists of civilian prisoners and fishermen of each country lodged in the respective jails, which was exchanged on July 1, 2019, Pakistan has 209 Indian fishermen and 52 Indian nationals in its custody while India has 256 Pakistani civilian prisoners and 99 fishermen in its custody.
As per the India-Pakistan ‘Agreement on Consular Access’ signed on May 21, 2008, the two countries exchange such list biannually, one on January 1 and the second on July 1 of each year.
In fact, this is the second time when frustrated Pakistan has exhibited such despicable morals. On August 5, when Article 370 was abrogated, Pakistan had adopted a similar strategy and had stopped the repatriation at Attari border of two Indians who were about to be sent back.
In order to resolve humanitarian issues related to elderly, women and mentally unsound prisoners in each other’s custody and consider their early release and repatriation, India in October 2017 had suggested to Pakistan to revive the mechanism of Joint Judicial Committee.
It had also suggested that a team of Indian medical experts should be allowed to visit the mentally unsound prisoners in Pakistan with a view to facilitating their nationality verification and subsequent repatriation.
Moreover, to facilitate the process, New Delhi had also shared the details of the medical experts’ team and the reconstituted Joint Judicial Committee with Pakistan with the request to organise their visit, to which Islamabad has not yet responded.
The report also mentions that PM Modi’s government, in its first term, was able to secure the release of 1749 Indian prisoners, including 1725 fishermen along with 57 boats.
The government of Andhra Pradesh has increased the financial assistance provided to Christian pilgrims by a significant margin, ANI has reported. Those with an annual income of less than Rs. 3 lakhs will now receive Rs. 60,000 for their pilgrimage to Jerusalem while others will receive Rs. 30,000. Earlier, they used to receive Rs. 40,000 and and Rs. 20,000 respectively.
Govt of Andhra Pradesh: Financial assistance to Christians with annual income of less than Rs 3 lakhs for pilgrimage to Jerusalem & other Biblical places, increased from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000. Financial assistance to other christian pilgrims increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000
The government order GO MS 74 was issued by Mohd Ilyas Rizvi, Principal Secretary, Minority Welfare department on Tuesday. As per reports, it was a promise that was made by Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy in his 3,648-km-long padyatra last year.
The fulfillment of the promise means that financial assistance for the Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem and other Biblical places has been increased by a whopping 50%.
The decision to hike the financial assistance was taken last month. And it was decided that financial assistance to Hal pilgrims will be increased as well. During the Tirupati controversy, when bus tickets to one of the holiest Hindu pilgrimages were seen emblazoned with advertisements of Jerusalem and Hajj on them, BJP leaders had accused Reddy of being a non-Hindu.
For quite some time, the term ‘rice bag convert’ has been used by some sections of the Hindu Right to shame people who converted to Christianity due to financial benefits. The term has its historical roots in the efforts made by Christian missionaries to convert the natives of Asian countries and the more common word for the phenomenon is ‘Rice Christians’.
It has been observed by numerous scholars through the ages that the Christian missionaries convert people primarily by offering them financial benefits rather than the virtue of their preaching. Often, such benefits included bags of rice. However, with the passage of time, rice bags were substituted by other financial benefits. But it appears, at least some evangelicals haven’t yet given up on their rice bags.
‘Mission India’ and Rice Bags
Mission India is an evangelical organization that seeks to ‘transform India with the love of Christ through the local Church’. They are a “group of people committed to the Great Commission and passionate about making His name known to the 1.3 billion people in India.” As it so happens, Mission India’s exclusive effort geared towards children is termed the ‘Rice Bag Project‘.
Mission India website
The project also involves, and it’s not a joke, handing out ‘Mission India Rice Bags’ to children. The idea apparently comes from Indians themselves. It says, “Many Christians in India are so poor that they are forced to spend most of their money on food. Despite their poverty, they have found a way to give generously to the Lord. Here’s how they do it: Each night, a mother takes a handful of uncooked rice and places it in a small cloth bag (or container). When the bag is full, the rice is taken to the church as a gift for the Lord.”
Thus, it appears that Mission India has inverted the purpose for which rice bags were used. While earlier, the rice bags contained benefit for the people they were trying to convert, now they insist that the converted, or those they are trying to convert, hand them over when they are full with coins. Thus, the evangelical organization is now using rice bags to not only convert more people but also to secure more funding for their efforts.
Mission India webpage
‘Rice Bag Guide’ of Mission India: How to make ‘Roti’ and ‘Mango Lassi’
Our readers may find it amusing but the ‘Rice Bag Guide’, as Mission India calls it, contains even instructions on how to prepare Roti and Mango Lassi. It’s an ‘Activity’ that is listed to settle in the guide the purpose of which one would assume is to build rapport with those they seek to convert. The instructions are pretty detailed and Roti is described as a ‘simple flatbread recipe that is made almost daily in many Indian households.’ “Serve warm alone or paired with steamed vegetables, plain yoghurt dip, or lightly spreaded with jam,” it says.
Mission India guide to make rotis
Insensitive stories about destitute Hindus finding Jesus
The guide also contains the story of little girls such as one ‘Pooja’ who is only ten years old. It says, “Pooja is only 10 years old. But life is already really hard. Her mother was too sick to take care of the house and kids. And Pooja’s father worked long hours as a tailor for making clothes. Pooja is the oldest girl – so it’s up to her to cook, clean, and watch her brothers and sisters.” And then, a “Children’s Bible Club was introduced in her village!”
And now, “Pooja asked the club leader to teach her how to pray for her mother’s healing. Pooja’s parents are curious about the changes they are seeing in their daughter. Even though they are Hindu, they don’t mind that she goes to church each Sunday. Pooja talks often about Jesus with her parents. She is praying that they will also accept Him as their Lord. Pooja says she trusts that Jesus will heal her mother and bring joy to her whole family.”
Caste role-playing for conversion to Christianity
The most insensitive aspect of the whole project, nonetheless, is the activity where the participants are urged to indulge is “Caste role-playing”. It says, “We’ll never know exactly what it’s like to grow up with the caste system. It’s hard to imagine someone not wanting to talk to us or even touch us just because of the family we were born into. Try this role-playing activity to get a taste of living under the caste system.”
It appears even Mission India realizes how insensitive it is because they add as a note at the bottom of the page, “Depending on whether you are doing this as a large group or at home as a family, and the age of the children, you will want to determine how long it is appropriate to try this activity. Parents, you may want to give some extra guidance on what kind of behaviour is okay during this role-playing. A larger group may only want to do it for 15 to 30 minutes. Families might want to try spending a morning or full day in their roles, or perhaps just try it during an evening meal.”
Caste role-playing guide
As appears obvious, the Rice Bag Project seeks to incite caste hatred among Indians through its game of ‘role play’. As IndiaFacts reported, “On its website and on its twitter handle, it routinely portrays India in poor light and derides Hinduism and its SampradAyas. Its Founder, Dave Stravers gives interviews which create a sense of gloom about India in the US, a picture that is in stark contrast to the reality of crores of ebullient Indians looking forward to a resurgent India.”
IndiaFacts also reports, “Mission India (MI) of Michigan remits funds by itself as well as through assumed-name organizations to its subsidiary NGOs, Seva Bharat (SB) and Letha Charitable Trust (LCT) ) in India via FCRA.” As per the report, it also established a company called DTK Hospitality Tours Pvt. Ltd. in Ranga Reddy district, Telangana.
We have earlier reported on the manner in which Christian evangelism is a threat to the demographic stability of the country. Their fanaticism also led to the death of one Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, who died in the process of trying to convert the isolated Sentinelese Tribe.
As the stalemate in Maharashtra continues with no likelihood of a solution in the immediate future, Shiv Sena has now pinned the blame for its precarious situation on its erstwhile alliance partner BJP.
As if the regular doses of Urdu Shayaris from Sanjay Raut’s Twitter handle were not enough, the Sena has now gone ahead and compared their former allies with the Muslim invader Muhammad Ghori.
Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana said that BJP has been ‘ungrateful’ to the Shiv Sena’s contribution to the NDA and ‘backstabbed’ it just like Ghori who incarcerated Prithviraj Chauhan in the 18th battle despite being a recipient of his generosity for the first 17 battles.
The Saamana editorial slammed BJP for ‘removing’ it from the NDA on the death anniversary of Balasaheb Thackeray, who according to the editorial was one of the earliest proponents of the NDA and a pioneer of Hindutva movement. “It was Balasaheb Thackeray who extended his support to the NDA. He talked about Hindutva and Nationalism at a time when some of those running the NDA alliance were not even born,” the editorial said.
Ironically, the Saamnaa editorial did not mention that it was the Shiv Sena, who had made its lone minister Arvind Sawant resign from the union cabinet ahead of its plans to hold talks with Congress and NCP over government formation in Maharashtra.
The article further rebuked the BJP for ‘removing’ the Shiv Sena from NDA without giving them a hearing or calling out a meeting with the NDA parties to discuss their removal. The editorial said that this ‘dictatorial act’ by the BJP is against the democratic ethos of the country. The editorial says that the BJP ousted Shiv Sena unilaterally on the allegations of it getting into talks with the ideological rivals Congress and the NCP.
However, taking a swipe at the BJP, the article questioned BJP’s decision of joining hands with Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP party in Jammu and Kashmir and aligning in Bihar with Nitesh Kumar, who had had publicly criticised PM Modi.
“We were backstabbed by the BJP in Maharashtra. The founder of the Shiv Sena party, Balasaheb Thackeray, who resolutely stood with the BJP when no else was ready to, has been betrayed by them. We are not even given a show-cause notice before being ousted from the NDA,” the article said.
Things between the two former alliance partner turned sour in the aftermath of the Maharashtra Assembly election results when the Shiv Sena demanded a rotational chief minister position from the BJP.
The BJP denied it saying no such agreement was decided before the elections. This led to the Shiv Sena breaking apart from the BJP and foraging for support from ideological rivals NCP and Congress to install a Shiv Sena chief minister in the state. However, they are stuck in limbo as the NCP chief Sharad Pawar continues to prolong the impasse by holding his cards close to his chest.
The Supreme Court on 9th November delivered a historic verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi case. Giving the entire 67 acres to Hindis, the Supreme Court held that an alternate 5-acre land will be given to the Muslims to build their Mosque. While the Hindus have celebrated this verdict, the Muslim parties, especially the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind, AIMPLB and Owaisi led AIMIM has been indulging in constant rabblerousing. Now, the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind has said that the Supreme Court should have given the alternate 5-acre land to Hindus to build a temple instead of the Muslims.
The Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind is a party to the Ayodhya case and has decided to file a review petition. While announcing the decision, Madani had said that though they are sure the review petition would be thrown out by the Supreme Court, one still should be filed.
Madani has reportedly said, “In the Supreme Court judgement, all evidence points to the left while the verdict goes towards the right. The judgement accepts that Muslims performed prayers there from 1857 to 1949, concedes that the mosque was damaged in 1934 and Hindus were fined for the same, admits installation of idols there in 1949 was a wrong act and calls the mosque’s demolition in 1992 an illegal act”.
Further, Madani said that the very people who demolished the Mosque have been given the land and that the Court has not said that the Mosque was built after the demolition of a temple.
There are several fallacies in what Syed Arshad Madani has said.
1. The Court did say that the structure below the Mosque was a ‘non-Islamic’ one. Nobody in their right mind can assume that it was a pub or a shopping mall.
2. The judgement does accept that Muslims too performed prayers from 1857 to 1949 but the court has also held that there is no evidence to prove that Namaz was held there from 1528 AD to 1857. This has been admitted by the Waqf Board Lawyer as well.
3. The SC verdict also says, ‘In 1856-57, due to the riots which broke out between Hindus and Muslims in Ayodhya, the then British government set up a railing in the courtyard purely to maintain law and order which resulted in the bifurcation of the courtyard. Hindus immediately set up the Ramchabutra, Sita Rasoi and other religious structures in the outer courtyard which, SC stated, provided evidence of them having “settled possession” of the outer courtyard’. Further, the court said that the bifurcation did not mean that Hindus gave up their right on Ram Janmabhoomi.
4. The Court did say that the demolition was illegal, however, that is a separate case. This was a title dispute for the land and the demolition has nothing to do with it.
Madani, after making fallacious arguments essentially said that the Supreme Court has misused Article 142 of the Constitution and that in their review petition, they will be arguing that the alternate land should be given to Hindus.
Maulana Arshad Madani had earlier said that once a Mosque has been built it will always remain a mosque. He had also rejected the 5-acre land given to the Muslims by the Supreme Court. While earlier, the Muslim litigants want 5 acres within the 67 acres Ram Janmabhoomi, now their demands seem to have shifted to giving Hindus an alternate 5-acre land.
As a part of a three-phase protest, over 5,000 Government college faculties in Madhya Pradesh, who have not yet received their salary for the month of October, plan to write letters every day beginning from November 21, to the Congress government in the state, urging them to clear their dues at the earliest.
Madhya Pradesh Government Collegiate Education Professors’ Association has been protesting against the Kamal Nath government for the non-payment of dues.
President of the association, Kailash Tiyagi was reported as saying: “We were happy when it was announced that the salary would be credited before Diwali. We are yet to get the salary to date. I am told that even in some colleges, the professors were not paid salary for the past two months,” said Tyagi, confessing that due to the non-payment, this year Diwali was a black Diwali for all of them.
“We have several responsibilities at the family level. We could not pay the EMI. You can imagine the condition we are facing,” had said a professor on conditions of anonymity.
According to a report by India Today, the agitating teachers in the second phase of their protest had tied black bands from November 24 to November 30. By December 1, they will be starting silent protests, informed professor Anand Sharma, secretary of the government teachers association.
Kamal Nath government had initially denied the allegations saying that the teachers had not approached them with their grievances, however, on Monday evening, the state higher education department sent across a message to the college teachers saying that their October salaries had been released with immediate effect.
The government teachers in Madhya Pradesh have long been raising their voices against the Congress government’s apathy towards them in the state. Thousands of guest faculties had reached Bhopal on September 5 (Teachers’ Day), to stage Halla Bol, an agitation to remind the Kamal Nath government of its unfulfilled promise of making them permanent. Agitated by incident then Congress’ Bhopal, General Administration Minister, Dr Govind Singh had commented that the government does not grow money on trees and the government will try and fulfil all their promises in the coming five years.
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh had in a pre-poll promise guaranteed that these 80,000 teachers would be regularised within three months of the party coming to power, but have not been able to fulfil its promises till date.
A video clip of a ‘farmer’ who was ‘brutally beaten up by Uttar Pradesh Police had gone viral on social media. Samajwadi Party leader Anurag Bhadouria had shared a video on Monday and said how the UP Police were beating up farmers in UP.
“Perhaps UP Police thinks they are Pakistani farmer,” Bhadouria had taken a jibe in his tweet. In the video, a man wearing blue pants and white shirt can be seen lying down on the ground as if he has fallen down after the blows of the police. In the beginning of the video, a police official can be seen trying to push the man with his lathi but the man does not budge, giving an impression that he is so injured that he can’t even move on his own.
The video was shared by Times of India journalist Piyush Rai on his Twitter account too.
Police can defend lathi charge as necessary force required to disperse a violent mob. But, what on earth is this?
Already unconscious after lathi charge, this UP farmer in Unnao was shown no mercy.
At around 14 seconds in the video, the ‘unconscious farmer brutally beaten up by Police’ gets up and starts running away, much to the amusement of those filming. Unnao Police had also issued a statement that the police action was in response to the stonepelting that was being carried out by those present there.
On Sunday, farmer protests demanding higher compensation for land acquired for proposed township became violent in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. The protestors set a crusher plant on fire and some plastic pipes were also set ablaze. The sub-station compound also went up in flames. Amidst this, clashes broke out between farmers and police where the above video was shot and part of it went viral.
As the Winder Session of Parliament begins, Congress is up to its old, oft repeated trick against – disruption for the sake of it. The Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi has submitted an adjournment motion in Lok Sabha over the withdrawal of SPG security to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The Congress party in their adjournment motion has called the move by the central government ‘arbitrary’ and said that the SPG security cover was removed for the Gandhi family despite the imminent threat they face.
While the Congress has decided to give an adjournment motion on the second day of Parliament, on the first day itself, this issue was raised by Congress. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday had raised the issue of SPG cover being withdrawn and called the move ‘arbitrary’.
Recently, the Home Ministry had replaced the SPG category status of the Gandhi family with Z-plus security, which will be now taken over by CRPF personnel on the all-India basis. According to India Today journalist Shiv Aroor, the detail now given to Rahul, Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi would involve a 55 personnel detail, including 10 NSG commandos and the Police. This was done after a detailed threat perception was conducted.
In fact, the members of Gandhi Parivar, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi and two Gandhi scions, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did not use SPG’s bullet-proof vehicles on numerous occasions and also did not accompany SPG personnel abroad during their foreign visits on a majority of their trips abroad.
There have been 1892 incidents till May 2019, when Rahul Gandhi travelled in a non-BR vehicle in Delhi, which amounts to almost one incident every day. Rahul Gandhi travelled 247 times in a non-BR car when he travelled outside Delhi.
Further, of the total 156 foreign trips that Rahul Gandhi has made since 1991, he did not take SPG officers along on 143 visits. The government source said that Rahul Gandhi in most of these 143 foreign visits, shared his travel itinerary at the last possible hours preventing the SPG officers from accompanying him on the tours.
Sonia Gandhi too did not use an SPG bullet-resistant vehicle on 50 occasions while travelling in New Delhi from 2015 to May 2019. Sonia Gandhi has made 13 unscheduled visits to various places in the country in the last 5 years during which she used non-BR cars. She also did not take SPG officers on 24 of her foreign visits since 2015, states the report.
In Priyanka Gandhi’s case, since 2015 to May this year, she did not use SPG bullet-resistant vehicles for her travel on 339 occasions within Delhi and on 64 occasions at other places in the country.
The CPM Politburo has criticised the Supreme Court’s verdict on Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi issue. As per reports, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo has stated that the apex court has delivered a verdict, but not justice.
As per reports, the CPM has stated that the SC verdict has given precedence to ‘faith and beliefs of one side’. The politburo had met on November 16 and 17 in New Delhi to discuss the Ayodhya verdict and the Sabarimala Temple issue.
The politburo also slammed the SC’s decision to hand over the Ram Janmabhoomi site to the Hindus. It claimed that despite acknowledging the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was a “serious violation of law” the apex court has handed over the site to the ‘very forces responsible for this criminal assault’.
The press communique by the politburo also disagrees with the SC’s stand that there was no evidence to indicate exclusive possession of the entire site by Muslims between 1528 and 1857. The politburo claimed that the mere fact that no disputes were recorded between the periods of over 3 centuries, does not mean that the Muslims were ‘not in exclusive possession’ of the site. The CPM also claims that the SC has upheld the claims of the Hindu sides on the basis of ‘display of faith’ and not on the basis of facts.
The CPM also expressed disappointment that the SC has not set clear bars on the raising of such issues and claimed that the RSS might raise the issue of Kashi and Mathura in the future.
It also claimed that the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s statement that Kashi and Mathura are not in the agenda ‘as of now’ is a veiled warning. “This is an ominous declaration indicating that passions can be aroused on these issues at any time in the future. A firm resolve by the apex court to bar such possibilities was not forthcoming”, claimed the politburo’s statement.
The communists have also expressed displeasure over the SC not disposing off the Sabarimala review petitions and languished over the fact that it has now “widened the scope by making a reference to various points concerning religious rights under the Constitution to a seven-member bench.”
It also criticised the inclusion of issues of women’s rights of other religions, which are already being heard by other benches of the court. “The majority judgment has failed to uphold the 2018 verdict and by keeping the review petitions pending has created an ambiguous and uncertain situation”, it claimed.
It is notable here that while the politburo criticises the SC’s stand, the party’s LDF government in Kerala has been on a cautionary mode after suffering massive election rout in the 2019 general elections. The LDF government has stated that it will not provide forces to the women under 50 who are seeking to enter the Sabarimala shrine.
