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Daughter of Sushma Swaraj fulfils her last wish, presents One Rupee coin to Harish Salve for representing Kulbhushan Jadhav

OpIndia Staff
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Daughter of Sushma Swaraj fulfils her last wish, presents One Rupee coin to Harish Salve for representing Kulbhushan Jadhav

On Friday, daughter of late Sushma Swaraj, Basuri fulfilled her mother’s last wish by presenting senior lawyer Harish Salve with a coin of Re 1, as his fee to represent India at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case.

The former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, hours before her demise on 6th August, had asked senior lawyer Harish Salve “to come and collect his fee of Re 1” for fighting Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The heartening picture of advocate Harish Salve receiving the Re 1 coin from Basuri was shared by Sushma Swaraj’s widower former Governor Swaraj Kaushal On Friday evening on Twitter.


In a tweet, Swaraj Kaushal tagged late Sushma Swaraj’s Twitter handle and informed her that their daughter has fulfilled her last wish. He tweeted, “Your daughter Bansuri has fulfilled your last wish today. She has presented Rs. 1 fee to Harish Salve in Kulbhushan Jadhav’s case, which you had left.”

The former External Affairs Minister was battling from illness for a long time. She passed away at the age of 67 in New Delhi on August 6 after she suffered from a lethal cardiac arrest. She had a kidney transplant in 2016 but had managed to work through her recovery period. In the run up to the 2019 General Elections, she had already declared that she would not be fighting the elections or undertaking any position in the cabinet should the government comes back in power.

Senior advocate Harish Salve had played an instrumental role in getting the ICJ to admit India’s arguments and directing Pakistan to review his conviction of Kulbhushan Jadhav and, until then, put his death sentence on hold. The court also asked Islamabad to allow New Delhi consular access at the earliest.

Indian Armed Forces neutralise three terrorists in Batote town of Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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Indian Armed Forces neutralise three terrorists in Batote town of Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir

The Indian Armed Forces eliminated three terrorists in Batote town of Ramban district of Jammu zone on Saturday. The terrorists were holed up in a house in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban and held a civilian as a hostage. The troops have neutralised all the three terrorists while the hostage has been rescued safely. After the operation was called off, the troops celebrated their victory.


In the Ramban encounter, Jammu Inspector General of Police (IG) Mukesh Singh stated that one Army soldier attained martyrdom during the gunfight and two policemen were injured in the encounter. The owner of the house was trapped inside the house. However, the other family members managed to come out. The owner of the house has been safely evacuated by the Army personnel.

Earlier in the morning, a police spokesman said that trapped terrorists had fired at the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the Army and tried to escape but they were followed by the Army and encircled in a house. After intense search operation during inclement weather, the encounter between the two sides started at around 12:30 pm in Batote in Ramban district.

As per reports, slain terrorists were Pakistani nationals and belonged to the Hizbul Mujahideen terror group. One of the terrorists gunned down in the encounter is identified as Osama, who was a member of Hizbul Mujahideen.


Following August 5 when Article 370 was abrogated, several restrictions were imposed in Jammu and Kashmir, in order to prevent the state from sliding into chaos. There were many intel inputs that said that the terror groups in Pakistan have intensified their operations to carry out attacks in Jammu and Kashmir after India decided to strip the state of its separate status.

Narada Sting Operation case: TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar accepts receiving money from Narada news portal head, calls it donation

OpIndia Staff
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Narada Sting Operation case: TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar accepts receiving money from Narada news portal head, calls it donation

The Trinamool Congress MP from Barasat in West Bengal, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who is amongst the ten leaders and ministers of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress who are being probed in the Narada Sting Operation Case by the CBI, has accepted taking money from Samuel Mathew, the editor of Narada News.

As reported by Aaj Tak, Ghosh Dastidar, however, denied receiving this money as a kickback, instead said that she accepted the money as a party donation and also had a receipt for the same. “All parties take donations to contest elections. I also took money to contest the election as a donation and informed the Election Commission also”, said the TMC MP.

In the sting operation conducted in 2014, Narada News portal head Mathew Samuels, posing as a businessman, was seen approaching the Trinamool Congress ministers and leaders to get favours, and in return, offered cash to them. In a video footage released just before the state assembly polls in 2016, the TMC MP from Barasat Lok Sabha constituency was seen accepting cash from Samuels.

The CBI had subsequently booked 12 top TMC leaders, including MPs and West Bengal ministers, and an IPS officer. An FIR was lodged for alleged criminal conspiracy under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with bribery and criminal misconduct.

The anti-corruption wing of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who is probing the case, carried out voice sample tests of Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar on September 12 in connection with the Narada sting operation.

The investigating agency is collecting the voice samples of the Trinamool leaders to determine the veracity of the conversations which Samuel had with them.

Over the past two weeks, several TMC ministers and leaders, including Subrata Mukherjee, Sougata Roy and Madan Mitra, have been subjected to voice sample tests in connection with the purported sting operation.

Last month, the probe agency approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking sanction to prosecute Ghosh Dastidar, and two other MPs – Saugata Roy and Prasun Banerjee – and state minister and former parliamentarian of the party, Suvendu Adhikari, in the case, officials said. If the sanction is accorded, the four leaders might be named in the charge sheet.

On September 26, the CBI made its first arrest in the case. IPS officer SMH Mirza became the first person to be arrested in the Narada Sting Operation Case. Mirza was the Superintendent of Police of Burdwan district in West Bengal when the sting operation was conducted. He is allegedly seen on camera accepting bribes on behalf of politicians belonging to the Trinamool Congress.

From referring to PM Modi as ‘President’ to asking world leaders to ‘Google’ RSS, Imran Khan’s UNGA maiden speech was a recipe for disaster

OpIndia Staff
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From referring to PM Modi as ‘President’ to asking world leaders to ‘Google’ RSS, Imran Khan’s UNGA maiden speech was a recipe for disaster

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden speech at the UN General Assembly which dragged for almost 50 minutes was nothing more than a medley of errors. Out of the 50-minutes that he spoke he used up at least half of his time, drumming up hysteria about nuclear war and whining about Kashmir. Over and above that, he made several goof ups as he progressed with his almost hour-long speech.

As Khan went ahead with his speech that exceeded beyond the stipulated time-limit of between 15-20 minutes, the cricketer-turned-politician referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘President’. And this was just the beginning of the comedy of errors!

In his haste to present his anti-India rhetoric once again in front of the international forum, Imran Khan went on to embarrass himself quite a number of times during his speech. On one occasion during his never-ending speech, he was heard referring to ‘Savarkar’ as ‘Sarwzkar’. This is not it, the parody nation’s PM calls, ‘Golwalker’ and ‘Sarwzkar’ the “founding fathers of the RSS”. And even more, interestingly, he asks the dignitaries present at the UNGA to google the names RSS, ‘Golwalkar’ and ‘Sarwzkar’ on the internet.


Just to get Imran Khan’s facts correct, it is not ‘Sarwzkar’, the person he made reference to was great revolutionary and freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar ‘Savarkar’. Secondly, neither ‘Golwalker’ nor ‘Sarwzkar’, as Imran Khan wants the UN to believe, were the “founding fathers of RSS” rather Savarkar was a member of Hindu Mahasabha, a right-wing Hindu nationalist political party in India formed to protect the rights of the Hindu community in British India and RSS was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar.

Following Khan’s anti-India rant, India used its Right to Reply at the UNGA. First Secretary MEA Vidisha Maitra, while in a scathing reply said that Khan’s threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinkmanship and not statesmanship.

RSS congratulates Imran Khan for accepting that RSS and India are synonymous

OpIndia Staff
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RSS congratulates Imran Khan for accepting that RSS and India are synonymous

In an hour-long rant at the United Nations General Assembly, among other things, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan quoted assertions from Congress leaders to allege that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ran terror camps in India. Khan also dredged up the Kashmir issue, peddling lies about the current situation in the Valley and reiterated war-rhetoric, saying that Pakistan will fight if a conventional war starts with India.

A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made unfounded shrill allegations about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the United Nations General Assembly, RSS leader Dr Krishna Gopal Sharma welcomed Imran Khan’s comments saying that Imran Khan is angry with both RSS and India, and thus both are synonymous.


“RSS is only in India. We don’t have any other branches anywhere in the world. If Pakistan is angry with us it means they are angry with India. RSS and India are synonymous now. We also wanted the world to see India and RSS as one,” Dr Krishna Gopal Sharma said.

Defying protocol which allows every state head to speak for not more than 15 minutes, Pakistan Prime Minister, perturbed by India’s move to abrogate Article 370 almost rambled for around an hour, dishing out nuclear threats and indulging in war-mongering from the esteemed stage of the United Nations General Assembly.

India used the ‘Right to Reply’ in UNGA to call out Pakistan Prime Minister for perpetuating hatred and exposed Pakistan as a hub of terrorism. The Indian diplomat also pulled up Pakistan for its dismal human rights violations record, astutely reminding Pakistan PM Imran Khan of the atrocities committed by the Pakistani soldiers against the rebel east-Pakistanis in 1971.

Ever since India repealed Article 370, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its separate status, Khan seemed to have lost some of his mental faculties. The Pakistani Prime Minister has been routinely attacking the RSS and trying to foment unrest in Jammu and Kashmir with his baseless allegations. He has been travelling door-to-door across the world for soliciting support from the countries against India but most countries have disregarded his contentions and recognised abrogation of Article 370 as India’s internal matter.

Former UP CM Kalyan Singh granted bail by CBI court in Babri demolition case

OpIndia Staff
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Former UP CM Kalyan Singh granted bail by CBI court in Babri demolition case

The special CBI court in Lucknow granted bail to the former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in connection with the Babri demolition case on Friday. The BJP leader has been granted bail by the court on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakhs.

The ex-CM of UP had previously surrendered in court and was taken into custody. The special CBI court on Friday framed charges against Kalyan Singh in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

Singh was charged under sections 153 A (promoting enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion), 153 B (imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration), 295 (destruction, damage, or defilement of a place of worship or an object held sacred), 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or the religious beliefs) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC.

On the basis of the application submitted by the CBI, the court had last week directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to produce Kalyan Singh on September 27 after the constitutional immunity he had enjoyed came to end following the end of his term as Governor of Rajasthan.

Kalyan Singh was the CM of UP when the disputed structure at the Rama Janambhumi was brought down by Karsevaks on December 6 1992. He had resigned from the post of CM taking moral responsibility for the demolition. Along with senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others, Kalyan Singh was also charged with criminal conspiracy in the case. In 2001, a CBI court had dropped the criminal conspiracy charges, against the accused, and that verdict was upheld by the Allahabad High Court.

In 2017 the Supreme Court had ordered the restoration of criminal conspiracy charges again, terming the High Court judgement dropping the charges as “erroneous”. In July this year, the apex court had asked the special court to complete the trial in the case within nine months.

Kalyan Singh was appointed as governor of Rajasthan in September 2014, which had given him immunity from prosecution under Article 361 of the constitution. His term ended on September 9, and he had joined the BJP on the same day. CBI also didn’t delay in taking action against him as the case is to be concluded within the deadline given by the Supreme Court. While ordering the restoration of the case in 2017, the apex court had noted that Kalyan Singh can be tried in the case only after he ceases to be governor.

Government agencies and state-run companies to clear outstanding dues of vendors and contractors by October 15

OpIndia Staff
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Government agencies and state-run companies to clear outstanding dues of vendors and contractors by October 15

The union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had declared that all the payments that are pending for services rendered, goods supplied and all the other work done for public sector units and government agencies by vendors and contractors will be cleared by the government by October 15.


As the government plans to boost the economic growth, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has set October 15 as the deadline for central public sector undertakings (PSUs) and the government to clear overdue payments to vendors and contractors. Sitharaman has asked the state-owned companies to set up a portal by October 15 to enable service providers, vendors and contractors to track bills and payments so that the liquidity crunch is lessened.

Besides, the finance minister said that the government has asked the public sector undertakings (PSUs) to detail the lifespan of arbitrations that lock payments after disputes with vendors and contractors. The Finance Minister also informed that the state-owned firms have been asked to submit their spending plans for the next four quarters.

“The intention is to ensure that no government department is sitting on their dues for the goods and services received by it from any vendor, MSMEs,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after meeting secretaries and financial advisors on Friday.

“The larger intention has been, the money should go where people have been waiting for a long time,” she said. “The other being money should really get going into the ground, literally get grounded and the projects should really get germinated and see progress within the next four quarters.”

According to Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar, 34 central public sector companies have already spent Rs.48,077 crore till August and have reported spending of another Rs.50,159 crore till December 2019. For the quarter January-March, companies have forecasted spending of Rs. 54,700 crore.

N Sitharaman had emphasised on the fact that the payment should be released before the festival season. Expenditure secretary G C Murmu said central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have already released payments of Rs 20,157 crore in the last three months.

Putting an end to rumours that Tulsi Gabbard ‘snubbed’ PM Modi over ‘Hindutva’, she meets him on the sidelines of UNGA

OpIndia Staff
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Putting an end to rumours that Tulsi Gabbard ‘snubbed’ PM Modi over ‘Hindutva’, she meets him on the sidelines of UNGA

Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu elected to the US Congress met PM Narendra Modi in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.


After the meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, the US Presidential candidate said, “My meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s democratically elected leader, have been highlighted as ‘proof’ of this and portrayed as somehow being out of the ordinary or somehow suspect, even though President (Barack) Obama, Secretary (Hillary) Clinton, President (Donald) Trump and many of my colleagues in Congress have met with and worked with him.”

She also said that she was proud to be the first Hindu-American to have been elected to Congress, and now, the first Hindu-American to run for president. Gabbard had added that India was one of America’s closest allies in Asia and is a country of growing importance in a critical region of the world.

US President hopeful Tulsi Gabbard through a video message reached out to PM Modi a day before Modi was scheduled to arrive in the US and welcomed him to the United States of America. In a video message posted on YouTube, Gabbard extended a warm welcome to Prime Minister Modi.

Earlier this month, Gabbard had taken to Twitter to call out the lies spread by Indian media persons that she has ‘refused’ to join the much-awaited ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event in Houston on 22nd September. A shady website with dubious credentials had stated that Gabbard had dropped out of ‘Howdy, Modi’ event after Congressman Ro Khanna’s call to ‘reject Hindutva’. The anti-Modi purveyor of fake news had lapped it up and spread the fake news far and wide. Gabbard then responded to a tweet by ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub rubbishing the report clarifying that while she will not be able to attend ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event, she was hoping to meet PM Modi during his visit to the US.

The Howdy event was the largest ever event addressed by an Indian Prime Minister in North America and also the largest for a foreign leader in the US other than Pope Francis. The Howdy event was Prime Minister Modi’s third major address to the Indian-American community after he became PM in 2014 and the first after his re-election in May.

The focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s week-long visit to the US from Saturday to attend the UNGA was not terrorism but outlining the country’s larger role on the world stage and what it was doing for development, peace and security.

In his speech at the UNGA, PM Modi gave a strong message on terrorism to the world. Said terrorism is the biggest challenge today.

Sharad Pawar tries playing the victim card, but that does not work in this information era

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Sharad Pawar tries playing the victim card, but that does not work in this information era

In India, playing the victim card has become the trend now. Every now and then someone or other makes some blunder and then plays the victim. It was still okay till the time some activists were doing this, but now politicians (or more specifically veteran politicians) also started to participate in this trend.

We all are aware of the current political drama happening in Maharashtra. It’s quite evident it is all because the Maharashtra Elections are very near. Everyone is trying to save their place. Amidst this, political giant Sharad Pawar’s name has emerged in one of the biggest scams in the history of Maharashtra – “Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Scam” of Rs 25,000 crores.

Getting in the mud just before standing in an election is worse for anyone. Even if you try to wash yourself, it’s impossible to be 100% clean in this era of information and easily accessible resources and news. Mr. Pawar tried his best to cheat the world out there by playing the victim card, but netizens busted his propaganda of playing victim.

What actually happened?

ED never summoned Sharad Pawar or asked him to visit ED as of now. But Mr. Pawar decided to go and visit the ED on his own on Friday. Ahead of Sharad Pawar’s scheduled visit to the ED office, section 144 was imposed to ensure that law and order is maintained. Though very firm on visiting ED office, later Sharad Pawar cancelled his visit to ED Office.

The political lobby supporting Sharad Pawar started portraying the whole issue as a strategy by BJP to target the oppositions in the time of elections. Some even said that now NCP’s Chief Sharad Pawar is the target because of Maharashtra Elections. Though, very little common sense says that ED is an independent body & also, timing of busting of the scam doesn’t matter. If someone is corrupted, they should be exposed anytime soon.

As per the logic of people sympathizing with 25,000 crore scam accused Sharad Pawar, it is okay to expose the scam after the elections, but no before. I mean… What?? (These people seriously need to adjust their lifestyle to this new & anti-corrupt India)

What happened next was the best part. Netizens on social media started a trend with #PawarCheats to bust the victim playing propaganda of Sharad Pawar and team.

Some shared the facts about the case…

And some shared some other insights about Sharad Pawar..

#PawarCheats trended on Twitter for almost 3 hours in top 10 Indian Trends. Many people shared their opinions on this stunt by Sharad Pawar. It is quite evident from the trend that today’s India is not the one which can be fooled easily with some emotional speeches or drama.

Let’s be firm on the side of truth and keep busting such propaganda.

 

Gujarat-based Rohan Gupta replaces Divya Spandana as Congress Social Media head

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat-based Rohan Gupta replaces Divya Spandana as Congress Social Media head

Over four months after Divya Spandana, Congress’ IT cell head deactivated her Twitter account and vanished from public space, Congress has announced a new social media head. In a statement released today, Congress has announced Rohan Gupta as new social media cell head with immediate effect.

Gupta has earlier served as social media head for Congress for Gujarat ahead of 2017 state assembly elections. He is the son of Congress leader Rajkumar Gupta and was currently the national media coordinator of AICC.

During the 2017 Gujarat State Assembly elections, Gupta was found sharing fake ‘survey’ predicting poll results after the phase 1 of voting was concluded. On 10th December 2017 Rohan Gupta had shared a survey of the polling done in the first phase of Gujarat, which showed Congress winning 65 seats out of total 89. The second phase for elections was yet to be held in Gujarat on 14th December 2017.

Following this controversy, Parindu Bhagat, in-charge of Gujarat election legal cell, on behalf of BJP leaders has filed an application for publication of exit poll as violation of Election Commission’s notification which had banned publication of any exit poll before 14th December 2017. An offence was registered against Gupta in Ahmedabad Crime Branch’s cyber cell.

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