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Special Court adjourns Aircel-Maxis case ‘sine die’, no future date of hearing assigned

OpIndia Staff
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Special Court adjourns Aircel-Maxis case ‘sine die’, no future date of hearing assigned

A special court in Delhi headed by Justice O P Saini adjourned the Aircel-Maxis case sine die (without assigning any future date for a hearing or further meeting).

Former finance minister P Chidambaram, who is currently held in judicial custody in Tihar Jail, and his son Karti Chidambaram are principal accused in the Aircel-Maxis case as well. However, Karti and P Chidambaram were successful in securing an anticipatory bail relief as the court yesterday ordered the reprieve for the beleaguered father-son duo.

Justice Saini instructed the investigative agencies-CBI and ED to revive the case once the investigation is complete. The agencies had sought an adjournment of 6 weeks from the court as they are yet to receive Letters Rogatory(LRs) from the foreign countries. The court adjourning the case sine die asked the investigative agencies to approach the court once they receive the LRs from the foreign countries.

The Aircel-Maxis case relates to the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearances granted to the Aircel-Maxis deal at the time when P Chidambaram was Union Finance Minister. The prosecution had alleged that P Chidambaram, who was the Union Finance Minister at the time when the ₹3,500 crore Aircel-Maxis deal went through, and his son Karti received certain kickbacks to ensure FIPB clearance for the said deal.

P Chidambaram is also accused in the INX Media scam which involves charges of bribery and lobbying in granting foreign investments worth over Rs 300 crores to INX Media. INX Media was later known as NewsX, it was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjee of the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. Chidambaram is accused of misusing his power as the finance minister to grant INX Media an FIPB clearance. Currently, the former Union Minister is held in judicial custody at Tihar Jail till September 19, 2019.

First day in Tihar: Contrary to the long list of demands, P Chidambaram gets dal-roti to eat, floor to sleep on

OpIndia Staff
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First day in Tihar: Contrary to the long list of demands, P Chidambaram gets dal-roti to eat, floor to sleep on

The Congress-era Finance Minister P Chidambaram is currently lodged in Tihar jail after the court sent him to 14-day judicial custody in the INX Media case on Thursday.

Contrary to the long list of demands made by the Congress’ veteran leader’s counsel, Chidambaram had to accommodate himself in the stuffy barracks at Tihar on the first night on Thursday, reports Zee News.

Though Chidambaram was provided with a bedsheet and pillow the senior Congress leader was reportedly uncomfortable throughout the first night spent in the jail as he was made to sleep on the floor like regular jail mates. The former finance minister was, however,  allowed to take his medicines along with him inside the jail.

In the morning, Chidambaram was given tea and biscuits. For lunch, he would have been served chapatis, vegetables, dal and rice. Lunch timings are at 11.30 am. Between 12.30 pm and 3.30 pm, Chidambaram, like any other ordinary prisoner, will be lodged inside the cell. After 3:30 pm he would be allowed to go outside the cell and avail the library services or interact with other inmates. He will be served dinner at 6:45 while TV services are allowed till 9 pm after which he will again be sent back to his cell.

Chidambaram has been kept in 15 number cell, ward number 2 of Tihar’s Jail number 7 that houses 600-700 inmates. His son Karti Chidambaram was also lodged in the same jail earlier.

His lawyers had filed an application in the Delhi court earlier in which they had demanded certain facilities for Chidambaram. The long list of ‘VVIP’ demands had included a western toilet as Chidambaram cannot sit on the ground, according to his lawyers. Chidambaram has also sought permission to retain his spectacles. He asked for adequate security in the Jail premises since his counsel had argued that Chidambaram is a Z-category security protectee. A request for a separate cell with a cot and separate bathroom had also been made. During his stay at Tihar, a maximum of 10 people can meet him twice a week between 8 am and 1.30 pm.

The former Union Minister would have to celebrate his 74th birthday (September 16) with his jail inmates as he has been remanded in judicial custody until September 19, 2019.

Chidambaram’s counsels, in a desperate bid to save their client from going to Tihar, had moved an application in Court stating that Chidambaram wants to surrender in Enforcement Directorate case. It is pertinent to note that Chidambaram had refused it earlier.

Yesterday the Supreme Court had refused him anticipatory bail in the INX Media case.

A couple of days back the Central Bureau of Investigation had said that it no longer wants Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram’s custody and that the veteran Congressman should be sent to Tihar till September 5. Chidambaram had then pleaded that he willing to remain in the CBI custody till 5th.

Chidambaram was arrested on August 21 by the CBI after a prolonged drama where he had gone into hiding for over 24 hours after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court.

Read details: Delhi Police files FIR against freelance protestor-turned-politician Shehla Rashid, slapped with sedition charges

OpIndia Staff
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Read details: Delhi Police files FIR against freelance protestor-turned-politician Shehla Rashid, slapped with sedition charges

The special cell of Delhi Police has registered an FIR against JNU freelance protestor-turned-politician Shehla Rashid under sections of 124a, 153a, 153, 504, and 505 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was filed in regards to her slanderous tweets against the Indian Army.


Rashid has been the book for sedition over her comments about alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.

Latest FIR against Shehla Rashid
The latest FIR against Shehla Rashid

In a series of tweets posted by Shehla, she had accused the Indian Army of entering houses in the middle of the night, picking up boys and ransacking the homes, deliberately mixing oil with rice. Furthering her propaganda, she had also claimed that the armed forces had picked up four who were then taken into the Army camp. “A mic was kept close to them so that the entire area could hear them scream, and be terrorised. This created an environment of fear in the entire area,” added Shehla Rashid.

However, the Indian Army rejected allegations made by Shehla Rashid regarding the situation in the Jammu and Kashmir and called it “baseless”. “Allegations levelled by Shehla Rashid are baseless and rejected. Such unverified & fake news is spread by inimical elements and organisations to incite unsuspecting population,” said Indian Army.

American Airlines mechanic Abdul Majeed Alani arrested for sabotaging a flight carrying 150 passengers, forcing it to be grounded

OpIndia Staff
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American Airlines mechanic Abdul Majeed Alani arrested for sabotaging a flight carrying 150 passengers, forcing it to be grounded

An American Airlines mechanic from Miami International Airport was arrested on Thursday on charges that he sabotaged the navigation equipment of a flight carrying 150 people, forcing it to be grounded just before takeoff, reports Miami Herald.

According to a criminal complaint affidavit filed in federal court, Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, the mechanic who is now accused of sabotaging flight equipment admitted on Thursday that he tampered with a navigation system on the plane so that he could collect overtime work.

Abdul Majeed confessed that he had tampered with the air data module system on Flight 2834 from Miami to Nassau in the Bahamas on July 17 because he was disgruntled about an impasse over a union contract, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Fortunately, none of the passengers and crew on the flight to Nassau were injured because the tampering with the air data module caused an error alert as the pilots fired up the plane’s engines on the runway July 17.

As a result, flight No. 2834, a Boeing 737-800 aircraft was aborted and taken out of service for routine maintenance at America’s hangar at Miami international airport. Later, the tampering with the ADM system was discovered during an inspection. An AA mechanic found a loosely connected tube in front of the nose gear underneath the cockpit that had been deliberately obstructed with some sort of hard foam material.

Alani is now charged with “willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an aircraft” and is expected to have his first appearance in Miami federal court on Friday.

According to investigators, security camera footage has revealed that Alani had gained access to the compartment housing the plane’s air data module system, where he inserted a piece of foam to obstruct the equipment. The federal charges said Alani spent about seven minutes doing the sabotage.

Reportedly, Alani glued the foam inside the tube leading from outside the plane to its air data module, a system that reports aircraft speed, pitch and other critical flight data. As a result, if the plane had taken off that day from MIA, the pilots would have had to operate the aircraft manually because the ADM system would not have received any computer data.

After his arrest Thursday, the affidavit says that Alani told federal air marshals assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force that “his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers.”

He said that his motive in tampering with the navigational system was because he was “upset” over stalled contract negotiations between the mechanics’ union and American Airlines that has raged for months, which had affected him financially.

He further said he only tampered with the plane’s air data module “in order to cause a delay or have the flight cancelled in anticipation of obtaining overtime work,” according to the affidavit.

The mechanics’ union and American Airlines are fighting a “bloody” battle over the course of the summer that has led to bitter legal fights in Texas, where the company is headquartered affecting more than 12,000 employees.

The air marshals, part of the Transportation Security Administration, also conducted interviews with three other AA mechanics who were with Alani after he tampered with the plane. They helped investigators identify him from the video footage. Alani was charged with willfully damaging or disabling an aircraft.

Delhi Ka Maharaja: Read how this Ganesh Seva Mandal in Delhi carries forward the legacy of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Ka Maharaja: Read how this Ganesh Seva Mandal in Delhi carries forward the legacy of Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Water crisis is real. Conserving water is one of the top priorities of government of India, for which Jal Shakti Ministry was launched in May this year. It is executing the government’s mission to provide clean and piped drinking water to every household in the country. Drawing inspiration from it, Mahendra Ladda, who originally hails from Latur, Maharashtra, but has made Delhi his home, has used ‘Jal Hi Jeevan Hai’ theme for the ‘Delhi Ka Maharaja’, 18th Ganesh Mahotsav in the national capital organised by Ganesh Seva Mandal.

Coming from humble family background, Ladda founded the Ganesh Seva Mandal in a bid to giving back to the society back in 2002. The organisation carries our blood donation drive during the ten days of Ganesh Utsav owing to rise in dengue during monsoon. This year, inspired from PM Modi’s call to reduce plastic in daily consumption, the Ganesh Seva Mandal has decided to go plastic-free.

The 12-feet idol will be made of eco-friendly substance and to help promote “Green Delhi, Clean Delhi” and the same will not be immersed in the Yamuna river. Moreover, Ganesh Seva Mandal has collaborated with a firm which will recycle the plastic bottles devotees may leave behind to make polyester yarn.

Keeping in mind the theme to conserve water, instead of immersing the Ganesh idols in the Yamuna, large community pools will be created where eco-friendly Ganesh idols will be immersed. The water will then be reused to plant more trees. “Water is the very essence of life and so is air. When we worship God in our culture, we are essentially worshipping all his creations as well. We all know that Varun Dev and Indra Dev are the deities of Jal (water) and Vaayu (Air), so it is only prudent that while organising any religious activity or community celebration we should all take care of our mother nature and environment,” said Mahendra Ladda on his inspiration for the eco-friendly Ganesh pandal in Delhi.

In 1894, Bal Gangadhar Tilak had transformed the household ritual of Ganesh worshipping on Ganesh Chaturthi into a grand public event. People from all walks of life were welcome to participate in the ten day long festival. He took the Ganesh festival and turned it into a national celebration.

“Our Shri Ganesh Seva Mandal is not just a religious organization. We are a conscious organization with objectives of upholding our cultural values, nationalism and social harmony. Moreover, it is not only about religion, it is more about doing what is right. It is every citizen’s responsibility and duty to contribute his bit towards the environment and the nature. Mother nature has given us all the resources, so this is the least that we should do. We owe it to the future generations so that they also have access to clean air and water. I firmly believe that great individuals/citizens form a great society, and a great society in turn forms a great nation. This is what I personally aspire for myself and for others,” he added.

Customer Rafique Khan hacks newspaper hawker Mannu Vaishnav to death with an axe when asked to pay his dues

OpIndia Staff
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Customer Rafique Khan hacks newspaper hawker Mannu Vaishnav to death with an axe when asked to pay his dues

In a horrific incident, a 50-year-old newspaper hawker was hacked to death with an axe in Kho Nagoriyan area in Jaipur early on Thursday morning after the hawker had asked the culprit to pay newspaper bills.

Reportedly, the murder has ignited huge protests in the area taking communal lines and the city police had to resort to a lathi charge in which two former MLAs, a photojournalist and the kin of the deceased were injured. Following the huge protest, SHO Kho Nagoriyan Virendra Singh was suspended late on Thursday night.

According to police, the incident took place on Thursday morning in Shankar Vikar colony of Kho Nagoriyan police station. The deceased identified as Mannu Vaishnav (45), who works as a newspaper hawker in the colony, went to the accused Rafiq Khan’s house to collect his payment of Rs.500.

When Vaishnav asked for his payment, Khan allegedly abused Vaishnav after which a verbal scuffle broke out between them. Further, the argument turned into a physical fight after which Khan lost his control and hacked Vaishnav to death with an axe in his home.

“The accused was hitting the hawker like a maniac. The victim was on his bike and fell off with the very first axe stroke,” said a local resident speaking to ToI.

Later, the locals caught and beat up Rafique, who was standing there after vandalising his own auto rickshaw in a fit of rage. Within a few minutes police reached the spot stopped the crowd who were beating the accused and arrested Rafique.

The police detain four more people for allegedly beating up along with the accused Khan. Further, a few people of the colony blocked roads, burnt tyres and started demanding acquittal of four people who were detained. Soon, Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) East Rahul Jain, DCP Jaipur commissioner’s office Kavendra Sagar, along with other police reached the spot in order to control the situation.

Deputy commissioner of police (Jaipur East) Rahul Jain said Rafique was taken to a hospital where he is undergoing treatment for critical injuries. The police said he would be arrested but his condition remained critical as he was beaten up by the locals. Some locals said the accused was mentally challenged. The police, however, said they were investigating whether the accused had a mental illness.

The FIR lodged by Vaishnav’s family alleged that Khan was accompanied by his family members during the attack. The attack was so severe that the handle of the axe came apart and fell on the road. The locals said that the accused kept gazing at Vaishanv’s body when he was caught.

The incident sparked off protests in the area. The police had to resort to lathi-charge in which two former BJP MLAs, Kailash Verma and Kanhaiyalal Meena, have been injured. The BJP leaders later staged a dharna and demanded the suspension of the SHO as well as compensation for the victim’s family.

Reportedly, the locals of the colony put up a tent in front of the police station demanding the release of the four detained person and compensation for the family members of the deceased. They also claimed that along with Khan a few more people were present there and demanded their arrest.

“Four detained persons have been released. We will put the demands of the family members in front of the government,” said police officer Jain. The situation in the area had remained tensed following the horrific incident.

Barkha Dutt’s bizarre rant on P. Chidambaram being sent to Tihar

Ashish Shukla
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Barkha Dutt’s bizarre rant on P. Chidambaram being sent to Tihar

On the two sides of the political divide, India’s Right and Left-Liberals, only a handful enjoy a persona such as P. Chidambaram. He is an elite among elitists, second only to the Gandhis, and his gravitas in public appearances suggest of a man bred in arrogance. He isn’t of a light-banter type, back-slapping his friends. Never a dhoti and a khadi shirt have been worn with a swagger which could put a rockstar in shade.

Chidambaram wears a smile which he could patent. It’s a benign, patronizing smile, never warm, only favour which he is bestowing to his audience. When he speaks, there is this cocked eyebrow judging you on your incompetence. He is that Pope of politics who is used to reverence from his audience.

In a sense, it’s a classic cloak borrowed off from the Nehru-Gandhis: A benevolent knight, God’s chosen one for his people, who must have his cake while the masses must revel in the crumbs. A blue-blooded Congressman never questions the scions; and never lets down the coterie and sycophants who must do his bidding.

The morning after Tihar got arguably its most famous occupant, Lutyens Media who breed and multiply as mosquitos do in sewers and gutters, were busy treating the moment as a victory of sorts. Hindustan Times lettered “Chidambaram, Karti get relief from arrest”;  Times of India made much of Supreme Court disapproving of High Court judge quoting Enforcement Directorate (ED) note; The Hindu didn’t forget to mention Chidambaram and son got anticipatory bail in Aircel-Maxis money laundering case; and Indian Express, the daddy of them all, front-paged “Judge-slams-agencies”.

I mean a heavyweight-like-few-others is in notorious Tihar jail. Chidambaram is a thread which could showcase the entire gamut of alleged corruption in the decade (2004-2014) of UPA rule, reveal the arteries and veins which gutted body India, arguably institutionalized corruption; sterilized bureaucracy and defanged investigating agencies. It has a far bigger implication for the present and the future than mere judicial custody. Yet our Lutyens Media has just taken note of his arrest: There are no sermons, no digging up the dirt, no editorial – nothing.

The servile TV channels for once were not too keen on TRPs. None of them stationed their cameras in front of Tihar Jail for images which could have lasted them a week. No helicopters like they did once as Sanjay Dutt was being whisked to the Yerwada jail. These were the very channels who were aghast when CBI men were jumping the fence of Chidambaram’s residence. Yet the TV grabs of the year were not shot, nor archived for posterity. As if they wanted to erase people’s memory, sanitize history.

I scanned the timeline of Shekhar Gupta, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose etc on twitter and found nothing this morning. JUST NOTHING. The one of Barkha Dutt, though, was outrageous. She may have changed media affiliations faster than actors change clothes in a song sequence but her crooked logic is unimpaired.

Barkha Dutt is aghast as to why Congress is not taking to the streets on the matter of P. Chidambaram! Could you believe it! Ms Dutt is asking Congress to mobilize public opinion and come out in support of its two stalwarts (the other one being DK Shivakumar). She would rather have the party alienate the people than dump the allegedly corrupt. She is exhorting Congress to defend the two infamous.  She views DK Shivakumar as a fire-fighter for Congress; and can’t get over the fact that the Party has done no better than depute its legal luminaries or arrange just a press conference for P. Chidambaram. She is asking Sonia and Rahul to sit outside PC’s residence and court arrest alongside him. She is asking if Priyanka Gandhi could accompany Robert Vadra, why not here? Barkha sure is a queen of the bizarre.

It is no different to how Lutyens Media treated the Sunanda Pushkar murder (yes, murder now that it has been established she was poisoned). There was no journalism of courage, no intense gaze which could penetrate the layers of deception. Or how they treated the Sonia-Rahul bail in National Herald case, AgustaWestland and many other scams: just in passing. It’s different from the anniversary they run on an Akhlaq and a Pehlu Khan; a Gauri Lankesh or an Asifa Bano.

There is no escaping the fact that a few luminaries and media houses are part of this “eco-system.” This eco-system is willing to ignore corruption, bloodstains, violence, seditious conduct and harm to this country as long as it serves their agenda. Their sense of democracy and secularism has a skewed prism. Never lose an opportunity to hang them out to dry.

Finally, AAP’s Alka Lamba quits, a month after AAP spokesperson taunted her that they will accept her resignation on Twitter too

OpIndia Staff
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Finally, AAP’s Alka Lamba quits, a month after AAP spokesperson taunted her that they will accept her resignation on Twitter too

AAP’s Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba has ‘resigned’ from the party, she announced it in a tweet.

AAP’s ‘disgruntled’ MLA from Chandni Chowk, who has been complaining since over a year that she is being shunned by party leadership, has again said that it is time for her to leave the party. She had said the same thing last month too.


Last month too, Alka Lamba had said that she is soon going to resign from the primary membership of the Aam Aadmi Party and will submit her resignation in writing ‘soon’. It seems the ‘soon’ has not come yet.

Lamba had, however, specified that she will not resign as an MLA.

“I thought I should talk to people and make a decision. It has been decided that I should break all ties with Aam Aadmi Party and resign from its primary membership. I’ll tender my resignation from the primary membership of AAP, soon in writing. I will continue to be an MLA,” said Alka Lamba last month too. She had added that she is considering contesting the Delhi assembly elections as an independent candidate.

On Tuesday, Alka Lamba had met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi at her residence. Lamba has been in Congress earlier and it has been speculated often that she is hoping for an offer to join Congress again. She was associated with Congress till 2014 and had then joined AAP just before the 2015 assembly elections.

It is notable here that senior leaders in AAP were ready to accept her resignation but she was yet to resign despite announcing it several times. AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj had stated that Lamba has ‘announced’ her impending resignation over a dozen times but is yet to actually resign. He had added that the party will accept her resignation even on Twitter.


Even in May, she had tweeted, “My journey that started with you in 2013 will come to an end in 2020. My best wishes will be there with the dedicated ground workers, hopefully, you will remain a strong alternative in Delhi. The last six years have been very memorable and I have learnt a lot from you,”

Alka Lamba via Twitter

It read like a resignation tweet but even after 3 months, Lamba was yet to resign.

In April this year, AAP’s Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj had even dared Lamba to leave the party. Lamba had then addressed a crowd near Jama Masjid and had declared that the AAP leadership was trying to ‘weaken’ her. But she did not resign.

The Delhi assembly will finish its 5-year term in February 2020.

The latest update is that Alka Lamba has tweeted that she is resigning from AAP, finally.

ED issues show-cause notice to Amnesty International for violating foreign exchange law to the tune of Rs 51 Crore

OpIndia Staff
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ED issues show-cause notice to Amnesty International for violating foreign exchange law to the tune of Rs 51 Crore

The Enforcement Directorate has issued a show-cause notice to alleged human rights organisation Amnesty International, for violation of the foreign exchange law (FEMA) to the tune of over Rs 51 crore.

According to the reports, the ED had served notice last month under the relevant sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The officials said investigators found that there were violations in borrowing and lending regulations of FEMA to the tune of Rs 51.72 crore for rendering civil society activities in the country by getting remittances from its parent body, Amnesty International UK, in the garb of export of services.

The notice was issued last month by the Adjudicating Authority of the FEMA which is a special director rank officer of the Enforcement Directorate, the officials said.

In October last year, the ED had conducted searches at its Bengaluru office in connection with its probe in the alleged violation of FDI guidelines and remittances it had received from the parent body. Its director Akar Patel’s residences were among premises searched by the agency then.

The agency was probing if the Amnesty adopted the FDI route to evade the foreign contribution regulation act as the government had tightened laws under FCRA and had cancelled registrations of hundreds of NGOs for their “anti-India” activities.

Financial irregularity is not the only issue with Amnesty, the NGO was also caught peddling fake news. Earlier, Amnesty India tweeted, “Over 900 people have been killed in police encounters in UP between March 2017 and January 2018. NHRC says UP police are ‘misusing their power in the light of an undeclared endorsement of the higher-ups’.”

However, Amnesty had highly exaggerated the number to 900 people, to which UP police had issued strong rebuttal and threatened legal action against the NGO. Following this, Amnesty India was forced to issue an apology.

Amnesty International has been involved in a host of other issues. There is evidence of them being close to radical Islamists, even the Taliban and also the British government.

Congress’ Randeep Surjewala caught spreading fake news that Indian Rupee is weaker than Bangladeshi Taka, deletes tweet

Nirwa Mehta
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Congress’ Randeep Surjewala caught spreading fake news that Indian Rupee is weaker than Bangladeshi Taka, deletes tweet

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala was today caught spreading fake news that Indian Rupee is weaker than Bangladeshi Taka.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala’s tweet on INR vs BDT, now deleted (image: @chintan20 on Twitter)

In a badly worded tweet, presumably copied and pasted from WhatsApp forward, which could have originated in Congress IT cell itself, Surjewala tweeted that “Forget US dollor (dollar), Rupee falls below even Bangladeshi Taka, trading at 1 Bangladeshi Taka = ₹ 1.18”

Presumably since it is Friday, Surjewala questioned who is ‘jummewar’ which reads like a cross between Jumma (Friday) and Shukravar (Friday) instead of ‘jimmedaar’ (responsible). He had then concluded his typo-filled forwarded message with a clip from PM Modi before the 2014 elections.

Unfortunately, what Surjewala tweeted isn’t really new. The above tweet has been making rounds since a few weeks. However, it is factually incorrect. On September 3, media outlet NewsX had published an article titled “Forget US Dollar, Indian Rupee loses against Bangladeshi Taka now” claiming that the global slowdown has caused alarm bells as the Indian Rupee weakened against the Bangladeshi Taka.

In the article, NewsX had gone ahead and mentioned that 1 Bangladeshi Taka = 1.18 Indian Rupee, which according to the article meant that 1 Bangladeshi Taka is capable of buying 1.18 Indian Rupees. It further stated that the Bangladeshi Taka performed best against the Indian Rupee before 2004 and after 2014.

These are also the same assertions Surjewala made in his now-deleted tweet. This, however, is grossly misleading. Firstly, it is 1 INR that is equivalent to 1.18 BDT, and not the other way around.

1 INR = 1.18 BDT

Moreover, when 1INR is equal to 1.18 BDT, it means Indian currency is stronger than the Bangladeshi Taka and one has to shell out 1.18 Taka to get 1 Indian Rupee. Commodities bought for Rs 100 will have to be bought at approximately 118 Bangladeshi Taka. Consider 1 USD=71 INR, this doesn’t mean that the Indian currency is stronger than the USD. In fact, it means one has to spend 71 INR to acquire 1 USD which shows that USD is a stronger currency than the Indian Rupee. Historically, the Indian currency has always been stronger than the Bangladeshi Taka.

The Indian Rupee has certainly taken a hit in the recent days but it has never gone down below the Bangladeshi Taka. Furthermore, these swings in currency are cyclical and are dependent on multiple economic factors. Only obtuse minds will fall for this trope that since 1 INR is equal to 1.18 Bangladeshi Taka, the Indian currency is cheaper than the Bangladeshi Taka.

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