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Home Ministry slams Indian Express for ‘misleading and incorrect’ article over President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, orders action

OpIndia Staff
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Home Ministry slams Indian Express for ‘misleading and incorrect’ article over President’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, orders action

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday issued a statement against English daily ‘The Indian Express’ for publishing incorrect information regarding the constitutionality of the abrogation of Article 370. Further, the Home Ministry has asked the concerned newspaper to take action against all concerned for this blatant misinformation.


Indian Express, one of the media outlets which have been aggressively pushing agenda-driven reportage about Kashmir following the revocation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir, had on Wednesday (September 4) published a ‘report‘ titled ‘Centre did not renew President’s rule in J&K in time. It is a gaffe that has had dire consequences‘ written by Gopal Shankarnarayanan, who claims to be a Supreme Court advocate.

In this article, the so-called Supreme Court advocate has written in length regarding the constitutionality of the Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate the state into two Union territories – Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir. Shankarnarayanan, in his article, raises questions on the process adopted by the Modi government during the imposition of President’s Rule in December 2018.

With President Rule in Jammu and Kashmir as his premise, the writer questions the constitutionality of the abrogation as he claims that there are discrepancies in the imposition of President rule in Jammu and Kashmir under Article 356, which has resulted in Modi government’s moving away from constitutional process to revoke the special status.

Citing Article 356(4) of the Indian Constitution, which reads as “a Proclamation so approved shall, unless revoked, cease to operate on the expiration of a period of six months from the date of issue of the Proclamation”, the writer has stated the Modi government has created a ‘gaffe’ by not passing the resolutions in time after the expiry of six months from the date of issuance of the first proclamation.

According to the SC lawyer, the President first issued his Proclamation on December 19, 2018, vesting the powers of the government with himself and those of the legislature with Parliament. Later, this was followed by the approval of the Houses of Parliament on January 3.

The author claims that the approval gave the proclamation a life of six months with effect from December 19, 2018, and not from January 3, 2019, as per Article 356(4). Hence, if the first proclamation if not extended before June 18, the Proclamation in the solemn words of the Constitution, would “cease to operate”.

The author further argues that the Modi government tabled the resolutions to extend the Proclamation on June 28 in the Lok Sabha and July 1 in the Rajya Sabha, to renew the six-month period from July 3, which according to Article 356(4) was impermissible as the proclamation had ceased to have effect on June 18 itself.

Hence, according to the author, with reference to SR Bommai judgement, the necessary consequence of such a lapse of the proclamation would be that the “status quo ante revives” meaning that the state legislature which was dissolved earlier should have been reconstituted.

With such factually incorrect data as his premise, the Supreme Court lawyer went on to declare that the executive and the legislature proceeded to revoke special staus as if the state legislature in Jammu and Kashmir did not exist, singularly on the misapprehension that the proclamation was still in force. The consequence of this gaffe, as per Shankarnarayan, appears to be grave as gubernatorial privilege was stolen and the creation of new territories to be directly governed by the Centre has undermined the federal canon.

The author Suryanarayan who claims to be a Supreme Court lawyer, lectures regarding the constitutional morality, however, seems to have failed to comprehend facts. Responding to the propaganda article published in Indian Express, the Home Ministry in a detailed clarification has schooled the SC lawyer regarding the basic facts concerning Jammu and Kashmir and its relationship with Article 356(4) of Indian constitution.

According to the Home Ministry, President’s Rule was applied in Jammu and Kashmir under Article 356 on December 19, 2018. The original provisions under Article 356 allow the proclamation of President rule to exist for six months from the ‘date of the second of the resolutions approving the proclamation’.


Most importantly, the existing provision, which was brought as an amendment to Article 356(4) during 42nd and 44th constitutional amendments were not made applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Therefore, the original provision of article 356(4) applies to Jammu and Kashmir according to which the Proclamation dated December 19, 2018, was approved by Lok Sabha on December 28, 2018, and in Rajya Sabha on January 3, 2019. 

Hence, the proclamation of the President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir was due to expire on 3rd July 3, 2019, six months from January 3, 2019, the date of approval of proclamation rather than on the date it was issued. 

The Home Ministry officials confirmed that the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on June 28, 2019, and July 1, 2019, respectively approved the continuance of the Proclamation of the President’s Rule for a further period of six more months beyond 3rd July 2019. Thus, this proclamation was within the provisions of Article 356 as applicable to Jammu and Kashmir.

Noida: Two students of Amity University brutally beaten by mob after argument with a girl over parking

OpIndia Staff
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Noida: Two students of Amity University brutally beaten by mob after argument with a girl over parking

Two students of Amity University in Noida were assaulted brutally on the 28th of August after an argument with a girl over parking. According to reports, the girl had parked her car wrongly which prompted the victims to request her to move the car.

However, the matter soon escalated and the girl allegedly had the students beaten up by her acquaintances. A false molestation case has also been allegedly filed against the victims by the girl.


“It was around 2.30 p.m. I was in my i20 car and was looking to park it while a girl in her Ford Endeavour came that way. She parked her SUV in the middle of the road and when I asked her to move, she started arguing with me. I parked my vehicle elsewhere and then when I confronted her again, she started abusing and threatening me after which the argument escalated,” Harsh, one of the victims, wrote in his complaint.

Afterwards, the students left the spot without further altercation but were threatened by the girl of grave consequences. According to sources, the goons along with the girl then entered the students’ classroom while classes were going on and demanded that they are handed over to them. On being refused by the professor, the mob created a ruckus inside the classroom and started beating up the students. These accounts are also doing the rounds on social media.


The University, however, denies that outsiders entered the premises and maintain that it was a case of a personal altercation between the girl and her friends, and the victims that occurred outside the campus.


As per sources, the victims were again attacked outside the campus later and beaten brutally. Two of them suffered severe injuries including one who had to be admitted to the ICU. However, he is recovering and his condition is said to be stable. According to screenshots doing the rounds, the girl has apparently put up a WhatsApp status where she can be seen asking for forgiveness.

The incident has generated a lot of angst among students of the university and on social media and people are demanding justice for the victims whose names are learnt to be Harsh and Madhav. Harsh needed 7 stitches in his head while Madhav had to be admitted to the ICU. Apart from them, other students were also said to be injured when the mob created a ruckus within the college premises.

Noida Police has reportedly booked four students Mayank, Shiv, Chetan and Kunal for allegedly beating up the students inside the university campus. “On August 29 (next day), we got a complaint from the girl that Harsh and Madhav molested her after they had an argument over parking,” said a police officer. Cross FIRs have been registered in the case, no arrests have yet been made. CCTV footage is also being looked at.

The University said that no student has filed a complaint with them directly. “We found out about the incident from different sources. However, a proctorial committee will be formed and the matter will be investigated thoroughly,” a University spokesperson said.

“There was a personal altercation between a boy and a girl, which was dealt with immediately by the university officials. Later, both individuals filed a police complaint against each other and the police are investigating. The university has also set up a proctorial discipline committee to look into the matter. Few students have been suspended. Since this is a sensitive issue, we request all not to escalate,” the University said in a statement.

After much brouhaha post 2019 poll debacle, Congress data analytics head Praveen Chakravarty to make a come back

OpIndia Staff
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After much brouhaha post 2019 poll debacle, Congress data analytics head Praveen Chakravarty to make a come back

Following the 2019 general elections debacle, while Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana has disappeared into an abyss, the grand old party’s data analytics head Praveen Chakravarty is back in the news now as AICC Technology and Data Cell Chairman. The Congress has reorganised All India Congress Committee (AICC) Data Analytics Department as AICC Technology and Data Cell and made Chakravarty as its chairman.

Praveen Chakravarty is also the founding trustee of the faulty ‘hate tracker’ of the dubious data analytics website, IndiaSpend. Recently, The Wire and IndiaSpend’s factchecker journalist was caught trying to manipulate Dalit victims who were attacked by local Muslims to prove ‘no hate crime’.

After Congress’ humiliating defeat, Chakravarty was accused of misleading the then Congress President Rahul Gandhi and feeding him wrong information. In fact, the Congress also suspected that Praveen Chakravarty was a mole planted by the Modi government to ensure that Rahul Gandhi is fed misinformation in order to hand him a loss. In July, it was reported that the Congress will disband the data analytics department. And while the department has been disbanded, it has now been restructured as ‘technology and data cell’.

In June this year, it was reported that Chakravarty had allegedly conned Rahul Gandhi and set him up for the humiliating defeat. Rahul Gandhi was reportedly made to believe that the party will be securing somewhere between 164 and 184 seats in the elections. Congress, however, ended with 52 seats and Gandhi even lost the ‘family’ seat of Amethi which has elected many of his family members.

Praveen Chakravarty was responsible for handling the Shakti App on the basis of which inputs were given to Rahul Gandhi. He was evidently made to believe by Praveen Chakravarty that the party will be securing somewhere between 164 and 184 seats in the elections.

Rahul Gandhi, based on these superficial reports, seems to contacted his UPA allies M.K. Stalin, Akhilesh Yadav, Omar Abdullah, Sharad Pawar and Tejashwi Yadav amongst others, and offered to accommodate some of them in the next Cabinet. He had even reportedly obtained two letters from a senior legal luminary to enable him to stake claim to form the next government. The Congress party had even planned a victory procession to celebrate the exit of the BJP and had instructed a select few Delhi leaders to mobilise a crowd of nearly 10,000 people outside the AICC office on 24, Akbar Road.

And now, he is back in the Congress game as chairman of Congress’ ‘Technology and Data Cell’.

Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood and Lakhvi declared terrorists under the new UAPA by the Modi govt

OpIndia Staff
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Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood and Lakhvi declared terrorists under the new UAPA by the Modi govt

Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi have been individually declared as terrorists by the Indian government under the UAPA. Global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, too, has been added to the list.


In a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and signed by Piyush Goyal, Joint Secy, the announcement was made by the Government of India. Maulana Masood Azhar became the first person to be designated a terrorist under the amended UAPA.

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The anti-terror UAPA Amendment Bill 2019 was recently passed by the Indian Parliament after Amit Shah took charge as the Home Minister of the country. Amidst considerable resistance by the Opposition parties, the Bill was passed to give greater power to the Indian government to combat terrorism.

Both Azhar and Hafiz Saeed are UN-designated global terrorists.

70 years of lies and a moment of truth for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Vinayak Jain
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70 years of lies and a moment of truth for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Partition of India, the communal riots, the unprecedented bloodshed, the ensuing disharmony and hatred between India and Pakistan, paved way for an independent Pakistan to formulate policies and create a national sentiment based on keeping Islam foremost and making it the core of its identity.

What this meant was that Pakistan – often regarded as the ‘nucleus of the Muslim world’ and the ‘protector of Islam’ by its succeeding generation of politicians – enabled Islam to penetrate deep into its military and civil administration, and ingrain in its people an overwhelming emotion of identifying themselves first as Muslims and then as Pakistanis.

The Pakistani military and leadership right from the beginning of the country’s creation adorned an armour of extremism. This went on to become the foundation of its economic policy, military posture and foreign engagements, especially with respect to India.

Pakistan made India its absolute and unwavering focus. The functioning of its entire political and military system can be described in the form of three concentric circles – the outermost one representing India; the middle one focused on anti-Hindu propaganda and fear-mongering that the Indian state is hellbent on capturing Pakistan and making it a Hindu state; and the innermost circle that it gave the greatest importance, Kashmir. Since its inception, Pakistan incited religious fanaticism and employed anti-India tirades to gain quick support of its people.

Kashmir has been Pakistan’s most constant and dominant agenda. And Article 370 was ensured longevity as it was the lifeline not to Pakistan’s intrinsic ideology but to the lavish lifestyle of the higher echelons of its army and political class.

And now, this lifeline has been severed in a swift, perfectly-planned move by India.

Pakistan exposed to its own people

Over many decades, Pakistan has successfully managed to instil in its people a firm belief that its military is superior to India’s and has even won wars. India too has helped in establishing an aura of invincibility around the Pakistani army.

Spoils of war are primarily determined by the enemy land captured. And India has always given back the land it managed to earn through its soldiers’ sacrifice. This meant that the Pakistani army could boast to its people of its ‘invincibility’. That if it were weak and capable of being overwhelmed then wouldn’t India end up with a significant chunk of its land?

As far as the 1971 war and the break-up of Pakistan into two is concerned, the ISI propaganda machinery did well to fool its people into believing that the separation of East Pakistan from its mainland was a blessing as it was already difficult to maintain logistics and administrative relations with a landmass that existed beyond enemy territory.

To add to this, the Punjabi population of Pakistan despised the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan, and through distorted propaganda turned a shameful military loss into a sort of ethnic victory. It was being spread that Pakistan was finally one geography and largely one ethnicity (with Punjabis being more than 44%).

In all, India was never able to break the blind faith that Pakistanis had in their army. This, in turn, enabled successive Pakistani rulers to blatantly speak on Kashmir, legitimize the use of terror, and focus exclusively on military modernization and nuclear build-up. The common Pakistani was too swept away in awe of its military and a mortal fear of India’s intentions.

However, in the last three years, three instances have occurred that have put the Pakistani political class and its army on the spot. Surgical strikes, airstrikes, abrogation of Article 370.

The ISI media machinery twisted the first two portraying the strikes as blatant lies. It may well have succeeded in fooling its people once again. But the removal of Article 370 leaves absolutely no space for any arm of the Pakistani establishment to propagate lies.

This puts its army and intelligence in a serious spot of bother. Why, if the military is indeed so robust and unassailable, did it allow India to remove 370? What about the decades of Kashmir Banega Pakistan narrative? Was it all an eyewash? And again, if it wasn’t, then why hasn’t the Pakistan army done anything to teach India a ‘lesson’ for the serious transgression that India has committed?

For the first time, neither the Pakistani government nor the army can fool its people. And to top it all, Pakistan has absolutely no options, which we now discuss.

Economic insignificance

Imran Khan, in a most boisterous manner, cancelled bilateral trade show that he was acting ‘strict’ against India. Obviously, he didn’t give it a moment’s thought (he was too busy fixing the prices of roti and naan).

The total volume of trade between India and Pakistan in 2018-2019 was $2.55 billion; 0.3% of India’s total trade. Pakistan exported $0.49 billion worth of goods. For a decrepit economy like Pakistan, even such a small value of exports is crucial as it gives jobs and income to its people. India exported $2.06 billion of goods. Suspending trade has adversely Pakistan as India exported many basic food items and other common goods such as cotton, plastics, paints and machinery. This led to a substantial rise in inflation in Pakistan – that already stood at nearly 9% in June – which is igniting a deep sense of anger in the common populace against Imran Khan and his vacuous Naya Pakistan slogan.

India doesn’t care a wee bit about the suspension of trade. Pakistan depends on loans and donations, is having to sell buffaloes (a whopping 8 of them!) to fill its treasury, and even the CPEC has turned out to be more of a superficial façade than a gamechanger on the ground. Despite being in such dire straits the delusional Pakistani establishment thinks suspending trade will help its cause.

Pakistan’s GDP growth has been revised to 4% while despite a slowdown India’s is touted to be 6.9%. Pakistan’s foreign reserves stand at $7.76 billion while India’s are touching the $430 billion-mark (55 times). And India’s GDP in nominal terms is 10.6 times that of Pakistan’s and 9.6 times in PPP terms.

In today’s geopolitics where economic warfare is of more impact than sheer military might, Pakistan dumbfoundedly fails to see that its economy cannot sustain any kind of conflict with India.

The military conundrum

In a conventional war, Pakistan doesn’t stand a chance against India. Even Pakistan tacitly acknowledges this.

However, this serious inferiority in military prowess remained negated as India shied away from using force. Pakistan formed an astute plan that could be employed repetitively. Attack India through terrorists; deny the attack; mobilize troops if India retaliates; have the international community pressurize India to back off; end the stand-off in a stalemate; register a win.

Pakistan kept attacking India through its terrorists. This put India in a fix-it couldn’t wage a full-fledged war, and neither did it have options short of it. This changed dramatically post the surgical strikes in 2016. Pakistan for the first time saw that India had options to retaliate and a political will to execute these options. This heat that it felt in 2016 turned into unequivocal fear when the Indian Air Force struck its terror camps in 2019.

Now, Pakistan fears that if a terrorist attack of the magnitude of Pulwama or 26/11 occurs, India wouldn’t care to just eliminate terrorists – it may launch a counter against its military. This is what’s engrossing the Pakistani establishment in a serious conundrum. Want to bleed India through terror, but what if India retaliates conventionally?

Also, the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) which primarily takes to task those nations that are involved in terror funding has a keen eye on Pakistan. Pakistan was placed on its grey list in 2018, and in the next meeting in October 2019, it will decide whether to blacklist Pakistan.

Even being in the grey list is causing losses of about $10 billion per year to Pakistan. Finding foreign investments has become tough. Even the CPEC is approaching a slow death; China made net investments of just $2.48 billion since 2013.

If Pakistan chooses to execute a terror attack then not only does it threaten itself with serious military consequences but it may also end up being blacklisted by the FATF which will send its economy hurtling into a recession. This will cut all investments and international lending will also cease.

Imran Khan and General Bajwa are facing the toughest time of their lives. Terrorism is a very dangerous option. Conventional action on the border is out of the question. With excruciating inflation that is deepening due to the suspension of trade, the common Pakistani is rising against the government. Add to this the intensified protests for freedom in PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan and the regularly occurring attacks in Balochistan against the Pakistan army, and all this makes Pakistan’s internal situation threadlike weak. And most crucially, the rants by successive Pakistani governments and dictators that Kashmir is rightfully theirs and that they possess the might to take it leaves them thoroughly exposed in the eyes of the people who placed the military on the highest pedestal.

Prime Minister Modi has in one well-planned and perfectly timed move of truthfulness and national interest left 70 years of Pakistani lies bereft of even an iota of effectiveness.

17 Emeritus Professors from Social Sciences and Humanities, only 4 from Science, rules changed to end this skew: JNU

OpIndia Staff
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17 Emeritus Professors from Social Sciences and Humanities, only 4 from Science, rules changed to end this skew: JNU

The Jawaharlal Nehru University has strongly refuted the allegations of motivated targeting in its decision to review the continuation of Romila Thapar as a Professor Emeritus at the University. The University registrar issued a press release today clarifying the circumstances under which the decision was taken.

The JNU has reiterated that the decision was taken as per revised rules which were decided by the Executive Council in a meeting held on 23rd August last year. It also informs that 17 Emeritus Professors above the age of 75 years are being reviewed as per new rules, not just Romila Thapar as most media reports are trying to project. The Executive Council is the highest statutory body if the university consisting of Deans, Chairpersons, and renowned academicians from outside the JNU.

JNU Statement

The statement also gave the reason why the decision was taken. It says that the EC had decided to regulate the process of appointments and continuation of positions of Emeritus Professors in the university. The goal of the same was to make the process broad-based, time-bound and rule-based selection, so that Emeritus Professors as appointed from various disciplines and schools in the university. The Statement notes among the cure 21 Emeritus Professors in JNU, as many as 17 as Social Sciences and Humanities, while only 4 are from Science streams, leading to a huge imbalance. As there was no age limit on the positions, many deserving retired faculty members could not be appointed as Emeritus Professors.

To resolve this issue, the EC had decided to review the work done by the existing Emeritus Professors above 75 years of age. The statement adds that ‘Since everyone is equal before the law, letters were sent to all 12 emeritus professors who have attained the age of 75 to know their availability and willingness to participate in academic activities of the University”.

JNU says that a motivated campaign was launched using the name of one Emeritus Professor, while the same letter has been sent to 12 such persons. It adds that no single emeritus professor has been targeted as alleged in media reports, and the University is only implementing a rule of the University.

The statement makes it clear that Emeritus Professors are supposed to contribute to the academic activities of the university, it is not just an honorary title like many people were suggesting.

Hindu woman from Kerala tortured and coerced by Muslim man to join ISIS, appeals to state police chief for help

OpIndia Staff
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Hindu woman from Kerala tortured and coerced by Muslim man to join ISIS, appeals to state police chief for help

A Hindu girl in Telangana who shared her ordeal with the Kerala State Police Chief, Loknath Behera, at an Adalat held in Pathanamthitta district on Saturday, revealed how she was trapped by a Muslim boy who first professed his love for the girl and later subjected her to various forms of physical tortures for refusing to join the ISIS.

The girl who hails from Ranni in Pathanamthitta district alleged that though she had filed a complaint in this regard with the local police in Pathanamthitta earlier, there has been no proper investigation yet. The state police chief is now likely to order a high-level probe into the matter.

It so happened that the Hindu girl, while working at a hospital in Hyderabad about three years back met a boy who also used to work at the hospital. He hailed from Miryalaguda, now a part of Telangana. The boy, who was initially a Christian and had later converted to Islam, had allegedly entrapped the Hindu girl in a love affair and they started living together. When the girl got pregnant, the Muslim youth forced her to terminate her pregnancy. As she insisted on a formal marriage, the youth demanded that she should convert to Islam and work at hospitals in ISIS camps so as to earn more salary.

The girl divulged that after she refused to surrender to his demands the boy started assaulting her frequently. He later abandoned her in 2017. Presently the woman is staying at Ranni.

Pathanamthitta district police chief, J Jaidev said that he did not come across any complaint lodged by the girl in his police records earlier. Since the girl has now directly submitted a petition with the state police chief, the investigation would now proceed as per the directives of the chief, confirmed J Jaidev.

Many ‘Love Jihad’ cases, where Hindu women are targeted, converted and later brainwashed into joining the ISIS have been reported in Kerala. The number of cases seems to be way higher at 92, but acting on the Supreme Courts order, the NIA is already scrutinising 32 love jihad cases. Most of these love jihad cases have a deep-rooted connection with the ISIS.

Last year, in one such case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had detained Muhammad Riyaz Rasheed, who was accused of forcibly converting his wife’s religion and then attempting to sell her as a sex slave to the ISIS at Chennai airport.

Madhya Pradesh: Tribal woman paraded half naked, beaten up over inter-caste love affair

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Tribal woman paraded half naked, beaten up over inter-caste love affair

In an abhorrent incident from Madhya Pradesh, a tribal woman was paraded half naked and beaten up over an inter-caste love affair.


In a video which has gone viral on social media, it can be seen that the woman is chased by a mob of men with sticks where one man beats her up with a stick. The audacity and lack of fear of law can be seen as to how the entire incident was shamelessly being captured on camera.

As per reports, the incident took place on Saturday in Madhya Pradesh’s Alirajpur but the police has not yet registered a case. According to Jobat Sub Divisional Officer of Police R C Bhakar, the police has started investigation after the incident came to light. He said that the victim and her father were not in the village and hence their statements could not be recorded.

According to police, the woman belongs to Bhilala community and was in love with a man from Bheel community. The family and community members were enraged by this inter-caste love affair and decided to ‘punish’ her by parading her and beating her up with sticks.

Selective greetings from a ‘secular’ movement: Dravidian practise of issuing ‘Holiday Greetings’ for Hindu festivals

Suren
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Selective greetings from a ‘secular’ movement: Dravidian practise of issuing ‘Holiday Greetings’ for Hindu festivals

While citizens of the Indian Republic greeted each other this year for a Ganesha Chaturthi, the BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit cryptically tweeting ‘Holiday Greetings’ to the official handles of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Mr M K Stalin, President of the DMK and Leader of the Opposition, Tamil Nadu Assembly.

As is the wont with much of the happenings in Tamil Social Media, this piece of light-hearted trolling was greeted with humour in Tamil Twitter and befuddlement and incomprehension in the rest of Twitterverse.


To make sense of this, we need to travel back in time to the 50s and 60s, when the ideological parent of the DMK, the Dravidar Kazhagam, was at its most active. The patriarch, E V Ramasamy, an upper-caste landlord, had split away from the Justice Party, a movement composed of fellow landed elites, to carve his own path.

The Dravidar Kazhagam had at its root a narrative of Tamil exceptionalism, as a unique civilization of Dravidians overrun by invading Aryans and whose original culture and religion were suppressed, subsumed or appropriated by the invaders. His brand of agitprop included shocking antics like removing women’s thali (mangalsutra) on stages and breaking idols of Hindu gods, most notably Vinayaka.

Their agenda included a Tani Tamizh (Pure Tamizh) movement aimed at recreating a glorious language purged free of all foreign borrowings, Scientific Rationalist Atheism and a separate Dravida Nadu, a land for the Dravidian race free from the Aryan yoke. Brahmins, in particular, were singled out for demonization, and the Kshatriya Rama was, in Dravidian mythology, an Aryan conqueror usurping the rule of the Dravidian Ravana, a Brahmin incidentally.

The DMK made a few compromises, such as allowing Brahmins to be members of the party, and dropping their demand for a separate state, to enter electoral politics.

They, however, never discarded the original premise of a victim Dravidian race. There were a set of ‘accepted’ festivals such as Pongal, Christmas and Bakr-Eid, which were deemed Dravidian enough, and festivals which were impositions of the Aryans, such as Vinayaka Chaturthi, Dussehra.

Even the traditional Tamil New Year, timed to coincide with the vernal equinox, was deemed an Aryan conspiracy against the more natural and native New Year, which was the first of the Tamil month Thai, roughly at the time of the winter solstice.

In the meantime, the movement grew and so did its leaders. They were now able to run their own movie companies, newspapers, magazines and television channels.

As the Dravidian movement grew, so did the size and scale of public Hindu religious observances. With increasing prosperity, public Vinayaka Chaturthi festivities gained in importance and grandeur. As an effect, in order to lose the TRPs and the associated advertising money, Dravidian TV channels started showing special programs for Hindu festivals. In a curious balance struck between ideology and commerce, they began announcing special programs for ‘Holidays’ and greetings for Holidays.

Here is the Sun TV tweet announcing a slew of programmes for the April 14th ‘holiday’, ie Tamil New Year that fell on the first of the Chittirai month this year.


The Kalaignar TV promotion for ‘Holiday Special’ programming for Vinayaka Chaturthi

In an interesting development, Mr Stalin greeted Tamil people on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi in 2014.

The greeting messages were deleted and the party issued a clarification that the greetings message was a ‘mistake’ Media carried stories of the deletion and subsequent clarification being issued to soothe ‘ruffled feathers’

It may be noted that when the rivalry between the immediate family of Mr Karunanidhi and his grandnephews, the Maran Brothers, reached ahead, a separate Kalaignar Group of television channels was started on the same Vinayaka Chaturthi day.

The Dravidian movement, now in its third generation, is at a crossroads where the balance between their public atheism and the pull of an increasingly assertive Tamil Hindu population is no longer as easy as it was in the past.

(This article has been co-authored by @zeneraalstuff and @SaffronDalit) 

London: Pakistani mob led by British Labour MP attacks Indian High Commission, smash windows

OpIndia Staff
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London: Pakistani mob led by British Labour MP attacks Indian High Commission, smash windows

The Indian High Commission in London suffered another attack on Tuesday after protests over the abrogation of Article 370. A 10,000 strong mob of British Pakistanis marched in London in the ‘Kashmir Freedom March’. The building has suffered damages as several windows and window panes have been smashed by the attackers.


The protesters carried Khalistani flags as well. They chanted slogans such as ‘Azadi’, ‘Time for UN to act on Kashmir’, ‘Stop War Crimes in Kashmir’ and ‘Stop Shelling in Kashmir’. This was the second such attack on the Indian High Commission in London after the attack on Indians celebrating Independence Day on the 15th of August.

The violent crowd reportedly hurled shoes, eggs, tomatoes, stones and smoke bombs at the embassy building. Before the march started, a PoK flag was allegedly put in the hands of the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Parliament Square.

The mob also included some MPs from the Labour Party. “You can try and silence a Parliament but you cannot try and silence a people. We will continue to protest on the streets of our cities and at the UN until we have delivered justice to the people of Kashmir”, said British Labour MP Liam Byrne, who was heading the march.

Byrne is campaigning to “seek restoration of Kashmir’s special status, to ensure demilitarisation, restoration of communication and to immediately allow full access to human rights observers” in Kashmir. As we have noted before, Byrne is the elected representative of a constituency that has a significant Muslim population of Pakistani heritage.

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the incident and urged the Police to take action on the matter. Only two people have been arrested so far.


Indian-origin Tory MP Shailesh Vara raised the matter of the attack on the Indian High Commission on Independence Day in the UK House of Commons on Tuesday. He made it clear that the Indian diaspora was attacked by “another community”, hinting clearly at the violent mob of Pakistani origin.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in response, “Any violence is deplorable. It shouldn’t be conducted in this country, or anywhere else for that matter, at any individual communities. What we now need to do is try and reduce those tensions but also, on a positive side, build up confidence-building measures to allow proper dialogue between the communities in Kashmir and also between India and Pakistan.”

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