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The NEP provides a way for Leftists to get back at the Hindus by controlling and changing the education system

drshilpitiwari1
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The NEP provides a way for Leftists to get back at the Hindus by controlling and changing the education system

The long-awaited Draft National Education Policy is finally in the public domain. While several people have hailed this draft as a step forward in restoring civilizational ethos, there are several problems with the Draft NEP that need to be pointed out.

A detailed read proves that Draft NEP is seriously flawed and downright dangerous for six principal reasons.

Fanatical thrust on liberal education in all spheres of knowledge: This is a sugar-coated poison pill.

The NEP devotes a total of 135 pages to higher education. Of these, the section on liberal education contains 32 pages, i.e. 25% of the total content. The NEP strongly argues that liberal education (and associated methodologies) must permeate in every sphere of knowledge. It defines liberal arts as “16 Kalas”. However, that would be mere verbiage as much of its specific prescriptions are anchored in Western notions of liberal arts. For instance, it talks about developing “broad dispositions on … social realities (read minority lynching, caste discrimination and ‘Brahminical’ patriarchy, growing Hindu ‘intolerance’) of contemporary India”. It argues for creating “mechanisms for social engagement of students at UG level (on) …. justice, equity, and development”.

This should be music to Bharat’s liberal Left. The NEP envisages that “values that will be developed (thru liberal education) are a commitment to liberty and freedom, … equality, justice, fairness; embracing diversity, plurality, and inclusion; humanness, … rootedness in India”. The last one (rootedness in India) is clearly an afterthought. Towards this, students will be engaged in “issues of justice, equity, and development”, and will be provided “exposure … (on) pressing issues of local community, state, and country. … through … social welfare programs, … civil society institutions, … tutoring, … or other social engagement activities”. Now how is this different than what happens in our current liberal colleges? And if this were not enough, the NEP wants to raise at least five “world-class” liberal arts universities modelled after “some of the best in the West”, and “Ivy League schools in the US”, and Nalanda (but no one knows about the Nalanda’s operating model). Each of these universities would have about “2000 acres” of land, and “30,000” students. As if one JNU was not enough! Further, while recruiting faculty, “diversity” and “social perspective” considerations should also be accounted for in the NEP’s scheme of thing.

The end goal is to not only deepen the influence of modern liberal perspectives (since NEP argues for using Western models) but also ensuring that “professional education (including technical) … should morph into full-fledged liberal education programs”.

Clearly, this will require a lot of funds. And thus, the NEP is being conceived as the funding agency. The NRF will not only fund research in liberal education but will also offer prestigious fellowships to PDFs in very large numbers. The dangers of such a thrust become even more acute because most of the current scholarship and textual material has been generated by the Left which is inherently anti-Bharat. It is this group which will undoubtedly navigate the ship of “liberal education” in Bharat. No wonder Ramchandra Guhas will chair ISRO, IISc and Shehla Rashids will pen papers on “Genetic proof in AIT”  in AIIMS.

It is the “Science” students and professionals, who have challenged the communist narrative of “Liberal Artists” in history, politics, sociology, literature and environment. The NEP provides a way for Leftists to get back at the Hindus by controlling and changing the nurseries of nationalists.

Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA)

The idea of such a Commission as the final arbiter and policy apparatus for education in Bharat runs counter to traditional Bharatiya model of education Bharat. Education in Bharat was always highly decentralized, and autonomous. This is consistent with the nature of Bharat, and that of reality as well. And because education was highly decentralized, our civilization survived 1000+ years of foreign rule. The emergence of RSA will spell a death knell to all that has survived till so far.

Further, policies should be crafted in ways that they work even in the most adverse circumstances. There is no reason to think that there shall be Modi raj forever. What will be the composition of RSA in the event NDA is out of power. The Left is far more aggressive in promoting its ideas and ideologies. Access to RSA will enable them to drive changes in our society to levels which they have not achieved till so far. If we really want to ‘Hinduise’ our education system, provisions must be made to slowly devolve powers of decision making to spiritual/social organizations which also run educational institutions. That would be consistent with our civilizational ethos.

Right to Education

The RTE Act requires private schools to allocate at least 25% of its seats to SCs, STs, and weak segments of the society. However, minority institutions are exempt from such a requirement. This makes schools run by Hindus financially weak. For the period 2010-2015, these provisions of the RTE Act have led to the shutdown of about 79,000 schools, thereby impacting the lives of 1.58 crore students. The NEP fails to address this problem. Instead, it wants to expand the scope of RTE to pre-primary levels, as well as high school. This will certainly lead to the re-emergence of minority institutions as the leading providers of education in Bharat. It should be remembered that the demand of a section of Lingayats to be classified as “non-Hindu” is because they want their educational institutions to break free of the shackles of RTE.

To make matters worse, the NEP also very strongly argues that privately-held higher educational institutions should be required to make 50% of their seats freely available to weaker sections of the society. This will be the death knell of Bharat’s private higher education sector, and open up lucrative avenues for minority-run institutions.

Religion Based Policies Focusing on Muslims

The NEP uses a euphemism (Under-Represented Groups, i.e. URGs which includes SCs, STs, OBCs, and Minorities) to make a case for special provisions for Muslims (not even minorities). The Constitution has already made provisions for SC, STs, and OBC. So, the NEP does nothing new when it argues for helping these three groups as URGs. What is indeed new is its advocacy for religion-based provisions for helping Muslims (not other minorities). For this, it calls for setting up SEZs, hiring Muslim teachers, special provisions for Urdu education, extra scholarships for Muslims … The NEP even asks for permitting madrasa and maktab students in Board exams.

Undermining of traditional learning methods

Several Hindu scriptures have survived despite destruction of countless schools, universities, libraries because we had memorized our texts. It is not by accident that many of our adhyatmik texts are termed as “smritis”. Further, memory and learning are intrinsically coupled. Modern research, such as the one published in Scientific American shows that “memorizing ancient mantras increases the size of brain regions associated with cognitive function”.  All this is derided as “rote learning”. Our best students outshine some of the very best from the West, because despite all the flaws of our education system, our culture places a very strong value on rigor, extreme hard work, and memory. It is dangerous to deride these elements. Remember, our traditional Gurukul System did not ignore such learning methods.

No focus on quality

Poor quality of education is one of the biggest challenges in the current setup. There is no clear roadmap in the NEP as to how we can make our teachers better, more sincere, hard-working, and innovative. Neither does the NEP focus on ensuring how our institutions will become more responsive, and student-centric. To achieve this, NEP relies on new structure assuming that its new creations will work as intended. However, the NEP provides no mechanism, which will by its very nature, ensure superior performance of institutions and individuals. Even to a blind eye, NEP is a copy of Clinton-Obama kind of Left-Liberal Muslim centric policy – of reward n freebie for the undeserving freeloaders. It also has a declared aim of bringing in lakhs of foreign students, in the name of Nalanda, (read NAM peoples of 3rd World- Palestinians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Afghans, Arabs, Turks, Indonesians, Malay, African Christians etc.) and mainstream them in Bharat with employment and familial relationships with Indians. Obviously, Hindus will be subjected to increased targeted crimes, conversions and demographic changes, as have happened in Western Europe, Canada and USA.

Finally, it must be stated that the NEP is not devoid of positives. There are several brave and valuable recommendations which will help Bharat’s education system. These include the breaking up of UGC along functional lines, parity between public and private institutions, heightened autonomy to all educational institutions… However, the negatives I mentioned far outweigh the positives to the extent that they may cause total destruction of Bharat’s ethos, culture, and values in a very short time.”

Desperate to shield the failed Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka, NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain misrepresents basic facts

Raju Das
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Desperate to shield the failed Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka, NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain misrepresents basic facts

NDTV journalist Sreenivasan Jain embarrassed himself on social media today when he displayed his ignorance about basic facts of Indian legislative system. Talking about the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka, he made a wrong assumption about the current political situation in the state. In his desperation to shield the Congress-JDS government, when others pointed out his misreading of the situation, he went on to mock them instead of realising his mistake.


Continuing with the ongoing political drama in Karnataka, the speaker KR Ramesh Kumar disqualified 3 rebel MLAs last evening. These 3 are among the 17 MLAs that have submitted their resignations, which had caused the fall of the Congress-JDS government. But the speaker ruled that the resignation of three among them, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathalli and R Shankar, were not voluntary and genuine, hence he disqualified them till the end of the term of the current House in 2023.

KR Ramesh didn’t give any verdict on the rest 14 MLAs, he neither accepted their resignations nor disqualified them. This had led to many journalists and experts to start to do complex number crunching to analyse the situation. One among them was Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV, who said that BJP is still short of numbers to form a government, while reacting to the news that BJP leader Yeddyurappa has staked claim to form the government in Karnataka.

To this, one Twitter user replied to him saying that HD Kumaraswami had lost the trust vote by 105-99 votes, and the same situation remains. He explained that if the remaining MLAs are disqualified or their resignations are accepted, the end result will be same. The user also asked Jain when was the last time he had studied math. But Sreenivasan did not agree with that simple explanation. He said as the resignations are not accepted yet, the majority mark in the house is 112, while BJP has 105 MLAs, so it is short of the majority mark by seven. Jain rebuted the user by counter-questioning when was the last time he had studied logic.


Congress leader and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah also thinks that BJP is short of majority mark because the rebel MLAs are still with Congress technically. JD(S) also have claimed that BJP does not have the magic number of 112.

But they are misreading the situation completely, or deliberately mispresenting the situation. Just because the rebel MLAs have not been disqualified or their resignation not accepted, it does not mean the halfway mark in the house goes up. The floor test in assembly depends on the total number of MLAs present in the house during the vote, not on the total number of MLAs as per assembly records. Therefore, even if the rebel MLAs continue to be MLAs, they are likely to remain absent during the trust vote of Yeddyurappa government. The trust vote will take place among the MLAs who appear in the assembly. In that scenario, the halfway mark will be 104, assuming that 14 MLAs maintain their current position. With 105 MLAs, BJP will cross this number. During the trust vote on Tuesday, the halfway mark was 103, as 20 MLAs were absent from the house.

Now, even if the rebel MLAs attend the trust vote, in case the speaker does not take a decision on them before the trust vote, it does not mean Congress and JDS get their votes automatically. In that case the halfway mark will be 112, but during the voting they will either abstain, or vote for BJP defying party whip. In both the cases the BJP government will win the vote. BJP will lose the vote only if the rebel MLAs come to the assembly and vote against them, but that is completely unlikely now. If they were against a BJP government, they would not have resigned in the first place, and would not have allowed the Congress-JDS government to fall by remaining absent during the trust vote.

Sreenivasan Jain and others may believe that Congress and JDS will automatically get the votes of their legislators, but that is not true. If that was the case, there was no need for the trust vote, and the Kumaraswamy government would not also have fallen. The MLAs have to actually cast their votes on the floor of the house.

Some people were seen commenting on social media and TV that the rebel MLAs would like to avoid disqualification and not defy party whip, as speaker Ramesh has sent a strong signal by disqualifying the 3 MLAs till 2023. They argue that the MLAs want to become ministers in BJP government so they will want to contest bypolls, which the can’t if they are disqualified.

But that argument is also not correct, as the speaker was wrong when he said that he has the power to disqualify MLA for the entire term of the house. In recent times, the Election Commission had allowed disqualified MLAs to contest bypolls in Tamil Nadu and Goa, and there is no reason why the rule will be different for Karnataka. It may be noted that the speaker has no role to play in the elections, so he can’t stop someone from contesting an election, which is the exclusive domain of the EC. Moreover, after BJP wins the trust vote, first thing they will do in the assembly is to change the speaker, as KR Ramesh Kumar can’t remain the speaker of the house as his coalition no longer enjoys majority in the house.

The Election Commission has said on record that Disqualified legislators can contest bypolls. If an MLA is disqualified for criminal offences, they are disqualified for a fixed term, but no period of ban is stipulated in case of disqualification under the anti-defection law. Therefore, it is most like that the speaker’s order will be overruled by the EC, and courts are also not expected to oppose the EC in this regard.

NC chief Omar Abdullah calls Tral as ‘land of Musa and Burhan Wani’, warns locals against voting for BJP

OpIndia Staff
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NC chief Omar Abdullah calls Tral as ‘land of Musa and Burhan Wani’, warns locals against voting for BJP

In a blatant display of glorification of terrorists, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah today made eulogising remarks for terrorists Zakir Musa and Burhani Wani while addressing a political rally in Kashmir. Abdullah called Tral “the land of Musa and Burhan Wani.”


Speaking at a rally in Srinagar, Omar Abdullah said, “We have to fight these intrigues. We cannot fight these intrigues while being weak. We need to be powerful. They taunt Farooq Abdullah that he won elections only by securing 10 per cent votes. I would like to tell them that it is a testimony of their failure that only 10 per cent of the population voted.”

Abdullah attempted to spook the people of Tral by stating that they cannot boycott polls. He stated, there is a danger in boycotting polls. If voters boycott, what happened in Lok Sabha elections may be repeated in assembly elections too and there will be a BJP MLA from Tral, the land of Musa and Burhan Wani.


It is notable here that last year, both NC and PDP had boycotted the local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

Wani, a terrorist belonging to Hizbul Mujahideen, was eliminated by Armed Forces in an encounter in 2016 in Kokernag area of Anantnag district. Zakir Musa, the so-called chief of Ansar Ghazwat ul-Hind was neutralised by the Armed Forces in an encounter on May 23, 2019. Musa was Al Qaeda’s Kashmir head. He had declared that he will rid India of Hindus, calling for genocide.

Tral has been a hotbed of anti-India activities and Islamist terrorism. The security forces routinely indulge in encounters to eliminate local terrorists and Pakistani terrorists who infiltrate from across the border and manage to evade patrol teams to take refuge in the South Kashmir town. Amidst such a tumultuous situation, eulogising statements from Abdullah might act as fodder to lure more locals to join the militancy ranks.

Earlier, another NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar had referred to Musa and Wani as ‘martyrs’. He had also claimed that the people of Tral should not have voted for the BJP as Musa and Wani were martyred there.

Both PDP and NC, the principal regional parties in Jammu and Kashmir are often found pandering to the separatist sentiments and sympathising with the terrorists when they are out of power and start toeing the government line once they form a government in the state.

On one occasion, continuing his anti-India rampage, Abdullah had demanded a separate post of Prime Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, Mehbooba Mufti attempted to rationalise the Pulwama terror attack, blaming the government’s muscular approach as a reason for the attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel had lost their lives

Following her fallout with Arvind Kejriwal, AAP MLA Alka Lamba reportedly being harassed by AAP leader Udham Singh

OpIndia Staff
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Following her fallout with Arvind Kejriwal, AAP MLA Alka Lamba reportedly being harassed by AAP leader Udham Singh

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chandni Chowk MLA, Alka Lamba, who had a fallout with supremo Arvind Kejriwal today took to Twitter to claim that she is being harassed by unknown person. She put out a phone number of her alleged harasser and challenged him to talk to her face to face.


However, social media users pointed out that the number she was allegedly getting harassed was of Aam Aadmi Party leader’s.


Aam Aadmi Party leader, Udham Singh fought the MCD elections in Delhi in 2017 on an AAP ticket. The phone number he had listed there, as per website myneta, matches with the one Alka Lamba mentioned in her tweet. Truecaller also shows that the number belongs to one Udham Singh.

Udham Singh’s profile on Twitter, too, says that he is still a member of the Aam Aadmi Party. Even from his twitter profile, it becomes evident that Singh is not too fond of Lamba. On Friday, he said that Lamba had lost her balance of mind in a tweet.


In his Facebook profile, Singh can be seen with various AAP leaders in pictures. He can be seen with Gopal Rai in multiple photos.

AAP leader Udham Singh with AAP leader Gopal Rai
AAP leader Udham Singh with AAP leader Gopal Rai

‘Eminent’ journalist Ravish Kumar also features in a photo with Udham Singh.

AAP leader Udham Singh with Ravish Kumar, NDTV journalist

Singh’s twitter profile is littered with casteist abuse for Prime Minister Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Not only that, some of his tweets are also homophobic.

Deepak Talwar handed over to the CBI as court rejects anticipatory bail plea

OpIndia Staff
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Deepak Talwar handed over to the CBI as court rejects anticipatory bail plea

Corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar, who was earlier in the judicial custody of the Enforcement Directorate, was today arrested by the CBI. A Delhi court had rejected his anticipatory bail plea in the CBI case against him.


The CBI had sought 14 days of judicial custody of the aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar, who is accused of receiving kickbacks from foreign airlines for his suspicious role in brokering dubious aviation deals during the UPA era. CBI seeks to examine and confront Talwar with voluminous documents. The judge has reserved the order on the duration of the judicial custody post-lunch.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier found dubious deposits alleged to be the kickbacks paid by the international airlines into several accounts of extradited Congress era lobbyist Deepak Talwar. The ED had discovered Rs 270 crores deposited in Bank of Singapore by international airlines and another Rs 88 crore received in his NGO to influence some top ministers and bureaucrats in the previous UPA regime, reported Times of India.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also alleged that the ‘corporate lobbyist’, Deepak Talwar, who was involved in several aviation deals during the UPA regime, acted as a middleman in negotiations to favour foreign private airlines causing the loss to national carrier Air India. According to ED, Talwar received a huge amount of money in his bank accounts deposited by various airlines for allegedly compromising lucrative routes and flying destinations of India’s national carrier Air India and thus immensely benefitting foreign airlines.

The preliminary investigation by the Enforcement Directorate had revealed that three years after the Indian Airlines inked a deal to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer floated a shell company based out of Singapore in partnership with the middleman Deepak Talwar and, another three years later, transferred USD 10.5 million in its accounts in two tranches.

The middleman Deepak Talwar, along with another high-profile fugitive, Rakesh Saxena, was extradited from UAE in the same plane of the government of India on January 30, 2019. Before that, the middleman in VVIP chopper scam Christian Michel was also extradited to India. Michel, in his deposition, had named a certain Italian Lady and ‘Italian Lady’s son R’ in the AgustaWestland scam.

Unlike BJP, Congress has a laser sharp focus on its core voter

Abhishek Banerjee
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Unlike BJP, Congress has a laser sharp focus on its core voter

Today is Kargil Vijay Diwas, a day that the nation can never forget. It is worthwhile to remind people of this incident, which happened only a few days ago.

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A chapter on the Kargil war, which disappeared from college textbook in Madhya Pradesh. Bear in mind that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh is barely 6 months old. And the way the numbers are in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the government might not last another 6 months.

The government of Madhya Pradesh may not have fulfilled any of its big promises : much of the farm loan waiver turned out to be a farce, the promise of Rs 10,000 per month to unemployed youth for 3 years was turned into a mockery where a few people were given Rs 4000 for about 3 months. And the state is facing Communist grade power cuts for the first time in almost a decade. But the Congress government, though struggling to stay afloat, though devastated in Lok Sabha elections, has not forgotten its core and its core agenda.

The Congress never saw the Kargil War nor the Kargil victory as something that belongs to all of us. And they never forgot that.

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The Congress government in Rajasthan next door is none too comfortable either. Like in Madhya Pradesh, they were devastated in Lok Sabha elections, bogged down by bitter factional fights. But among all this, the Congress has found time to rewrite textbooks and remembered to pull Veer Savarkar down a peg.

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And who does not remember the ruthlessness of the Sonia Gandhi led UPA the moment it took power in 2004? Within a month or two, Veer Savarkar’s plaque was removed from the Cellular Jail in the Andamans.

This is starkly different from the approach of the BJP government at the center, despite its two successive muscular majorities. Most infamously, then HRD Minister “boasted” in 2018 about not rewriting a single history chapter in four years!

True, there have been some small changes. Such as restructuring the Nehru Memorial Museum to include the history of all of India’s former Prime Ministers. But these have been few and far between.

This is not a contest to see which party can be more petty in tearing down the icons on the other side. This is to point out a gap in the rate of delivery between the two sides when it comes to core agendas. The Modi government has missed (and is still missing) numerous opportunities to bring in a law for the construction of a Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.

Why does this happen?

One simple explanation is that the BJP is just not used to being in power. When in power, it acts way too apologetic and tries way too hard to walk a middle path. Now this is not bad in itself. Three to four generations of Congress Prime Ministers could not give India 100% rural electrification, but just look at the way Modi delivered on toilets, on gas, on electricity.

The Congress on the other hand knows much more about being in power. They know the value of every single minute spent at the helm of things and how to utilize it to strengthen their grip.

However, there is no argument that delivering on core agendas could possibly get in the way of supplying clean water or building homes for the poor. Especially when so much can be done simply by picking the low hanging fruit. The Supreme Court judgement that Aligarh Muslim University cannot be a minority institution came decades ago. It would be a relatively simple matter to just enforce that, for instance.

The other difference is with the core voter of the respective parties. The BJP’s core voter is the average Hindu. They are slowly beginning to get  restless, but they are definitely more patient and more accommodating that that of other parties. But the real gap comes from the fact the BJP’s core voter, even if restless, is essentially trapped with nowhere to go.

An all new party, further to the Hindu right than the BJP, is for the most part, a pipe dream in the short term.

The only hope for the BJP’s core voter comes from the clear shift towards the right in Indian politics as a whole and the pressure this would create on the BJP. Only those who remember how hard Vajpayee had to fight to get POTA passed would recognize how much easier things have become now. The UPA scrapped POTA the moment it came to power. Compare this to the NIA Amendment Bill, which passed the Rajya Sabha unanimously the other day.

Like the Kargil War, the problem of terrorism should never be seen through a partisan lens. But the reality of India’s hypocritical secular establishment is that it has always been seen as such. Remember when it was reported that India’s supreme leader had burst into tears on hearing of the Batla House encounter? That’s how bad things used to be. At least those days are behind us.

Remember the days of changing affidavits in Ishrat Jahan case? At least that’s not happening any more.

So what do we have for the BJP’s core voter? An assurance that things are at least not as bad as they used to be. And a hope that things will get better. Very very slowly.

After Hindu organisations held ‘Maha Arti’ as a protest, Aligarh authorities forbid all religious events, including Namaz, on roads

OpIndia Staff
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After Hindu organisations held ‘Maha Arti’ as a protest, Aligarh authorities forbid all religious events, including Namaz, on roads

The local administration in Aligarh has forbidden people of the city from organising religious events on roads. The decision taken by the Aligarh District Magistrate comes after a ‘Maha Aarti’ that was started by Hindu organisations on Tuesdays and Saturdays as a protest against Muslims blocking roads for Friday Namaz.

The Aligarh District Magistrate CB Singh said, “All religious activities carried out on road without permission are henceforth banned. Aligarh is a sensitive city and such overt manifestation of religious activities on the roads can vitiate the atmosphere.”

Singh further added that he had a discussion with the representatives of the organisations that have indulged in organising religious events on roads. He conveyed them that any religious activity should remain confined to the temples, mosques or the religious places meant for worship and carrying them out in open has a potential to stir communal tensions in the city and disturb the prevailing law and order.

Following the order, organisations and groups of individuals are forbidden from organising any religious activities, including the Friday Namaz, on road. The order will reportedly be relaxed on special occasions, such as Eid, where Mosques cannot accomodate all community members in their premises due to large gatherings of people.

Many organisations, including the Bajrang Dal, had organised Hanuman Aarti outside some temples in the city every Tuesday and Saturday of this month to draw the attention of the administration to the problem of traffic and road blockage by the Friday Namaz.

Manav Mahajan, the BJP general secretary in Aligarh city unit said, “If one community can block the road for offering namaz, then why can’t Hindus do the same?” However, he also added that Hindus didn’t block roads or created chaos on the streets. He said due to a large number of devotees thronging temples for “maha-aartis”, roads leading to temples are overcrowded.

It is notable here that the BJYM has been organising Hanuman Chalisa events on roads in Howrah, West Bengal every week since over a month. They have stated that the Hanuman Chalisa events will be organised on the road to protest against Muslims blocking the roads for their Friday Namaz.

Dear Congress, ‘Italy ki kathputli’ is a political jibe, ‘I want to keep looking into your eyes till you plead me to stop’ is sexual harassment at workplace

Nirwa Mehta
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Dear Congress, ‘Italy ki kathputli’ is a political jibe, ‘I want to keep looking into your eyes till you plead me to stop’ is sexual harassment at workplace

Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on the Azam Khan controversy said that Congress respects women. Chowdhury’s assertion of Congress respecting women came with a disclaimer that Former Congress President and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was also ‘disrespected’. He said that she was also called ‘Italy ki kathputli’, implying that it was disrespectful to her as a woman.


It is amusing how Congress has the talent to somehow find victimhood even when it does not exist.

Let me explain. “Italy ki kathputli” means Italian puppet. It is a political jibe because of her Italian roots. Just like the political jibes she has used on others like “Maut ka saudagar” (merchant of death). “Italy ki kathputli” may be as distasteful as “Maut ka saudagar” but it is definitely not an insult to her as a woman. She was on the receiving end of the jibe because of the political position she held (Congress President) and continues to hold (UPA chairperson). Not because she was a woman.

On the other hand, Azam Khan told BJP MP Rama Devi, who was the acting Chair of the Parliament, that he “wished to stare into her eyes till eternity.” He said that he “likes her” so much that he would stare at her for so long that she will have to tell him to look away. Not only did his party chief Akhilesh Yadav laughed at his comment, he even called it ‘poetry’.

Rama Devi was not on the receiving end of that comment because of the position she was holding (acting Chair of the Parliament). Azam Khan recited those couplets for her creepily because she is a woman. That is what makes it disrespectful.

That also amounts to sexual harassment at workplace. When a colleague passes a sexually coloured remark on another colleague, it is sexual harassment. It creates hostile work environment.

Perhaps Sonia Gandhi should take a stand and stand by Rama Devi instead of trying to pass off a political jibe as sexism.

Surat man gives Triple Talaq to wife after her parents could not give dowry to buy auto rickshaw

OpIndia Staff
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Surat man gives Triple Talaq to wife after her parents could not give dowry to buy auto rickshaw

A 23-year-old Muslim woman in Surat has lodged an FIR against her husband accusing him of giving her triple talaq illegally after her parents could not provide him Rs. 40,000 to buy a cycle-rickshaw, reports ANI.

Speaking to the media, the victim woman said that her husband gave her Triple Talaq orally in front of his family, just 40 days after her mother died.

The victim has now lodged a complaint at Chowk Bazar Police Station, senior police officer  PL Chaudhary said.

“The woman said that her in-laws used to torture her physically and mentally. Her husband had asked for a dowry of Rs. 40,000 to buy a cycle-rickshaw, which they didn’t give. After that, she was given death threat and her husband asked her to leave the house after giving her triple talaq,” police officer Chaudhary said.

The illegal divorce through barbaric practise of Triple Talaq came just a day after the Lok Sabha passed the bill to criminalise triple talaq. The practise of Triple Talaq has already been declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, seeks to criminalize the act of instant divorce among Muslims with a three-year jail sentence for men who practice triple talaq, which has been made illegal by the Supreme Court.

Outlook and The Leaflet columnist Fahad Zuberi says ISRO Chief should be ‘sacked and penalised’ for violating ‘secular ethos’

K Bhattacharjee
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Outlook and The Leaflet columnist Fahad Zuberi says ISRO Chief should be ‘sacked and penalised’ for violating ‘secular ethos’

Fahad Zuberi, a freelance contributor to Outlook Magazine and The Leaflet, has asserted in a Facebook post that the ISRO Chief K. Sivan ought to be ideally sacked or penalized for “consulting astrologers/priests in the matters of ISRO’s recent launch”. He should at least be ridiculed, says Zuberi.

Zuberi provides two reasons for his claims. Firstly, “He violates the Secular ethos of the constitution by involving worship in a government project.” And secondly, “he violates the constitution where the government is to encourage, observe, and uphold scientific temperament.” He adds, “In his capacity as the ISRO chief, it’s a violation. At his personal level, he can pray to the celestial orbs that he is tasked with demystifying himself, all he wants.” In the postscript, Zuberi implies that by “consulting astrologers/priests”, the government is discriminating against other faiths.

There doesn’t appear to any evidence to suggest that the ISRO Chief consulted astrologers for matters related to the launch of the Chandrayaan-2 mission. However, a report by IANS recently quoted an unnamed retired official from ISRO saying that the scientists have their own superstitions and beliefs, therefore, they try to avoid countdowns during the time that is considered inauspicious.

As for Zuberi’s claims that the ISRO Chief consulted priests, it has been a long tradition at the institution to offers prayers at a Temple before the launch of every significant space mission. K Sivan was as much practising his own religious faith as he was upholding the tradition set by his predecessors.

Regarding Zuberi’s claims that the ISRO Chief deserves to be ridiculed, one wonders why he ought to be considering the fact his beliefs are extremely ordinary and commonplace. That apart, there are not too many people who are qualified enough to criticize a person who heads ISRO, an organization that has given the country a lot of occasions to be proud of in recent times.

Zuberi appears to be a ‘New Atheist’ in the mould of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. He has written columns eulogizing Hitchens and asserted that section 295A, which is essentially a law against blasphemy, be abolished. He has also written on the necessity to ban Islamic practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM). However, as is the case with most ‘New Atheists’, they take their worldview beyond the realms of what can be considered sensible.

Furthermore, the ‘secular ethos of the Constitution’ is not violated if scientists in their individual capacity visit Temples and worship the Gods. Scientists have as much right to practice their religious faith as anyone else in the country. Justice Nariman of the Supreme Court is himself a priest of the Zoroastrian religion.

It’s not only Zuberi who has been voicing his concerns against the practising Hindus at the ISRO. Numerous ‘New Atheists’ and ‘Rationalists’ have been making the same arguments since years. However, we can all agree that sacking or penalizing one of the most brilliant minds of the country because of his religious faith is taking ‘rationalism’ way too far. It’s the point at which ‘rationalism’ stops making sense.

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