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Politics above national interest? Opposition chants ‘Pradhan Mantri Jawab Do’ in parliament despite official statement by govt

OpIndia Staff
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Politics above national interest? Opposition chants ‘Pradhan Mantri Jawab Do’ in parliament despite official statement by govt

US President Donald Trump, as has been the hallmark of his Presidency, has triggered another controversy with his remarks on Kashmir. He claims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested him to mediate between India and Pakistan regarding Kashmir.

Now, despite numerous clarifications by the Indian government, the opposition is adamant that Modi should issue a statement on the matter on the floor of the House. Chants of “Pradhan Mantri, jawab do, jawab do” were raised inside the Parliament as well and Opposition parties even staged a walk-out over the issue. The Congress party has even given an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha. This was despite the fact that EAM S. Jaishankar had refuted Trump’s claims in the strongest of words.

Ever since Trump made the comments, there has been a systematic attempt to insinuate that Narendra Modi did make the request as Trump alleged. Numerous journalists and politicians jumped on the Trump bandwagon to take potshots at the Modi government and the Prime Minister himself.

The only person from the opposition who has come out looking good in all of this is senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. While other prominent members of his party are busy raising slogans inside the Parliament, submitting adjournment motions and questioning the integrity of the Prime Minister, Tharoor stated clearly that it was impossible that Modi would ask the US to interfere in Kashmir. He further said that Trump had either not understood what Modi was saying or he had not been briefed in the matter.

Perhaps, Rahul Gandhi ought to listen to Tharoor more than his current advisers. 12 hours after the comments of US president were denied by MEA spokesperson, Rahul Gandhi awakened to the controversy and claimed that if true, Narendra Modi had compromised India’s national interests and violated the 1972 Shimla Agreement. He further asserted that a “weak Foreign Ministry denial” isn’t sufficient, the Prime Minister himself must issue a statement on the matter.

Given the nature of Rahul Gandhi’s comments and the conduct of the Congress party on the matter, it certainly appears that although he is no longer the president of the party, the members are still taking cues from his on how to go about their daily business.

Home ministry to withdraw Z+ level security accorded to Akhilesh Yadav

OpIndia Staff
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Home ministry to withdraw Z+ level security accorded to Akhilesh Yadav

According to the Home Ministry, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will no longer enjoy the protection by the black cat commandos of the National Security Guard. He is set to lose the top security cover that only two other ex-CM’s, apart from him, are favoured with. He will, however, continue to get the state police cover.

The former CMs are Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati.

The decision was reportedly taken after a comprehensive review of VIP protectees by the Home Ministry. Sources said the decision to withdraw the NSG cover of the Samajwadi Party (SP) president was based on the assessment of threat perception.

A team of about 22 NSG commandos, armed with sophisticated weapons, who had been deputed with Akhilesh Yadav as part of his security cover will be now called back soon after the official orders are received by the force.

The former UP CM was accorded the Z plus category VIP security cover in 2012 during the UPA regime at the Centre.

The central Home ministery has also decided to scale down the security covers of two dozen other VVIPs too.

This jolt comes after the Samajwadi chief suffered defeat in the recent national election, in which his ‘Mahagathbandhan’ with Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh failed miserably, yielding only five seats for him in the state that has 80 seats.

Last year on August 20, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has stayed the proposal of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to construct a heritage hotel at Vikramaditya Marg, a high-security zone. The Court had then observed that allowing such construction will compromise the region’s security.

Prior to this, in another similar setback, Akhilesh Yadav was asked by the Supreme Court to vacate the official residence of the CM of UP where the SP chief was living with his family. However, setting a new example of ‘socialism’, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and current president of Samajwadi Party, left his government accommodation in ruins after he was asked to vacate the same.

Recently, the newly-elected Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, had also curbed former CM N Chandrababu Naidu’s Z+ category security cover and scaled it down to ‘Y’ with 2+2 armed gunmen.

Rajasthan Muslim Parishad files police complaint against publisher for hurting religious sentiments in B.Ed textbook

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan Muslim Parishad files police complaint against publisher for hurting religious sentiments in B.Ed textbook

A complaint has been lodged against a textbook publisher in Rajasthan on the allegation of objectional comments against Muslims incorporated in one of the textbooks. The book in contention is a One Week Series guidebook for second-year BEd course published by Rajhans publication.

Rajasthan Muslim Parishad has filed the complaint with the Manak Chowk Police station in Rajasthan.

The answer to question number 21 in page number 22 contains several statements which have been objected by Muslims. The question asks what efforts to be made to end religion-based stereotypes and prejudices. The suggested answers by the guidebook include solutions like not teaching religion in madrasas, a minimum 2-year jail term for religious discrimination etc. The book also says that Muslims should understand that they are also the children of Hindus.

The offending page of the book. Source: Facebook page of the organisation

The answer goes on to explain that Muslims want to establish an empire in the world which has resulted in the spreading of terrorism in the name of jihad. But they can’t keep everything under their control using terror.  It also says that communalism is spreading due to religious prejudices. The book says that Hindu-Muslim conflicts are increasing due to reasons like breaking idols, cow slaughter, putting colour on Muslims (during Holi), organising music program in front of mosques, stone pelting on religious processions and rallies. It gives such communal incidents in various places Aligarh, Varanasi etc.

The same content also appears in another book for the same course published by Thakur Publishers earlier. While the complaint has been already filed against Rajhans Publication with the police, preparations are on to file another complaint against Thakur Publishers.

Rajasthan Muslim Parishad has said that the content of the book is designed to spread hate. The spokesperson of the organisation said that and if no action is taken against, they will launch a protest demanding the same.

Director of Thakur Publishers Saroj Thakur said that the book was published in 2014-15, Rajhans took that old book and published it this year. Rajhans director Deepak said that they have already apologised with the representatives of the organisation for the book.

Slain rifleman’s brothers join Army, father says ‘will dedicate all my 6 sons to Indian Armed Forces, they will avenge Aurangzeb’

OpIndia Staff
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Slain rifleman’s brothers join Army, father says ‘will dedicate all my 6 sons to Indian Armed Forces, they will avenge Aurangzeb’

Two brothers of slain rifleman Aurangzeb, who was abducted and killed by terrorists in June last year, has joined the Indian Armed Forces. His two brothers- Mohammad Tariq and Mohammad Shabbir have both joined the Infantry battalion of the Territorial Army.

Mohammad Hanif, Aurangzeb’s father said that he will dedicate all his 6 sons to the service of the Indian Armed Forces. “My two sons have joined the battalion of the Territorial Army. When Aurangzeb was martyred, I had declared that I will dedicate all my 6 sons to the forces. My these two sons will avenge the death of their brother.”

Mohammad Hanif was a former sepoy of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. Before the Lok Sabha polls, he joined the BJP but his decision to send his sons in the armed forces is not influenced by his political preference.

One of the brothers, Mohammad Tariq said, “I am proud of joining and being associated with the Indian Army. After we finish our training, we will fight to end terrorism and avenge our brother’s death.”

Raaj Begum, mother of martyred rifleman Aurangzeb’s mother said, “We are apprehensive about our sons joining the Armed Forces but they were determined to join the Army and serve for the nation.”

Their eldest son, Mohammad Qasim has completed 12 years into his service and is currently stationed in Kashmir.

Rifleman Aurangzeb, who had planned to celebrate the festival of Eid with his family in June last year in Poonch, had been travelling in a car of a civilian to catch a bus from Pulwama bus stand. The terrorists intercepted the car a few kilometres before the bus stand, kidnapped Aurangzeb and killed him. A massive search operation was launched to locate the whereabouts of the abducted rifleman. However, his body was found 10 KMs away from the abduction site, at Kalapora, in Pulwama district, riddled with bullets in his neck and head.

After 12 hours of the news being broken and debunked, Rahul Gandhi awakens to peddle his agenda

OpIndia Staff
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After 12 hours of the news being broken and debunked, Rahul Gandhi awakens to peddle his agenda

Over twelve hours after the controversy erupted over Trump’s Kashmir statement, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has finally woken up. He has found time to react on US President Donald Trump’s gaffe on the issue of third party mediation in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a tweet, Rahul Gandhi has claimed that according to President Trump, PM Modi has asked him to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi went on to claim that PM Modi has betrayed the interest of the country and the 1972 Shimla Agreement.

Rahul Gandhi also rejected the clarification given by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in the Rajya Sabha, terming the denial “weak”.


This deliberate attack the Gandhi scion came even as Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar issued a statement in both Houses of Parliament wherein he categorically mentioned that Prime Minister Modi had not requested Trump for any mediation on Kashmir issue. He asserted that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and there would be no involvement of any third party.

“I assure the House categorically that no such request has been made by PM to the US President. I also reiterate that it has been India’s consistent position that all outstanding issues with Pakistan are discussed bilaterally. Any engagement with Pakistan would require an end to cross-border terrorism,” said Jaishankar.

“The Shimla Agreement and the Lahore declaration provide the basis to resolve all issues between India and Pakistan bilaterally,” he added.

Earlier in the day, a section of trolls from the media and politics spread falsehood regarding India’s stand despite clarification from the MEA. The Congress party has treated the issue as an opportunity to attack PM Modi. The party has now given an adjournment motion notice in the Lok Sabha over Trump’s remarks.

Even Congress’ communication in-charge Randeep Surjewala had resorted to falsehood last night after he took to Twitter to claim that India has never accepted third party mediation in Jammu and Kashmir. However, he forgot one small detail that the credit to Kashmir blunder actually goes to Rahul Gandhi’s great grandfather, former Prime Minister Nehru himself.

And while former Congress President chose to peddle agenda, support for the government came from unexpected sources. Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor chose to stick to facts by stating that he did not believe Trump’s statement and it is impossible that India’s PM ever asked anyone for mediation in the Kashmir issue.

Beware if you receive this email for job interview at IndiGo, you could be getting cheated

OpIndia Staff
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Beware if you receive this email for job interview at IndiGo, you could be getting cheated

A Twitter user named Amruta Mirwankar posted a letter that she had received from IndiGo Airlines regarding a job interview. She posted a screenshot of the SMS she received from a number BR-060000 confirming that she had been shortlisted for a job interview with IndiGo Airlines. She also posted an email she received confirming her job interview. The letter had the logo of IndiGo Airlines which she suspected to be fake.


In the job letter from IndiGo which she suspected to be fake, Amruta was asked for pay Rs. 2,500 as refundable deposit. She tagged Mumbai Police and IndiGo Airlines to her tweet for clarification wondering if the letter is a fraud.

IndiGo Airlines responded to Amruta confirming that the confirmation of job interview, that is, the letter and the SMS is indeed a fake and that IndiGo had not asked people to pay Rs. 2,500 as a deposit.

IndiGo said, “Hi! Please be informed that this is not issued by the company”.


IndiGo also posted a link to their ‘careers’ page to ensure that people get the right information pertaining to job openings.

Uttar Pradesh: After Triple Talaq, Man pressurizes wife to undergo nikah halala with his brother and uncle

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: After Triple Talaq, Man pressurizes wife to undergo nikah halala with his brother and uncle

A shocking incident of Triple Talaq and Nikah Halala has been reported from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. A woman named Rabiya has alleged that her husband, Rav Muneer, first gave her Triple Talaq and then pressurized her to undergo halala with his younger brother, Suhale Muhammad, and uncle, Rav Laik Ahmad.

Rabiya further stated that when she refused to give in to her husband’s demands, she was thrashed and thrown out of the house. Now, she has approached district authorities for justice and demanded that action be taken against her husband. She has further alleged that her in-laws too assaulted her and threatened to marry another woman with her husband.

According to Rabiya, the divorce was given over what appears to be a rather minor matter. On the 30th of January, 2017, she had accompanied her husband to a relative’s residence in Jaipur. After staying there for a week, Rabiya told her husband that she would like to return home. Muneer told her that they would return a day later. However, she insisted that they go home that very day. Muneer, angered by her words, claimed that she was not worthy of him and gave her Triple Talaq.

A fortnight earlier, Rabiya had registered a complaint against her husband, her brother-in-law, her mother-in-law and her husband’s uncle accusing them of extortion in the name of dowry.

The Supreme Court of India has already declared instant triple talaq to be illegal and unconstitutional. Following the apex court order, the previous Modi government had introduced a bill in parliament criminalising it and prescribing punishments for it. As the government didn’t have numbers in Rajya Sabha, the bill could not be passed and the government had introduced an ordinance for the same. After coming to power for the second time, the government has again introduced the bill at the parliament. If it can pass the hurdle of opposition in Rajya Sabha, it will turn into a law.

Had Donald Trump taken time to educate himself about world affairs before becoming President, he would not look foolish

Nupur J Sharma
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Had Donald Trump taken time to educate himself about world affairs before becoming President, he would not look foolish

Donald Trump has often been the butt of all jokes. He has funny hair and makes the most uninformed statements more often than his country indulges in rampant racial discrimination against the African-American population, and that says a lot. Yesterday, he firmly planted his foot in his mouth when he proclaimed, while sitting with Imran ‘Taliban’ Khan that Prime Minister Modi had met him a couple of weeks ago and requested him to mediate in the Kashmir issue.

The Ministry of External Affairs issued a clarification within the hour basically calling Trump a liar, in not so many words. The MEA denied that any such request had been extended by PM Modi to Donald Trump. The same position was reiterated in a rather vociferous manner by EAM S Jaishankar in the Rajya Sabha.


The counter was vehement and categorical. The only thing Trump did was end up making himself look exceedingly foolish and give the desperate Indian opposition some fodder to grandstand, uselessly, I might add, for a day or two.

Had President Donald Trump actually spent some time familiarising himself with world issues before ‘you know.. like.. saying stuff’, he would have ‘you know.. like.. totally not made a fool of himself’.

India’s stand has been rather categorical as far as the Kashmir issue is concerned. No world leader, except someone with his hair on fire, would even begin to misinterpret what India stands for. After the Jawaharlal Nehru gaffe when he approached the UN and ended up losing a part of Kashmir to Pakistan occupation, India has maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and that there is no space for mediation by any third party.

In fact, Prime Minister Modi has often been accused of taking a rather muscular stand when it comes to Pakistan and the Kashmir issue. He suspended dialogues with Pakistan till the state stops using terror as a policy against India and in fact, has even ensured that the Kashmir separatists and Hurriyat are not made stakeholders in the Kashmir problem.

For Donald Trump to lie about something so elementary as India’s stand on Kashmir, only goes to show how terribly ignorant the President truly is.

When one tries to reason why America might want to embarrass India, one certainly recalls how the USA was miffed with India’s decision to purchase S-400s from Russia. The USA had ‘warned’ that if India chooses to purchase S400s from Russia, one of their most sophisticated long-range surface-to-air defence system, the defence ties between India and the USA would be affected. The USA was of the opinion that India would be put in the dog-house by the USA because of the CAATSA sanctions in place.

But even if take that nuance of foreign relations into consideration, for the President of the United States to lie so blatantly that only a desperate Indian opposition ends up believing him, is only a mirror into his ignorant soul.

This is not the first time that Donald Trump has revealed how clueless he is about world affairs.

Recently, he had lauded Pakistan’s move to ‘arrest’ the ‘so-called’ mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Firstly, one would like to see the American people’s reaction if Osama Bin Laden was called the ‘so-called’ mastermind of 9/11. Besides, his own administration them came out to caution him against taking Pakistan on face value as far as the ‘arrest’ was concerned.

Then, there was a video where Donald Trump looked clueless while talking to a Yazidi Human Rights Activist and asked why she got her Nobel in the first place.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUW-1Wg2xs]

This was not all. While a Rohingya man narrated his ordeal to the President, Donald Trump asked him where Rohingya was.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JupktYBCVE]

Several times in the past, Donald Trump has only proven himself to be ignorant. In a massive diplomatic coup, Trump seems to have managed to embarrass himself further while trying really hard to arm-twist and embarrass the Prime Minister of India.

Sikhs protest against the CBI’s closure report in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, Police use tear gas, water canons to disperse crowd

OpIndia Staff
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Sikhs protest against the CBI’s closure report in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, Police use tear gas, water canons to disperse crowd

The CBI had filed a closure report in the Mohali court on July 4, giving a clean chit to the three Dera Sacha Sauda followers and the accused in the 2015 Bargari sacrilege case, Mohinder Pal Bittu (who was killed in Nabha jail recently), Shakti Singh and Sukhjinder Singh.

Sikh protesters yesterday took to the street protesting against the CBI’s closure report. The protesters, who were carrying black flags, tried to cross the barricades on the Mohali-Chandigarh boundary as they wanted to march towards the CBI office in Chandigarh and submit a memorandum.

The police used tear gas and water cannons on Monday to disperse the mob. Over 150 people protested on the Mohali-Chandigarh border, said the police. However, no protester was detained, a police official confirmed.

According to reports, the CBI had failed to establish that Dera Sacha Sauda followers were involved in the sacrilege of the Sikh holy book in 2015. The claim about the involvement of the three was made during the probe carried by the Punjab Police’s special investigation team (SIT) led by deputy inspector general (DIG) RS Khatra.

“The agency could neither establish the involvement of the accused nor could it find out who the actual culprits of the sacrilege were,” said an official.

The CBI had conducted brain-mapping and lie-detector tests of Bittu in August 2018 in the Nabha jail claiming he was being framed in the case. The CBI cited these tests while seeking closure of the probe, said reports.

However, one of the SIT members probing the case, inspector general (IG) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, assured that “the closure report will not have any adverse impact on our probe. This has only increased our responsibility,” said the IG.

Moreover, after the CBI’ closure report came in, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal had vowed to take “all legal, constitutional and political steps” to get the probe by the central investigating agency reopened and take it to its logical conclusion.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also said in a statement on July 17, a day after SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal’s announcement that they would challenge the CBI’s closure report filed in a Mohali court. He had also accused the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of “shedding crocodile tears” over the desecration of religious texts in 2015.

The 2015 Guru Granth Sahib desecration or the 2015 Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege refers to a series of desecration incidents of the Sikh Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent protests that took place in Punjab in October 2015.

The first incident of desecration was reported from Bargari, Faridkot district, where 110 torn ‘Angs’ of the holy Guru was found on October 12, 2015. It all began on the afternoon of June 5, 2015, when the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, was stolen from a gurdwara in a village called Burj Jawahar Singh Wala in Faridkot district, Punjab.

Several Sikh leaders, including Baljit Singh Daduwal, gave an ultimatum to the police to find the culprits. On June 11, members of various Sikh religious organisation held a protest in the village accusing the police of inaction. They tried to gherao (surround) the local police station, meanwhile, a large police unit was deployed to prevent it.

On October 12, more than 110 pages of the Guru Granth Sahib were found lying on the ground in front of a gurdwara in Bargari, Faridkot district. The residents of the town and nearby villages declared a bandh. The members of some Sikh religious organisation arrived in the town and in the evening a protest march carrying the torn pages was held.

Following this incident, several other incidents were reported where ‘Angs’ or ‘bir’ of the Sikh Holy book was found torn or burnt.

The incidents had caused widespread outrage in the state and had resulted in mass protests and much political mudslinging.

On October 15, 2015, the Punjab government announced the formation of a Judicial Commission headed by retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Zora Singh to investigate the first incident of desecration. Following the investigation, several arrests were made.

On October 18, Amarinder Singh demanded the resignation of the then Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and imposition of President’s rule in Punjab. Several leaders of the then ruling party in Punjab, the  Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) submitted their resignation in protest, accusing the government of failing to protect the holy books.

The Sikh diaspora around the world had also condemned the desecration and killing of the protesters. They urged the central and state governments to bring the culprits to justice.

On November 2015, the Punjab Cabinet approved an amendment to the Section 295A of the IPC, The new section 295AA carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for crimes like Bargari sacrilege case. The bill was passed on March 22, 2016.

A special investigation team (SIT) of Punjab Police, probing the sacrilege incidents at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala and Bargari villages of Faridkot, had last year rounded up four Dera Sacha Sauda followers, suspecting them to be the prime accused in the sacrilege incidents.

The previous SAD-BJP regime had handed over the three cases to the CBI. But last year, the Congress government decided to take them back from the CBI and handed them over to a special investigation team of the Punjab Police.

India and US checked their G20 records, Modi and Trump never discussed Kashmir, ET reports

OpIndia Staff
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India and US checked their G20 records, Modi and Trump never discussed Kashmir, ET reports

According to an Economic Times report, Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump never discussed the Kashmir issue at the G20 Summit in Japan last month. India and the US have no record of Kashmir being discussed by the heads of two countries when they met in Osaka last year, the report says.

ET report claims that both the countries went through their official records of the meeting and found no such records. It is believed that the US has informally confirmed with India that neither the US Department of State nor the White House have any such record of Trump’s statement on Kashmir. On India’s side, the Ministry of External Affairs has also checked the records and confirmed that the Kashmir issue was not even discussed informally.

The report further states that during the 2015 Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the then Secretary of State John Kerry had tried to broach the subject with PM Modi. However, PM Modi had drawn the line at Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Following that, the topic was never broached again.

Last night the United States President Donald Trump stirred up a controversy by saying that Prime Minister Modi has asked him to mediate between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. However, the Ministry of External Affairs promptly issued clarification that India has not sought any such help.

He had made this comment while addressing a joint press conference with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Washington DC. Within an hour, the MEA spokesperson said that no such request thas been made by PM Narendra Modi to the US President.

It has been India’s longstanding position that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and no third party intervention is welcome. Pakistan has been trying to bring the issue to the international level, have tried to bring various countries and UN as mediators, but India has been successfully resisting that attempt.

It may be noted that although president Trump claimed about Modi requesting him to mediate on Kashmir, in the official statement issued by White House on Imran Khan’s visit, it was not mentioned. The statement does not even mention Kashmir. Therefore it can be presumed PM Modi has not made any such request with the president, and he may have misunderstood something Modi said during their meeting at the G-20 summit in Japan last month.

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