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Question raised on Entertainment Journalists Guild’s credibility as its logo found to be from a free image library

OpIndia Staff
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Question raised on Entertainment Journalists Guild’s credibility as its logo found to be from a free image library

Adding yet another controversy to Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut, an organisation named Entertainment Journalists Guild had ‘banned’ her on July 10. Interestingly, before this ban on the actress, hardly anyone had heard about this organisation, and its Twitter account was also created on 10th July itself. Since then they have posted tweets on Kangana Ranaut only.

A Google search for the words ‘Entertainment Journalists Guild’ prior to this month returns nothing, which means there is no news or any mention about this organisation prior to their announcement about the actor. The Twitter handle also mentions no website of the organisation.

Now BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga has discovered another interesting fact about this Guild, he has pointed out that the logo used by the organisation is copied from another organisation.


EJG Logo is cropped version of whysodigital.com logo

As can be seen above, the first image is the display image of the EJG’s Twitter handle, and the second image is the logo of an organisation named whysodigital. Comparing both the images, it becomes clear that EJG has used the bottom part of the whysodigital’s logo, which has been combined with the letters EJG to create the logo of the Guild.

On our further research, we found that the whysodigital’s logo is actually a freely available image on nicepng, a free PNG image library. Although it absolves WJG of plagiarism charges, the fact remains that they used an image available on the internet to create their logo, which is never done by any serious professional organisation.

The address given on the statements issued by the organisation, B-901 Sweena Building in Kondivita, Andheri, also seems to be a residential appartment building. Property dealing sites list a property with this name in the same locality as a residential single tower building.

Earlier Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri had also expressed doubt about the authenticity of this “fake Guild of Entertainment Journalists”, pointing out that its Twitter handle was created just one after a journalist’s spat with Ranaut.


The fact that the so-called Entertainment Journalists Guild’s logo is copied from a free image library raises questions about its authenticity. Moreover, till now no prominent entertainment journalist has been seen associated with it. Coupled with the facts that it was not heard about before, it does not have any digital footprint in this era, and its Twitter account was created just a day ago, it can be assumed this organisation has been hastily formed only after the Kangana Ranaut issue.

BJP MLA from Bareilly Rajesh Mishra’s daughter alleges threat to life for marrying a Dalit, MLA denies the allegations

OpIndia Staff
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BJP MLA from Bareilly Rajesh Mishra’s daughter alleges threat to life for marrying a Dalit, MLA denies the allegations

Things have taken an interesting turn in the case of BJP MLA from Bareilly Rajesh Mishra’s daughter Sakshi, whose videos demanding security for herself and her husband had gone viral on social media. According to reports, the girl had married her Dalit boyfriend at the Ram Janaki Temple in Prayagraj. However, the priest of the temple Mahant Parashuram Das has denied the reports of marriage taking place at the temple.

He asserted no marriage ceremonies are performed at the temple. He also dismissed the marriage certificate of the couple that is being widely circulated on social media as ‘fake.’ He claimed he is unaware of the priest called Jyotishacharya Vishwapati Shukla whose name appears on the certificate.

Sakshi has reportedly filed a petition at the Allahabad High Court demanding security for herself and her husband. The hearing of the petition was reported to be held today.

Two videos of Sakshi have been doing the rounds on social media, in which she is seen alleging that she and her husband are facing threat to their lives from her father and his men. Sakshi married a Dalit man named Ajitesh Kumar alias Abhi. She claimed her father and his goons are trying to kill the couple because she married a Dalit.


In another video, the girl was seen urging her father to stop his men from chasing them. She said that she has married and wants to lead her life peacefully now. “I am not wearing this sindoor out of fashion, I have actually married. Tell your dogs like Rajiv Rana that you have unleashed after me, to stop chasing us because if I lose my patience, his whole family will be behind the bars,” Sakshi said.


She asked her father to stop harassing her husband’s relatives and that she and her husband are responsible for the decision. She pointed out that her husband’s relatives have nothing to do with it. She assured her father that she will lead a happy life with her husband. “Please Papa change your thinking. Abhi and his family are humans only. They are not animals. They are nice people. I will lead a happy life with them. You continue with your politics. Be happy and let me live happily,” she added.

Naming her father Rajesh Mishra, Vicky Bhartaul and Rajiv Rana, Sakshi asserted these people would be responsible if something untoward happens to her, her husband and her husband’s family.

However, the girl’s father Rajesh Mishra has denied the allegations of his daughter. He said his daughter is an adult and has the right to make a decision. The MLA said that his daughter was not threatened by any member of the family or any person associated with him.

Christian priest with self-proclaimed supernatural powers to heal others admitted to hospital for viral fever

OpIndia Staff
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Christian priest with self-proclaimed supernatural powers to heal others admitted to hospital for viral fever

A controversial Christian priest with self-proclaimed supernatural powers to heal other people was admitted to a hospital in Kerala’s Alappuzha on Monday for viral fever, reports Swarajya.

According to reports, one Christian priest named Father V P Joseph Valiyaveettil had to be admitted in a hospital after he complained of viral fever. Father Valiyaveettil runs a faith healing centre in Alappuzha named Kreupasanam Marian Retreat Centre. The healing centre is patronised by devotees from different part of the state who come to seek treatment for a number of diseases there.

According to the director of the centre Thankachan Panackal, Father Valiyaveettil possesses supernatural powers. Adding further the director said father was offering his service to the devotees without rest leading him to fall sick and his subsequent hospitalisation. The director claimed father was prescribed an antibiotic course as part of the treatment.

“He was providing his service without taking rest. Though we have asked him to take rest, he was not ready for that. By the grace of God and supernatural power with him, he can give relief to devotees,” was Panackal quoted as saying.

Recently, Father Valiyaveetil courted controversy after his government-funded Christian centre was caught spreading superstition in Alappuzha district. The Kreupasanam Marian Retreat Centre and Socio-Cultural Centre run by Father Joseph circulated a religious propaganda newspaper in a government school in Pattanakkad village in Alappuzha.

The students of SCU government vocational higher secondary school were told to keep the Kreupasanam newspaper safely with them in order to get higher marks in the exams. The students were asked to keep the paper within their books and under their pillow before going to sleep, so as to fair well in the exams.

In another shocking case of such an experiment with the so-called ‘miraculous’ Kreupasanam paper, a 27-year-old girl had to be admitted in hospital after she fell extremely sick with complaints of itching and vomiting. When the doctors determined that it was a case of food poisoning, the mother of the girl revealed that she had torn the ‘holy paper’ into pieces, mixed it with dosa batter and served those dosas to her daughter so that her daughter could get married as soon as possible. When the daughter had complained of change in taste in her food, the mother had lied that it was due to change from coconut oil to sunflower oil.

Goa is almost Congress Mukt, but there is a problem

Giriraj Pai Vernekar
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Goa is almost Congress Mukt, but there is a problem

A midnight surgical strike by the Goa BJP (with blessings of the central leadership), has resulted in a massive change in Goan politics. 10 out of the remaining 15 Congress MLAs formed a splinter group, split from the Congress and have merged with BJP. This leaves Congress with a paltry 5 MLAs in a house of 40, whereas BJP’s strength goes up to 27. The allies of BJP, if added to this tally would make NDA in Goa having a strength of 33 in a house of 40 in Goa (assuming the allies continue to stay on board, as claimed by them till now)

This is a far cry from what the last assembly election results threw up. BJP had crashed from 21 to 13 MLAs. Congress had 17 MLAs. Eventually, BJP cobbled up a majority with un-like-minded allies, while the Congress twiddled thumbs over who would be the CM.

On the face of it, 27/40 for BJP and 33/40 for NDA sounds brilliant. BJP has a brute absolute strength in the state of Goa now, which was considered dicey especially after the demise of Goa’s tallest leader Shri Manohar Parrikar. BJP now has, in fact, bettered his Parrika’s own best figure of 21. But are figures all that matter?

There has been a marked shift in BJP’s strategy, even more, apparent after Parrikar’s demise.

Firstly, BJP had begun limited induction of Congress MLAs even before the 2017 Assembly elections, when Parrikar was still the de facto head of BJP Goa. This had ruffled some feathers at that time, but the core of BJP was still consisting of homegrown “Sangh” oriented leaders.

With the latest wholesale deal of 10 MLAs though, there is a completely different colour to the Goan BJP. Out of 27 MLAs, almost 20 of them are of Congress gotra (i.e. having some ties with Congress and some point of time). The current CM Pramod Sawant could be the only one considered to be an RSS linked MLA remaining in Goa. This fact begs the question: Goa is Congress mukt, but BJP has become the new Congress?

The 10 MLAs have also shifted the religious balance of the Goa BJP. Now there are almost 15 Christian MLAs in the BJP.  In Goa, the Church still calls the shots (covertly and sometimes overtly) as far as elections are concerned. Parrikar’s magic 21 figure was partly because the Church decided to back him as against the corrupt Congress. The fall to 13 was also partly ascribed to the Church’s influence. In fact, videos show that the Church campaigned for 1 of the 10 MLAs who have been inducted into the BJP now. How will this group of 15 behave?

Perhaps the worst part of this jamboree is the fact that some of the MLAs imported into BJP have extremely tainted pasts. Take for example Taleigao strongman Atanasio Babush Monseratte. He has changed more parties than a person changes clothes in a day. He has allegedly been involved in cases of sex rackets, smuggling, attacking a police station, and most recently raping a minor. He was in the BJP a long time back and was the cause of that BJP Government. Most recently, he fought on the seat vacated by Parrikar, where the present CM openly rebuked him for his lack of “character”. BJP Mahila morcha of Goa had said they would not be safe if he was elected to Parrikar’s seat. Now he is tipped to be a minister.

Next in line is the Congress loyalist Chandarakant Babu Kavlekar. He has been a long-time Congressman and was in the eye of a Matka betting racket until recently. He was the leader of the opposition in Goa and has now joined the BJP. He too is tipped to be a minister.

How do such inductions fit in with BJP’s slogans of the nation first? How is BJP then a party with a difference? How can BJP now provide shelter to the men it despised in the past? How can BJP’s core now be around Congressmen in BJP’s clothing? How can party workers who till yesterday worked tooth and nail against these elements, now follow their diktat? How can BJP candidates groomed as opponents to these MLAs, now fade into the background?

The next major departure from the Parrikar style of politics was illustrated by his son Utpal Parrikar. He spoke about “trust”. This can be illustrated by the scenario post the 2012 Goa elections. BJP and local party MGP entered the elections with a prepoll alliance. BJP unexpectedly won a simple majority by itself. Yet it chose to hang on with their alliance partner, as per the discussions held pre-election. Parrikar publicly stated that his principles did not allow him to abandon an ally.

The current importing of 10 MLAs into BJP though is seen as an attempt to do exactly that: abandon an ally. The BJP was 17 and had the support of 3 from the GFP, and 3 Independents. Now with 10 from the Congress, it doesn’t need anyone else, and as news is flowing, it’s likely that the ministerial posts given to allies will be now shared among the new BJP MLAs.

While this may appear as a backstabbing, there is also a back-story to this. It is rumoured that the straw which broke the camel’s back, as far as the BJP-GFP odd marriage goes, was the fact that GFP supremo Vijai Sardesai, went back on his word to drop one of his ministers, to allow his friend and BJP MLA Michael Lobo, to get a ministerial berth. This is rumoured to have angered Lobo, who is seen as the main shepherd leading these 10 Congress MLAs into BJP, trying to teach Vijai a lesson.

Be that as is it may, the situation looks bleak for all concerned in Goa:

  1. BJP’s core is now the Congress. One wonders how far BJP’s ideology will be carried forward by this current set of MLAs. The worst outcome of this could be the possible ganging up of the Congress Gotra MLAs and demanding a leadership change, with a CM from within them. They have the numbers to form a pressure group amongst themselves, and some of them are extremely ambitious, wily and cunning operators.
  2. The Congress has been dealt a life-threatening blow. Down to 5, it has virtually nothing it can do in Goa. Some of the 5 remaining MLAs were also rumoured to be on their way to BJP, and they may be left wondering now why they were left behind by BJP.
  3. The allies of BJP are as of now being diplomatic. While clearly, the move is to cut them to size, they cannot openly revolt or back-out due to the strength of BJP in the centre and in Goa. Any animosity would likely lead to a complete stop of all projects and works undertaken in the constituencies.
  4. Finally, the votes of Goa are in for real confusion. Those who voted for BJP the party got Congress in BJP’s clothing. Those who voted for the 10 Congress MLAs (more if you consider earlier defections), have now got a BJP MLA instead. The BJP voters have to decide if this is the BJP they wanted, and the Congress voters have to decide, is Congress the right opponent to defeat the BJP. There is no other party in Goa which can claim to have a pan Goa presence, which can enable them to come even close to forming a Government

Goa is almost fully Congress mukt, but at what cost?

India Today preaches hate yet again, claims ‘Unity March’ in Delhi’s Hauz Qazi was ‘marred’ by Jai Shri Ram slogans

OpIndia Staff
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India Today preaches hate yet again, claims ‘Unity March’ in Delhi’s Hauz Qazi was ‘marred’ by Jai Shri Ram slogans

On the night of 30th June, a Durga Mandir in the Lal Kuan area of Hauz Qazi, Old Delhi, was desecrated by a Muslim mob after a fight erupted over a parking lot. Following the incident, communal tensions prevailed in the area. On Tuesday, new Idols were consecrated at the Temple.

On the day of the consecration of the Idols, a rally was taken out by Hindu groups in solidarity with the Hindu residents of the area. India Today reported on the matter and claimed that the ‘Unity March’ was “marred by Jai Shri Ram slogans”.


The motivated hatred against Rama that is prevalent in the manner in which India Today has reported on the incident has become extremely normalized in recent times. The mainstream media has furthered the narrative that chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is provocative enough to justify violence.

During the incident of Islamic bigotry at Hauz Qazi, the mainstream media was working overtime to give the intolerance of the Muslim community a free pass. Nearly all media outlets published an image of Muslims serving food to Hindus at the event as a symbol of communal harmony. However, the Hindu activists paint a different picture altogether and asserted that the Muslims were there only for photo-ops.

The mainstream media also made a concerted attempt at suppressing the news of a Hindu boy who went missing during the violence. They even blamed the media outlets who actually covered the news. IndiaSpend’s factchecker.in, a fake news portal that has been endorsed by the mainstream media on numerous occasions, even painted Muslims as victims of hate crime in the Hauz Qazi incident although no hate crime was committed against Muslims at all.

The conduct of the mainstream media during the hate crime against Hindus at Hauz Qazi is a severe indictment of their conduct. While they claim a ‘Unity March’ was marred by Jai Shri Ram slogans, they have no words of condemnation to offer for the intolerance of the Muslim community. It is another demonstration of the fact that the mainstream media, more often than not, acts as the propaganda wing of the toxic elements of the Muslim community.

Delhi MP sends list of illegally built Mosques, Muslim shrines, Madrasas and cemeteries on govt property to Lieutenant Governor

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi MP sends list of illegally built Mosques, Muslim shrines, Madrasas and cemeteries on govt property to Lieutenant Governor

The member of parliament from Delhi Pravesh Verma today met the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal in regard to the illegal encroachment of government land for construction of mosques, cemetery, madrasas and Muslim shrines. He has submitted a list of 54 such government land on which illegal mosque and graveyard were erected.

In the letter written to the Lt Governor, the MP from the West Delhi Lok Sabha seat alleged that there exist 54 mosques, Muslim shrines, madrasas and cemeteries built on land that actually belonged to Delhi government. The Lieutenant Governor has assured him that all these places will be investigated and if his allegations are proven true then the government authorities will take control of such properties.

Letter written to LG by BJP MP Pravesh Verma (Source: India TV)

According to Verma’s letter, the construction was done on grounds of Gram Sabha, flood department, food department, DDA and MCD where parks, public toilets and community centres were envisioned to be constructed. Pravesh Verma has urged the Governor to constitute a committee of the heads of the concerned District Magistrates and concerned departments and order an investigation wherever the illegal occupations are held.

List of encroached land submitted by MP Verma (Source: India TV)

MP Verma said, “When the elections start approaching, construction of religious structures like mosques, Muslim shrines and graveyards starts commencing. I only have an objection to the construction of these structures on government land illegally. There are 54 such places where mosques and graveyards are built. The list of the unlawfully encroached land that has been sent to Lt Governor includes lands belonging to the 4 Lok Sabha constituencies of Delhi. Such illegal occupation has happened in other constituencies of Delhi as well.”

Another minor Hindu girl abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan’s Hyderabad, accused identified as Syed Irshad Shah

OpIndia Staff
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Another minor Hindu girl abducted and forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan’s Hyderabad, accused identified as Syed Irshad Shah

The fury over recent incidents of kidnapping, forcible conversion and marriages of Hindu girls in Pakistan had not yet settled when another such case has been reported from Pakistan’s Hyderabad district.

A 13-year-old Pooja Sotahar Kumari, daughter of Fatan Rathore, resident of village Bakhsho Laghari in Hyderabad district’s Hosri Taluka, was kidnapped, forcefully converted and subsequently married to a man identified as Syed Irshad Shah.


The police have registered an FIR under section 365-B (kidnapping, abducting or inducing a woman to compel for marriage) of the Pakistan Penal Code after the victim’s father lodged a complaint at Hoosri police station in Hyderabad district of Pakistan. They were accompanied to the police station by the human rights activist and advocate Akhtar Laghari.

Police confirmed that a first information report (FIR) over the alleged kidnapping of the Hindu girl from Paban’s Bakhsho Leghari village has been registered and two suspects, which included Irshad’s brother, have been apprehended. The primary accused, however, is still absconding, confirmed the police at the Paban police station.

They also said that the investigation is on and they are yet to recover the missing victim.

There have been many such cases reported in the recent past. On March 20, two underage Hindu girls Raveena (13) and Reena (15) were abducted from their home in Pakistan’s Sindh on the eve of Holi. The girls were later forcefully converted and married off to older Muslim men. The case had generated widespread outrage among the minority Hindus of Pakistan who have been struggling for their rights under apathetic governments in Pakistan.

Within days of this deplorable incident, another Hindu minor girl belonging to the Meghwar community was also allegedly kidnapped from Tando Bagho in Badin district in Pakistan’s Sindh province.

Recently, a report released by the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) threw light on the plight of religious minorities in Pakistan. The report claims that around 1000 girls from religious minorities are forcibly converted to Islam every year. The numbers might be higher as many cases are not even reported.

The report provides a pattern of how such cases are dealt with authorities, how it acts as a deterrence for the minority communities in filing cases. The local police are often biased in favour of the majority community. As soon as the incidents of abduction and rape become public, the abductors tend to marry off the victim in an attempt to clear the suspicion of sexual assault.

This is often followed by abductors filing counter-complaints against the victim’s family of harassing the girl and conspiring to convert her back. If a case somehow reaches the court, the victim is required to testify whether she converted and married out of her own free will. Since in most cases, the victim remains in the custody of the abductor during the course of proceedings, she is forced to testify that she converted out of her own free will and the case is closed.

Batla House: The encounter where killing of two Indian Mujahideen terrorists made Sonia Gandhi ‘cry bitterly’

Nirwa Mehta
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Batla House: The encounter where killing of two Indian Mujahideen terrorists made Sonia Gandhi ‘cry bitterly’

John Abraham starrer Batla House film is set to be released on 15th August. The film’s trailer was released yesterday.

The trailer starts with a scene where Delhi Police officials are readying for a raid in a small house. An encounter ensues between the police officers and men in the room who are eventually killed. This leads to a huge uproar that the encounter was a fake one.

Batla House encounter

The film is based on true events which transpired in the heart of national capital on 19th September 2008. The men killed in the encounter were Indian Mujahideen terrorists, Atif Ameen and Mohammad Sajid. Mohammad Saif was arrested and Shahzad and Junaid managed to escape.

The beginning

On 13th September 2008, the national capital was rocked by five serial blasts. At 6:07 PM, one blast took place at the busy Ghaffar Market. When the injured were taken to nearby RML Hospital, an explosive kept in a car nearby exploded. Soon after, two blasts took place in the busy Connaught Place. Eyewitnesses claim they saw two men put explosives inside a dustbin. Minutes later two more blasts took place at M-block market in Greater Kailash 1.


Prior to Delhi blasts, Jaipur (13 May), Bengaluru (25 July) and Ahmedabad (26 July) had witnessed serial blasts killing dozens. Indian Mujahideen had claimed responsibility of the bomb blasts. Atif Ameen, who was killed in the Batla House encounter, was the chief bomber of Indian Mujahideen.

The encounter

A week after the serial blasts, a team of seven Delhi Police officials, led by encounter specialist Mohan Chand Sharma reached L-18, Batla House. The Police team was working on a specific input that a man wanted in serial blasts was hiding in Batla House in Jamia Nagar.

Police attempted to storm the second floor flat of the building. It was followed by heavy firing from both sides. In the exchange, Atif Ameen and Mohammad Sajid were killed. Mohammad Saif was arrested while Shahzad and Junaid managed to escape. Police Inspector Sharma was also injured and later succumbed to his injuries and head constable Balwinder was injured. One of the terrorists who escaped is believed to have become an ISIS recruiter.

The aftermath

Following the killings of the terrorists, the human rights activists were up in the arms against Delhi Police. Jamia Teachers’ Soliditary Association (JTSA) organised ‘Jan Sunwais’ or Kangaroo courts where testimonies were taken to portray the encounter as ‘fake’. Prashant Bhushan, Arundhati Roy and Kavita Krishnan were amongst the ones who attended these. Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University teachers also joined in.

“Sonia Gandhi ro padi”

Meanwhile, Salman Khurshid, a senior Congress leader, in one of his rallies during 2012 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, had said that Sonia Gandhi, the then Congress President cried bitterly after seeing the images of the slain terrorists.

Khurshid had said, “When we showed Sonia Gandhi the images of the ‘incident’, she started crying bitterly and with folded hands, she said please do not show me these pictures. Immediately go and speak to the Wazir-e-Azam (Dr Manmohan Singh) and discuss the mater. I talked to the PM and it was decided that the matter will be further investigated.”

However, the party, later on, got into firefighting mode and Congress’ Digvijaya Singh denied any such meeting. Congress leader Pervez Hashmi, who was part of the delegation that met Sonia Gandhi also denied having seen her cry. “She was worried,” he had then clarified. Eventually, 7 years later, even Khurshid said that she never cried.

The incident of killing of terrorists which may or may not have made the president of the party which was heading the coalition government at Centre at that time cry is now going to be on the celluloid.

For long, uncomfortable incidents have been shoved under the rug, mainly, because the political dispensation rather keeps the memories of the horrors that befell the nation silent. One recalls the uproar when Madhur Bhandarkar made ‘Indu Sarkar’ which was based on the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, or when recently, Vivek Agnihotri made a movie based on Lal Bahadur Shashtri. Perhaps one can be hopeful, that the collective Omerta that has bound Bollywood to the Congress party is finally, at the end of its natural life cycle.

Former TDP MLA Prabhakar Reddy says that Telugu Desam Party will merge into BJP

OpIndia Staff
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Former TDP MLA Prabhakar Reddy says that Telugu Desam Party will merge into BJP

Former MLA of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) JC Prabhakar Reddy said today that the party led by Chandrababu Naidu will merge into the BJP. He says that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics.


Prabhakar Reddy is the brother of former Telugu Desam Party MP JC Diwakar Reddy. According to him, PM Modi would greatly benefit from Chandrababu Naidu’s ideas and experiences.

He also said, “PM Modi believes in Chandrababu Naidu and now, BJP is also realising the need of the TDP because BJP leader Kishan Reddy indicated it during his recent visit to Andhra Pradesh”.

Just yesterday senior leader Chandu Sambasiva Rao had decided to quit from the TDP. He would be joining the BJP on July 14. Last month 4 out of the 6 Telugu Desam Party MPs have resigned from the party. S Chowdary, CM Ramesh, TG Venkatesh, the TDP MPs from Andhra Pradesh and lone party MP from Telangana Garikapati Mohan Rao had passed a resolution following their decision to quit the party and join BJP.

Recently, the Congress-JDS coalition government has faced trouble in the state of Karnataka. 15 MLAs had resigned from the party. In today’s SC hearing, the court has permitted the rebel MLAs to to meet the Assembly Speaker and submit their resignations. While in Goa, 10 out of 15 Congress MLAs have quit the party and merged with BJP.

Filing PILs for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code is a bad idea, here’s why

K Bhattacharjee
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Filing PILs for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code is a bad idea, here’s why

Senior Advocate and spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Ashwini Upadhyay, has been waging a battle in the Courts for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code. He had filed a PIL seeking a direction to the Central Government to draft a UCC in the spirit of the Constitution.

On the face of it, Upadhyay’s intentions appear noble. However, as the wise men say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Therefore, we ought to consider the PIL on the basis of its own merit and not the virtue of its intentions. For when consequences are terrible, good intentions are little consolation.

Implementation of the UCC should be the sole prerogative of the elected Central Government, not the Judiciary. It ought to be left to people who have been elected by the citizens of this country. An unelected body, which has developed tyrannical tendencies in recent times, should have nothing to do with it. If the Judiciary starts interfering with consequential matters such as the UCC, then what is the point of voting in elections?

Upadhyay’s PIL does not wish for the Judiciary to interfere with its drafting. He merely wants a direction to be issued to the Law Commission in that particular regard. However, whether such a code should be drafted at all should be entirely the prerogative of the elected government. If they do not, then it should be the responsibility of the voters to hold them accountable, not the Judiciary. If the elected government believes that the UCC is not a necessity, then it is up to the voters to either reward or punish them, not the Supreme Judiciary.

The person who filed the current PIL is a member of the party with 303 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Instead of involving the Judiciary, a better strategy would be getting the top leadership of the BJP on board with his plans. His party has the strength to bulldoze through the idea if it’s serious about it. A PIL appears to be a misguided strategy.

The larger issue is the constant ground that the elected government, over the course of the past three decades, has been ceding to the Judiciary. For much of the time period, India was ruled by coalition governments which often had parties with antagonistic ideologies in power. As a consequence, governments often found it hard to take hard decisions on consequential matters. While the government abdicated its responsibilities, the Judiciary saw it as an opportunity to extend its own power. And as a result, the ‘tyranny of the unelected‘ became rampant in the country.

When the BJP was elected to power in 2014 with a resounding majority, it had the opportunity to thwart the devious schemes of the Judiciary. Initially, it even made efforts to disband the Collegium system through the NJAC. However, after the Judiciary unconstitutionally deemed it illegal despite the fact that it was passed by all necessary legislative bodies, the NDA government abandoned its efforts.

In 2019, the country has again reposed its faith on Narendra Modi and elected him to power with an even greater majority. Therefore, it’s of paramount importance that it bells the cat and puts the Judiciary in its place. The government should tell the Judiciary clearly that it has no business issuing it any orders in matters such as the UCC. One would have expected members of the party to realize the manner in which the Judiciary has been usurping the power of the elected. That a spokesperson of the party himself approached the Courts in the matter is concerning indeed.

Not only the UCC, the government should stamp its feet on Rohingyas, the Ram Mandir issue and Sabarimala as well. The government cannot afford to abdicate its responsibility any longer. When unelected tyrants who are not accountable to Indian citizens in any manner usurp the powers of the elected, the country suffers.

The government fiddled when the Judiciary sanctioned the desecration of the Sabarimala Temple. The government has been maintaining a stoic silence while the Supreme Court does everything it can to avoid issuing a verdict on the Ram Janambhoomi case. An argument can also be made that the Judiciary was interfering in the elections, either willingly or unwittingly, by prolonging its hearings on the Rafale Deal. Somehow, the matter has gone unusually quiet after the results were declared.

The Judiciary of the country has acquired tyrannical tendencies and is actively subverting the will of the people. Its judgments are often contradictory and fails to inspire the trust of citizens. In certain cases, it waxes eloquence on the freedom of expression of individuals while on others, it asks individuals to apologize for a meme. The Supreme Court allowed the desecration of the Sabarimala, however, it refused to even entertain a PIL that seeks to permit the entry of Muslim women in Mosques. While it takes up PILs filed by Rohingyas, it prevaricates when it comes to the Ram Janambhoomi case.

As such, the primary responsibility of the government is to put a leash on it. The members of the ruling party should not be inviting the Judiciary to further infringe upon the domain of the elected.

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