Home Blog Page 6236

Kedarnath Dhyan Gufa witnesses a historic rise in the number of pilgrims after PM Modi’s visit

The cave at the Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand has witnessed an unprecedented hike in the number of devotees visiting it ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi meditated in the cave in the month of May this year after the Lok Sabha election campaign. The numbers of devotees logging into the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) website every day for online booking have increased manifold.

As per the information provided by GMVN Manager B L Rana, the meditation cave, also called ‘Dhyan Gufa‘ has been booked for the whole of July in advance and there are also advance bookings for various dates in the months of August, September, and October.

Looking at the increasing popularity of the Gufa after PM Modi’s visit, the district administration is planning three more caves in its vicinity. “We are planning to build three more such caves close to the existing one. In fact, work on one has already started and the sites for the other two on the surrounding hills have also been identified”, Rudraprayag DM, Mangesh Ghildiyal said.” The people started showing interest in the Gufa only after PM Modi meditated there though it has been in existence for around a year now, he said.

Apart from the Prime Minister’s visit, better facilities have also contributed to this historic rise in the number of devotees with 7,62,000 devotees having already visited the temple in fifty days this year. “The number of pilgrims visiting Kedarnath during the entire yatra season last year was 7,32,000. There are more than three months to go for the end of the yatra sometime in October, and we hope the number this time is all set to cross the 10 lakh mark. It will be the first time in the history of Kedarnath”, said Ghildiyal.

The photo of PM Modi meditating in the Dhyan Gufa wearing a saffron shawl had become a hit on the social media.

Shoaib Akhtar’s racist rant against Afghan cricket players: Insinuates they are ‘refugees from Peshawar’

Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar, whose entire career was focussed not on the quality of his bowling but in attempts to outrun racing vehicles, had launched a racist, hateful rant against the Afghan cricketers in a YouTube video.

A crucial match between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Afghanistan has nothing to lose but which Pakistan desperately needs to win to survive in the tournament, is underway today. Shoaib Akhtar had shared a video where he was seen deriding the Afghan players and even giving racist, hateful remarks against them.


In the video, Akhtar is seen saying that it is good that Afghani players have found ‘home grounds’ in Dehradun and Noida. He further states that India has invested a lot in training Afghani cricket players but what they could not teach them was ‘sense of maturity’.

Ironically, Akhtar, displaying an amazing lack of maturity himself, further states that if the ID cards of the team members of Afghanistan are checked, it may be found that many of them belong to Peshawar. He insinuated that Afghans are the refugees in Pakistan and they are going to be crushed tomorrow. He also stated that because the Afghan players may all be refugees from Peshawar, if a serious document check is performed, their team might get banned.

Akhtar’s racist rant against a neighbouring country was slammed by many on Twitter.


During today’s match, there was also a scuffle between the fans of Afghanistan and Pakistan at Leeds stadium. It is reported that an aeroplane with a flying slogan “Justice For Balochistan” was seen during the match. ICC has stated that

Watch: Pakistan and Afghanistan fans get into a fight after plane with ‘Justice for Balochistan’ slogan was spotted

Today while Pakistan and Afghanistan were playing the ICC World Cup 2019 at the Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds, fans of both teams broke into a fight outside the stadium. The fight broke out after fans spotted a plane carrying a slogan ‘Justice for Balochistan’ flying over them.


It was an unauthorized plane that had flown over them. Leeds air traffic would be investigating it.


Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing each other in the World Cup for the first time. The last time they met each other was in the World Cup warm-up game where Afghanistan won the match.

Captain Virat Kohli rates the new orange Indian team jersey 8 out of 10

The wait is officially over as the Indian skipper Virat Kohli unveiled the new Indian jersey for the game against England to be played on Sunday.

The orange colour has dominated the jersey which has already created controversy back home by the opposition parties. Members of the opposition accused Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s party of pushing its trademark saffron colour on the team.

Blue has been Indian cricket’s dominant colour since the advent of coloured clothing. Kohli rated the jersey 8 out of 10.

Talking to media in pre-match press conference Kohli said, “I quite like it, I think it’s right up there. For me it would be eight,” Kohli told reporters after being asked to rate the jersey from one to 10. Honestly, I’m not saying it for the sake of it. I really like it. The contrast is very nice.”

Many Indian teams from other sports have donned the orange jersey in the past. Indian team needs to change their jersey colour due to colour clash as the home team England has a blue colour jersey.

“The fit is great; it’s a nice change. For one game, it’s fine. I don’t think permanently we’d be heading in that direction because blue has always been our colour, very proud to wear that. For a change and looking at the occasion, it’s a very smart kit,” he added.

India is the only unbeaten team of the current World Cup, and the hopes of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh of reaching the semi-final would depend on how India play against England in Birmingham.

This is probably for the first time in history, all three nations supporting India and want them to beat England so that one of these three can make it to the final 4 in the competition.

Meet Mahua Moitra: The new darling of the ‘Liberal Left’ clown world

The new darling of the Left is the newly elected Trinamool MP from the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha Constituency, Mahua Moitra. She has earned great plaudits for her maiden speech in the Lower House of the Parliament where she highlighted the seven signs of ‘rising Fascism in the country’.

Like Pavlov’s dog, whose mouth watered every time it heard the bell in expectation of food, liberals, too, put her on a pedestal.


After being failed terribly by the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar, Kunal Kamra, Swara Bhaskar, Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani, the Left has finally found its new hero in the 44-year-old MP from Trinamool. But there’s something bizarre about the whole affair.

Mahua Moitra is the same politician who was accused of assaulting a woman constable at the Silchar Airport in Assam when a Trinamool delegation was stopped from leaving the airport amidst fears that they would further vitiate the already communally charged atmosphere in the state. In a video that went viral, she came across as a roadside hooligan rather an elected representative of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vplsHo8R_2k]

Mahua Moitra is also being hailed by the Left for entirely different reasons. After her maiden speech went viral on social media, an old video of hers earned her the appreciation on social media. The video showed Mahua Moitra showing Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami the Middle Finger.


It’s not surprising at all that liberals are celebrating such indecent behaviour. After all, they have completely ignored the fact that Kanhaiya Kumar, during his time at JNU, flashed his penis at a woman because she objected to his urinating in public. The Left nurtures a culture where indecency is the norm and then acts shocked when so many among them turn out to be either sexual predators or those who are involved in a conspiracy of silence over the perversion in their midst.

In what world does a politician showing a journalist the middle finger make her worthy of adoration and respect? In a clown world, of course. But it’s not surprising at all. As we had speculated in an earlier article, perversion and potentially criminal behaviour appear to be necessary requirements to become a hero in the liberal world.

Moitra’s speech, too, was riddled with the same hypocrisy and contradictions that liberal politics is riddled with. She insinuates that the BJP is responsible for a Xenophobic brand of Nationalism becoming mainstream and yet, it is her own party which is trying to recreate the toxic Dravidianist brand of politics in Bengal.

The leader of her party, Mamata Banerjee, herself accused protesting doctors of being ‘outsiders’ and branded the Doctors’ protest as a BJP conspiracy. Trinamool sympathizers like Garga Chatterjee use the vilest of rhetoric against Biharis and North Indians to sow the seeds of regionalist chauvinism in Bengal. Yet, Mahua Moitra doesn’t have any words to offer for the Xenophobia that is being spread by members of her own party against citizens of this very country.

In a very significant statement, Mahua Moitra said, “In a country where ministers cannot produce degrees to show they graduated from college, you expect dispossessed poor people to show papers to show that they belong to this country.” She appeared to be referring to the NRC exercise which is being conducted under the purview of the Supreme Court.

It is a remarkable trivialization of the entire exercise which is extremely crucial for preserving the identity of the North-Eastern states of the country. Anyone who is aware of the circumstances in Assam and its neighbouring states understands very well the devastating impact of the demographic shift in the region. The unchecked illegal immigration of Bangladeshi Muslims who refuse to assimilate with the dominant culture has made the region a communal tinderbox.

The same effects can be observed in West Bengal as well where migration of Hindus has been reported from regions which have undergone a tectonic demographic shift in a relatively quick span of time. Unstable demography is a recipe for chaos and anarchy, that an elected representative in the Lok Sabha is making such irresponsible remarks only shows her lack of commitment towards the welfare of the citizens of this country.

While Mahua Maitra insinuates that the BJP is responsible for rising fascism in the country, Karyakartas of the party is being murdered mercilessly in her own state allegedly by members of her own party. While she cries fascism, she remained silent over the fact that the state police jailed a youth for posting a meme of the Chief Minister on social media. While she cries fascism, people are being murdered in Bengal for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.

She ignores the complete lawlessness in West Bengal and maintained a stoic silence when Trinamool members were being accused of threatening the medical fraternity with physical violence and rape. And yet, she is being hailed by the Left as the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Thus, here we have an elected representative of the Lok Sabha who was accused of assaulting a women constable and showed a journalist the middle finger. She maintains a stoic silence over the terrible conduct of her own partymen and the prevailing anarchy in her own state which is ruled by her own party. And yet, Mahua Moitra has become the new hero of the Left.

Her augmented stature in the Left perfectly demonstrates why the Liberal left suffered a catastrophic defeat in the 2019 General Elections. The expectations they have from their leaders is so low that they become jubilant when the leaders give voice to their deluded fantasies. According to conventional wisdom, actions speak louder than words. But in the liberal world, the existence of which fundamentally revolves around defying convention, words are sufficient condition for glorification. Conduct does not matter, not even in recent times let alone in the past.

And that is exactly why Liberals are condemned to glorifying incompetent and hypocritical leaders who cannot even win a municipality election on their own. Because the expectations they have from their leaders are too low, the bar they have set for eligibility is extremely flawed and the only condition they have set for the glorification of politicians is opposition towards Narendra Modi.

Thus, when Mahua’s speech turns out to be worthless in the long run and if and when the BJP wins Bengal in 2021, as appears very likely at this point, liberals will blame the citizens of Bengal for not being intellectual enough instead of introspecting on the reasons why her party suffered a terrible defeat.

World Cup Preview, Australia v New Zealand: A win will steal the semi final spot for the Kiwis

A battle of supremacy between the two neighbours. Australia has already booked their seats for the semi-final, New Zealand has to, by winning one match from the remaining two in the competition.

New Zealand started their World Cup campaign with three consecutive thumping wins against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Their fourth match against India washed out, but then they again won their next contest against South Africa. All looked good till that time, and everyone assumed New Zealand would quickly get into the semis. However, their loss against Pakistan and Sri Lanka’s win against England changed all the scenarios, and now Kiwis have to win one of the two matches to qualify.

The Kiwi openers have failed terribly in the last few games, adding extra pressure on the middle order, especially on Kane Williamson as the other experienced middle-order batsman, Ross is also not playing well in the tournament. They need to pull up their socks and deliver them now when it matters the most. Their bowling and fielding are not much of concern as they have produced some excellent results in every match they played so far.

Australia has already qualified for the semis, and they can give a chance to the players who are sitting on the bench in this game. Still, they would want to win the match and keep themselves at the top position in the points table. The openers have given them the flying starts on numerous occasions, and they are their best bet in the tournament so far. With Starc and Cummins in top form, Australia must be the favorite to win the match against the Kiwis.

Players to watch out

David Warner has most runs (500) in the tournament, and he must be eyeing to break Tendulkar’s record of most runs (673) in a single World Cup competition. He has a minimum of 3 games left to reach the target, and it should be not a hard task for him to achieve it in less than two games.

Martin Guptill has an awful World Cup so far, and he is undoubtedly looking to compensate for his failures. He would love to contribute at the top in giving the team a flying start. He can take away the game quickly from the opposition with this brisk rate of scoring the runs.`

Australia v New Zealand in ODIs:

Overall: Matches 136, Australia Won 90, New Zealand Won 39, No Result 7

World Cup: Matches 10, Australia Won 7, New Zealand Won 3

Recent Form (most recent first): Australia  W W W W L, New Zealand L W W NR W

ICC Rankings: Australia (4), New Zealand (3)

Upcoming Records:

Martin Guptill has scored 947 runs in World Cup and needs 53 more to become the second New Zealand player to reach the 1,000 runs milestone.

Pat Cummins has taken 93 wickets and needs seven more to become the seventeenth Australian player to reach the 100 ODI wickets milestone.

Squads:

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.

Owaisi accuses Congress of betrayal after charge sheet against Pehlu Khan, urges Muslims not to support the party

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has expressed displeasure over the filing of charge sheet against Pehlu Khan for cattle smuggling by the Rajasthan police. Owaisi blamed the Congress for the charge sheet and accused it of betraying the Muslims.


Condemning the Gehlot government, he said that Congress Party has a double face as the party had condemned the attack on Pehlu Khan. He urged the Muslims of Rajasthan not to support the party.


Further attacking the Congress party, Owaisi said that Congress becomes an exact replica of BJP whenever it comes to power and completes BJP’s work but sheds crocodile tears when in opposition.

Rajasthan police have today filed the charge sheet against Pehlu Khan who was beaten to death in the year 2017 in Alwar after he was caught illegally transporting stolen cattle. He was booked under sections 5,7 and 9 of the Rajasthan Bovine Animals (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995 and Rules, 1995.

Fatwa issued against Nusrat Jahan for wearing Sindoor and Mangalsutra, Deoband cleric says “A Muslim can only marry a Muslim”

Today, a Deoband cleric has issued a fatwa against newly elected TMC MP Nusrat Jahan for marrying outside her religion and wearing the Hindu adornments of a married woman like Sindoor and Mangalsutra.


Cleric Mufti Asad Wasmi said, “After investigation, we got to know that she married into the Jain religion, Islam says that a Muslim can only marry a Muslim. Second, I want to say that Nusrat Jahan is an actor and these actors do not care about religion. They do what they feel like doing. This is what she showcased in Parliament”.

Wasmi also added that he doesn’t want to interfere in her life but he just informed her what Shariat says with the help of media.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Sadhvi Prachi came out in support of Nusrat Jahan. She said, “If a Muslim woman marries a Hindu and wears a Bindi, Bichhwe (toe rings), Mangalsutra, the Muslim clerics call it haraam. I feel sorry for their intellect but many Muslim men trap our Hindu daughters in the name of love jihad and ask them to wear the burqa, then that is not haram. That is justified for them.”

Deoband clerics have retorted to Sadhvi Prachi’s claims calling her a ‘Belagaam’ woman who does not know anything about Islam. They have also added that Islam is the religion of love and peace.

After the elections, Nusrat Jahan had a Jain wedding. While taking oath at the Parliament, she was seen wearing all the traditional adornments of a Hindu married woman, like the Sindoor, Mangalsutra and Bindi. She had already been facing Islamist trolls, who were angered by the fact that she married outside her community. While taking her oath, she took the name of ‘Ishwar’ and ended with phrases such as Vande Mataram, Jai Hind and Joi Bangla.

It is notable here that the Darul Uloom Deoband is known for its outlandish Fatwas. It has earlier banned music and DJs during weddings. It had also issued dictats declaring that Muslim parents should not let their children marry people working in the banking and insurance sector because such businesses are ‘haram’. Last year, they had declared the nail polish as ‘Un Islamic’.

Crisis in Congress: After 140 office bearers, AICC secretary and Rajasthan co-incharge Tarun Kumar resigns

In what appears as a deep crisis for the Congress party, the resignations from party office bearers and functionaries continue to pour in after their poll rout in the Lok Sabha elections last month. After almost 140 Congress office bearers resign en masse yesterday, today AICC Secretary and Rajasthan Co-Incharge Tarun Kumar submitted his resignation to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.


Rahul Gandhi had already expressed his anguish for the dismal performance of the party, particularly in the state of Rajasthan. Congress couldn’t manage to win even 1 seat out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state. Rahul Gandhi had expressed his displeasure with Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot for putting up a miserable show in the Lok Sabha elections.

Gehlot, on the other hand, laid the blame on Deputy CM Sachin Pilot for the electoral rout in the state and asserted that Pilot should take responsibility of the defeat as he was election in-charge of the state. The two factions in the Congress were at loggerheads with each other, each blaming the other one for the humiliating defeat.

Another Congress leader Nana Patole assumed to be close to Rahul Gandhi had resigned from his post. Patole offered his resignation owning up the responsibility of the loss.


Yesterday, a mass resignation letter was doing the rounds on the Internet in which about 140 Congress office bearers had signed the resignation letter which read- “I would like to immediately resign from my post in respect and honour of Rahul Gandhi.” Recently, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had expressed his displeasure that no other Congress leaders were ready to take the responsibility of the Lok Sabha poll debacle.

G20 Summit: Here is a list of bilateral meetings held by PM Modi

On Friday, world leaders met at the 2019 G20 summit that is being currently held at Osaka, Japan. Here is an overview of the bilateral meetings that Prime Minister Modi with several world leaders

USA

The Prime Minister met with US President Donal Trump, a day after he had demanded withdrawal of the “very high” tariffs levied by India on American goods. On the issue of trade, both sides raised their concerns and it was decided that trade ministers of both countries would meet at an early date and sort out the issues between them.

The PM mentioned that India took actions after the US revoked Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and said that now the countries must see how they can resolve the issue. Trump welcomed the idea. The level at which the meetings would be held is yet to be decided.

Besides this, they also spoke on wide-ranging issues including Iran, 5G, bilateral relations & defence relations.


Saudi Arabia

PM Modi also met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. After PM Modi raised the issue, Saudi Arabia announced an increase of India’s Haj quota from 170,000 to 200,000, making it possible for 30,000 more Indians to go to Mecca for the annual pilgrimage.

The two leaders spoke about increasing tourism and flights between the countries. The Crown Prince had also invited PM Modi as the main guest for an international conference later this year. They also discussed increased cooperation in trade & investment, energy security and counter-terrorism.


Germany

The Prime Minister met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussing ways to deepen Indo-German relations and to enhance cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, E-mobility, cybersecurity, railway modernisation and skill development.


Germany is India’s largest trade partner in the 28-member EU block. In 2016-17 the bilateral trade turnover was pegged at 18 billion USD.

South Korea

In the meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, they discussed ways to enhance trade, economic and people-to-people relations. The two also expressed their mutual desires to synergise India’s Act East Policy with South Korea’s new Southern Policy. The aim of Act East Policy is to shift the country’s trade relations from the west to the South East Asian Countries.


India and South Korea have also been focusing on the enhancement of cultural and traditional ties. The president’s wife was the chief guest in last year’s Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya.

Indonesia

The PM met with Indonesian president Joko Widodo and discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in trade and investment, defence and maritime fronts.


Brazil

In a discussion with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the two spoke on the bilateral relationship, especially cooperation in trade & investment, agriculture & bio-fuels in the context of climate change.

PM Modi had also met BRICS leaders in an informal meeting. The BRICS nations comprise of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.


Turkey

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talked about key issues such as trade and investment, defence, counter-terrorism, IT and civil aviation with PM Modi.


The Turkish President had visited India on a two-day tour in July 2018. President Erdogan has assured India Turkey’s full cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

PM Modi also hosted a special trilateral meeting with Russia and China. The leaders discussed global hot-spot issues like terrorism and climate change.