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Mamata Banerjee says she will continue to oppose Jai Shri Ram to save the secular character of the country

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee says she will continue to oppose Jai Shri Ram to save the secular character of the country

Even though the elections are over and the new government is formed at the centre, the political pot is still boiling in Mamata’s Bengal. And the three words that trigger Mamata these days are ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Mamata Banerjee today took to social networking site Facebook to let the world know that she will continue to oppose ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans as they are a deliberate attempt ‘to sell hatred ideology’.

In a Facebook post, Banerjee said that the BJP is using religious slogan Jai Shri Ram as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics.
“We do not respect this forcible enforcement of political slogans on others in the name of so called RSS which Bengal never accepted. This is a deliberate attempt to sell hatred ideology through vandalism and violence which we must oppose together,” she said. She has even sent cops to arrest those chanting Jai Shri Ram alleging that they were ‘abusing her’.  Amusingly, those who were chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans were ordinary people not really associated with the BJP.

‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants seem to be the flavour of the season to build a narrative that taking Lord Ram’s name is the most communal thing one can do. In the past ten days, at least two incidents have emerged where Muslim men alleged they faced hate-crime and were asked to forcefully chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Police investigation in both these incidents revealed the men had just cooked up story.

In her Facebook post, Mamata further says that it is high time action is taken ” to restrain political workers not to indulge in activities of creating unrest, chaos, violence and disruption of normal life by taking recourse to misplaced ideologies in the so called name of religion to create divide among the people.”

She further said that she will continue to oppose the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ chants to “keep the secular character of the country.”

Her post in its entirety is reproduced below:

We wish to inform the people that some BJP supporters are trying to spread hatred ideology through one section of media – so so called BJP media and so so called fake video, fake news, misinformation and disinformation to create confusion and to suppress truth and reality.

So far as media is considered, we have no problem as it is their choice and prerogative.

From Ram Mohan Roy to Vidyasagar to other great social reformers, Bengal has been a seat of harmony, progress and forward thinking. But now, the misconceived strategy of BJP is targeting Bengal in a very negative manner.

I have no problem, regarding any particular slogan of political parties in their rallies, and for their party purpose. Every political party has their own slogan. My party has Jai Hind, Vande Mataram. The Left has Inquilab Zindabad. Others have different slogans. We respect each other.

Jai Sia Ram, Jai Ram ji ki, Ram naam Satya hai etc have religious and social connotations. We respect these sentiments.
But BJP is using religious slogan Jai Sri Ram as their party slogan in a misconceived manner by way of mixing religion with politics.
We do not respect this forcible enforcement of political slogans on others in the name of so called RSS which Bengal never accepted.
This is a deliberate attempt to sell hatred ideology through vandalism and violence which we must oppose together.
One can fool some people sometimes, but cannot fool all the people all the time.

This is high time that proper action is taken to restrain political workers not to indulge in activities of creating unrest, chaos, violence and disruption of normal life by taking recourse to misplaced ideologies in the so called name of religion to create divide among the people. If all other political parties start resorting to these sort of divisive and disruptive activities, then the entire environment would become highly vitiated and counterproductive.

We have to and would oppose such moves of BJP very strongly in order to keep secular character of the country as enshrined in our constitution.

I appeal to all the people of the country and the state to give a befitting reply to hatred politics and show respect to our country’s glorious culture and heritage.

Let us all be proud of our culture and heritage.

Jai Hind, Jai Bangla, Joyo He.

Official website of Congress party says Rajiv Gandhi was PM of India when he was assassinated

OpIndia Staff
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Official website of Congress party says Rajiv Gandhi was PM of India when he was assassinated

Rajiv Gandhi is one of the three former prime ministers of India from the Congress party that the party always tries to remember. When in power, Congress governments at the centre and in the states have named hundreds of government schemes and institutions after any one of the three PMs from the Nehru-Gandhi family, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Although there were other PMs of India from the Congress party, the party will rather like to remember only the these three.

Given this backdrop, it is expected that the party will know everything about these former prime ministers and will not make a mistake in documenting their life. But that is not the case, as the party has mentioned a serious mistake about Rajiv Gandhi, the father of current party president Rahul Gandhi, in their website.

In the biography page of Rahul Gandhi in the official Congress website, they have mentioned that Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister of India when he was assassinated in 1991. They have mentioned this incorrect information not once, but twice, in the biography of Rahul Gandhi.

Screenshot from Rahul Gandhi’s profile on Congress website

In the second para, it is written that “there were several instances of security threats to him especially after the inhumane assassination of his father Rajiv Gandhi who at the time was serving as the Prime Minister of India”. After that in the third para, it is written that, “in 1991, the country witnessed the harrowing assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, who lost his life in an election rally”.

Screenshot from Rahul Gandhi’s profile on Congress website

Congress party seems to believe or maybe, want other people to believe, that Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister of India when he was killed by a suicide bomber of LTTE. But the fact is that the PM of the country at that time was Chandra Shekhar. The Congress party had lost the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, and VP Singh had formed a coalition government. After the VP Singh govt fell in 1990, Chandra Shekhar became the prime minister with the outside support of Congress party. But the govt didn’t last long as Congress withdrew support, following which Chandra Shekhar had resigned and called for fresh elections. When Rajiv Gandhi was killed while campaigning for the elections, Chandra Shekhar was the caretaker prime minister of India, not Rajiv Gandhi.

Therefore, it is embarrassing that the Congress party will such a mistake about their own leader.

Sikh groups run campaign in Canada urging the government to declare Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots

OpIndia Staff
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Sikh groups run campaign in Canada urging the government to declare Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots

Some Sikh groups in Canada are campaigning to mount pressure on the Trudeau government to declare nationwide Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day, as per reports. The groups include the Ontario Gurdwara Committee (OGC) which was active in the lobbying campaign to get the references to the Sikh/Khalistani extremism from the 2018 ‘Public Report on the Terror Threat to Canada’ removed.

The groups are expected to utilise the activities to be held on the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of Operation Bluestar to pursue their objective. The campaign had the backing of United Front of Sikhs, whose coordinator Sukhminder Singh Hansra is a known pro-Khalistani.

Along with a rally that is to be organised in Ottawa, a memorandum will also be sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting him to declare the first Saturday of June every year as the Sikh Genocide Remembrance Day. As part of the campaign, an email campaign is also being planned to target the Members of Parliament in the House of Commons.

Federal elections are going to be held in Canada in October this year which these Sikh groups are willing to utilise to further their cause. “We are targeting key MPs ahead of the upcoming federal election to support this bill and our cause”, said Hansra.

In the year 2017, a private member bill recognising the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as genocide was passed by the Canadian legislature affecting the relations between the government of India and the government of Canada. Similar motions moved in the years 2010 and 2016 in the House of Commons and the Legislature of Ontario respectively were defeated.

Despite being aware of India’s stand against pro-Khalistan separatists, the Trudeau government in Canada has been soft on pro-Khalistan groups and leaders which has affected the relations between the two countries.

Jaipur: Fake IPS officer who attended public events and gave awards to real police officers arrested on extortion charges

OpIndia Staff
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Jaipur: Fake IPS officer who attended public events and gave awards to real police officers arrested on extortion charges

Things were going well for the 20-year-old Abhay Meena, posing as a fake IPS officer, giving motivational speeches to youngsters to take up challenges in life until Special Operations Group (SOG) of Rajasthan police burst his bubble and nabbed him for extorting money from unsuspecting people.

A police uniform and air-pistol were also recovered from him.

“The accused posed as one ACP Abhay Meena, an IPS officer from Punjab cadre. He had fraudulently put up three stars on his car. In the police hierarchy, three stars are accorded only on the official vehicles of additional DG (ADG) or DGP rank officials,” a SOG official informed.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKO1BhyyHaQ]

Abhay Meena, a native of Jagatpura, Sawai Madhopur district Jaipur, who claims to be a civil engineer from IIT Delhi in his Facebook profile, is actually a class XII dropout. Meena has in his Facebook profile has also mentioned his professional qualification as that of an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Abhay Meena gave inspirational talks about how he studied for several long hours to crack IIT and UPSC exams in the first attempt. His Facebook profile is filled with photographs of public events he was invited too. He also gave various awards at those functions, including to real police officers.

SS of Abhay Meena’s Facebook Homepage

Meena tricked people by his smooth talks and on several occasions was called as the chief guest to give pep talks and award medals and certificate to even real-time police officers. In fact, he has posted several pictures with real police officers on his Facebook timeline and there are pictures of him attending several real-time events as the guest of honour.

He continued to fool people until a person got suspicious when the accused showed his police card, where he had misspelt crime branch as “branche,” and capital as “capitol”.

In fact, Meena had even tried to push his weight around when the Jaipur police had gone to his house to nab him. The accused drove around the city in a car with a three-star police plate affixed on the bumper.

“In police hierarchy, a three-star cop is either a DG or additional DG (ADG) rank official. Therefore, such honour is reserved only for senior officials, not for a 20-year-old new entrant into the service,” said an official on condition of anonymity, adding that it’s surprising that traffic cops never checked his car.

“The accused with his live-in partner stayed at expensive hotels and dined at fine restaurants. He rarely paid and always showed off his clout,” said the official, adding that the accused extorted money from people.

Meena has been, however, arrested and handed over to Pratap Nagar police station where he confessed of his crime. “The accused said that he used to take money from people on the pretext of helping them in their legal cases. Some charge sheets have been recovered from his house,” added SHO Sanjay Sharma.

Kerala: 61 year old madarsa teacher arrested for sexually assaulting over 19 minors

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: 61 year old madarsa teacher arrested for sexually assaulting over 19 minors

A 61-year-old madarsa teacher, identified by the name of Yusuf, was arrested by the police in Kodungallur, Kerala on May 27th on allegations of sexually assaulting several minors over a period of many years. He was on the run for almost 2 weeks ever since the parents had complained to the authorities that Yusuf had sexually abused their son.

Yusuf was a native of Aluva and is was employed as a madarsa teacher in a mosque in Thalayolaparambu, Kottayam for the past 2 years. Though he was pursued after a single incident came to light, the police believe that he has abused several of his students.

“The Chief Imam of the mosque would not visit the madarsa for three days a week. This is when Yusuf would pick his victims, take them to a private room and abuse them,” said Soofi TM, Sub Inspector of Thalayolaparambu station.

Yusuf picks out victims who are less than 10 years old to ensure that the crime isn’t reported. “Since children that young are naive and are unlikely to understand what sexual abuse is, he relied on this,” he added

He earned the trust of the locals by regularly arranging prayers and speeches to avoid suspicion. He convinced mosque authorities to arrange a private room for him. Yusuf used to lure students into the room where he had abused most of the victims.

Yusuf’s acts came to light when young boy narrated the instead of his abuse to his parents. The parents complained to the mosque authorities following which Yusuf was fired and a complaint was filed with the police. The police failed to nab him as Yusuf runs away from home. He goes on to visit mosques in Palakkad and Thrissur addressing gatherings during Ramzan.

The police do not know exactly how many kids he has abused so far, they are coordinating with the mosque authorities hoping the children would speak up.

However, despite the arrest, it is being alleged that he was let off after reaching a settlement with the parents of the abused child.


The police have said that Yusuf claimed to be a victim of sexual abuse himself. “Yusuf confessed he has been raping kids since the age of 25. He himself was a victim of sexual assault when he was a child. He took revenge by raping the daughter of the man who raped him. As kids won’t complain and often have no knowledge about the legal actions, Yusuf continued with his criminal behaviour. Even in this case, the parents of the two kids and Mahallu committee took a while to register their complaint,” said the SI.

In 2018 a Madrassa teacher was held for sexually assaulting a minor. A similar incident happened in Maharashtra where Muslim politicians tried to save the Muslim cleric accused of rape. In April the police have arrested a close aide of the Kerala nun rape case accused Franco Mulakkal after unaccounted cash was recovered from his residence.

Watch: Imran Khan speaks to the Saudi King and walks away casually before the interpreter can translate it for King Salman

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Imran Khan speaks to the Saudi King and walks away casually before the interpreter can translate it for King Salman

In a major embarrassment for Pakistan, the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia met the Saudi King, King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the Islamic Summit, said something to him and very casually walked away before the interpreter could interpret it for the king and he could respond.

Khan is in Saudi Arabia for the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Makkah. Imran Khan reportedly blamed the West for ‘Islamophobia’ and declared that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. He even stressed that the international community has to respect the feelings of over a billion Muslims.

Rajasthan: Congress MLA sits on hunger strike against his own government, alleges inaction from state government

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Congress MLA sits on hunger strike against his own government, alleges inaction from state government

In what can be seen as a major embarrassment for the Rajasthan Congress government, one of its own MLA and former Director General of Police (DGP), Harish Meena, launched an indefinite hunger strike against his own government in Rajasthan.

Meena was reportedly protesting against the death of a tractor driver who was allegedly thrashed by policemen in Tonk district on Wednesday.

The Congress MLA miffed with the state government, alleged that even after his dharna the state government is not doing anything to bring the perpetrators to justice. Meena has been sitting on a hunger strike for the last three days demanding justice for a truck driver named Bhajanlal Meena, who died under suspicious circumstances in Laxmipura village in Tonk district.


While the cops have termed Bhajanlal’s death as ‘accidental’ the family members and protestors have claimed that he was brutally assaulted by the cops due to which he died.

The MLA is sitting on dharna with the protestors and the family members of the deceased in Nagarfort village along with the body of Bhajanlal.

Addressing the media, before starting his hunger strike, Harish Meena said that he had conveyed his message to the state government but nothing happened in the last three days after which he started his indefinite hunger strike.

Meanwhile, taking a jibe at the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government BJP MLA and deputy leader of opposition Rajendra Rathore claimed that the state government’s days were numbered as even its own MLAs are forced to sit on dharna against their own government.

Moreover, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Kirorilal Meena who arrived at the venue of the dharna announced that a huge protest will be launched on June 5 if the demands of the protestors are not met.

The Congress government in Rajasthan, due to its unfulfilled promises and self-absorption lost the momentum it had gained in the Assembly elections in December 2018. Coming as a big embarrassment to the party, Congress in Rajasthan drew a blank in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Railway Ministry confirms OpIndia report, hawker arrested for being a repeat offender of illegal hawking, not mocking politicians

OpIndia Staff
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Railway Ministry confirms OpIndia report, hawker arrested for being a repeat offender of illegal hawking, not mocking politicians

A video clip of a hawker selling toys on a train went viral recently where the hawker was making political commentary, which was quite hilarious. Soon after, several media houses like the Indian Express and Times Now reported that the hawker was arrested for mimicking politicians, ‘including Prime Minister Modi’. OpIndia had done a detailed fact-check yesterday where we revealed how the hawker was arrested not for mocking politicians ‘especially PM Modi’, but for illegal hawking and being a repeat offender at that.

Today the Railway Ministry has confirmed the OpIndia report. The ministry took to Twitter to publish a clarification regarding the media reports which suggested that hawker was arrested for mimicking politicians.


The clarification stated that Avdesh Dubey was prosecuted 12 times including this one. Out of this, 4 times he was prosecuted by the Surat Post itself for unauthorised hawking.

The Railways Ministry also confirmed that Dubey himself admitted to the Magistrate that he was hawking illegally since 2005.

OpIndia had reported that Dubey was handed a jail term for the least days among all the accused, further pointing out that he was not singled out for any reason whatsoever. In fact, even this jail term and a fine were due to the fact that he was booked 7 times in the past by different Posts for unauthorized hawking, thus making him a repeat offender that attracted the high quantum of punishment.

Railways officials reiterated that the action against Dubey was routine and it had got nothing to do with his utterances in the viral video.

Chief EVM conspiracy theorist of AAP now has a new conspiracy theory against Election Commission

OpIndia Staff
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Chief EVM conspiracy theorist of AAP now has a new conspiracy theory against Election Commission

After attacking the Election Commission of India over allegations of EVM tampering and deletion of names from the voter list, the Aam Aadmi Party has come up with another charge against the constitutional body. On 31st May, AAP MLA from Greater Kailash Saurabh Bharadwaj claimed that the EC is planning to dissolve to Delhi Assembly ahead of its tenure and hold the assembly elections in October this year.

The MLA tweeted that there is a strong buzz that EC will hold the Delhi assembly elections along with other states going to poll in October itself. He asked whether EC can curtail the period of an elected assembly. This tweet was retweeted by Delhi CM and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, indicating that the party endorses the allegation. Bharadwaj also claimed that “EC is making such plans in connivance with the BJP”.

Saurabh Bharadwaj’s tweet

Saurabh Bharadwaj is the same AAP MLA who had presented the proof of EVM hacking by demonstrating the same with a toy EVM in the Delhi assembly in May 2017.

BJP has strongly denied the allegations of connivance with EC levelled by AAP. Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that Bharadwaj’s statements part of AAP’s “negative politics”.  He said that “Bharadwaj and Arvind Kejriwal should shed the habit of making illogical statements to vent out their political frustration and remain in news. Due to its negative politics, AAP has totally lost its political ground. If AAP does not shed its negativity and start working for people, then in February 2020 AAP may vanish from Delhi’s political arena.”

Coming to Delhi assembly, contrary to the allegations made by Aam Aadmi Party, the Election Commission does not have the authority to curtail the term of an assembly. A state assembly can be dissolved by the Governor on the recommendation of the Chief Minister, or when the assembly fails to elect a government due to no party winning a majority. In case of union territories like Delhi, the assembly is dissolved by the president on the advice of the parliament.

But the EC can hold the elections in advance without curtailing the term of the house. For example, the term of 16th Lok Sabha was scheduled to end on 3rd June, but the elections for the 17th Lok Sabha were held in April and May. This is done to ensure that the house is elected and ready when the term of the outgoing house ends.

According to section 15 of the representation of people’s act, the Election Commission can issue notification for parliament or assembly elections within six months before the term of the current house ends. Therefore, if the poll panel wants, they can actually hold the elections in October, as the elections in Delhi are due in February 2020. But that will not curtail the term of current assembly, the new assembly will come into force on the scheduled date even if the polls are held in advance.

But the fact is EC has not made any such announcement, and there is no proof that BJP is conspiring with EC to prepone the elections in Delhi. This is just one of many conspiracy theories that AAP keep coming out with to malign the election commission. They lost the recent Lok Sabha elections in Delhi very badly, coming third behind BJP and Congress, where BJP won all 7 seats with huge margins. The chance of AAP returning to power in Delhi is slim, and in that backdrop, it is expected that the party will increase its attack on the Election Commission, the entire election process including EVM, and of course BJP.

FIR filed against Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan in land grab case and for obstructing government work

OpIndia Staff
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FIR filed against Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan in land grab case and for obstructing government work

The Rampur district administration has registered another FIR against Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Azam Khan in the land grab case and also for obstructing officials from conducting a survey at the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University.

The local administrative officials and revenue department team reached the university after they were ordered to conduct an enquiry by the state government. Authorities say that a part of a river land falls within the university.

Allegedly the staff of Mohammad Ali Jauhar University prevented a team of revenue department officials from entering the campus and had manhandled them. The team visited the campus on May 17 and were prevented from entering the area as there were a gate and an 8 feet wall built to prevent the public from accessing the land.

On the same day, the team came back later along with a police force and conducted the survey. From the survey, it was found that the university has usurped five hectares of land that belongs to the public.

The Rampur district magistrate had said the university was informed in advance about the administration’s move to conduct the survey. However, university officials claimed that they denied entry due to the ongoing examinations of the students.

An FIR was registered at the Azimnagar police station after complaints were received from the officials. The Rampur SP Shiv Hari Meena said that the newly elected Rampur MP and university officials prevented the officials from entering. He said, “Azam Khan, R A Qureishi (Registrar of the university), Aale Hasan (Security officer of the university) have been booked under IPC section 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and Section 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984”.

Azam Khan has however denied the allegations and sought to play the victim card. He claims to have been targeted for running a school for the minority community and Dalit students. He alleged that the local authorities were intentionally trying to harass the students and university officials.

Azam Khan is the Chancellor of the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. They were allegations that about Rs 3000 crores government fund was used for the construction of the university. The allegations of having grabbed public land forcibly for the construction of the university has been reported in 2017.

He is also known for his controversial statements in the past including making objectionable statements against Ambedkar and making sexist remarks against Jaya Prada.

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