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Teachers in St. Stephen’s college oppose Church’s intrusion into admission process, get warned

OpIndia Staff
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Teachers in St. Stephen’s college oppose Church’s intrusion into admission process, get warned

A fresh controversy has erupted as the teachers of the St. Stephens college have alleged that the increasing interference of the Church authorities in the college’s affairs may compromise the academic integrity of the admissions process.

The college had announced on Monday that its panel to interview students for undergraduate admissions this year will, for the first time, also include one member of the college’s Supreme Council, which comprises members of the Church of North India (CNI) and others nominated by it.


Three teachers on the governing body of the college- Nandita Narain of the department of mathematics, NP Ashley (English) and Abhishek Singh (economics) have issued a statement condemning the shockingly illegal and unacademic decision taken by the principal John Varghese. As per teachers the decision to include one of the members of the Supreme Council was unilaterally taken by the principal without consulting with the teachers.

The teachers have argued that such a move is against the constitution of St. Stephens and in contravention to the Supreme Court verdict of 1992 in which it stated that the interview in the admission process can only be taken by academic individuals and not by non-academic individuals.

Brazening out the decision taken by the principal, Bishop Warris K Masih of CNI, who is also a member of the Council and the Governing Body(GB), said, “It doesn’t matter if it’s happening for the first time. The college belongs to us and the teacher representatives have no right to object.”

In the meeting that happened on March 14 this year, the Governing Body had taken a decision that CNI applicants go up from 22.5% to 25% of the total 50% seats reserved for Christians and that each department will have an entrance test for admissions. However, the dissenting teachers have denied having any discussions on these matters in the Governing Body meet.

Denying the allegations made by teachers, the principal has now issued a warning letter stating that what has been portrayed as a unilateral decision by the principal was taken by the Supreme Council which is the sole power to decide on the admission policy of St. Stephans, which is a Christian minority college. The letter further states that the said guidelines were duly reported in the Governing Body meeting in the presence of the teacher’s representatives.

In the letter issued to the teachers, the principal rubbished the allegations made by teachers saying they were “concoctions, factually and legally incorrect”. “It is against the code of professional ethics and ethos of this institute. You may take this letter as formal warning written to you and you are advised not to repeat such irresponsible and unbecoming behaviour failing which the college will be forced to take appropriate action against you,” the letter said.

The teachers have said that they will not back down from their demand. Claiming that the future and the integrity of the college is at stake, they said they will not relent. The teachers have maintained that the issue was not brought in the Governing Body meeting and hence it is a unilateral decision and not a consensus-based one.

However, this is not the first time that the college administration is foisting increasing interference from Church in the daily affairs of the college. In the past, the erstwhile principal Valson Thampu had moved an amendment proposal in 2015 in an attempt to seek augmented powers for the Supreme Council in the college’s admissions process and faculty appointment. The proposal, however, could not be implemented following a petition by 21 teachers in the Delhi HC.

After the storm: The devastation by Cyclone Fani also raises some questions Naveen Patnaik must answer

Sambit Nayak
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After the storm: The devastation by Cyclone Fani also raises some questions Naveen Patnaik must answer

On 3rd May, cyclone Fani ripped through coastal Odisha leaving a trail of destruction, devastation and horror. With 39 deaths being reported from Puri alone, the official death toll has now climbed to 64. The number could have been way higher, thanks to the massive evacuation drive by state government moving 1.2 million people to safe shelter homes in record time, possibly one of the biggest evacuation to have taken place in the country.

Post-cyclone, both state and central governments have joined hands to expedite the relief and rehabilitation process. The central government had granted Rs 381 crores before the cyclone as a preemptive measure. An additional grant of Rs 1000 crore was announced after PM Modi’s visit on 6th May. Modi has lauded CM Naveen Patnaik for the effort being put forward by his government to restore order. Naveen Patnaik has sent a letter requesting long term grants of Rs 17,000 crores. This includes Rs 10,000 crore for disaster resilient power infra and Rs 7,000 crore for converting 5 lakh kutcha houses to pakka in all villages along the coastline as well as building a disaster resilient communication network.

In view of the above request, there are a few questions that the BJD led state government must answer.

Disaster Resilient Power Infra – In 2015, state government undertook a Rs 1,500 crore ambitious project of laying 200 KMs of underground High Tension (HT) cables in Bhubaneshwar. In the first phase, Rs 350 crore was allocated to finish laying of cables in all the arterial roads of the city. Flouting all safety rules laid out by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the executing agency L&T dug up the entire city with no or non-existent barricades. There were few incidents of vehicle and people falling in the trenches sustaining minor injuries. As the Hockey world cup approached, the work was expedited and phase 1 was finished.

As cyclone Fani ravaged through Puri and Bhubaneswar, 5,030 km of 33 KV lines, 38,613 km of 11 KV lines were snapped, a significant portion in Bhubaneswar. All HT feeder stations were crippled. Hence the question arises, what happened to the 1st phase of underground cables? The answer is mind-boggling. Though the infra is in place, CESU and OPTCL officials lack the technical know-how and expertise. Hence the system is not being used. Consider this, the project was devised in 2015. The first phase was supposed to be completed in 2 years. Got delayed by 1 year. Today in 2019, CESU and OPTCL officials don’t know how to operate underground electrical distribution systems, hence the system is just lying there unused.

It’s now anybody’s guess, how Naveen government will use the Rs 10,000 crore it has asked the centre for building a disaster resilient power network.

Pucca houses for all – One of the flagship scheme of this government was to convert all Kutcha houses to Pucca by 2018. This was not only in the manifesto in 2014, the state government actually claimed that they have fulfilled the poll promise by constructing 17 lakh Pucca houses under “Biju Pucca Ghara Yojana” – BPGY, in 4 years. It’s worthwhile to note that, the government did not make any budgetary provision for BPGY in last 2 years. When confronted in the assembly, Panchayati Raj minister Arun Sahu said that they have only constructed 3,02,333 houses out of which a mere 57,538 houses were under BPGY, rest are either Indira Awas Yojna or PMAY. Basic financial prudence suggests that assistance is extended to performing entities. This is true starting from World Bank loans to JICA to central government assistance. The performance of this government in rural housing doesn’t garner enough confidence. So, the Rs 7,000 crore long term assistance that they have sought seems hard to come by.

Contingency Fund – Article 267(2) of the constitution establishes contingency fund as a fund where disposals are to be made for the purposes of meeting unforeseen expenditure.

However, earlier this year, Naveen government withdrew Rs 734.66 crore from the state contingency fund to fund its populist scheme Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA), which was lauded by ‘economists’ as the best ever scheme for farmers, throwing all financial prudence to trash. When countered, Naveen Patnaik said that the fund is being used for emergency purposes. One fails to understand what emergency farmers were facing all of a sudden. Now, when a real emergency situation has emerged where contingency fund is supposed to be used, the government is asking for funds because coffers are empty. Well, the scale of devastation is way more than what Rs 754 crore could have compensated for, but the question must be asked on diversion of an emergency fund to welfare schemes.

Apart from the above 3, there is another area to highlight.

Borrowing from one of the most cliched line from Naveen Patnaik’s poll blitzkrieg, “Hudhud hela, asileni. Phailin hela, asileni. Titli hela, asileni“, which translates to, they (Central ministers) didn’t come during Hudhud, Phailin and Titli. Taking a dig at central BJP leaders, who were visiting Odisha during poll seasons, Naveen said that, only I am your all season friend while these central leaders will make a beeline only during polls. Now, polls in Odisha are over. A calamity of massive proportion has struck. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been extensively touring Puri district making sure communication channels are established, relief is reaching and transportation is unhindered. Oil India has pledged10 lakh litres of Kerosene to the needy free of cost.

IOCL has made sure that Bhubaneswar airport and railway station get immediate power with Diesel generators and enough stock of aviation fuels to kickstart operation right after the cyclone. Vital installations like hospitals were provided power in the immediate aftermath with DG sets. Mobile fuel delivery vans are delivering fuel at the doorstep in Puri. Indane is providing LPG cylinders at war footing to community kitchens. Insurance companies, banks, NBFCs have been asked to settle claims as early as possible, restructuring debts and provide special packages to Puri-based hoteliers to revive the tourism industry as soon as possible.

However, Naveen Patnaik, who went on a whirlwind road trip across Odisha in his hi-tech bus during poll season, is nowhere to be seen among people except one aerial survey.

CESU, OPTCL, L&T, NTPC, WESCO, NDRF, ODRAF, Odisha police, fire department – they are all putting together long hours and commendable effort to the best of their ability to put things back in order. Even state government is pulling all strings to restore order as soon as possible. We aren’t questioning government efforts or intentions which is of course well placed. However, these questions are critical and we hope the state government answer these once the ordeal is over.

CRPF HC and Pulwama survivor Iqbal Singh’s video of feeding a hungry Kashmiri kid wins hearts on social media

OpIndia Staff
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CRPF HC and Pulwama survivor Iqbal Singh’s video of feeding a hungry Kashmiri kid wins hearts on social media

Three months after the gruesome Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives, a video of one of the Pulwama attack survivors, Iqbal Singh’s touching gesture of feeding a hungry paralytic Kashmiri kid has gone viral on the Internet.


Pulwama survivor Iqbal Singh can be seen in the video providing food and water to a disabled Kashmiri kid. According to Iqbal, when the food for his battalion arrived, one of the Kashmiri kid present there asked him for food. When Iqbal offered him food, he realised that the kid’s hands were not fully functional. So, Iqbal sat the kid up and fed him from his own hands.

The video was reportedly shot at Nawakadal, in Srinagar yesterday where Iqbal Singh is posted.

For this compassionate and humane deed by Iqbal Singh, DG CRPF had awarded him with DG’s Disc and Commendation certificate. Iqbal Singh also sent a message through the video that CRPF is always there to help the citizens. Iqbal Singh’s gesture of kindness has been earning him praises in social media.


On February 14, 2019, a Kashmiri terrorist trained in Pakistan by Jaish-e-Muhammad rammed a car laden with 300Kgs of explosives to one of the vehicles in CRPF convoy in Pulwama killing 40 soldiers and injuring dozens of others. Iqbal was driving one of the vehicles of the CRPF convoy which was attacked by the JeM terrorist. Having lost 40 men to the ghastly terror attack, Iqbal Singh didn’t lose empathy and compassion for others.

Former BJP leader Udit Raj shares fake news after joining Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Former BJP leader Udit Raj shares fake news after joining Congress

Recently, soon after he joined the Congress party, perennial Modi-critic Shatrughan Sinha started praising Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the man responsible for India’s partition and claimed he had contributed significantly towards Indian Independence.

Now, another disgruntled BJP leader, who had quit the party and joined the Congress, has started spreading fake news and making bizarre allegations that have the potential to incite communal tensions.

Udit Raj shared a viral video of an incident that occurred two years earlier to claim that it showed BJP MLA Anil Upadhyaya and his goons thrashing a Dalit man for buying a new car.


In reality, the scenes depicted an incident in Ahmedabad in 2017, where a man thrashed his son-in-law for the latter’s alleged ill-treatment of the man’s daughter. The father, enraged by the cruelty that was allegedly being inflicted upon her by her husband, decided that enough was enough. The incident was reported by Times of India as well when it happened.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGkJy3YMXo]

Moreover, Anil Upadhyaya mentioned in Udit Raj’s tweet appears to be a rather curious individual and certainly has been very mischievous in recent times. Sometimes he is accused of beating up a cop as a Congress MLA, other times he is accused of capturing a booth as a BJP MLA.

However, there is not a single shred of evidence that such an individual even exists. Most likely, he is a fictional character who was invented to spread fake news.

Udit Raj has been angry with the BJP ever since he was denied a ticket by the party for the Lok Sabha Elections. However, given his conduct since then, it appears to have been a wise decision. While Shatrughan Sinha’s Congress membership led to his praising Jinnah, for Udit Raj, it led to him spreading bizarre fake news. It appears Congress membership tends to come with its own side effects.

Main ullu hoon, lekin itna bada ullu nahin hoon: Mani Shankar Aiyar brazens out after justifying his ‘neech aadmi’ comment

OpIndia Staff
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Main ullu hoon, lekin itna bada ullu nahin hoon: Mani Shankar Aiyar brazens out after justifying his ‘neech aadmi’ comment

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has refused to apologise for his distasteful article in Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint where he called himself ‘prophetic’ for having called PM Narendra Modi ‘neech kisam ka aadmi’ (a derogatory casteist slur) in December 2017.

Mani Shankar Aiyar is now playing the victim and has said that he is a victim of the media which has caused him significant damage. He even accused the media of picking and choosing only part of his article instead of his entire article criticising Modi.


“A statement has already come from my side. There is an entire article. You are choosing a line from the article and asking me to comment on it. I will not fall into your trap. I may be a fool, but not that big a fool,” Aiyar said.

Last night, in an article published in Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint, Mani Shankar Aiyar managed to mock Hindus, the RSS, Gujarat all while justifying his ‘neech aadmi‘ comment he made on Prime Minister Modi in December 2017 ahead of Gujarat Assembly elections. He had written “Remember how I described him on 7 December 2017? Was I not prophetic?”

Mani Shankar Aiyar is prone to putting his foot in his mouth when it comes to scoring self goal by making controversial statements. While he was ‘suspended’ from the party after his ‘neech aadmi’ comment in December 2017, he was taken back in in August 2018.

Aiyar was also found shaming India in Pakistan when he hailed Mohammad Ali Jinnah for his role in freedom movement and even referred to him as Quaid-e-Azam while defending him for his role in the partition. Earlier he had called for the support of Pakistan to not only remove the current government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also to help Congress come to power.

Karti Chidambaram’s dream of watching tennis tournaments live cost him Rs 10 crores, SC won’t release security deposit just yet

OpIndia Staff
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Karti Chidambaram’s dream of watching tennis tournaments live cost him Rs 10 crores, SC won’t release security deposit just yet

In a setback to Karti Chidambaram, the Supreme Court headed by vacation judges Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Sanjiv Khanna dismissed his plea seeking the release of Rs 10 crore security he deposited before travelling abroad. He argued that he is required to pay interest on the loan taken to submit the security deposit.


Refusing to consider his plea, the court asked Karti’s advocate to mention the petition before the bench headed by CJI Gogoi since there is no urgency in the matter.

The apex court had last week, on May 7, the Supreme Court had allowed Karti to travel to the United States, Spain and Germany this month and next month, asking him to deposit another Rs 10 crore as the security deposit. Karti is supposed to travel abroad for watching tennis tournament. A bench comprising Chief Justice Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna gave its approval for his travel abroad with subject to compliance of conditions imposed earlier.

In January this year, the Supreme Court had granted him permission to travel abroad after depositing Rs 10 crore with the secretary general of the Supreme Court. The court had also asked Karti to file an undertaking that he would return and cooperate with the investigation.

At the time in January, CJI Gogoi had said to Karti, “You can go wherever you want to, you can do whatever you want, but don’t play around with the law. If there is an iota of non-cooperation, will come down heavily”. The bench was hearing Karti’s plea seeking permission to travel to France, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom for international tennis tournaments organised by a company called ‘Totus Tennis Ltd’ having its registered office in the UK.

In fact, the company Totus Tennis Ltd is under the IT scanner. On May 3rd 2018, the Madras High court had granted the Income Tax department to proceed against Karti and others under the black money act. The I-T department had sought probe against Karti and the directors of Chess Global Pvt Ltd alleging that they through a UK based company Totus Tennis Ltd and US-based Nano Holdings Ltd have made investments and acquired assets.

Karti Chidambaram and his father P Chidambaram has been facing investigation in a number of cases including money laundering and having undisclosed foreign assets. Karti Chidambaram has been charged in cases like INX Media case and Aircel Maxis case. P Chidambaram has also been facing an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Aircel Maxis case.

In 2007, INX Media, which was owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjee received a foreign investment of about Rs 305 crores. For that INX Media needed clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR) in May 2017 against alleged violations in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media. P Chidambaram was then serving as the Union finance minister under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Karti was arrested in February 2018 by the CBI in the INX Media case. CBI had accused him of receiving a bribe of Rs 3.5 crores from the Peter and Indrani Mukherjee owned INX Media Pvt Ltd. INX Media was later named as 9X. However, he was later granted bail.

Riteish Deshmukh is wrong: Criticism of his father for his insensitivity post 26/11 hasn’t come 7 years late

OpIndia Staff
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Riteish Deshmukh is wrong: Criticism of his father for his insensitivity post 26/11 hasn’t come 7 years late

Riteish Deshmukh, son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, took to Twitter on Monday to issue a statement regarding Piyush Goyal’s comments about the conduct of his father in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack.


“It is true that I had visited the Taj/Oberoi Hotel but untrue that I was there while the shooting and bombing were happening as you claimed. It is true that I had accompanied my father but untrue that he was trying to get me a role in a film,” the statement read.

“He never ever spoke to a director or a producer to cast me in a film and I take pride in that. You have every right to question a CM but it is wrong to accuse someone who is not here to defend himself. A bit late, 7 yrs ago He would have replied to you,” it added.

Union Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal, had said earlier, “I am from Mumbai. You might remember the 26/11 terror attack. The then Congress government was weak and could not do anything. The then Chief Minister (Vilasrao Deshmukh) had brought a film producer outside Oberoi Hotel while shooting and bombing was going on inside. CM was concerned about getting his child a film role.”

In response to Riteish’s tweet, Goyal said that he had seen his statement and admitted that he had gone along with his father and Varma the day after the attack but it was just as disgusting. “His father was the Chief Minister. It was a high-security area where no one was allowed to enter but to take a filmmaker there, the intent became evident in 2013 (when the film was released). He even had to resign for his conduct.”

Convict Lalu Prasad Yadav, who commands huge respect within the liberal fraternity, had said the same thing about Vilasrao Deshmukh’s resignation at the time. Goyal further said that it was only due to public pressure and anger that Riteish Deshmukh did not feature in the movie ‘The Attacks of 26/11’ which released in 2013.

He added, “Opposition leaders were not allowed to enter the scene and that’s how it should be but a filmmaker was allowed to. Who does that? Only security forces and forensic experts are allowed at the scene. There are vitals clues present at the scene. There are footprints and other evidence on the basis of which further investigation is conducted. But if a filmmaker starts roaming around the scene, such clues and essential pieces of evidence may get contaminated or damaged. Flowery language is not sufficient to cloak these transgressions.”

While Riteish was correct to point out that the visit occurred after the ordeal was over, he fails to mention that it took place merely a day after the place was cleared of the Pakistani terrorists. Moreover, his father had faced severe criticism for the insensitivity of providing Varma with a guided tour of the hotel ravaged by the massacre.

Initially, the Deshmukh-Varma duo had denied that the VIP tour was for the latter’s movie, fearing public outrage. However, the cat was out of the bag later when the filmmaker announced his movie on the terror attack. It has been maintained that the visit was a mere ‘coincidence’, although most people found it difficult to believe.

Four years later, Varma issued an apology over the matter. He said, “My visit got a lot of flak. I did not realize then but I apologise for hurting people’s sentiments. I was only part of a group of 30 people who visited the Taj then and Vilasraoji did not even know that I was in the group. I was friends with Ritiesh and took the opportunity.”

“I just want to clarify my position on the visit and the allegation of my insensitivity towards the incident and that late Vilasrao Deshmukh facilitated my visit to the Taj. Rumours that I had cast Ritiesh in a film I was planning on the attack was completely baseless,” he added.

Thus, Riteish’s appeal to sentimentality is riddled with falsehoods of its own. Piyush Goyal did not say anything new. The remarks he made were made earlier as well, even by then UPA allies.

Thus, Riteish’s remark that the criticism from Goyal came 7 years late will appear plausible only to those who have spent the previous decade with their head buried under the sand. Also, when he was alive, his father could not mount a plausible defence for his conduct either.

Moreover, his father was the former Chief Minister of a very important state. And a politician’s legacy will always be up for critique, it’s part and parcel of politics. “He is dead, let him be,” is not a valid defence with regards to the legacy of a politician’s life.

Dr Manmohan Singh’s Rajya Sabha re-election in doubt as Congress does not have the numbers in his ‘permanent residence’ state

OpIndia Staff
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Dr Manmohan Singh’s Rajya Sabha re-election in doubt as Congress does not have the numbers in his ‘permanent residence’ state

In a few days of time, the term of the members of the 16th Lok Sabha will end, after the 17th Lok Sabha is formed following the declaration general election results on 23rd May. And a month after that, the term of two Rajya Sabha members from Assam also come to end. This includes one of the most prominent members of Rajya Sabha, Dr Manmohan Singh, the former two-time Prime Minister of India, who is elected to the upper house from Assam.

On 14th June, the term of two Congress Rajya Sabha MPs from Assam, Manmohan Singh and Santiuse Kujur will end, but a huge question mark has emerged on the re-election of Dr Singh. Because as it has become certain that it will be very difficult for the Congress party to send him to the Rajya Sabha from Assam again, thanks to the debacle that the party faced in 2016 assembly elections.

Assam Assembly has 126 members, therefore the minimum number of votes required for a candidate to win will be 43 in an election for 2 seats. But the Congress party does not have this strength in the house. At present Congress has 25 MLAs in Assam, and even if the 13 MLAs of AIUDF votes for the Congress candidate, that will not be enough to ensure victory. Although both the parties do not have an alliance at present, AIUDF has helped the Congress party by contesting in just 3 seats in Lok Sabha elections, thereby preventing Muslim votes getting split between the two parties.

On the other hand, BJP has 61 MLAs, while its allies AGP has 14 and BPF 12, the NDA also has the support of the lone independent MLA in the house. This means that the NDA is set to grab both the seats from Congress. It is expected that AGP will get one seat in the two vacant seats, as per the deal resulting in the return of AGP to the NDA. Earlier this year, AGP had broken the alliance with BJP over the Citizenship Amendment Bill, but had returned to the alliance after the government failed to get the bill passed in the parliament.

Unless Dr Manmohan Singh is elected to the upper from some other state when the elections become due and where Congress has the numbers, this will mean an end of the parliamentary career of the former prime minister, who is often credited for the Economic Liberalisation that the P V Narasimha Rao government was forced to bring to save a collapsing economy.

Dr Manmohan Singh is representing Assam in Rajya Sabha since 1991, when he was selected to head the finance ministry by Rao. When the PVN Road government took the oath, neither the prime minister nor the finance minister was a member of the parliament. For a veteran politician like Rao, it was not an issue to get elected to Lok Sabha through a bypoll, which he went to win with a record margin. But for a bureaucrat like Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha election was not feasible, hence it was decided that Rajya Sabha will be the best bet for him.

At that time, a Rajya Sabha seat was vacant in Assam, and Congress had won the assembly elections in 1991. So, Assam CM Hiteswar Saikia offered to send Dr Singh to Rajya Sabha from Assam, and the party accepted this offer. But there was a problem, at that time, candidates of Rajya Sabha election were required to be a voter in the state from where they were contesting, and obviously, Singh was not a voter of Assam. Chief minister Hiteswar Saikia formulated a solution to this problem, and made Dr Manmohan Singh a voter in Assam overnight. He gave a two-room apartment of his two-story house in Guwahati on rent to Dr Singh, and on the basis of that rent agreement, his name was included in the voter list of Assam. With these freshly prepared documents, the former prime minister gave a declaration in his nomination papers that he is a permanent resident of Assam, and thus he was elected to the Rajya Sabha. Since 1991, Dr Singh has been elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam for five consecutive terms.

The requirement of being a voter in the state for Rajya Sabha was removed in 2003 with an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, but Dr Singh chose to not transfer his vote from Assam even after that, and remained a permanent resident of Assam on records. Even now, his permanent residence is registered as House No. 3989, Nandan Nagar, Ward No. 51, Sarumataria, Dispur, Guwahati, Distt. Kamrup, (Assam) 781006 in government records.

Dr Manmohan Singh and his wife with the family of late Hiteswar Saikia after casting their votes in Guwahati on April 23 2019.

He has never spent a night in his ‘permanent residence’, his VVIP status makes it difficult for him to stay there on security grounds. But he has visited his residence a few times, mostly when he visits Guwahati to file nomination for his Raya Sabha re-election, and to vote during elections. The residence is kept locked by the landlords, the Saikia family, for most of the year, which is opened only for cleaning and maintenance purposes. Dr Singh regularly pays the rent for the apartment, which was reported to be Rs 700 per month, way below the market rate.

As the Congress party does not have the numbers in Assam assembly, it is unlikely that they will field Dr Manmohan Singh in the elections. Talking on the issue, a senior Congress leader has said, “this time, it will not be possible for us to ensure victory even if we put up a candidate. So maximum possibilities are that we are going to refrain from putting up a candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.” This means, the former two-time prime minister will not be returning to Rajya Sabha soon, as no Rajya Sabha election is due in next few months where Congress has the numbers.

Say sorry to Mamata, right now.. okay, later – SC modifies its order giving bail to young woman who made meme on Bengal CM

OpIndia Staff
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Say sorry to Mamata, right now.. okay, later – SC modifies its order giving bail to young woman who made meme on Bengal CM

Hearing the bail plea of the youth wing worker of the BJP in West Bengal, Priyanka Sharma, who was arrested for sharing a meme on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the apex court has observed that a conditional bail can be granted if she apologises for her actions.


Representing the petitioner Priyanka Sharma, senior counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul expressed his astonishment on 14 days judicial custody for sharing a meme. He said it is a gross violation of Constitutional rights of a citizen. Kaul further argued that she had already deleted the post, now the meme is going viral on the Social Media and there are many others who are sharing the caricature.

Justice Indira Banerjee asked if the petitioner had any problem with tendering an apology. Another justice Sanjiv Khanna asserted that with the elections going on in the country and Priyanka being associated with a rival political party, the other side might take the meme differently.


Priyanka’s counsel objected to the request of the apology saying, “This will have a chilling effect on the Freedom of Expression in the country. For a meme that is not appreciated by some, others will have to apologise to get bail.” Asserting that it will set a wrong precedent, Kaul said that tomorrow people will be arrested for sharing flippant memes and will be forced to tender apologies for getting bail.

It is notable to mention that in the Bhima-Koregaon case, Justice D.Y Chandrachud, part of a three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice Dipak Misra had observed, “Dissent is the safety valve of democracy. If dissent is not allowed, then the pressure cooker may burst.”

It may be noted that WB police have slapped the draconian Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, in the case, which has already been struck down by the Supreme Court calling it unconstitutional and an infringement on citizens’ fundamental right to know. The judicial provisions of the Act empowered the government to arrest a person for posting “offensive” content online. While the law was legislated to stop the misuse of social media, it was mostly exploited by people in authority against people who used social media to criticise those in power.

Responding to counsel Kaul’s apprehensions, Justice Indira Banerjee contended that Freedom of Expression is non-negotiable, but it cannot encroach upon another person’s rights. Kaul defended saying that the meme is doing the rounds and its a form of evolving caricature, humour and political satire.

Justice Banerjee replied that though the meme may be doing the rounds, it is wrong. However, the apex court modified its order of granting conditional bail on tendering of apology to the immediate release of BJP Youth wing worker Priyanka Sharma, dispensing with the condition of apology.


Though the highest court has done away with the conditional bail, Priyanka Sharma is still expected to apologise for sharing the meme.


Priyanka Sharma, the BJP Bengal youth leader, was arrested for merely sharing a meme caricaturing Banerjee on her Facebook Timeline on May 9, and was slapped with non-bailable charges and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

A complaint against the convenor of BJYM, Priyanka Sharma was made by TMC leader Vibhas Hazra in Howrah for allegedly sharing a morphed picture of Mamata Banerjee. The MET Gala 2019 themed meme superimposed Mamata’s face on Priyanka Chopra’s body. She was arrested and produced in Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Howrah.

The copy of the complaint read that this act broke the community guidelines and it was being viewed as an issue of violence. “She has not only tried to insult our Hon’ble Chief Minister, but she is trying to insult the culture of our Bengal by her post on Facebook and which is Cyber Crime”, read the complaint.

The Telegraph joins the Opposition, article by Editor claims removing Modi from power is the only hope for India’s ‘redemption’

Sanghamitra
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The Telegraph joins the Opposition, article by Editor claims removing Modi from power is the only hope for India’s ‘redemption’

Indian mainstream media has been dangerously biased all these years. The distinct leftist leaning is often shamelessly displayed in their reportage and narrative. The bootlicking of anything remotely related to the Nehru-Gandhi clan and the disdain towards anything Indic with roots in Hinduism is a regular feature in most of India’s mainstream media scene, be it print or broadcast.

The blatant leftist and pro-Congress bias had never been more evident than the post-2014 era after PM Modi came to power with a thumping majority, the first single-party majority in almost three decades in India’s political history. Left-leaning media had almost immediately started hallucinating. The cries of ‘fear’, ‘intolerance’ and ‘Minorities under attack’ has been peddled a number of times by these media houses and the self-proclaimed ‘secular liberal’ brigade that employs each other’s children and praises each other using these mediums.

As elections draw to a close, the flimsy veil of neutrality has been shed and many in the media have virtually joined in the political battle. The article published in The Telegraph today, written by its editor R Rajagopal is another such acutely politically biased propaganda in the garb of ‘opinion’

Article in The Telegraph

The article published in the Telegraph today paints utterly elitist, self-righteous and sanctimonious propaganda insinuating that the winning of the Modi government in 2014 was a sign of India’s deterioration and if Modi gets re-elected, all hopes of our redemption as a society will be lost.

It peddles the imaginary fears often used by leftists, that their children are afraid, their Muslim friends are afraid and they themselves are afraid in Modi’s India. In this article, the writer claims that in post-2014 India, people have been making insensitive comments about other religions inside train compartments, something that, as per the writer’s insinuation had never happened before.

The writer also claims that parents in post-2014 India have made it a point to check their children’s lunch box, fearing whether they had packed some ‘leftover beef curry’. The same fear-mongering that these ‘secular liberals’ have been propagating as the impending apocalypse if Modi remains in power.

The Telegraph article

Going a step further and dismissing the people’s mandate that brought Modi to power, the writer even sermonises that if the people want to bring Modi to power again, then the people (or the country) will be beyond redemption.

Using underhanded tactics to peddle Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee as the crusaders of justice, the writer even claims that the question is not whether these people are capable, the question is whether we will allow them to change us. Further deepening the ambit of guilt on the people, by insinuating if they do not choose any of the above mentioned as their leader, they are doomed and don’t deserve to be saved.

MP Swapan Dasgupta has pointed the blatant political bias out. Drawing attention to the narrative of the article, Dasgupta has stated that if The Telegraph holds such biases, it should at least own it and make its readers aware of its political affiliation.


Attacking everything from Modi’s humble beginnings to foreign policy and economy, the writer presents a rather sad, constricted view of whiney criticism against Modi, picking up some busted myth from here and another dismissed claim from somewhere else, he attempts to paint a picture of a great humble Manmohan Singh versus a verbose, boastful Modi, assuming perhaps that the people of India can be shamed or guilt tripped enough to forget a non-responsive government post 26/11 or the monumental scams that took place under the rule of the Harvard economist PM.

The Telegraph, known for its headlines like ‘Aunty National’ when it is targetting the BJP leaders and singing the glory of Mamata Banerjee and Congress leaders has been called out by many over the months.


The Telegraph is well known for its Mamata bhakti and Modi hatred often exhibited through its headlines. It has spread dangerous lies regarding Polio Vaccines, attempted to paint Kanwariyas as perpetrators of violence when they were in fact, the victims and many such narratives. In another instant, they had deciphered the Sanskrit word ‘Purushartha’ as ‘manhood’ and had claimed that Smriti Irani has questioned Rahul Gandhi’s manhood.

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