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Why did India Today drop the video interview of Rahul Gandhi that it was apparently about to telecast?

OpIndia Staff
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Why did India Today drop the video interview of Rahul Gandhi that it was apparently about to telecast?

Congress President Rahul Gandhi gave a comprehensive “tell-all” interview to India Today that was published today. In the interview, Rahul Gandhi admitted that his only aim was to tarnish PM Modi’s ‘incorruptible’ image, and the interviewer sat there, without countering the lies and peddling further lies.

While India Today published the litany of lies by Rahul Gandhi, it was curious that a channel like India Today chose to conduct a text interview with Rahul Gandhi instead of a video interview.

A rumour gained wind on Social Media that India Today had indeed conducted a video interview with Rahul Gandhi, but the interview was so bad (some said worse that the blabbering mess the interview with Arnab Goswami was back in 2014), that India Today chose to scrap the video interview and publish a text interview instead.

This Whatsapp message doing the rounds, that was also shared by many on Twitter, said that Rahul Gandhi appealed to India Today not to air the video interview because it was a disaster. The rumour also was that Congress functionaries grabbed the cassettes and agreed to let them publish a text version of the interview. The forward also questioned whether this was fair journalism.

While Social Media is often the hotbed of misinformation and rumours, this particular rumour does seem to have some credibility and it certainly does appear that India Today conducted a video interview of Rahul Gandhi that was later not aired. The evidence to support this theory is mounting and damning.

Evidence 1: Why the lapel mic?

The Director of India Today and Aaj Tak anchor, Rahul Kanwal tweeted a gif of Rahul Gandhi while plugging the “hard-hitting and combative” interview of Rahul Gandhi.


If one looks at the gif carefully, one sees a lapel mic that has been plugged on Rahul Gandhi kurta collar.

A still from the interview shows the lapel mic too.

 

If this indeed was just a text interview from the word go, one must wonder why Rahul Gandhi was wearing a lapel mic at all?

Evidence 2: The India Today ticker

OpIndia accessed the India Today screen that displayed a ticker that asked its viewers to ‘WATCH’ Mega Exclusive Rahul Gandhi interview on India Today at 6:30 PM.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3eJDWPxCo0]

If the plan was to do a text interview from the word go, why did India Today display this ticker? Why did India Today ask its viewers to WATCH the interview at 6:30 PM? An interview, that was then never aired?

Evidence 3: Tweet asking people to ‘WATCH’ the interview

India Today had also tweeted about the Rahul Gandhi interview and the tweet itself indicates that there is enough proof that initially, a video interview was to be aired but was later scrapped.

The Tweet from 2nd May 2019 asks people to ‘WATCH’ the most in-depth interview of Rahul Gandhi this election season on ‘India Today TV’. Then, it gives an update to the live blog.


If the interview was supposed to be published as a text interview from the beginning, why would the word ‘Watch’ be there in the tweet and why would India Today ask its viewers to watch the interview on India Today TV?

Also, if it indeed was meant to be a text interview, why would India Today plug the link of a live blog? Once the article is live, no media house would tweet its excerpts from an article on to a live blog. A live blog would be used to tweet text updates of a video interview while it was being aired so people who can’t watch it live could read the updates.

It is highly probable that India Today had indeed taken a video interview of Rahul Gandhi and that interview was scrapped and a text interview was published instead. The real question is, why was it scrapped? Was the interview that bad? And if the interview was really that bad, is it the media’s job to shield a politician who cannot give a proper, live interview even though it must have been planned? What does it say about the Media and India Today in particular? Most importantly, what does it say about Rahul Gandhi?

Update: India Today has issued a clarification that there was meant to be no video interview but only a print interview. It also says that Congress has a video recording of the interview that is not available to the channel. The explanation, however, still doesn’t answer some crucial questions. You can read the full explanation here. 

Adivasi women respond with ‘Modi Zindabad’ to ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ slogan at Rahul Gandhi’s rally

OpIndia Staff
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Adivasi women respond with ‘Modi Zindabad’ to ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ slogan at Rahul Gandhi’s rally

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ slogan hasn’t been resonating with people on the ground. Numerous journalists, sympathetic to the Congress party, have expressed their frustration with the fact that the Congress party has chosen to go hammer and tongs with the slogan even though the public does not appear inclined to believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a corrupt politician.

Further evidence of that came from the Congress President’s rally in Jharkhand. As per reports, at a rally in Simdega yesterday, where Rahul Gandhi was campaigning for the Congress candidate from Khunti Lok Sabha constituency, Congress workers raised his usual ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ slogan but Adivasi women present were reportedly having none of it. They responded with chants of ‘Modi Zindabad’ of their own.

Reporters present at the scene asked the women the reason for their support towards Narendra Modi. They said that they were supporting the Prime Minister because they had received toilets, gas connections, houses and electricity during his tenure.

Apart from causing him embarrassment, the slogan has also gotten Rahul Gandhi into legal troubles. Recently, he was forced to apologize before the Supreme Court for attributing the slogan to a verdict delivered by the highest court of the country. The Court wasn’t satisfied with mere ‘regret’ and demanded that the Congress President issue a complete apology in the matter.

Dharmayuddha is not Jihad: What Sitaram Yechury gets wrong

K Bhattacharjee
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Dharmayuddha is not Jihad: What Sitaram Yechury gets wrong

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has triggered a massive controversy with his recent comments on the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. At an event in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Yechury said, “Ramayana and Mahabharata are also filled with instances of violence and battles. Being a pracharak (RSS functionaries), you narrate the epics but still claim Hindus can’t be violent? What is the logic behind saying that there’s a religion which engages in violence and we Hindus don’t.”


First things first, to reduce the vast complexity of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana to a mere exhibition of violence is only a reflection of the extremely myopic understanding of the texts the Communist appears to have. Secondly, to view the violence in the epics in isolation is to miss the point of it all entirely.

The Ramayana, in stark contrast to the Mahabharata, is a simple story of Good versus Evil. On one hand, we have Shri Rama, the embodiment of morality, Maryada Purushottam, and on the other, we have Ravana, the embodiment of evil. Rama’s beloved Sita was taken away from him and he embarked upon a Dharmayuddha to be reunited with her. Of course, there are numerous other facets to the story and Ravana had various motivations for his actions, however, it is not the place to go further into the intricacies of the matter. The gist of the matter, however, is the fact Rama did not embark upon a war of his own making. His hand was forced and he did what an ideal husband, an ideal son and an ideal King is meant to do. However, one thing was certain, even if Sita Mata was not kidnapped by Ravana, Rama would still go to war against the Rakshasas. For the protection of his Kingdom and its people and to ensure the victory of Dharma over Adharma.

The Mahabharata, on the other hand, is a lot more complicated. The characters in the Epic, as virtuous as they may be, pale in comparison to Rama, apart from Shri Krishna of course and Yudhishtira to a certain extent. While the principal characters in the Ramayana were the embodiment of virtue, those in the Mahabharata were far away from it, again with the notable exception of Prabhu Krishna. Thus, the epic provides valuable insight into human nature itself.

One thing that the Mahabharata does have in common with the Ramayana is that the war was not of the heroes’ making. It was a choice that was made for them when Draupadi’s honour was infringed upon. Every other folly of the Kauravas could be ignored but compromising the dignity of Draupadi was a step too far and there was no going back from there. Everything that happened afterwards was merely an inevitability from that moment onward. Shri Krishna did attempt, in what eventually turned out to be a futile endeavor, to prevent the war when he asked the Kauravas for five villages for the Pandavas. But it is difficult to assume how even that could have brokered lasting peace between the two factions as Duryodhana considered the sons of Pandava to be an existential threat.

Without delving deeper, we can safely say that in Mahabharata, just as in Ramayana, war ensued because principles of Dharma were violated and Adharma reigned supreme in the land. The most significant part of the Mahabharata, which critics of Hinduism consider to be its most problematic aspect and see as justification for violence, is the Bhagavad Gita where Shri Krishna urges Arjuna to go to war. In his discourse, of which Arjuna was the sole recipient, Krishna exhorts the Pandava to go to War as it was his Dharmic duty and Dharma demanded that he wage war against the very people he loved so dearly as they had chosen to side with the forces of Adharma. Of course, no one in the Epic apart from Shri Krishna was perfect but it fell upon them to ensure that Dharma prevailed upon the forces of Adharma.

Thus, the overarching narrative of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana is that when Dharma is threatened, war becomes imperative. Of course, then it becomes of paramount importance to understand what Dharma means and how it is different from ‘religious war’.

First and foremost, Dharma is not religion and therefore, Dharmayuddha is not a religious war. Dharma is not mere diktats of Gods, it is the eternal law of the universe under which the cosmos functions. It is the ‘Natural Law’. Therefore, Dharmayuddha, unlike religious war, is not waged over someone’s private beliefs but actions which are gross violations of basic morality and which go against the natural law of the cosmos themselves. It is important to remember that Rama did not go to war against Ravana because he disagreed with Ravana’s personal beliefs and the Pandavas did not go to war because the Kauravas’ actions were not consistent with that of the sons of Pandava. The wars occurred because the respective antagonists in the Epics violated the natural order of things.

Thus, while religious wars are fought over private religious beliefs on individuals, Dharmayuddha is waged over violations of the Natural Law. It is important to note that the Kauravas and the Pandavas shared the exact same religious beliefs and worshipped the same Gods. Ravana himself was a devotee of Bholenath. Shri Krishna urged Arjuna to crush the Kauravas knowing fully well that it will lead to innumerable deaths because Kauravas violated the Natural Law by denying the Pandavas their birthright and dishonouring Draupadi. It is completely different from religious wars where adherents are urged to wage war because a particular god is jealous that he is not the only one being worshipped.

As for whether violence is a solution, only the utterly naive and fools believe it is not. Our entire justice system is based on the premise of punishment and reformation which is again predicated on the use of force. Law and Order in any society are maintained by the threat of violence. And in our heart of hearts, all of us know that violence under certain circumstances is perfectly justified. That is why we have the Death Penalty as punishment for certain crimes. And the Police and the Army are authorized to engage in violence to ensure certain outcomes. More personally, an overwhelming majority of us would agree that rapists ought to be castrated and tortured and put to death without batting an eyelid. There are certain other violent crimes for which an overwhelming majority of us would agree that such violent punishment is perfectly justified.

For Yechury to equate Dharmayuddha with religious war only demonstrates the poor understanding of our Sacred Texts that Communists have. Of course, Hindus can be violent but that point can be made without dragging the Mahabharata and the Ramayana through the mud. That he chose to do so only exposes his ignorance and utter lack of respect for the Hindu Faith.

Racist, “liberal”, The Economist, its battle with Narendra Modi and how Indian media uses it to bash India’s own Prime Minister

Nupur J Sharma
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Racist, “liberal”, The Economist, its battle with Narendra Modi and how Indian media uses it to bash India’s own Prime Minister

Foreign Media has not been kind to Narendra Modi. Neither has Indian media, but the deal with foreign media is entirely different. While Indian media is perhaps looking out for its bread and butter, considering under the Congress rule, it was fed well and fattened with its incompetency being rewarded, foreign media just hates the cultural identity assertion that Modi gave people the confidence for.

Who can forget the New York Times and its racist rants? In 2017, Indian automobile giant Mahindra and Mahindra opened its first car manufacturing facility in Detroit, the auto hub, a first in 25 years. The plant, which is set up at an investment of $230 million, will produce an off-highway vehicle which is being considered a game-changer already.

While most hailed this historic event, NYTimes, which seems to have a grouse with India, was it’s condescending best while reporting this development. NYTimes reported,

It has been years since Detroit, birthplace of the American auto industry, was a steady producer of the manufacturing jobs that defined it as the Motor City. But its comeback is entering a new phase.

The latest milestone came Monday, with the announcement of the area’s first new vehicle assembly plant in 25 years. And the automaker making it happen is from, of all places, India.

NYT had an issue with Indian attire, the saree as well, calling it a tool for Nationalism. Then, it had lied blatantly about GST and demonetisation to pain Prime Minister Modi and India in poor light. NYT lied about the UAE giving Kerala Rs 700 crores even after it was summarily debunked. NYT also used childrens’ deaths to malign Yogi government’s crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and drew flak for calling the saree a ‘tool of Hindu nationalist campaign’. It had also in the past used lies to insult victims of the Godhra carnage.

And lo behold, NYT had also peddled long debunked, false data on “violent cow protection” to vilify the Hindu population of India and brand them as violent, deviant, terrorists.

While NYT has long proven its credentials, The Economist is the new favourite of the “liberal” ecosystem in a last-ditch attempt to discredit Narendra Modi.

While I have personally always supported newspapers and media outlets openly declaring their bias for or against a leader, the use of lies, propaganda and racism to discredit a democratically elected leader by foreign media and that narrative being lapped up by Indian media is a cause for concern almost amounting to foreign interference in Indian elections.

In the 2014 elections, The Economist had shamelessly campaigned against Narendra Modi. That its nefarious plans failed, has not deterred them from peddling their nonsense yet again.

Before we delve into how The Economist demonised Narendra Modi, let’s take a look at just how elitist, racist and brazenly stupid The Economist truly is against Indians. Not just Modi supporters, not just Modi himself, but brown, unwashed, Indians.

This what The Economist had to say when India launched Mangalayan.

The elitist, racist Economist had a problem with Mangalayan because India is a “poor country” Whether their issue was with the fact that brown people like Indians launched a space program or that it was under the Prime Ministership of Modi that the mission was launched, is a mystery.

Important to note, that at the same time, NYT had also launched a tirade against India’s space program with a racist cartoon strip.

In 2014, racist, elitist, The Economist did not “support Narendra Modi”. In an article headlined “India’s one man band”, The Economist in 2015 said as much.

In 2019 too, The Economist’s stand hasn’t changed. The fake “religious strike” narrative peddled by The Economist stands unaltered.

The Economist, shamelessly, calls PM Modi “agent orange”. Firstly, the western fools must be colourblind as PM Modi, if anything, should be called “agent saffron”. Secondly, The Economist’s fear-mongering about PM Modi and the mythical “religious strife” is invariably connected the how Hindus are getting more confident to speak up and assert their cultural identity, while the Muslims feel threatened.

“Mr Modi has been neither as good for India as his cheerleaders foretold, nor as bad as his critics…imagined. But today the risks still outweigh the rewards”.

His “strongman” image for the airstrikes in Pakistan was “not so much an act of strength as recklessness that could have ended in disaster”, it adds.

“He has inflamed a separatist insurgency rather than quelling it”, The Economist says.

It is most severe on Modi’s “biggest fault” – his “relentless stoking of Hindu-Muslim tensions”.

It goes a step further. The paper says Congress is “hidebound and corrupt” but does “not set Indians at one another’s throats.” “It is a worthier recipient of Indians’ votes than the BJP”.

Essentially, The Economist has a problem with resurgent, assertive Hindus, development of a “poor country” under PM Modi and much prefers that India chooses the “corrupt” Congress party. Because, why should the unwashed, brown people dream of anything better?

And of course, the Indian media and its darbari journalists lapped this nonsense up.


Rajdeep Sardesai, who has been subservient to the Gandhi family since forever, called The Economist ‘venerable’ while peddling this nonsense. Of course, anything that comes from the white overlords becomes ‘venerable’. Italian or British.

The Print, led by Shekhar Gupta lapped it up too. Why an opinion by The Economist must be reported as “news” would generally be beyond comprehension, but the white syndrome is often high wish brown sahibs.

Other brown sahibs like Dhume rejoiced that The Economist, the racist, foreign media had called the democratically elected leader of India ‘despicable’.


And one wonders what the difference between these independant thinkers and illiterate politicians is, when Akhilesh Yadav, leader of Samajwadi party too ends up peddling the racist rant by The Economist by terming it “Indian Media”.


Of course, none of these brown sahibs or their masters like The Economist of NYT has ever questioned why Rahul Gandhi allied with Islamists or called himself a Janeu dhari shiv bhakt. Why he chose to contest from Wayanad and in a sting operation, why his leader was caught saying that Wayanad is a safe seat because it has a majority Muslim population. They have remained mum on Congress’ despicable Manifesto that demonises the Indian Army and also, remained silent about his numerous, uncountable lies.

These elections are rather unique. The ones who wore the mask of neutrality have become active players in the elections, perhaps, just as much as the candidates and political parties themselves. That they have to toe the line of racist foreign media to denigrate their own country and its Prime Minister, is a question they have to sort out with their own conscience. If they have one left, that it.

The dark side of the Internet: Sordid saga of the Gurugram mall woman

K Bhattacharjee
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The dark side of the Internet: Sordid saga of the Gurugram mall woman

Social media has been abuzz recently after a sordid incident in Gurugram where a woman was caught in a video telling young girls that they ought to be raped for their short clothes. She apparently exhorted others to rape the girls as well.

The woman, quite obviously, holds vile and obnoxious opinions that ought to be relegated to the dustbins of history. Personally, I wouldn’t want her anywhere near myself or my family and friends. Obviously, only a terribly sick person one wish the worst form of abuse on other women, that too, being a woman herself. Having said that, the outrage that has generated in social media has taken a turn that could only be described as extremely dangerous.

Social Media is littered with vile and abusive posts against the woman. The woman is being subjected to a great amount of hate and it has reached a territory where her own personal safety appears to be under threat. She has been shamed for being ‘fat and unattractive’ and people are actually calling upon others to make her life hell. That is indeed a grave turn of events.

Not merely abusive words but people have also called for her to be raped. In a post that has been going viral on social media, which appears to be from the woman herself, she has apologized for her remarks and expressed her regret. However, even in the post, she was showered with tons of abuses and rape threats as well.

Actions have consequences and the moment the video of her atrocious conduct went viral, it was only to be expected that it will have severe repercussions. However, it appears people opposing her hateful conduct seem to have disgraced the very notions of civility that they were supposed to be championing. The entire series of events does say a lot about human nature.

The initial reaction might have been motivated by legitimate concerns but by now, it has devolved into a monstrous cycle of cyber-bullying. What began with good intentions soon gave way to malice. And let us accept what is happening here. Most of the people who are currently taking the woman to the task aren’t doing it for some higher purpose or to achieve some greater objective but only for the satisfaction of their baser urges.

They are engaging in such conduct because hurting people and making them bend against their will, feels good. Cruelty, especially when directed towards someone we think is despicable and worthy of hatred, makes us feel powerful. It is an exhilarating high, it’s a rush of adrenaline and a heady mix of dopamine. It makes us feel good about ourselves. It is human nature and one of its darker aspects.

Further evidence that the whole thing has been hijacked by people with malicious intent and has gone far beyond than what it should have is the fact that people are now going after the husband’s family and her sons who had nothing to do with the woman’s conduct. For all we know, they are themselves embarrassed by how she behaved with the girls. Therefore, trying to ruin their lives does not make any sense whatsoever. As per some accounts, the husband has been removed from his job as well after some feminists made the demand. It’s completely unhinged at this point and is getting very dangerous.

Certain people are also using the woman to further their political agenda. Prime Minister Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party, people like Anshul Saxena and even Reliance have been dragged into the matter as well, people who have absolutely nothing to do with any of this.


It only goes on to show that the circus that is currently underway has absolutely nothing to do with women’s rights, dignity or any such higher purpose. It is only a sad reflection of people’s baser urges.

There have been multiple unintended casualties as well. People who only share the name with the woman have been targeted as well and have been bombarded with offensive messages and hateful texts. They have been forced to issue statements on social media pleading for people to stop harassing them.

A lot of people have expressed their concerns over what is happening now and lots of others are troubled with recent developments in the matter. There appears to be a deep sense of great discomfort among everyone sensible enough to understand the devastating consequences that this could very well have. It’s a completely different matter altogether whether the individual concerned deserved her fate or not.

A certain Vibhuti Sharma commented something very meaningful in her apology post which I would like to reproduce here:

This has been taken too far. Whatever was said to the girls was wrong and it is their right to be angry, but the way people reacted to the video and sent her hate messages is nothing short of cyberbullying. How do people endorse feminism while body shaming at the same time? Why can’t we as a society be angry at the thoughts and opinions of the person alone, and not at the person itself? People started associated her with the very abstract of all the atrocities women have faced, which is far from real.  Her opinions are borrowed too, she was brought up that way. And no good will come out of sending her hate, body shaming her.  Why can’t we be an educated society which works towards changing the outlooks of people, rather than trying to kill the person itself? Hate the crime, not the criminal.

If the woman has been suffering the consequences for her disgraceful conduct, the girls who shared the video are at the receiving end of harsh criticism as well. If they thought they were going to emerge from this as heroes for everyone, they were obviously quite wrong. They are being accused of bullying the woman and engaging in body-shaming. Some say they purposely took things too far merely for the sake of attention. Some have questioned their true intentions by citing that no police complaint was filed by the girls in the matter yet. Whether these allegations are true or not is beside the point, the fact of the matter is, these girls will be dragged through the mud as well by the time all of this over.

The chain of events precisely demonstrate the darker aspects of social media. The video may very well have been shared with good intentions, although it can be very well argued that it was shared to exact revenge against the woman for her despicable conduct, which is again a completely justifiable sentiment, now it has degenerated into an orgy of cyber-bullying and online harassment.

It appears unlikely that the woman will ever recover from this. It can be safely said that her life has been completely ruined. Memes have been circulating shaming her, mocking her and ridiculing her, social media is littered with her pictures and unfortunately for her, the internet forgets nothing. It is completely a different debate about whether she deserves it or not. As it so happens, social media does not offer time for such debates.

Social media is quite a recent phenomenon and it’s quite obvious, we have not yet tamed it. Worse, it does tend to bring out the worst in us. How the story ends, we may never know. The woman may put all of this behind and make a fresh beginning. Or she may end up making a worse decision than she did when she decided to abuse those girls. We may never know. Today, it was her. Tomorrow, it will be someone else. Inevitably, there will be an innocent victim in all of this. If we do not learn to tame the beast, there will be devastating consequences.

Congress makes BPL voters in Madhya Pradesh to fill fake NYAY forms, Aadhaar and other crucial details obtained

OpIndia Staff
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Congress makes BPL voters in Madhya Pradesh to fill fake NYAY forms, Aadhaar and other crucial details obtained

Just days after distributing fake NYAY forms in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh Congress leader was allegedly found collecting crucial data of BPL (Below Poverty Line) voters in Burhanpur which falls under Khandwa parliamentary constituency.

Fake NYAY form issued by Madhya Pradesh Congress leader (image edited to protect privacy)

In the above image, one can see it is a form ‘maang patra’ (request form) for getting Rs 72,000 per year in the bank account. The form has a picture of Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the left corner and on the right is that of Arun Yadav, Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate for Khandwa constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

The form asks for crucial details such as name, father’s name, bank name, bank account and Aadhaar number. These details are collected from people living below the poverty line and a thumb print is taken on the form to give it legitimacy.

As per the report, Congress workers in Khandwa are distributing the above forms instructing people where to fill in which details. The perforated form is then cut into two and one part is given to the people whose details are filled and other is kept with Congress workers.

As a part of election gimmick, Rahul Gandhi had declared that if Congress forms a government at the centre, they will implement the NYAY Yojana, aimed at eliminating poverty. He asserted that 5 crore families or 25 crore people who benefit from the scheme.

This blatant distribution of fake forms which is not only misleading to innocent and impressionable people it also poses a data security threat. This distribution of fake NYAY forms and collecting personal information, especially that of bank details and other crucial details, could be misused and poses a threat.

Last week, just two days prior to the fourth phase of polling, fake forms of Congress party’s proposed NYAY scheme were circulated in Kota in Rajasthan by a Congress leader, Rakhi Gautam. Not only that, but details which emerged later on showed that Congress president Rahul Gandhi himself was aware of these fake forms. The forms were shown to Rahul Gandhi and Sachin Pilot at an election rally in Kota on 25th April.

Rakhi Gautam, a Congress leader from Kota who had contested the 2018 assembly elections from South Kota, has posted some photographs from the rally. And in few of the photographs, it is clearly seen that she is showing the fake NYAY forms to Rahul Gandhi and Sachin Pilot when they were sitting on the stage.

Rajasthan, where Rakhi Gautam had allegedly shared fake NYAY forms and Madhya Pradesh, where fake NYAY forms with Congress Lok Sabha candidate Arun Yadav’s picture from Congress office were distributed, are both Congress-ruled states.

PM Modi’s pet project: Kashi Vishwanath Temple corridor seeks to reclaim Varanasi’s cultural heritage

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi’s pet project: Kashi Vishwanath Temple corridor seeks to reclaim Varanasi’s cultural heritage

One of the most ancient in the world, Varanasi is all set to receive a major facelift as the building of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor gathers momentum. Spread over an area of 39,000 square metres with an investment of Rs 700 crore, the corridor will link the ancient shrine and one of the 12 Jyotirlinga Temples to the famous ghats in Varanasi.

Hailed as a pet project of PM Modi, the foundation stone was laid by the PM himself on March 8, 2019. The city of Varanasi is undergoing the first major transformation since 1780 AD. Earlier the Maratha Queen Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore had gentrified the temple and the surrounding areas.

As the process to build the corridor is set in motion, huge swathes of buildings flanking the narrow lanes leading to ghats and temples have been demolished. The clearing process has resulted in a discovery of 40 temples in the area, which were until now obscured by the buildings and structures in the region. PM Modi has said that these temples will be preserved for public darshan.

To reclaim the cultural heritage of a city that is the epicentre of Hinduism and Hindu mythology, it was imperative for the government to exhibit a strong will to destroy the structures around the Kashi Temple, and in doing so it has embodied the role of Lord Shiva- The Destroyer. CEO of the corridor project has asserted that due compensation has been given granted to all ‘legal rights holders’.

Many residents were pleasantly surprised to find the existence of 40 temples which were hitherto concealed under the sprawling resident and commercial structures in the region. Most of them appeared to have approved of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple corridor and feel that the construction of the corridor will enable more Tourist visits and pave the way for modernisation of the city.

Terror financing case: ED attaches properties worth over ₹73 lakh of LeT operative who had built a mosque in Haryana

OpIndia Staff
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Terror financing case: ED attaches properties worth over ₹73 lakh of LeT operative who had built a mosque in Haryana

On Thursday the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached property worth over ₹73 lakh in a terror-financing case linked to terror leader Hafiz Saeed. The assets belong to one Mohd Salman and his family, and they were attached as part of ongoing investigations into financing of terror activities by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the mastermind of 26/11 Mumbai attacks and founder of Lashkar-e-Taibar (LeT), Jamaat-Ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF).


FIF is a front end organisation of JuD and LeT, and it was formed to evade security and global sanctions against the terror organisations. This organisation was banned by Indian government in 2016 as a terrorist organisation.

ED has attached immovable and movable assets including residential flat, shot in Delhi, cash and balances in bank accounts worth ₹73.12 lakh belonging Mohd Salman and his family members under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. According to ED, although FIF is involved in humanitarian, religious and charity work, it is only a disguise and their main aim is to collection and distribution of funds for terror activities, creation of sleeper cell network and motivate youths to join terrorism.

ED says that FIF received huge amounts of money through Hawala channels, and Dubai based Mohammad Kamran had sent funds to Mohammad Salman for their operations. Salman was arrested by NIA last year, and it was revealed that one mosque was built using money sent by terror financiers. According to reports, the Khulafa-e-Rashideen mosque in the Uttawar village of Palwal, Haryana was built with funds received from FIF. Mohammad Salman is an old Hawala operative and he had used ₹70 lakh received from FIF to build the mosque.

₹1.53 crore in cash and other items were recovered from Salman last year, and he is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. During investigations it was found that Salman used to send the receipt of money received and photographs of construction work done using the money through e-mail. Transactions of more the ₹4.70 crore through Hawala channel has been detected so far involving different operatives.

Last surviving member of Burhan Wani’s gang of Hizbul terrorists killed in Shopian encounter

OpIndia Staff
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Last surviving member of Burhan Wani’s gang of Hizbul terrorists killed in Shopian encounter

The last surviving member of the Burhan Wani led group belonging to the terrorist organisation, Hizbul-Mujahideen, Lateef Ahmad Dar alias Lateef Tiger has been neutralised in an encounter by security forces in Kashmir’s Shopian on Friday. With this, the 11 member group of Burhan Wani stands completely eliminated.

Media reports state that Lateef and another terrorist named Tariq Maulvi have been killed in an encounter in Shopian.


Slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s famous group photo, which went viral on social media in 2015, had 11 terrorists along with arms and ammunitions posed in it with Burhan in the centre, to announce the birth of “new-age militancy” in Kashmir.

Nine team members were already neutralised earlier and one team member had surrendered. Now with the last member, Lateef Tiger being killed, the entire Burhan Wani’ group stands eliminated.

Meanwhile, the operation which is underway was launched by a joint team of 34RR and Special Operations Group (SOG) in Adkhara area of Imam Sahib of Shopian district on Friday morning, following inputs on the presence of terrorists in the area.

Tariq Maulvi alias Mufti Wakas, another terrorist has also been killed in the encounter. However, authorities have not yet officially confirmed the news.

In the exchange of firing which took place between the security forces and terrorist, an Army man has been reportedly injured, while two more terrorists are still trapped in the area. The area has been cordoned off.

Mobile internet services have been snapped in south Kashmir by the authorities as a precautionary measure.

Following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Burhan Wani, on July 7, 2016, in an encounter in the Kokernag area of south Kashmir, Shopian district, which falls under Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency, became one of the worst violence-hit areas in Kashmir.

It is notable here that Burhan Wani was a dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist who was gunned down by Indian security forces in 2016. Wani’s death was used by scores of Kashmiri separatists and even Indian ‘liberals’ to peddle separatist narratives and had created months of unrest in the valley. Journalist Barkha Dutt had introduced Wani as the ‘son of a school headmaster’.

Pakistan had also attempted to fan the unrest in the valley by hailing Burhan Wani as a martyr. Former PM Nawaz Sharif had even addressed Wani as a ‘young leader’ in an address in the United Nations. Last year, in another brazen attempt, Pakistan had issued a series of postage stamps commemorating Wani and terrorists in Kashmir hailing them as martyrs.

India had reacted strongly to the stamp release and had proceeded to cancel a scheduled meeting between EAM Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Meanwhile, Pakistan continuing with its effort to exalt terrorists and celebrate radical Islamists has recently allowed the release of a movie on Burhan Wani’s life. Not only this, but it also has one of its legislator from Imran Khan’ party, named Aamir Liyaqat Hussain playing the role of Burhan Wani in the film.

However, details regarding the terrorist encounter are still emerging and there has been no official word yet.

Rahul Gandhi is like the Joker. He just wants to watch the world burn

Nirwa Mehta
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Rahul Gandhi is like the Joker. He just wants to watch the world burn

Remember Joker from The Dark Knight Rises? The menacing Joker who is wreaking havoc and chaos on the streets of Gotham taunts Harvey Dent, “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just… *do* things.”

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is just like that.

He is just throwing allegations without any base and would probably have no idea what to do if someone actually questions him. He may have apologised to the Supreme Court for wrongly attributing Congress campaign ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ to the apex court ‘in the heat of the moment’ but he is not done yet.

In his interview with India Today, Rahul Gandhi has shown how he doesn’t really have a plan except to wreak havoc and chaos.

The Gandhi scion was speaking on being persistent when the interviewer threw a softball question at him towards the end. Rahul Gandhi’s suggestion to improve fitness was ‘being persistent’. “You can’t run 5 km right now, but you can run 5 km if you’re persistent. We’ll get you to 5 km to 10 km to 20 km, to 200 km! But don’t start with the idea that you can’t do it. You can. All it takes is persistence,” said the ‘fitness freak’ (interviewer’s words) Rahul Gandhi.

He then topped it up with an example of persistence. “Everyone told me Mr Narendra Modi can’t be defeated. I said, Yeah, you really think so?’ I asked them, Tell me what Mr Narendra Modi’s strength is.’ They said, His strength is his [incorruptible] image.’ I said, Okay, I’m going to rip that strength to pieces. I’m going to take it and shred it.’ And I’ve done it. Persistence, my friend! Keep going and keep going and keep going. And I will keep going until the truth on Rafale is out!”

So it seems the only reason he has brought up the Rafale bogey is he wanted to ‘rip apart’ PM Modi’s strength of ‘incorruptible image’. To “take it and shred it”. Effectively, Rahul Gandhi persistently sent the country on a wild goose chase, cast aspersions of a defence scam, play with the nationalistic feelings of Indian citizens, brazen out the lies despite official clarifications even from the French partners only to destroy Modi’s image. Because, why let facts get in the way of creating chaos? Especially when you are a man with no plan.

In his NDTV interview, Rahul Gandhi had repeated this as well. That he has succeeded in shattering PM Modi’s ‘incorruptible image’. In fact, he had even prided in the fact that when he started off with the Rafale rhetoric, only 20% people believed that there was a scam in Rafale, whereas now, according to Congress’ ‘internal numbers’, 67% of the country believes that there is a scam in Rafale.

So it is not about corruption but the perception of corruption created to put a man who is known for his incorruptible image in a dock so that people start doubting it. To sow a seed of doubt in people’s mind because if a lie is repeated a thousand times, people start believing it as truth.

Rahul Gandhi claims in this interview that he does not lie. When questioned by the interviewer about ‘going after the big guys’ to curb corruption, Rahul Gandhi says, “It’s not a question of going after the big guys. It’s not like we’re going to be vindictive and go after anyone. There are laws. They must be followed.” This was in response to his lies regarding Rafale and how Anil Ambani was ‘given’ Rs 30,000 crore. See how Rahul Gandhi says the law will take its own course? Just a few minutes later, when the interviewer asks him where will the money for NYAY come from, “Some of this money is going to come from crony capitalists like Anil Ambani,” pat comes the reply.

If this is not being vindictive, I am not sure what is. Like his alter ego Arvind Kejriwal would say, on odd days he’s not vindictive and won’t go after ‘big guys’, but on even days, he will make sure money for his populist nightmare will come from ‘crony capitalists like Anil Ambani’. Earlier also he had said how the NYAY will be funded by money recovered from defaulters of bank loans. The money which actually belongs to the depositors. Rahul Gandhi then adds how they have already ‘tested’ the financial model for NYAY. Effectively, it means, he does not look like a man with a plan.

The interviewer, too, repeats the ‘Rs 15 lakh in bank account’ lie. This Rs. 15 lakh trope is being spread by Congress and its functionaries for the longest time. In reality, the Prime Minister had never promised that he would transfer Rs. 15 lakh in every citizen’s account. He had also mentioned Rs. 15 lakh as an indication of the quantum of black money stashed abroad.

Rahul Gandhi then says how his NYAY promise will not be a ‘lie’. He says that the money for NYAY “is not going to come from the middle class. That is my guarantee to you. That not a rupee of this thing is going to come out of your taxes. We’ve done the calculations, the money is going to come from present revenue streams, from reducing inefficiencies in government schemes and from better monetisation of government assets.” So, either Rahul Gandhi is lying, or his trusted lieutenants and advisers are lying.

If the money is going to come from ‘present revenue streams, from reducing inefficiencies in government schemes’, does that mean that if voted to power, Congress will kill all existing subsidies and make NYAY the mother of all scams? Gas, fertilizer, electricity, crop prices, MNREGA, health – will all these subsidies go to make way for NYAY? Those 3.6 lakh crore rupees ain’t coming on their own, no?

Sam Pitroda, veteran Congress ideologue and Rahul Gandhi’s advisor, has stated that the NYAY scheme will have to be funded by raising taxes for the middle class. In fact, Pitroda had even tried to guilt trip the middle class by asking them to have a ‘big heart’. Putting the onus of guilt on the middle class for worrying about taxes, Pitroda said, “How can you see poor people around you and worry that somebody might take a 10 paisa from you. That is not India.” Abhijit Banerjee, the economist who has been advising Congress in the formulation of the scheme had also stated that NYAY will have to be funded by rising inflation and new taxes.

Displaying his utter lack of comprehension, when the interviewer asks him whether he considers himself a naamdaar (dynast), Rahul Gandhi invokes his father and grandmother whom he has seen get killed but his experience is not same as theirs and hence calling him a dynast is too ‘simplistic’. You see, for the beautiful mind of Rahul Gandhi, he is not a dynast because despite being born into one of the most powerful political families, his experiences are different from that of his great grandfather, grandmother and father and hence he should not be called a ‘naamdaar’.

This interview of Rahul Gandhi reminded me of yet another dialogue from The Dark Knight. It is a conversation between Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred Pennyworth.

Bruce Wayne: [while in the underground bat cave] Targeting me won’t get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn’t go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.

Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.

Bruce Wayne: Criminals aren’t complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he’s after.

Alfred Pennyworth: With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that *you* don’t fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.

Bruce Wayne: So why steal them?

Alfred Pennyworth: Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Rahul Gandhi can’t be bullied or reasoned with because he isn’t looking for anything logical. He just wants to watch the world burn.

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