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A day after Priyanka Gandhi chickened out from contesting against PM Modi, Congress ecosystem launches a rescue operation

As Gandhi scion Priyanka Gandhi chickened out from contesting from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi fearing a huge loss, the Congress ecosystem was in a sense of trauma and blazed its guns against their masters for not unleashing their ‘Brahmastra’ against Narendra Modi.

A day later, the anguish of the ecosystem seems to have toned down as they have now launched a rescue mission to protect Priyanka Gandhi from further more ridicule and criticism. A series of theories are being put forward to defend Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s decision not to field his sister against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

Sam Pitroda, Indian Overseas Congress Chief has now come to rescue both the brother-sister duo by claiming that it was the decision of Priyanka Gandhi not to contest from Varanasi as she has other responsibilities. Pitroda added that Priyanka Gandhi gave a lot of thought and considered that she should not be contesting elections as she has a bigger job than just concentrating on one seat.


Swati Chaturvedi, abusive Congress troll, has come up with her own theories to make sure that her purported masters are protected from further embarrassment. According to Chaturvedi, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi did not want Priyanka Gandhi to start her political career with a defeat.

Another ‘journalist’ Saba Naqvi who is often known to indulge in fake propaganda for Aam Aadmi Party has an interesting story to tell. Naqvi claims that Samajwadi Party was not keen on Priyanka Gandhi contesting from Varanasi as it was allocated to them according to the agreed seat-sharing among the ‘Mahagathbandhan’. According to Naqvi, the Samajwadi Party did not want Priyanka Gandhi to contest as it would have divided votes. 


The Congress ecosystem never ceases to amaze with their sycophancy towards the Gandhi family. First, they had backed the Congress President Rahul Gandhi to take on Prime Minister Modi but soon realised that he was a ‘dud’. Soon came princess Priyanka Gandhi, who was thought to be a saviour but, she has chickened out too leaving them in the middle. It is rather interesting to see how would the ecosystem react after all the hullabaloo concerning Priyanka Gandhi.

Havan and Puja in UP, promoting man who butchered a calf in Kerala: The Rahul-Priyanka brand of ‘secularism’

The former Kerala Youth Congress President Rijil Makkutty who was supposedly suspended from Congress for dragging a calf and brutally butchering it in full public view in 2017 is now seen aggressively campaigning for the party in Kerala for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Photos of senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi socialising with Rijil Makkutty were posted by Rijil himself on his Social Media page.

Priyanka Gandhi and Rijil Makkutty (Source: Facebook)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi with Rijil Makkutty(Source: Facebook)

Rijil had uploaded his picture alongside Priyanka Gandhi on April 20, 2019, while she was on her visit to Kerala for addressing election rallies and public meetings. In another post uploaded by him on April 17, 2019, Rijil can be seen welcoming and greeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

In 2017, in defiance against the centre’s move to enforce a ban on cow slaughter, Rijil Makkutty along with his aides had dragged a calf and brutally slaughtered it. Cow is considered as a sacred animal by Hindus and the act of publically slaughtering a calf was meant to send a strong signal to Hindus and a pro-Hindu government at the center. Congress president Rahul Gandhi had then expressed his anguish and condemned the incident.


However, the charade of having a genuine concern for the feelings of Hindus stands exposed as Makkutty continues to remain involved in party activities. The agony expressed by Rahul Gandhi on Social Media as well as the suspension of Makkutty appears as an eyewash as no action seems to have been initiated against Rijil Makkutty.

The fact that Rahul had allowed Makkutty to continue to work for the Kerala State Congress unit asserts that he had no compunction in associating himself with someone who had wantonly hurt the Hindu sentiments by butchering a calf. The recent pictures of Rijil along with Rahul and Priyanka only reaffirm it.

In fact, within three weeks of the cow slaughter incident, though many Congress leaders claimed that there was no place for such elements in the party, Makkutty was seen presumably attending the plenary session of Congress. He was also seen carrying out other party-related activities in various social media posts.

The glaring duplicity exhibited by Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi shows that they have little regard for the sentiments of Hindus. Anti-Hindu elements in the party are not punished, instead, they are promoted to superior ranks to continue promulgating their hostile propaganda against Hindus. The party’s disposition towards Hindus and Hinduism has been quite obvious for some time now. Perhaps, this explains why Rahul Gandhi scurried away to Wayanad, a Hindu-minority region to file his nomination from the second seat.

There have been umpteen instances where Congress has appeared to betray Hindus. Recently, the Supreme Court verdict scotched the fabrication of ‘Hindu Terror’ concocted by the Congress party to malign the Hindus. A few days back, Congress had released a video in which they had depicted Hindu religious symbols of ‘Tripundra’ and saffron flags in a slanderous form to depict the Hindus as ‘extremists’.

Actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar, who has recently joined the Congress, was also quick to voice Congress’ stand vis-vis Hinduism. Vilifying Hinduism, Urmila claimed that of Hinduism has become the most violent religion in the world.

So, though Congress machinery may organise a large number of temple runs for their president and other assorted measures like havans and pujas to dispel suspicion among Hindus regarding their anti-Hindu disposition but incidents such as socialising with a cow butcher unmask their true intent and their apathy towards Hindu sentiments.

The hypocrisy and delusions: Raj Thackeray as the saviour for India’s liberals is both sad and hilarious

A man who cannot win a single MP has emerged as the grand hope of India’s ‘secular’ liberals to stop the Modi juggernaut. Let that sink in.

Remember the time when MNS goons were accused of attacking “North Indian” students appearing for Railway Board entrance exams in Mumbai? What better way to capture liberal hypocrisy, desperation and bankruptcy with a single event than to watch them sing praises of Raj Thackeray?

It started out small enough, with isolated liberals pointing out that MNS workers can “give it back to the bhakts“.

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The man getting beaten up is an ordinary citizen who had dared to insult Raj Thackeray on Facebook. Goons showed up at his home and beat him up for a Facebook comment. Such liberalism.

What started small soon turned into a wave of liberal admiration for Raj Thackeray. His speeches were soon being subtitled in Hindi and English for circulation all across the country. You can imagine the scale of this when liberal outlets start publishing apologia telling liberals they can stop feeling guilty about promoting Raj Thackeray.

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In that astonishing piece, Shivam Vij even manages to drag Mahatma Gandhi and Baba Saheb Ambedkar while making his case for ‘liberals’ promoting Raj Thackeray. Apparently, because “issues are more important than people”. How far will this argument go? Watch this space carefully.

Perhaps Indian liberalism is at a point where nothing can surprise us any more.

The part that offends me is their hypocrisy. The part that amuses me is their delusion.

Do they realize that Raj Thackeray is not even contesting the Lok Sabha election? He is still doing “rallies”, which may or may not be for his personal amusement. And this man who cannot even win a single MP is supposed to save India’s liberals from Modi?

The last Assembly elections in Maharashtra in 2014 ended with MNS winning only a single MLA in the 289 member house. In the civic polls of 2017, the MNS lost badly in the one corporation it had enjoyed power in, which was Nashik. Little seems to have changed for him since then and certainly not for the better.

The people rejected MNS and its politics a long time ago. Raj himself read the writing on the wall and decided to bow out of electoral politics. Everyone is going into Election 2019 with their eyes open. Except for the liberals, who are pretending to sleep.

Think for a moment about what Indian liberalism has to offer. They don’t care if “North Indians” are beaten up in Maharashtra. They would rather care about the Rohingya infiltrating across the border. Those who pretend to care about “Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb” would gladly tell the poor Bihari labourer to pack up his bags and leave Mumbai if it helps with their larger cause of defeating Modi.

This should not surprise you if you look at the long list of “anti-Modi heroes” that liberals have nursed over the last several years.

Take Hardik Patel. A man who goes around with a cap that says “I am Patidar” is supposed to be the saviour of India. What a way to awaken Indian youth into a new dawn of liberalism than to have them go around with their caste written on their caps?

Indeed, the Jatav+Yadav caste politics of the BSP+SP in Uttar Pradesh, together with the Muslim vote, is today the bedrock of Indian ‘liberalism’. Can any liberal describe any real manner in which Dalits have been uplifted due to Mayawati? Of course not. If Mayawati wants to build statues of herself with public money, that’s fine with them. As long as she spares a few crumbs for the power brokers in Lutyens Delhi.

Then, there was former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah. Remember him and the time he called India’s Prime Minister a “North Indian import”? Indian liberalism embraced his politics. But people didn’t. So liberals forgot all about him as soon as the results from Karnataka came out.

One day after assuming office as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath told the people of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to stay out of his state.

That’s the new idea of India : Biharis not welcome in Madhya Pradesh, Hindi speakers not welcome in Maharashtra and Karnataka, but Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshi infiltrators welcome in each and every district in the country.

Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, you see.

Supreme Court upholds the Election Commission’s decision to ban the release of Modi biopic during elections

The Supreme Court has refused to lift the ban on the release of Vivek Oberoi’s biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, upholding the ban imposed by the Election Commission (EC). As a result, the biopic PM Narendra Modi will not be released before May 19.


Refusing to interfere with the decision of the Election Commission, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said that it was not inclined to entertain the application filed by the producers of the movie. The producers had argued that the order of the Election Commission banning the release of the biopic is contrary to the clearance given by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

The Election Commission had stalled the release of the movie saying that the movie was likely to tilt the balance in favour of a political party thereby disturbing the level playing field. The EC further termed the movie as eulogising a political representative and showing the opposition parties in a bad light. “This can be categorised as hagiography,” the EC had said in its response submitted before the SC. The film was watched by senior officers of the poll panel on April 17.

The Court had asked the EC to watch the movie and file a report citing the objections it has with it. The commission had filed the report yesterday after watching the movie, in which they had cited 17 dialogues as a reason for banning the movie during elections. The EC had told the Supreme Court that PM Narendra Modi is not only a biopic, but the movie has dialogues, symbols, and presentation that “eulogises a public representative”.

The movie was earlier set to release on April 11 but it was stayed from releasing by the Election Commission for the violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). On April 9 the Supreme Court had given its approval for the release of the movie by refusing to stay its release, but the court had left it upon the Election Commission to see if the movie violates the Model Code of Conduct.

 

‘Anti-communist’ Javed Akhtar campaigns for proud communist and CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar

Noted lyricist and famed propagandist Javed Akhtar recently campaigned for self-avowed Communist and candidate for the CPI from Begusarai, Kanhaiya Kumar. During an election meeting at the constituency, Akhtar also took a dig at Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for his communal speech.

Akhtar claimed that Kanhaiya was facing charges of sedition for standing up for truth. He remarked that if voters weren’t planning on voting for Kanhaiya, then they should say Assalum Aleikum (the Islamic form of greeting) to Giriraj Singh, the BJP candidate, and vote for him as that way, the BJP candidate will be grateful to them at least.

Akhtar campaigning for a Communist is a bit confusing as in the past, he has vociferously opposed the ideology. In the past, Akhtar has made comments along the lines of, “If Communism is your faith, then you are as bad as a religious person.” Considering the particularly harsh remarks he has made against Communists, his support for Kanhaiya appears even more incredulous.


For Kanhaiya, Communism certainly is his faith. According to the professional JNU protester, Communism is the “highest form of humanism”. In the two minute interviews linked below, Kanhaiya speaks of the ideology in very religious terms. He speaks a lot without really saying anything. In the end, he comes across as a phoney messiah who is selling his own favoured brand of God’s will.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuuH3GJIvPk]

Therefore, if Javed Akhtar was even remotely principled, he would have refrained from campaigning for Kanhaiya. While his earlier comments about communists and religious people being equally bad by virtue of their beliefs were too extreme and reek of the usual arrogance and intellectual bankruptcy of liberals, his campaigning for Kanhaiya only reveals the thorough lack of integrity and the utterly hypocritical standards of the celebrity class.

Javed Akhtar’s hypocrisy is quite well known. For all his secularism, Akhtar has maintained a tactical silence over the intolerance of Islamic radicals. On another occasion, while he had defended M.F. Hussain’s offensive portrayals of Hindu Gods as mere different expressions of existing traditions, he had condemned Salman Rushdie for allegedly writing derogatory content regarding Islam. Despite his apparent love for secularism, his attacks on religion always revolve around Hinduism. And now, it appears, despite his critique of Communism, perhaps he has never been averse towards the ideology after all.

PepsiCo sues potato farmers for growing the variety used for Lays Chips

The multinational company, Pepsico, has sued 9 potato farmers for growing and selling a potato variety used in the Lay’s chips. The case would be heard in a court in Ahmedabad on April 26.

As per reports, in the litigation filed by Pepsico, they claimed, “This was done to protect our rights and safeguard the larger interest of farmers that are engaged with us and who are using and benefitting from seeds of our registered variety.” The company is suing 9 farmers of Gujarat in the case.

Farmer activists, on the other hand, approached the agriculture and farmers welfare ministry on Thursday to publicly support the farmer’s rights under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 and to immediately withdraw cases filed by PepsiCo India Holdings. They accused Pepsico of intimidating the farmers and infringing upon the rights of small farmers.

PepsiCo claims to have obtained the exclusive rights over a potato variety called FC-5.

In a letter sent to Ministry, the activists have said that the farmers have every right to produce and sell a protected variety of seeds and that Pepsico can’t claim intellectual property right on it. The letter also sought funds from the government.

“Provide from the National Gene Fund the costs of legal suits that the farmers are having to face, until the time that the cases are withdrawn by PepsiCo. Issue a notification that no company can trespass into a farmer’s field without due intimation of the local district agriculture office and the farmer’s prior informed consent,” it said.

Farmers cite the Section 39 of the PPV&FR Act, 2001 which reportedly says that a farmer is allowed “To save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under the Act” so long as he does not sell “branded seed”. On the other hand, Pepsico claims that its rights were being infringed upon by citing Section 64 of the same Act.

The President of Gujarat Khedut Samaj, Jayesh Patel said that in the previous year, Pepsico had a contract-farming agreement for producing a particular potato variety. The farmers had used the potatoes that were rejected by the company, as substandard produce, as seeds to grow their own produce this year. The company is suing them for this and seeks royalty from them.

Badribhai Joshi of the Gujarat Khedut Samaj said “These are among the first cases of alleged IPR infringement against farmers in India in a post-WTO world. Wrongly decided, these could set a wrong precedent impacting farmers’ livelihoods quite adversely”.

Why I think Prime Minister Modi will win 2019 and why some people won’t believe in it

As the Elections 2019 draw to an end, the desperation rises among the intellectual gang which has even till yesterday considered Narendra Modi in the government as an aberration. Those who were amused, surprised and often aghast at common individuals coming forward, investing their time and money to promote Narendra Modi as a national cause, are now downright dejected. They tried confusing the electorate by creating fake demons out of windmills. The insecurities of all kinds were played out, from minority under danger to judiciary under danger to democracy under danger, nothing was left out. Nothing seems to have succeeded.

Rahul Gandhi did not give them much to play around with. Priyanka Vadra who was launched as Brahmastra too has now, it seems left them in the lurch. What comes out of the refusal of Priyanka Vadra to fight against Modi from Varanasi is nothing but an evidence of the fact that for the first family of Congress,  the grand, old party itself has become nothing but the handmaiden to the first family. The party, if the murmurs are to be believed, has been telling Rahul Gandhi to stop his chants of Rafale, since no one believes in his charges. The entitled prince, who when not even in the cabinet tore off an ordinance approved by the cabinet, refused to listen, so charmed is he with his own rhetoric, even after the courts and CAG, both judicial and constitutional bodies, gave clean chit to Modi on the cooked up corruption charges. Rahul Gandhi seemingly has been emboldened by the historic blunder of trumped-up Kargil Coffin-gate scam, which ended the political career of George Fernandes, before the case was thrown out of Supreme Court. He does not understand that India has moved since. He has become a typical habitual liar who cannot be trusted even when telling his name. I meant it as a saying but then he is Rahul Gandhi or Raul Vinci? Rahul Gandhi and his brazen, stubborn and tiresome jibe of Chowkidar Chor hai is best explained by Jonathan Swift in his essay The Art of Political Lying when he writes,

“A political lie is sometimes born out of a discarded statesman’s head and thence delivered to be nursed and dandled by the mob.”

But then, I think, no such deliberations might have gone into it. Maybe he is not driven to the lies by his political necessities. Maybe he simply is enjoying being a thorough liar and the power that allows him to go around unquestioned about his lies. The man has no scruples and an immense satisfaction is quite evident on his face when he utters something stupid and vile. He seems to simply enjoy being ill-mouthed and untruthful. He seems to have developed a taste for perjury, almost to the point of addiction.  There is contempt case now against him in the highest court of the country as he tried to make the Supreme Court a party to his abuses and untruths. He walks out with a half-hearted apology and then repeats his lies again.

The problem with Rahul Gandhi is that he is not a sincere man. The left-liberal cabal which maintained a stranglehold over the independent thought in this nation over the last Seven decade, living at the crumbs the royals threw at the courtiers, is fast losing hope. They tried to make Nationalism, development, religious freedom and culture as mutually exclusive choices. They need not be and citizens were quick to note that. Indian people understood that Growth and Nationalist are not Either-Or choices. With Modi, they can have both. Modi’s 2014 election was a test of hope, an optimistic audacity, almost a flight of fancy. The campaign of 2014 was marked with a sense of euphoria, with foamy effervescence. There was a request from the party, towards the people, a nudge, a push, to elect Modi.

The 2019 campaign is much more well-settled on the ground, solid and subtle. In 2014, it was the party, the nationalist BJP wanted people to vote for them. In 2019, it is the people who want to vote for Narendra Modi, because they do not want to vote for Chrisislamist Congress supportive of Balkanization of India. (I did not want to write in such absolute terms but I am getting tired of people like Sushil Aaron who write with impunity and blatant disregard of intellectual integrity on global platforms like New York Times calling BJP as Hindu Nationalist party, in a hope to polarize Indian elections on communal lines, to favour Rahul Gandhi.

They are the people who are confused by the fact that even when they believe themselves to have led the common masses to an abyss of death and doom with fake stories of intolerance and hatred, the unwashed masses simply refuse to jump into the dark depth of family slavery. They are amused because they keep on feeding stories of re-emergence of Rahul Gandhi for the umpteenth time and no one any longer believes in them. They know the truth, but they believe that the undecided voters might still go with those they believe to be winning party, irrespective of the merit. In the process, they either convince themselves that Narendra Modi will lose and once again they will be deciding the intellectual direction for the nation, which the common people will follow like an obedient, unthinking herd of sheep.

They have been trying to convince people of lies so hard and for such a long time, that they have themselves begun believing in it. So they are again making foolish political predictions. And these poor political pundits remind me of that old essay of George Orwell on political predictions. George Orwell wrote on Political Predictions long time back something which rings true even today for Indian intellectuals predicting the political outcome of the elections favouring Rahul Gandhi, declaring a definite rout of Narendra Modi. Orwell writes:

“..Political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome….One could point to countless other instances of people hugging quite manifest delusions because the truth would be wounding their pride.”

This is almost reflective of the Indian intellectual scene. Those who claim to hold the charge of intellectual priesthood merely on account of their closeness to Nehru-Gandhi family fail to notice the apathy with which Rahul Gandhi goes absconding from Amethi after letting the constituency fall to abject ruin as the lowest income district in the state, on account of stupid and stubborn neglect as elected parliamentarian from the constituency. They ignore the fact that both the members of the first family sitting in the parliament riding on almost slavish faith of the people of Rai Bareli and Amethi are among the worst-performing parliamentarian on the basis of independent assessment. They will ignore the development Narendra Modi has provided to Gujarat earlier as the Chief Minister and to Varanasi now as an MP in the last five years.

They will ignore that people in 2014 voted for Modi because Modi wanted them to Vote him into power. On the contrary, in the current elections, people will vote for Modi because they want to vote for Modi. Modi is no longer a factor behind the now almost-certain Modi win in 2019 election. BJP wanting Narendra Modi to win and Narendra Modi wanting to return to power is no longer of any consequence. People will vote him into power even if he goes for vacations for the rest of the polling phases. It is the people of India who want Modi to be back in the power, rejecting the dynastic despot. After decades of silence, they have found their voice and are finally speaking. The democracy of India is now coming of age. It knows what it wants and does not need demagogues to make choices for them. The invested intellectuals of compromised integrity will ignore this truth because the acknowledgement of this truth is also an acknowledgement of their own irrelevance. They will ignore this truth because it wounds their pride. This is the truth which will explain the victory of Narendra Modi. He will win not because he wants to win. Narendra Modi will win because the people of India want him to win.

Congress manages to insult the memory of Pulwama martyrs and make fun of Nehru in one stroke

On a day when an artist received a complaint about a satire morphed image, the official Twitter handle of the Congress party posted a shocking morphed image on Twitter. And by doing so, the Congress party managed to mock the victims of Pulwama terror attacks and India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with a single digitally edited image.


The Congress party used a photograph of a meeting of National Security Council Meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and morphed a photograph of Jawaharlal Nehru to look like as if he is peeking through the door while laughing with a funny face. They used this caption with the image, “that awkward moment when you’re all thinking the same thing & someone says it out loud.”

In the photograph, The ministers belonging to the Cabinet Committee of security and NSA Ajit Doval are seeing having a deep thought, and the Congress party implied that everyone is thinking that Modi government will lose the ongoing parliament elections.

The meeting seen in the photograph took place on 3rd March this year, days after the high military tension between India and Pakistan following the horrific terror attack in Pulwama. The PM, senior ministers and the NSA were discussing a very serious matter when the country was at the brink of a full-blown war with nuclear powered Pakistan, but the Congress party thinks it is a matter of fun. By posting the image, the Congress party has insulted the memories of victims of Pulwama terror attack.

Although Congress wanted to mock BJP, they also ended up mocking their own Jawaharlal Nehru by photoshopping him in the manner that they did. In the edited image, it looks like while the members of the current govt are serious about the matter of governance, Nehru’s image gives a completely opposite impression about him.

More importantly, Congress used Nehru’s image from a photo which many people use to suggest that the former PM was flirting with Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of the last viceroy of British India, while rest of the India was busy fighting for Independence.

That image is often used to mock Jawaharlal Nehru, and Congress party chose to use the digitally colourised version of the same image thinking they are mocking Narendra Modi.

In one swift motion, with one edited picture, Congress not only insulted the martyrs of the dastardly Pulwama terror attack but also mocked former PM Jawaharlal Nehru. To take an image where the country’s government was contemplating how the terror attack mounted by Pakistan must be avenged and how the country must be kept safe from Pakistan sponsored terrorists, is nothing short of irresponsible and insensitive coming from the oldest political party of the country. It only signifies that Congress won’t shy away from using solemn, serious occasions of national importance for their own petty political aims.

The Prime Minister’s roadshow at Varanasi was a reflection of the liberals’ worst nightmare

On the 25th of April, 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party organized a roadshow in Varanasi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the centre of attention. Varanasi, the city older than time itself, overflowed with a sea of saffron as people thronged to the streets to welcome the Prime Minister in his constituency.

PM Modi roadshow in Varanasi ahead of filing nomination

The entire event emphasized strongly on Narendra Modi’s Hindu identity. After paying tributes to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya during the roadshow, the Prime Minister performed the Ganga Aarti with his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, was also present at the scene dressed in his traditional Saffron attire.

The Hindu imagery that dominated the roadshow and the events that followed was only to be expected as the venue for it was one of the most sacred cities for Hindus. However, it appears the symbolism of it all did not go down too well with liberals and secularists.


It’s understandable why liberals reacted so strongly against the roadshow at Varanasi. Narendra Modi is a refutation of the brand of politics they have attempted to create through the establishment. He embraces his Hindu identity, is rooted in Indian traditions and is proud of its rich culture and heritage. He does not put much emphasis on his caste either. It puts him at odds with the entirety of the political establishment.

Liberals wouldn’t have been bothered too much had the flags at Varanasi been green instead of saffron. At Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Wayanad ahead of filing his nomination, his parade was littered with the green flags of the Muslim League with their Islamic crescents. Secularism isn’t hurt when the President of the main opposition party allies himself with minority parties that even Communists deem too radical. Secularism is not hurt when the Islamic crescent is seen at Rahul Gandhi’s roadshow. However, Narendra Modi performing Ganga Aarti is the real threat to secularism according to the intellectual brigade.

Source: National Herald

In a great many ways, Narendra Modi has decisively shifted the Overton Window of Indian politics towards Hindutva. And he has done so in a way that the Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee couldn’t during his tenure as Prime Minister. Under Narendra Modi, the worst of liberals’ nightmares have come true. At this moment, Hindutva is no longer the counter-ideology of Indian politics, it is mainstream now. And to the great dismay of secularists and liberals, their ideology is now lying neglected in the dustbin of electoral politics.

India will no longer be held hostage to minority appeasement under the garb of secularism. Hindus will no longer be shamed into abandoning their traditions and their culture. Hindus will defend the ancient ways of their ancestors and protect the heritage for the generations to come. As much a consequence of the Hindu revival that Narendra Modi’s rise in national politics is, he has also contributed significantly towards cementing it and translating it into concrete benefits.

Liberals are especially scared because they realize they have lost their monopoly over the narrative as well as the ability to force people into buying what they are selling. Despite their screeching, a Warrior Priest of the Nath Sampradaya cloaked in Saffron was appointed the Chief Minister of the country’s most populous state. Despite all their whining, a victim of the Secular state who was tortured and framed for terrorism because the establishment wished to invent Hindu Terror will contest the elections against someone who was at the forefront of the Hindu Terror narrative. All of this could not have happened without the Modi-Shah juggernaut establishing its stranglehold in Indian politics.

BJP President Amit Shah has reiterated on several occasions that the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections could be deemed to be the Fourth Battle of Panipat. Perhaps, when he made the proclamation, even he couldn’t have guessed how appropriate an analogy it would be. The Congress President’s candidature from a constituency where Hindus are in the minority perfectly encapsulates the significance of the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections.

That Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Wayanad as a safe seat and Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi represents the great difference in vision that the Congress party and the BJP have for the country. In Varanasi lies the heart of Hinduism. In Wayanad, Dharma is at its lowest ebb.

At this juncture, the battle is clearly not limited to Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi alone or the BJP versus the rest. It’s also a battle between Saffron and the brand of secularism that cloaks itself under a garb of green. It’s also a battle between Varanasi, the oldest city in history, and what it represents and the Secularism that is most comfortable when flags with Islamic crescents fly high. In 2019, it is the battle between Nehruvian Secularism and Hindutva. And as of now, Hindutva appears to have the definitive edge.

Fugitive Nirav Modi’s bail rejected for the third time, next hearing set on May 30

A court in the UK has rejected the bail application of fugitive Indian diamond tycoon Nirav Modi for the third time. As per the latest reports, the judge, in. a brief hearing remanded Nirav Modi in custody till May 24.

The judge has scheduled a next full-hearing for Nirav Modi on May 30.

Fugitive businessman Nirav Modi, who is undergoing extradition procedure after UK government had found his case fit for extradition, had appeared before the London court for a remand hearing on Friday.

The fraudster, who has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in south-west London since his arrest last month, is set to be produced before a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via video link from the jail.

The hearing this week takes place as per the four-week time frame for judicial remand in such cases.

The hearing was scheduled after Nirav Modi failed his second attempt to seek bail after his arrest on March 20, 17 months after he fled India, by Scotland Yard officers from a central London bank branch, while he had been trying to open a new bank account and since then has been in custody at the HMP Wandsworth prison in south-west London. The first bail plea was rejected by District Judge Marie Mallon soon after his arrest.

Amusingly his desperation had forced his defence team to use his pet dog in their pursuit to get Nirav Modi out of jail but failed in their attempt.

The fugitive diamantaire’s “lack of community ties” in the UK and his attempt to acquire Vanuatu’s citizenship in late 2017 went against him as the judge said it seemed like he was trying to “move away from India at an important time”.

Meanwhile, Toby Cadman, representing crown prosecution on behalf of Indian authorities, had argued that there was a “substantial risk” that the prime accused in the PNB fraud case would flee and attempt to interfere with witnesses and evidence.

After hearing the arguments of both the defence and prosecution teams, Judge Arbuthnot accepted the Indian government’s arguments, noting the “very unusual” evidence she had seen at this early stage in the case of interference with witnesses and destroying evidence in the form of mobile phones and a server and rejected the bail application.

Meanwhile, the hearing on Friday is expected to be procedural unless some new factors are placed before the court to consider. Modi can make a third bail application at Westminster Magistrates’ Court but only if the grounds for the bail plea are substantially different.

Nirav Modi, his wife Ami Modi, brother Nishal Modi, and uncle Mehul Choksi are accused defrauding Punjab National Bank to the tune of Rs 14,356 crore by obtaining Letter of Undertaking without furnishing any guarantee.