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West Bengal: Singur farmers express regret over their ‘mistake’ of forcing Tata out, feel used by political parties

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Singur farmers express regret over their ‘mistake’ of forcing Tata out, feel used by political parties

Years after the Tata Manufacturing plant was shifted out of West Bengal’s Singur to Gujarat’s Sanand, the farmers involved in the agitation against the Tata behemoth have expressed their regret for the agitation that led to the expulsion. Though they got their lands back, the farmers feel cheated as the land is uncultivable and the town doesn’t have enough jobs for them says a report in DNA.

According to the farmers who took a march to Kolkata last year to demand setting up of industries in the region, they were used by political parties in the agitation that culminated into Tata leaving Singur district for their Nano car production. They asserted that if they get a chance to atone for their “mistake”, they would eagerly give away their land for setting up industries in Singur.

In 2006-2007, the Left Front government was facing a severe headwind from the anti-land acquisition movement against the government, resulting in the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC’s victory in the elections. Singur was at the centre of attention as the farmers in the region protested against the establishment of Nano Car production facility in their district.

However, today the disenchanted farmers, having realised that they had been used as cannon fodder by the politicians have expressed remorse over their decision to agitate against the Tata conglomerate. One of the farmers, Ashok Maity said, “We got nothing out of the agitation. We were used and later dumped to fend for ourselves by the political parties to serve their own purposes. No industries came up in the region, nor the land which was returned to us in 2016 is cultivable. We are living in extreme poverty.”

The farmers in the region had to fight a long and enervating legal battle to get hold of their land. Ashok and his brother got 60 kottah of land. However, the land they got was converted into concrete or covered with wreckage. The agricultural experts believe that with the concrete pillars and slabs on the ground, at least 7-8 inches of topsoil will have to be removed to make it arable again. It is a costly measure and the farmers are not in the position to bear the expenses. Without this procedure, it might take 10 more years for the land to turn tillable.

Many farmers in the district echo Maity’s sentiments. They claim that they were influenced by the political hysteria around the anti-land acquisition movement and got duped by it. They believe if they had provided their land for the industries, Singur would have turned into a teeming industrial town, creating and offering jobs to many and their children wouldn’t have to forage other states in search of jobs.

Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Kisan Sabha leader Amal Haldar claimed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) exploited a division of the farmers for their political ascendancy, thereby causing a monumental loss to the state. Farmers were categorised into classes-“willing” and “unwilling”. Haldar said, ” “Only a handful of farmers were not relenting to give their land and for the remaining, who couldn’t give their land, it was mainly due to lack of proper paperwork and family disputes. The TMC party ill-advised this group for its political benefit and the state lost a golden opportunity.”

After the Supreme Court, the farmers got the land in 2016. However, they quickly realised that the land was not cultivable without spending a fortune on it to make it arable. The lack of employment opportunities in the district forced many farmers to escape to the nearby cities, in search of jobs. Sensing the fury among the farmers, now the political parties have promised of industrialising the district if voted to power in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

Defending his party, the local TMC MLA Becharam Manna, who was one of the notable faces of the 2006 protests, asserted that his party has done a lot and has been committed for the betterment of the farmers. The BJP candidate from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee has alleged the TMC of exploiting the farmers for their political gains. He has ensured that if he is elected to power, he will bring the industries in the region. The incumbent TMC MP Ratna De Nag said measures will be taken at the earliest to make the land cultivable.

Easter Sunday suicide bombers visited Kerala, Kashmir and Bengaluru: Sri Lanka’s army chief

OpIndia Staff
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Easter Sunday suicide bombers visited Kerala, Kashmir and Bengaluru: Sri Lanka’s army chief

In an interview with BBC published on Friday, Sri Lanka’s Army chief Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake has stated that the suicide bombers of the April 21 Easter Sunday bombings had visited Kashmir, Kerala and Bangalore, possibly for training.

Every since Easter Sunday attacks, Indian agencies have been trying to ascertain an Indian connection with the bombings. The statement by the Army chief is the first official confirmation of the terrorists having travelled to India.

“They had gone to India, travelling to Bangalore, Kashmir and Kerala state, (according to) information available with us,” Senanayake said.

When enquired about the purpose of the visits, Senanayake said that they would have visited for the purpose of training or establishing links with other foreign groups.

On being probed further on why Sri Lanka was targeted, the Army chief stated that people of the country had been enjoying peace for 10 years and have forgotten the 26-year war that the country had to face. He said that the country had too much freedom and that they have neglected security issues.

It is notable here that the Sri Lankan government had admitted earlier that there had been major lapses in security and intelligence that eventually led to the attacks. As per reports, Indian intelligence agencies had warned the Sri Lankan authorities about possible attacks on 4, 10, 16, 20 April and for the last time just two hours before the Easter bombings. The last warning had even included the names of the three churches that were under threat.

“We had some information and intelligence-sharing, situations and military intelligence on a different direction and the others were different and there was a gap that everybody could see today,” said the Army chief in response to the query on the intelligence failure of the Sri Lankan security forces. The NIA had warned the Sri Lankan agencies in advance on the basis of raids on ISIS modules in India.

ISIS had claimed responsibility for the blasts. The sons of one of the richest and politically well-connected man were found to be two of the suicide bombers. The family is under interrogation after the wife of one of the bombers triggered another suicide blast to kill policemen in their Colombo dwelling.

However, a senior Indian official at the home ministry reportedly said, “Sri Lanka hasn’t shared any such information with us. Importantly, Sri Lankan security agencies themselves have ruled this out after the investigation.” As of now, Indian agencies haven’t announced any Kashmir link with the bombings in Sri Lanka.

Indian officials believe that at least two suicide bombers had travelled to India in 2017. The preacher Maulvi Zahran Bin Hashim, the leader of Sri Lanka National Towheed Jama’at (NTJ), who is responsible for the Easter Sunday attacks had visited India before. It is notable here that the NTJ has an Indian arm operational in Tamil Nadu.

UN agency praises India for achieving minimal loss of life during Cyclone Fani

OpIndia Staff
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UN agency praises India for achieving minimal loss of life during Cyclone Fani

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (ODRR) has praised India for achieving a minimal loss of life from Cyclone Fani. The global organization credited the Indian Meteorological Department for this feat on Friday.

“They seem to have done a very good job in terms of minimizing the possibility for loss of life. The almost pinpoint accuracy of the warnings, the early warnings from the IMD, allows them to conduct a very well targeted evacuation plan which resulted in 1.1 million people mainly moving to about 900 cyclone shelters,” said Denis McClean, a spokesperson for the ODRR said at a UN news briefing in Geneva.

Cyclone Fani, an extremely severe cyclonic storm hit Odisha on the East coast on Friday at an alarming wind speed of 175-kmph (maximum). Fani is considered as the strongest storm in about 20 years. The destructive storm has claimed 10 lives when reports last came in today.

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG), Mami Mizutori said that India’s policy of zero casualties is a major contribution to the Sendai Framework. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 is a 15-year voluntary, non-binding agreement. According to this framework, the state has a primary role in mitigating disaster while the responsibilities are to be shared among other stakeholders.

In the wake of the disastrous storm, UNICEF had raised concerns about the children in the cyclone-prone areas. It had expressed its worry on climate change the devastation would cause them. While India has been hit by Cyclone Fani, Mozambique was hit by back-to-back cyclones in March and April causing serious damage to the lives of the children in the country.

“Children will bear the brunt of these disasters. In the short term, the most vulnerable children are at the risk of drowning and landslides, deadly diseases including cholera and malaria, malnutrition from reduced agricultural production, and psychological trauma all of which are compounded when health centers and schools are impacted,” UNICEF Senior Adviser on Climate Change, Gautam Narasimhan said.

Narasimhan asserted that in the long term, cycles of poverty would continue to hinder the capacity of communities to adapt and mitigate natural disasters. Cyclone Fani will move to the north-northwest parts and is expected to hit Bangladesh where coastal flooding is expected to cause damage.

Earlier we had reported how Cyclone Fani is expected to escalate into an extremely severe storm and would move towards the north-west in India’s eastern coast until May 1. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha have been warned to brace for extreme weather conditions including strong winds, heavy rainfall, and rough seas.

Mamata Banerjee climbs out of her car to confront people chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, claims abuses were hurled at her

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee climbs out of her car to confront people chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, claims abuses were hurled at her

A video has gone viral on social media where Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal, could be seen getting down from her vehicle after hearing chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and confronting the people who shouted the slogan as her vehicle was passing by.


The video was shared on Twitter by Saahil Murli Menghani, anchor and senior correspondent at CNN News18. The events occurred at Chandrakona, West Midnapore.

Mamata got down from her vehicle, quite visibly displeased with the slogans, and yelled “Where are you running away? Where are you running?” The people who raised the slogan, apparently, did not expect her to and made a run for it considering the political climate of the state at the moment. They could not be seen in the video but the chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ were quite audible and it was raised by more than one person.

At the very end of the 23-second clip, she could be heard saying “Gaala-Gaali dichhey”, that is, she appears to claim that abuses were being hurled at her. From the video, its seems that people were only raising chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Thus, it begs the question, is ‘Jai Shri Ram’ an abuse according to Mamata Banerjee?

The West Bengal CM, who has been described as a ‘street fighter‘ by people like Shekhar Gupta, has been trying hard to shed her anti-Hindu image amidst rising polarization in the state. She has been chanting Mantras during rallies, made donations of Rs. 28 crores to Durga Puja committees last year and has been struggling hard to play the ‘Soft Hindutva’ card. However, she still appears to get irked when she hears the name of Shri Rama. It is unlikely to go down well with Hindus in the state.

The video aptly demonstrates the saffron surge in West Bengal. Narendra Modi’s rallies have been attracting huge crowds in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to increase its seat tally by a significant margin. Political violence has been rampant in the state, so has been rigging. Therefore, it remains to be seen the extent to which this fervour translates into votes.

Fact Check: Former Congress minister lies about the railways tariff hike under 5 years of the Modi government

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Former Congress minister lies about the railways tariff hike under 5 years of the Modi government

In keeping up with their party president Rahul Gandhi’s tradition of blatantly lying, Senior Congress leader Subodh Kant Sahai took to Twitter to spread lies about the increase in tariff fares of the Indian Railways. Sahai asserted that there has been a 60 per cent price hike in the Railway fares under the Modi government.


Sahai has said in his tweet that the cost of railway journey in India since BJP came to power has steadily increased. Alleging 60 per cent tariff hike, Sahai also made an outlandish claim that the government is conspiring to sell away the land held by railways.

However, the change in the Railway tariff rates over the last 5 years suggest something else. The Modi government had hiked the Railway fares just once in the last 5 years. During its first year at the centre, the Modi government had raised the ticket prices by 10% in all classes, excluding the Fuel Adjustment Component(FAC) which was pegged at about 4.2%.

Increase/Decrease in Railways fare over the years, courtesy: Ministry of Railways

From the above chart, the cumulative increase in the Railways fare has been 14.2%. Since 2014-2015 Railways Budget, there has been no increase in the tariffs of the Railways across all the classes except the inclusion of Dynamic Flexi-fare pricing in Premium Trains such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. In fact, the Railways scrapped the Dynamic pricing altogether in 2018 and for the first time, graded discounts up to 50% were being offered on select trains by the Railways.

Even in the interim budget 2019, there had been no hike in the passenger fare and the freight charges. The national transporter also saw the highest ever capital expenditure allocation of Rs 1.58 lakh crores in the last budget.

The Railways under the Modi government has been witnessing progress by leaps and bounds with special emphasis given to the safety of the passengers and the cleanliness of the trains and stations. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced in the interim budget 2019 that Railways had been able to achieve its target of eliminating all unmanned crossings. He also launched a massive campaign of beautification of Railway stations as a part of Swachh Bharat Mission to improve the visual appeal of the Stations across the country and provide first-class facilities to the travellers.

Railways have also digitally enabled 1500 Railway stations across the country, providing Free WiFi services to the passengers. In fact, the Ministry of Railways provided Free WiFi to 500 stations in just 7 days. The Government is currently mulling over enhancing the passenger experience by providing Free WiFi facilities on Trains.

The work for the ambitious project of Bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai is underway. Under the Modi government, the country has also manufactured its first semi-indigenous semi-fast train and plans for launching 100 more such trains are in the offing.

So while the Railways have seen unprecedented growth under the Modi government with fare hike of just 14.2% in the last 5 years, it has certainly perturbed the Congress leaders who are now resorting to purveying fake news about the tariff hike in order to discredit the growth achieved under the current government and incite the non-existent resentment among the voters.

Priyanka Gandhi in trouble over snake video, animal rights activist seeks her immediate arrest for violating wildlife protection rules

OpIndia Staff
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Priyanka Gandhi in trouble over snake video, animal rights activist seeks her immediate arrest for violating wildlife protection rules

Trouble mounts for the Uttar Pradesh Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi as a complaint has been filed by an Animal Rights activist Gauri Maulekhi against her, accusing her of “serious violation” of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and seeking her “immediate arrest”.


In a written complaint to Chief Wildlife Warden, Gauri Maulekhi, a close aide of the Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi, had alleged that Priyanka Gandhi during her visit to Purwa village in Rae Bareilly had illegally procured 3 snakes of protected species through three unidentified persons and thereafter publicly endorsed the act of hunting and possession of snakes which is punishable under S.49 and S.52 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Maulekhi mentioned that one of the snakes which Priyanka was Spectacled Cobra which is a highly venomous snake and can be rendered “harmless” only if its fangs have been mutilated, its venom glands burnt or its mouth stitched up. She alleged that Priyanka Gandhi by her conduct had approved of and encouraged the illegal capture, mutilation, removal of fangs, burning the venom glands and confinement.

Maulekhi cites the Video and the news report which shows the alleged offence committed by Priyanka Gandhi while she was campaigning for the elections in Rae Bareilly. Her letter says that the first snake petted by her as seen in the video was a Spectacled Cobra which is protected under Section 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.


The letter mentions that the second snake handled by her was a Sand Boa which is protected under Section 4 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and the last one Ms Vadra uses for the delectation of crowd and election campaigning was again a Cobra. Priyanka Gandhi also specifically emphasises that the snakes are not dangerous, which the letter has highlighted alleging that Priyanka was aware of the mutilation and other barbaric tactics employed by snake charmers to render the snakes harmless.

The complaint not only accuses Priyanka Gandhi of illegal procurement of snakes and the facilitation of their public demonstration but also of intentionally aiding the hunting and encouraging the public to touch the snakes.

The complainant has stated that the offences are serious and non-bailable hence they should result in an immidate arrest. She has also exhorted the Chief Wildlife Warden to rescue the captured reptiles and be treated by a trained veterinarian and rehabilitated.

Chairman of Editors Guild justifies TMC’s violence in West Bengal, showers praise for fighting ‘fire with fire, venom with venom’

K Bhattacharjee
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Chairman of Editors Guild justifies TMC’s violence in West Bengal, showers praise for fighting ‘fire with fire, venom with venom’

On April the 30th, OpIndia.com had published an article where we had questioned the ostensible silence observed by The Print, a media portal run by the Chief of Editor’s Guild himself, on the rampant violence that had gripped West Bengal during the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections.

Finally, Shekhar Gupta has spoken on the political developments of West Bengal. The Chief of Editors’ Guild has finally opened his mouth on the matter and he has opened to compliment, congratulate and shower adulation on Mamata Banerjee whose party is responsible for the most disgraceful events in the elections so far. He has this to say: “Fight fire with fire, venom with venom… Mamata in Bengal shows how the offence is the best defence to stop the Modi-Shah cavalry…”


The tweet gives the impression that Gupta was complimenting Mamata Banerjee’s proclivity towards violence. However, the article makes it clear that Gupta is referring to her political rhetoric. Small mercies.

However, the real concern is while Gupta has reserved vast criticisms for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, he has no words to offer to condemn the cycle of violence that West Bengal finds itself in. He calls Narendra Modi and Amit Shah ‘street fighters’ and yet, he blithely ignores the attack on journalists, on Union Minister Babul Supriyo by goons allegedly associated with Trinamool and the collusion of polling officers.

Gupta is the Chief of the Editors’ Guild. One would have expected him to sympathize with journalists at least who suffered at the hands of Trinamool and yet, such incidents are of no concern to Gupta at all.

The propagandist says of Mamata, “Not a word she says in response to the BJP is defensive, nothing is said to play the victim, and because you mocked her, she mocks you back like none else can, with the possible exception, lately, of Raj Thackeray.” One could almost laugh at the assertion that Mamata doesn’t play the victim. Lately, she came out in support of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and termed the CBI probe against him a ‘political vendetta’ by the BJP. She even sat on Dharna against the BJP over the CBI raids.

The entire article comes across as a paid advertisement to whitewash the crimes of a politician who is accused of great brutality. At another point, Gupta says, “Mamata also isn’t impressed by BJP’s shock-and-awe tactic. She is probably the toughest politician in India now, tougher than Mayawati. She is also a street-fighter, which Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Kamal Nath and Akhilesh Yadav aren’t. But, for further clarity, Arvind Kejriwal is. Steeled through survival in a state that was no better than a Left Front concentration camp for her, she also knows the art of turning adversity into opportunity. Or grabbing the opportunity when Narendra Modi says it’s become difficult for Bengalis to even hold Durga Pujas.”

Gupta’s words only reveal that mainstream media journalists live in a make-believe world of their own. “Toughest Politician” he calls Mamata. Engaging in brutality, rigging polls, intimidating voters, leaders of the party urging followers to attack central forces, these are not evidence of ‘toughness’, it’s just corruption.

He concludes his article with the words, “If Modi and Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations. Or why it will “hoy na” (won’t happen) in her state of 42 MPs.” Even Mamata Banerjee won’t buy the sewage Gupta is selling here. If she felt that way, we wouldn’t have witnessed the extent of brutality that we have seen thus far.

It’s quite clear from the article that it was never Gupta’s intention to present an honest picture of what’s happening in Bengal. From the very outset, his primary objective was to present Mamata Banerjee as a noble character out to defeat the forces of communalism and bigotry manifested in the form of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah with Yogi Adityanath making a guest appearance. Harry Potter is closer to reality than the story Gupta tells us in his article.

It’s utterly disgraceful that Gupta doesn’t come close to mentioning the atrocities that are being perpetrated by the Mamata government. It’s a travesty that is unfolding in the state and Gupta doesn’t bother to mention that West Bengal is perhaps the only state where free and fair elections are not happening in the country. BJP Karyakartas are being killed with impunity, voters are too scared to vote and all Gupta has to say is to heap praise on the individual summarily responsible for all this.

The conduct of the Chief if Editors Guild only reveals that one need only be ‘Secular’ to have all his or her crimes absolved by mainstream media. To paraphrase Donald Trump’s infamous words, “When you’re secular, they let you do it. You can do anything. Murder your political opponents, rig elections, intimidate voters and polling officers, throw free and fair elections in the garbage bin. You can do anything.”

Ulrik McKnight, Gautam Makkar, Sonia Faleiro, Congress, a defence deal and how it all relates to Rahul Gandhi

OpIndia Staff
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Ulrik McKnight, Gautam Makkar, Sonia Faleiro, Congress, a defence deal and how it all relates to Rahul Gandhi

When trying to find out details about Rahul Gandhi’s nationality, we stumbled upon a mysterious, elusive name, Ulrik McKnight. Since his name appeared in the document shared by Congress as ‘proof’ of Rahul Gandhi’s nationality, it is only imperative that we try to dig deeper.

Ulrik McKnight is Rahul Gandhi’s business partner, whose name appeared in the document provided by Congress as proof of Rahul Gandhi’s nationality.

Document provided by Congress as ‘proof’ of Rahul Gandhi’s Indian nationality

Ulrik McKnight is the second director in one ‘Bristol Legal Services Limited’. When we looked up Ulrik McKnight on CompaniesHouse.gov.uk (Companies Registrar of the UK), we found discrepancies in the data related to Ulrik McKnight.

The data there shows two different Ulriks (both with different birth dates, nationalities and residence).

Ulrik McKnight details on Companies House

Two Ulrik McKnights on Companies House website. Both share the same middle name, but they both have given different birth dates as per the companies registrar.

Ulrik McKnight, who was born on October 1974

Ulrik McKnight, an American national is a director of a company called Optimal Armour Limited.

Ulrik McKnight born in August 1974

Ulrik McKnight, a Swedish National is a director in Composite Resin Developments Limited.

Composite Resin Developments Limited

Ulrik’s partners in Composite Resin Developments Limited are one Gautam Makker and one Sunil Chettuvetty Menon, both Indians nations. Makker and Menon, both, are also Ulrik’s partners in another company Optimal Armour Limited.

Optimal Armour Limited

All three of them have given different addresses for both the companies. We looked up Gautam Makker and Sunil Menon. They both run a company called ‘Flash Forge Private Limited’ in India.

Essentially, Flash Forge Private Limited acquired UK-based Optical Armour in 2011-12 and Composite Resin Developments Limited in 2013.

In 2011, French Naval Firm was given contracts by the Congress government to manufacture Scorpene Submarines. After the contract was granted by the Congress government, Indian firm Flash Forge was signed as a partner through its Indian subsidiary DCNS India. As per the India Today report from September 2011, the contract was worth Rs, 20,000 crores.

Flash Forge then acquires UK-based companies and takes Ulrik McKnight, Rahul Gandhi’s former business partner onboard.

Gautam Makker is married to one Shaila Maria Faleiro, who is Sonia Faleiro’s sister. Shaila is also a director in a company where other directors are one Sheeila Makker and one Niranjan Dev Makker.

Shaila Maria Faleiro is the director of a company named “Amber Durable Goods Private Limited” with its registered address as 17, Ganesh Chandra Avenue, 5th Floor, Kolkata, West Bengal,  700013. It is also the registered address for dozens of other companies.

Multiple companies registered at 17, Ganesh Chandra Avenue, Kolkata

Sonia and Shaila are daughters of Eduardo Faleiro, a Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader. So, Gautam Makker, whose company got the defence contracts is related to Ulrik McKnight, who was a director in a company with Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

Clearly, when it comes to Congress, it is all about keeping it all in the family.

Sitaram Yechury calls Hindus violent and we must all thank him

Ashish Shukla
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Sitaram Yechury calls Hindus violent and we must all thank him

All Hindus, millions abroad and many times over in India, must stand up and applaud Communist leader Sitaram Yechury for stating that their epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are ample proof that Hindus have been violent in the past.

Angry? Don’t be for Yechury has hacked the very tree of his vicious ideology which swears by atheism, negates religion and treats Hindus reverence of their past as nothing better than mythology.  So the logical and rational Communists are now treating Hindu’s past as real. Isn’t it a matter of celebration?

Of course, a snake doesn’t let go of an opportunity to inject his venom. Yechury calls out Hindus for being violent in a bid to justify the “Saffron terror” narrative which the Congress-Communist combine have worked so hard to build since independence and which now is returning in waves to create a watery grave for the peddlers.

An average Hindu is gullible to propaganda. The vicious do it as a strategy so Hindus suffer from guilt, fail to unite and thus lack pride. Hindus without identity are easier to crush. The trophy of controlling or breaking India then goes to peddlers. That’s why I try to puncture this narrative as often as I can so these peddlers are nailed. If Hindus regain their pride, these peddlers would run out of lies.  Then the Big Game is over—happily for India and its majority.

In last 48 hours, two such attempts have been made—one by Sitaram Yechury and the other by Bollywood writer Javed Akhtar. Most of my Hindu friends have found themselves tongue-tied in countering them. Yechury and Akhtar have mocked Hindus who, because of their gullibility. I give you the words my brethren Hindus to stuff their filth back into their throats.

Yechury says that Ramayana and Mahabharata prove that Hindus have been violent. That it’s RSS which has tried to militarize Hindus in an ideology which is similar to fascist Mussolini (I also include similar analogy Yechury has drawn in the past between RSS-Hitler). Javed Akhtar, in response to Sri Lanka ban on veils following massive Easter Sunday suicide-bombings, mockingly tweeted that don’t leave out “ghoonghat” (head-cover of Hindus) too.

I propose below how an astute Hindu must reply to the likes of Yechury and Javed Akhtar not only to counter but also to regain their own convictions. That’s how you should shape your reply:

Mr Yechury, you say Hindus have been violent in the past. But is being violent the same as spreading “saffron terror”? You could be violent in wars, which is a matter of dharma (righteousness), but killing innocent people in suicide bomb attacks is terror. Please name any Hindu suicide-bomber from our entire history, failing which stuff your mouth.

You claim that RSS follows the Fascism/Nazism ideology. But RSS has never given a call for genocide. If RSS were adherents of Nazism and Hitler, did they give a call that Muslims must not hold public office; or inter-marriages must not happen, or that “Pogroms of Muslims” was the answer? Did they ask for Muslim professors to be removed from universities after the Partition?

Further, Mr Yechury what would you say of your “God” Karl Marx who echoed Hitler’s ideology describing Jews as “arch-exploiters”? Or John F. Kennedy who praised Fascism-for-Italy and Nazism-for-Germany in the 1930s? Or our own Pandit Nehru who swore by socialism even as millions were being massacred by your ideologue grandparent (Stalin) in Russia? And if RSS is fascists/nazis, how would you describe Islamic laws?

Subhas Chandra Bose was hailed in India even though he had joined hands with Japan, an ally of fascist-nazist forces. Do you condemn millions of Hindus for supporting Subhas Bose? I dare you Mr Yechury to give us your opinion on Subhas Bose.

And lastly on Javed Akhtar. A burqa can be a security threat—not a “ghoonghat”. So please don’t draw a false, mocking analogy. I can cite you dozens of example where burqas were used to enact terrorism acts. Why go far, let me give you a Bollywood analogy itself, easier to for you to recall. Did you see “Dil Se”? How do you think Manisha Koirala was trying to blow up the Republic Day parade?

And please do let us know when you’ve found a “terror” act being carried out under the guise of a “ghoonghat.” The fact is you can’t. So where do you think Hindus should shove your comments back in you?

Both Yechury and Akhtar lose no opportunity to insult Hindus. It’s for the Hindus to stand up to such inimical forces. The crux for Hindus is: Know your history and facts. Regain your pride. It would do good to you and the future of your children and grandchildren.

India won’t mind either.

PM Modi takes a dig at Congress’ ‘vote-cutter’ admission, mention Rahul’s Backops links in his UP rally

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi takes a dig at Congress’ ‘vote-cutter’ admission, mention Rahul’s Backops links in his UP rally

Speaking at a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgadh, PM Modi mocked the Congress party over its admission of being a vote share cutter party in Uttar Pradesh. Earlier Priyanka Gandhi and then Rahul Gandhi had admitted that in areas where Congress doesn’t have a strong candidate, it will extend its support to the secular candidate to win the elections and defeat the BJP.


Taking a swipe at the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi said, “Those who were dreaming of becoming PM before the elections were reduced to being a ‘vote-cutter’ party in Uttar Pradesh after the first phase of elections got over.” Modi contended that the dispute between Congress and the Samajwadi Party is merely a drama. Attacking the clandestine understanding between the Congress party and the SP, he asserted that their undeclared alliance will seek to undermine the authority of BSP chief Mayawati.

In an apparent reference to Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha campaigning for his wife Poonam Sinha who is an SP candidate, PM Modi said, “Congress leaders are happily sharing stages with Samajwadi Party in their rallies, these people have so cunningly betrayed Behenji that she is unable to perceive it.”

PM Modi also raised the murky links between Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi with Backops UK. As per the India Today report, Ulrik Mcknight, who was 35% co-owner of Backops UK, in which Rahul Gandhi owned a majority 65% equity between 2003 and 2009 before the firm was wound up, later went on to acquire offset contracts from French defence supplier Naval Group against Scorpene submarines in 2011, when UPA was in power.

The report also states that Rahul’s sister Priyanka also served as the co-director of Backops Services Private Limited.

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