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The Economist is trying to charge Indians Rs 3799 per head to tell them how to save their democracy

Abhishek Banerjee
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The Economist is trying to charge Indians Rs 3799 per head to tell them how to save their democracy

“I really haven’t. All I know is… I know that my servant Gunga Din gave me my bed tea very late so I woke up very late… What else can I say? I really don’t know!”

Somebody told me this was the official response from the Burra Memsahib who is the Editor in Chief of The Economist when she was asked why they woke up after four phases of the election to tell Indians how to vote in order to save their democracy. Is this true?

Nevertheless, as a common Indian, it is heartwarming to hear such expressions of concern from countries around the world who wish us well.

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Narendra Modi has already been Prime Minister for five years! Imagine the damage he has already done.

If he rules for another five years, more than a billion people could lose their democracy. That’s a Category 5 threat to humanity. Wait, is that why The Economist waited till the 5th phase to sound the alarm? No, that doesn’t make any sense. I guess I can’t think clearly because I am so scared right now. Let me read what important people have to say about the future of our country.

You’ll never guess what happened next.

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Blocked! Thus far and no further.

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The Economist is trying to charge me Rs 3799 to let me ‘discover the story’ of how my democracy is in danger? They call it ‘Best Value’! What?

Let me get this straight. Some well off and highly privileged people in the first world discover that a billion people in a developing country are about to be crushed by fascism. That those unfortunate people have one last chance to save their democracy. And then these privileged people come up with a business plan to sell them the warning at Rs 3799 per head.

Let me explain the situation using a tone and language that foreign correspondents might understand. Imagine this:

Geeta, 36, is a flower seller. Every day, from dawn to dusk, she sets up shop in a narrow lane in the temple town of Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The neighbouring walls are covered with images of the masculine frame of Rama, the mythical warrior king at the centre of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Along with him are images of his dutiful wife Sita as well as that of the monkey god Hanuman. 

Cows, bullocks and people all make their way through his narrow stretch where Geeta spends her day. On average, Geeta makes about 500 Rupees a day (approximately £5.49 by 2019 conversion rate or £5.10 by 2014 conversion rate) which she uses to feed her family of five. Most recently, Geeta’s business suffered a devastating blow when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a sudden decision to demonetize high-value currency notes in 2016. 

Geeta still does not fully realize the kind of danger that Modi poses, but she is eager to vote in the 2019 election in a way that will save India’s democracy. On her phone, she shows me the headline of the article in The Economist. To know more, she must pay Rs 3799 (or about £41.69). It is more than what she earns in a week.

Tell me, dear Economist, what do you have to say to “Geeta”?

I understand that everything comes at a price. But don’t you think Rs 3799 (or about $55) per head for a billion Indians, i.e., $55 billion is a bit too greedy?

Especially when all you really want is to save a billion people from fascism.

Or is it that you do not expect people like “Geeta” to have the interest and/or intellectual capacity to understand threats to democracy?

Here’s a hint. Next time you want to get your message out among common Indians, try publishing in Opindia instead of The Economist. It’s free and you might actually reach a wider audience. You may not meet the editorial standards though.

Or maybe your only aim in publishing that article was to pat Indian liberals on the head and assure them that Mother England still cares. In that case, you have done well to wake up before voting happens in Lutyens Delhi. A mother’s love is priceless. And at just $55, it’s a bargain.

Comedian who made fun of PM Modi’s apolitical interview to Akshay Kumar says “aayenge toh Modi ji hi”

OpIndia Staff
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Comedian who made fun of PM Modi’s apolitical interview to Akshay Kumar says “aayenge toh Modi ji hi”

On 28th April, Shyam Rangeela, a popular comedian published a video on YouTube that mocked Prime Minister Modi and his apolitical interview with Akshay Kumar. In the video Shyam was seen mocking both PM Modi and Akshay Kumar, even insinuating that the questions were Whatsapped to Kumar. The video was soon picked up by opposition parties like Congress and even Pakistan (the two seem connected at the hip, recently) to mock PM Modi.

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

The spoof was, of course, picked up by Congress leaders like Dr Ajoy Kumar.


Leftist propaganda websites like Scroll that was then peddled by Anti-Modi, shoddy journalists like Anna Vetticad.


BBC did an interview with Shyam Rangeela as well, highlighting the segment mocking PM Modi and Akshay Kumar for the interview.

Interestingly, it must be recalled that Shyam Rangeela is the same comedian who had accused The Wire of twisting his words earlier. In 2017, The Wire had ran a story that Shyam Rangeela was asked not to mimic Modi but was given permission to mimic Rahul Gandhi on a television show. Rangeela had confirmed to OpIndia that The Wire was the first one from the mainstream media to approach him, but they twisted his words, which gave the entire story an anti-BJP and anti-Modi spin. The truth was that he was asked to stay away from political mimicry in the show and not do spoofs on either Modi or Rahul Gandhi.

Now, however, Shyam Rangeela has come up with another video talking about the spoof segment and saying ‘aayega to Modi hi’.

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

In the video, Shyam Rangeela says that it is his job to entertain and make fun of people and he will continue to mock not just PM Modi but even other leaders from other political parties like Congress and AAP.

He says he doesn’t ordinarily care when political parties pick up his videos to lash out at opponents, but it does affect him with Pakistani media does the same. He says his video was featured by Pakistani media to insinuate that India doesn’t like or respect Prime Minister Modi at all and that the country is sick and tired of PM Modi.

He says there was nothing of the kind in the video and he has been deeply distressed by Pakistan Media’s portrayal.

He says the Pakistan media channel that showed his spoof video was called ‘Ab Tak’, a channel that talks big while copying Indian channel ‘Aaj Tak’.

He then gives out a message for Pakistan media and channels like Ab Tak saying that ‘Ayenge to Modi ji hi’. He said that even though he mocked PM Modi, he is the same comedian who is now saying that it would be PM Modi who would come back to power.

Reiterating that it is his job to mock, he asks Pakistan media why they never showed the videos where he was mocking Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders. He then says that Pakistan doesn’t show videos mocking Congress and only that of Modi being mocked because they are “allergic” to Modi. And because Pakistan is allergic to Modi, he is the one who will come back to power in 2019.

He continues saying that he likes the fact that Pakistan dislikes PM Modi because it makes him feel like there is one man who Pakistan fears.

He then throws a challenge to the Pakistan media. He says that he will soon make a video that is a spoof on Rahul Gandhi and if that video is shown by Pakistan media in the same demeaning light that they projected PM Modi, then he promises he will vote for Rahul Gandhi. He says that if Pakistan starts detesting Rahul Gandhi as much as it detests PM Modi, then he would have no issue voting for Congress too.

Shyam Rangeela then apologises to people who might have been hurt by Pakistan’s portrayal of his video but says that he will continue to make such videos as is his job.

Concluding the video message, Shyam says that his vote will go to the man who Pakistan dislikes and opposes and that he does not belong to any political party, but when it comes to India and someone from outside India mocking the Prime Minister, he will vote for the man who Pakistan dislikes.

3 former Army Chief’s deny Congress claims of having conducted Surgical Strikes during their regime

OpIndia Staff
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3 former Army Chief’s deny Congress claims of having conducted Surgical Strikes during their regime

The biggest blow to Congress’ claim of conducting Surgical Strikes has been dealt by General V.K. Singh, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), and now a Member of Parliament from the BJP and MoS External Affairs. He accused the Congress party of lying, said there was no surgical strike by India in his tenure and demanded to know which surgical strike exactly they are attributing to his tenure as COAS.


Another former COAS, Retired General Bikram Singh, too, had echoed similar sentiments in 2016. It was clear that no such strikes were conducted during his tenure and he did not think such attempts were made earlier as well. General Bikram Singh was COAS from 2012-2014 and succeeded General V.K. Singh.


General Ved Prakash Malik, who was COAS between 1997-2000, too, said that he wasn’t aware of any such strikes either.


Therefore, three COAS, two of them who were COAS during the UPA regime, claim that no such surgical strikes were ever carried out by the UPA government. It appears the Congress party was so secretive that they managed to conduct Surgical Strikes without informing the Armed Forces of the country as well.

Moreover, the number of strikes that the UPA government apparently conducted keeps changing with remarkable frequency. We have documented the phenomenon here. Moreover, on the same day that Rajiv Shukla claimed that the Congress party had conducted 6 surgical strikes, Rahul Gandhi in his interview to India Today claimed that Manmohan Singh’s government had conducted 3. And today, in his press conference, the Congress President again fell back to  6.


It’s quite a spectacle that’s unfolding here. The COAS during the UPA regimes claims that they are not aware of any such surgical strikes. The Congress party claims on the number of surgical strikes vary from 2 to 15. It’s so bewildering that on the same day, one senior Congress leader claims UPA conducted 6 surgical strikes while the Congress President in an interview says it only conducted 3.

Therefore, Congress doesn’t appear to have much clue about the surgical strikes that were conducted, the Armed Forces have no clue about the surgical strikes that were conducted. And yet, the people of this country are expected to believe them when they say that surgical strikes were indeed conducted during the UPA regime. It’s quite a fascinating story indeed.

In fact, an RTI query last year to the DGMO had also revealed that there have been no surgical strikes on Pakistan prior to September 2016.

“We will not be cowed down by propaganda”, Lt Gen Sangha of Grenadiers Regiment calls out malicious video against soldiers

OpIndia Staff
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“We will not be cowed down by propaganda”, Lt Gen Sangha of Grenadiers Regiment calls out malicious video against soldiers

Recently, a video had gone viral on social media where some people were seen claiming that soldiers of the Indian Army were acting as a political tool, and were casting ‘proxy votes’ and ‘forcing’ people to vote for BJP.’


The almost two minute long video showed some army personnel standing near a vehicle, allegedly near a voting booth, while the persons shooting the video were accusing them of ‘proxy voting’ and influencing people to vote to a certain party.

Many on social media had shared the video, accusing the Army of being the government’s political tool and trying to influence voters.

However, in the video, the soldiers are seen merely waiting near their vehicle, unprovoked by the repeated attempts by the people shooting the video.

Many Army veterans and officials had soon dismissed the video as malicious propaganda, they claimed that certain political leaders are upset because service voters voting at their place of posting disturbs the vote bank politics certain parties had indulged in.

Via Twitter


It was later revealed that the incident was from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh where army personnel and their families were taken in Army vehicles to cast their votes at the assigned booth. However, some miscreants had reportedly objected to the Army personnel casting their votes and had tried to intimidate them.

The Army had proceeded to file a formal complaint regarding the incident. In a formal complaint to the local police dated May 1, the Grenadiers Regimental Centre in Jabalpur had stated, “On 29 April 2019, the day of voting for parliamentary elections, soldiers and their spouses at the Grenadiers Regimental Centre proceeded to cast their votes via bonafide transport at Booth no 146, at Swami Vivekananda Higher Secondary School, Katanga, Jabalpur. When they were at the process of exercising their right to vote, some miscreants approached and snatched their voter id cards by criminal force and tried to obstruct them from casting their votes.”

Image credit: Snehesh Alex Philip on Twitter
Image credit: Snehesh Alex Philip via Twitter

The complaint also states that the soldiers who are visible in the video are the ones who had managed to take back their voter id cards from the miscreants and had proceeded towards their parked vehicles. It further states that by circulating the video in the social media falsely accusing the soldiers of influencing voters, the unidentified miscreants had attempted to malign the image of the Indian Army and its soldiers participating peacefully in a democratic process.

Further, Lt General GS Sangha of the Grenadiers Regiment had come out to support the soldiers. In an open letter addressed as “Countrymen”, Lt Gen Sangha has condemned the allegations that say the army is being used as a political tool. In his open letter published in Times of India, Lt Gen Sangha has written, “The Army is not going to be cowed down by any propaganda, internal or external, be it by internal enemies or ISI of Pakistan or any other adversary.”

Image courtesy: @desertfox61l via Twitter

He has further added, “If India starts believing that Indian Army is favouring a particular party, god forbid, we will be no better than Pakistan. But rest assured dear countrymen, we, the defence forces, will make sure it does not happen, ever.”

It is notable here that though the miscreants who snatched the voter id cards from soldiers and shot the malicious video are yet to be identified, the Congress candidate from Jabalpur, Vivek Tanakha has been seen mirroring the exact lines used by the miscreants. In a complaint to the election commission, Tanakha has reportedly stated that an army officer has ‘friendship’ with the BJP candidate.

When Rahul flew over the cuckoo’s nest: Metaphysics of fruit flavours and Rahul Gandhi’s desperate attempt to appear smart

K Bhattacharjee
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When Rahul flew over the cuckoo’s nest: Metaphysics of fruit flavours and Rahul Gandhi’s desperate attempt to appear smart

Rahul Gandhi’s interview to India Today has already been shrouded by a cloud of mystery. There are rumours going around that the interview was actually in video format, however, the end product was not to the Congress party’s liking and therefore, only a print version was released in the end. And the answers he gave to some of the questions only reveals why people find him unworthy of occupying the seat of Prime Minister.

One of the hallmarks of sound intellect is the ability to answer simple questions in a simple manner. Rahul Gandhi appears to lack that ability. His answers to some of the questions that were posed, only shows that the ‘Pappu’ tag has affected him so deeply that his answers are tailored not to answer the question itself but to present him as someone of deep intellect.

And so it happened that Vipassana found a mention in a question about which fruit he liked. The answer, quite obviously, doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. But it’s quite evident that by mentioning Vipassana in a question that involves fruits, Rahul is trying to prove that he is a wise person of remarkable intellect.

The answer is worth reading in its entirety because it reveals the terrible inferiority complex the Congress President is suffering from. He could very well just tell the interviewer about the damned fruits he liked but that wouldn’t have shown the public that he was smart. Someone, preferably Sammy (Sam Pitroda, of course), should have informed Rahul Gandhi that not every question is an opportunity to show the world the depth of your great intellect. That he fails to understand such a simple thing only reveals how smart he actually is.

“I do Vipassana. The mind constructs the flavour of the fruit. You can like or dislike any fruit you want. You can choose to like mango, you can choose to hate it,” the Congress President said. Well, if I wasn’t aware already who said these words, I would have assumed they were said by someone in one of those cheap self-help books you find in street stalls that no one actually bothers to read. But here we are.

It appears to be the general theme of the entire interview. The interviewer asks him a simple question. The Congress President then gives the impression that he has been asked something related to Quantum Physics and then proceeds to give an answer that is convoluted at best and word-salad at its worst.

There was another question about his relationship with his mother and sister. His initial answer was fine enough but when he asked whether he had any preference for who he decided to confide in, the best Rahul Gandhi could come up with it, “My Mother is my Sister. My Sister is my Mother. They are the same thing, the same force.” Well, thank you, genius.

The most hilarious bit of the interview, however, came when the interviewer asked Rahul Gandhi about his foreign policy. When he was asked what was the difference between Narendra Modi hugging world leaders and him hugging Narendra Modi, the best he could come up with is “My hug had love in it.”

Of course, maybe we just didn’t understand Rahul Gandhi’s pearls of wisdom because we didn’t “go at him with sophistication”. He really did say “come at me with sophistication and I will come back at you with sophistication”. We truly wanted to add an exasperated emoticon here, but that would perhaps be unprofessional.

Rahul Gandhi is any PR agent’s nightmare. The questions which provide him with the opportunity to display his intellect, he comes up terribly short while answering them. And questions which demand simple answers, he goes all Einstein on it. The questions about his family and his favourite fruits were meant to show him as a person just like us. Instead, he came across as a tosspot whose hobby is to ponder upon the metaphysics of fruit flavours.

Considering some of the answers that the Congress President gave in his interview, it suddenly makes a lot of sense for people to want to bury the video of it. Rahul Gandhi appears so stupid just by reading the answers, one can only imagine how stupid he will actually look in a video saying all the stuff that he did.

Rafale deal: Modi govt files fresh affidavit in SC, says clean chit given by Court is correct, media quoted documents selectively

OpIndia Staff
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Rafale deal: Modi govt files fresh affidavit in SC, says clean chit given by Court is correct, media quoted documents selectively

The Modi government on Saturday filed a fresh affidavit in the Supreme Court (SC) asserting that the 2018 SC judgement that upheld the Rafale deal and asserted that there was no corruption or impropriety in the deal whatsoever. It also slammed the media for quoting documents selectively in the Rafale deal to insinuate the PMO interfered in the negotiations.

In the affidavit, the Centre said, Monitoring of progress of the Rafale deal by the PMO cannot be construed as interference or parallel negotiations.

The affidavit added that the then Defence Minister had recorded on the file: it appears that PMO and French President’s office are monitoring the progress of the issues which was an outcome of the summit meeting.

The Affidavit reportedly says, “the Dec 14, 2018 judgement upholding 36 Rafale jets’ deal was correct and unsubstantiated media reports and/or part internal file notings deliberately projected in a selective manner cannot form the basis for review”.

In 2018, the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to the Rafale deal and found no impropriety in the deal whatsoever. Review petitions were filed by “activists” demanding that the judgement by the Court be reviewed on the basis of a story that appeared in The Hindu, written by N Ram. N Ram has been actively trying to discredit the Rafale deal and has indulged in blatant lies in the process.

First, N Ram wrote a shoddy article in The Hindu about the Rafale deal which the Congress has been trying and failing, to discredit. In this article, he had shamelessly taken the work of a defence journalist called Manu Pubby and not only passed it off as his own but also presented a skewed version of his reportage.

The documents put forth by N Ram, on the basis of which the review petitions were filed were indeed distorted. N Ram and The Hindu had cropped portions of the documents where then defence minister, late Manohar Parrikar had made his notings.

In Manohar Parrikar’s noting, which was cropped out by The Hindu to peddle its agenda, Parrikar asked the Defense Secretary to take up the matter with the Pr. Secretary to Prime Minister and resolve the matter. He also calls it an ‘overreaction’ by the Deputy Secretary (Air-II). He states, “It appears that PMO and French President’s office are monitoring the progress of the issue which was an outcome of the summit meeting. Para 5 appears to be an over reaction. Def Sec may resolve issue/matter in consultation with Pr. Sec to P.M.”

The full story of The Hindu and N Ram cropping documents and lying shamelessly about the Rafale deal can be read here.

In fact, Air Marshal SBP Sinha, who had headed the Indian Negotiation Team (INT) for the Rafale deal had expressed his surprise over The Hindu’s story on Rafale and termed it as an effort to malign this procurement by concealing facts.

Earlier this month, a Supreme Court bench dismissed objections raised by the Centre regarding pleas asking for a review of the decision on the Rafale deal. The court had dismissed the Centre’s preliminary objections seeking review of earlier judgment giving a clean chit to the Union government in the Rafale deal. The affidavit filed by the Modi government today is in response to this case.

Journalist invents new arithmetic to defend Rahul, asks others to get calculators while needing one herself

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist invents new arithmetic to defend Rahul, asks others to get calculators while needing one herself

Rahul Gandhi is on an interview giving spree and with each interview, he seems to make a bigger fool of himself. In an interview to NDTV, Rahul Gandhi changed the amount he would give every poor person as per his proposed NYAY Yojana. Earlier, it was Rs. 72,000 a year, but in his interview to NDTV, he seems to have changed it to Rs. 3,60,000 a year.


Of course, NDTV while sharing the video snippet doesn’t call out the blatant lie, but instead, chooses to focus on the hollow sentence that he has managed to corner Prime Minister Modi over jobs. But the shenanigans of NDTV are widely known and there seems to be no good reason to invest more time in it for the purpose of this article.

When Rahul Gandhi lies or when Rahul Gandhi goofs up, the faithful jesters from his darbar often jump right to his defence. It is hardly a matter of ideology, rather, a matter of survival. After all, it is their job to mount a defence every time the very King they depend on jams his foot firmly in his mouth.

A court jester from the King’s darbar, who also moonlights as a journalist and author, jumped to Rahul Gandhi’s defence when someone pointed out that Rahul Gandhi seems to have jumbled up the numbers yet again.

She said, “Basic math. 12000 per month equals 72000 per year. Five years equal 60 months. 12000 for 60 months equals 3,60,000. Instead of innuendo, you could have brought out your calculator, if mental arithmetic was an issue”.


According to her calculation, Rahul Gandhi is right before Rs 12,000 a month would equal to Rs. 72,000 a year. 5 years would equal to 60 months and hence, 12,000 multiplied by 60 months would equal to Rs 3,60,000. Exactly the number Rahul Gandhi mentioned.

She, of course, glosses over the fact that Rahul Gandhi, in the interview said Congress would provide Rs. 3,60,000 per year and not for a period of 5 years.

But that is not the only problem. The mathematics used by this journalist is nothing short of hilarious.

She says 12,000 per month equals to 72,000 per year. A simple calculation would reveal that if Rs 12,000 is paid per month, in a year, that would amount to Rs. 1,44,000.

In her hurry to defend Rahul Gandhi, what she perhaps forgot is that the Congress party had said that any person earning less than Rs. 12,000 would get Rs 72,000 a year. Rahul Gandhi said that an income line of Rs 12,000 has been set for the scheme, and it will cover 20% poorest families of the country. The government will pay Rs 72,000 per year to the eligible families under this scheme, and the amount will be credited directly to the bank account of beneficiaries.

Instead, Sujata Anandan seems to have understood that Congress would be paying poor families Rs 12,000 per month and even in that, she conflates it with Rs 72,000 a year, thanks to skewed maths.

Further, Sujata says that Rs 12,000 for 60 months would mean Rs. 3,60,000 for five years. Well, 12,000 multiplied by 60 would equal to Rs. 7,20,000 so Sujata fails there too. However, Rs. 72,000 multiplied by 5 would come up to Rs. 3,60,000, exactly the amount Rahul Gandhi mentioned in his NDTV interview. The only catch? Rahul ended up saying Congress has promised to pay Rs. 3,60,000 PER YEAR instead of that amount in 5 years.

In a massive display of courage (or brazenness, we can’t decide which), Sujata tells the person questioning Rahul Gandhi that he should have purchased a calculator instead of mouthing off innuendos if mental arithmetic was too much of an issue.

Sujata is the same bright spark who had shamelessly celebrated the tragic suicide of Rohit Vemula because she believed that this would end up destroying PM Modi’s Dalit votebank.

Screenshot of Sujata Anand’s tweet

After the servility to the Gandhi and the downright massacre of mathematics in her desperation to defend Rahul Gandhi, we can only hope that Sujata finds a calculator for herself, and while she is at it, perhaps she can look for her missing spine too.

Sam Pitroda shatters the sham of Congress and BSP-SP fighting alone in UP, says ‘Gathbandhan will come together at the right time’

OpIndia Staff
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Sam Pitroda shatters the sham of Congress and BSP-SP fighting alone in UP, says ‘Gathbandhan will come together at the right time’

Senior Congress functionary Sam Pitroda has just confirmed what has been speculated about the Congress and its sham of ‘fighting alone’ in UP. Speaking to ANI, Pitroda has recently stated that the goal of the opposition parties is to oust the BJP and “They will come together at the right time”.

Pitroda has just confirmed what was being speculated in the political circles since long, that the Congress is, in fact, always in the alliance and ‘Gathbandhan’ mode and is willing to compromise with regional parties to any level. Pitroda has stated that the goal is to defeat the Modi government and when the time comes, all the opposition parties will come together, that is, to form a united opposition.

Soon after the SP and BSP announced a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ leaving Congress out, it was speculated that the ‘leaving out’ was just eyewash for the public and the parties were working in cahoot with each other. The SP-BSP-RLD had fielded candidates from 78 seats in UP, leaving out just Raebareli and Amethi, the two seats of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Recently, Priyanka Gandhi had stated to the media that BJP will lose big in UP. She had added that when the Congress candidate is strong, they will win, but when the Congress candidate is ‘weak’ they will cut into the votes of BJP, subtly hinting that the careful mixture of caste politics and vote cutting will sway some BJP voters, helping the Gathbandhan candidates win.

Priyanka’s statement, however, had soon attracted flak from SP and BSP. Seeing the negative comments, Priyanka had soon made a U-turn and stated that Congress has all strong candidates in UP. For careful observers, it has always been evident that the SP-BSP and Congress were busy in shadow boxing before the elections to score maximum possible seats, just to enter into an alliance post the Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi too had stated that wherever the Congress does not have a strong candidate, they will help the Gathbandhan, with the primary goal of cutting BJP’s votes.

Both Akhilesh and Mayawati had slammed the statements, while Akhilesh has stated that the Congress is giving excuses as it is facing defeat, Mayawati has stated that a vote to Congress means wasting the vote.

It is interesting to note that Congress, which had ruled over India for the most part of its post-independence history, has now been reduced to ‘vote cutting’ manoeuvres and is practically bending over backwards for obtaining the support of regional parties.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in 2019 have seen 4 phases so far. With three more phases remaining till final counting on May 23, it will b interesting to watch how the parties will perform and whether the people of India will buy the farce of Gathbandhans and divisive politics.

Rahul Gandhi accuses EC of bias and threatens them with ‘consequences’, hours after the same EC gave him clean chit for a lie

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi accuses EC of bias and threatens them with ‘consequences’, hours after the same EC gave him clean chit for a lie

Rahul Gandhi, in a media interaction today, threatened Election Commission officials with “consequences” in the future for being biased. Answering a question posed by the Media, Rahul Gandhi said that the election commission has cowered to the pressures put by the Narendra Modi government and have become biased against the opposition.

Rahul Gandhi said that when it comes to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Election Commission toes the straight line, but when it comes to the opposition, the Election Commission becomes bias.

He then said that he understands that EC has too succumbed to the pressure that is exerted by the Modi government, just like the Supreme Court, Planning Commission, Reserve Bank of India etc have. Every institution he said is being corroded by the Modi government.

He then said that the Election Commission has a responsibility and they need to commit to that responsibility to discharge their duties properly.

Continuing to attack the EC and the Modi government, Rahul Gandhi said that these people will have ‘consequences in the future’ and that he ‘won’t allow Indian institutions to be crushed’. He also said that “anyone who colludes with the Modi government is committing a crime”. 

In what can be seen as a clear threat to Election Commission for their perceived bias against the Congress party and the opposition parties at large, Rahul Gandhi has, while the elections are in progress, threatened EC officials. This could be viewed as a serious offence and breach of MCC.

Interestingly, just a few days ago, the Election Commission gave a clean chit to Rahul Gandhi for a blatant lie that Rahul had propagated during his election rally.

Rahul Gandhi had, in one of his rallies asserted that Amit Shah is a murder accused. In view of that comment, Gujarat Court had ordered an inquiry into Rahul Gandhi and his blatantly fallacious comment.

The Election Commission had yesterday given a clean chit to Rahul Gandhi for his comment calling Amit Shah a murder accused. In its statement, EC had said, “complaint was examined in detail and after examination of the complete transcript of speech sent by the district electoral officer of Jabalpur, the Commission is of the considered view that no violation of the model code of conduct is made out.” Gandhi made the remark during an election rally in Sihora district of Madhya Pradesh on April 23.

In his rally, Rahul Gandhi had said, “Murder accused BJP chief Amit Shah. Wah, kya shaan hai!”.

In his election affidavit, Amit Shah has revealed that there are four cases pending against him. They are:

1.  Registered in West Bengal over an inflammatory speech during the municipality polls this year.

2. Pending before a metropolitan magistrate in Kolkata, was a defamation suit.

3. Registered in Muzaffarpur in Bihar in 2017, was regarding a YouTube video showing Shah hoisting the national flag while wearing shoes.

4. Registered in Begusarai in Bihar in 2015 for making some remarks against Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Yadav, the affidavit said.

Interestingly, Rahul Gandhi, only a few hours later, threatening EC officials after he got a clean chit for a blatant lie, considering Amit Shah is not a murder accused.

Rahul Gandhi’s former partner in British company Backops, got defence offset contracts during Congress regime, reveals report

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi’s former partner in British company Backops, got defence offset contracts during Congress regime, reveals report

Rahul Gandhi’s British citizenship has become a raging issue this election season. Rahul Gandhi had signed documents of a British company, Backops, in which he owned the majority shares of 65%, as a British citizen. The Home Ministry had sent Rahul Gandhi a notice and given him 15 days to respond. However, a new can of worms has opened up which makes this sordid saga far worse. Reports now reveal that Rahul Gandhi’s former partner in the British company Backops, who owned 35% shares, got defence offset contracts during the Congress regime.

The India Today report reveals that 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.

The report has found that in 2009 after Rahul Gandhi exited both the companies, Backops Private Limited in India (where Priyanka Gandhi was then made the Director) and Backops UK, the companies were dissolved soon.

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.

In 2011-12, Flash Forge acquires the UK-based company Optical Armour and McKnight joins Optical Armour as Director of the company.

In 2012-13, McKnight was allotted 4% shares of the Optical Armour company.

In 2013, Flash forge acquired another UK based company named Composit Resin Developments Limited and in the same year, Mcknight also joined the company as one of the directors along with two directors from Flash Forge Limited according to the websites of Naval Group, their India partners include Flash Forge and CFF Fluid Control Private Limited (a joint venture between Flash Forge and another French group Coyard).

In 2015, website PGurus, whose article was reproduced here on Professor Vaidyanathan’s blog, had also raised the question of Rahul Gandhi’s partner McKnight bagging a prestigious defence deal under the Congress government.

The article had made the following charges:

  1. Rahul Gandhi and Ulrik R McKnight were Directors of Backops, which they closed in 2009.
  2. DCNS of France, the manufacturer of Scorpene submarines, announces a deal with Flash Forge to supply critical parts as part of a Rs. 20,000 crore ($4.5 billion) deal to supply 6 submarines in India, sometime in June 2011.
  3. Ulrik McKnight is appointed as a Director in Optimal Armour Limited (OAL) on June 6, 2012. He states in this form that his Nationality is the United States of America and that he resides there.
  4. Ulrik McKnight becomes a Director in Composite Resin Developments (CRDL)Limited on Feb 19, 2013. He states that he usually resides in the US and enters his Nationality as Swedish.
  5. Two Indian nationals, Gautam Makker and Sunil Menon who are Directors in the Indian company Flash Forge Pvt. Limited is also appointed as Directors in Optimal Armour and Composite Resin Developments at about the same time as McKnight.
  6. Flash Forge acquires a majority stake in Composite Resin on December 20, 2013, and in Optimal Armour on March 23, 2012.

OpIndia had also covered a story about the explanation Congress provided as a counter to the charge that Rahul Gandhi had signed documents as a British citizen. We had found that the Congress’ explanation gave rise to more questions than it answered.

We had found that in all probability, Ulrik McKnight is journalist and NYT columnist Sonia Faleiro’s husband. And who is Sonia Faleiro? She is the daughter of Eduardo Faleiro, who has been a Congress politician all his life and has even been a Union Minister for 5 years. Nothing illegal here, but now we know how Rahul Gandhi might have met Ulrik McKnight.

The company of whose document Congress had shared (where Rahul Gandhi signed as an Indian national), Bristol Legal Services Limited is registered at. 6 Lower Park Row, Bristol BS1 5BJ is the address which is also the address for correspondence for ‘Thomas Paul Russell’. It is also the address of one company called ‘Bourse Company Services’ which helps individuals in registering companies. The company shares its address with over 70 other companies. Hardly anything is available on who Thomas Paul Russell is. Brian Lovegrove mentioned above also has his address set up as 6, Lower Park Row, Bristol.

There were several other questions that were raised with the Congress’ clarification and our entire investigative report can be read here. 

While the Indian and European companies associated with Rahul Gandhi were dissolved before the French company Naval Group engaged in a contract with Flash Forge, the fact that Rahul Gandhi’s former partner and co-owner in his firm Backops got a defence offset deal from the Congress government does deem investigation as it is bound to open a can of worms that has not come up yet.

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