In a tremendous show of strength, NDA leaders joined BJP President Amit Shah when he went to file his nomination for Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. He was accompanied by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Shiromani Akali Dal’s Prakash Singh Badal, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan.
Addressing the public gathering, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the BJP and Shiv Sena had a difference of opinions and views, but they sat together and sorted them out. “Our ideologies are same, Hindutva and nationalism. My father said Hindutva is our oxygen. How could you survive without oxygen?” he said.
Challenging the opposition to name one leader as the Prime Minister candidate while addressing such public rally, he said, “The opposition has only joined hands, not ideologies. BJP and Shiv Sena were considered untouchables, but we moved ahead with saffron flags and look at where we are. We have never backstabbed and never will.”
In February, the BJP and Shiv Sena announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha as well as Maharashtra Assembly elections. In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP will contest in 25 seats, while Shiv Sena will contest 23 seats. Maharashtra sends 48 MPs to Lok Sabha. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won 23 seats, while Shiv Sena had won 18 seats.
The Maharashtra Election will take place later this year, as the last election was held in October 2014. In 2014, BJP and Shiv Sena had contested the assembly election separately, following disagreements over seat sharing. BJP had won 122 seats in the 288 member house, emerging as the largest party but falling short of the majority, while Shiv Sena had won only 63 seats. Later both the parties came together to form an alliance government in the state, led by BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.
Babri Masjid petitioner Iqbal Ansari today slammed Congress Party over Priyanka Gandhi’s visit to Ayodhya. As per reports, Ansari called her visit to the city an election stunt. He blamed the Congress Party for having ruled for decades and yet not carrying out any development work in Ayodhya.
Ansari told media that in all these years of Congress rule, there has been no development in Ayodhya. He stated that there has been no infrastructure development, no jobs, and prosperity in the region.
Ansari called the Ayodhya dispute a gift of Congress and accused it of pitching Hindu-Muslims against each other. He said that Congress is not going to benefit from Priyanka Gandhi’s Ayodhya visit. He attacked Congress for ignoring Ayodhya during its 60 years rule. He said that no development work was carried out by the Congress in the city, neither employment was generated nor was any mill or factory set up.
Ansari, reportedly also stated that it was due to Congress that the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute has not been solved in all these years. He accused Congress of pitching Hindus and Muslims against each other.
However, Ansari praised the BJP government in the Centre and the State. He said the PM Modi and the CM Yogi are carrying out development work in Ayodhya. He also praised CM Yogi for paying regular visits to the city to oversee the development work. Ansari credited the current BJP government and also the previous Samajwadi Party government for the development of the city but attacked the Congress for doing nothing in the name of development during its rule.
Ansari said that the voter is aware and educated and Priyanka Gandhi’s Ayodhya visit is not going to get any votes to the Congress Party. He added that voters today are smart, they are not going to fall for the election-time stunts. He also added that even the Muslim voters will not be fooled by Priyanka not choosing to visit the Ram Janmabhoomi at the disputed site.
Launching a veiled attack on the former BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha who recently joined Congress, Finance Minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley thanked Congress Party for accepting their ‘problem’.
According to an Economic Times report, Jaitley said, “Some eminent former BJP men have been accepted by the Congress as a gift. We thank Congress. Our problem is now yours. Good luck!”
Calling the Grand Alliance a circus, Jaitley said that it has already failed as the third phase of nomination is about to get over and a gathbandhan (alliance) is not even in place yet, let alone mahagathbandhan (great alliance). He said that the alliance lacks stability as there is no leader, no programme and no meeting of minds.
“The only thing in common is negative agenda ‘remove one man’. It is a recipe for chaos,” he said.
Sinha who had recently met Congress President Rahul Gandhi shared a picture with him on Twitter hailed the so-called Gandhi as “the family of Nation builders”.
Painfully….on the way out of BJP….But hopefully in the best direction under the dynamic leadership of my dear friend Lalu Yadav and the desirable, most talked about leader from the Nehru Gandhi family… the true family of nation builders… pic.twitter.com/9HSNhf9F1c
The actor-turned-politician has been openly speaking against BJP and taking part in Opposition rallies for quite some time. He was particularly upset after BJP decided to field Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib seat, from where he is a sitting MP.
Days after Congress President Rahul Gandhi announced Congress’ minimum income guarantee scheme there is still no clarity over how exactly will the party implement the scheme if voted to power. Not just that, Congress President Rahul Gandhi himself continues to give confusing figures every other day. From Rs 72,000 per year to Rs 72,000 per month to Rs 72,000 crore per year, the Gandhi scion has made everyone dizzy with confusing mathematics.
However, it seems to have dawned upon the middle class that at the end of it, things may not be all bright and cheery if Congress does come to power and chooses to implement the scheme.
New taxes to fund 3,60,000 Crores annually for Nyay thing???
Jaitley Ji aap wapis aa jao, aapko koi kuch nahi kahega
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has faced the wrath of the quintessential middle-class during the implementation of demonetisation and GST. However, despite the hardships people may have faced in the initial days, people are ready to overlook it if it means new taxes to fund the Rs 3,60,000 crore annually for the minimum income guarantee programme.
The ‘free money’ funded by newer tax schemes has not gone down too well with people.
पप्पू के इकनोमिक एडवाइजर साफ कह रहे हैं कि टैक्स रेट बढ़ाये बिना ये 72000 की स्कीम संभव नहीं है तथा टैक्स को नए रूप से डिज़ाइन करना पड़ेगा, मतलब इनकम टैक्स और इनडाइरेक्ट टैक्स दोनों से आपका बाजा बजाया जाएगा
लेकिन जो लोग मोदी से नफरत करते हैं वो कुछ करोड़ का नुकसान तो उठा ही लेंगे
As the user pointed out, Rahul Gandhi’s economic advisor who suggested the ambitious scheme himself said that without an increase in taxes, it will not be possible to implement the minimum income scheme. That means, not just income tax, but even indirect taxes would be changed and increased to accommodate Rahul Gandhi’s ‘free money’ scheme.
To put things in perspective, if Congress is voted to power and this could mean 70% taxation and an inflation rate of 12%, more or less.
Rahul Gandhi’s Congress today promised 70% tax and 12% inflation if voted back to power.
The least we can do is let the people of India know this.
Moreover, there doesn’t appear to be any agreement on the matter within the Congress party itself. While Rahul Gandhi says one thing, the chairperson of Data Analytics Department of the Congress party, Praveen Chakravarty, says something entirely the opposite. It appears there’s significant confusion within the Congress party itself on how it will be implemented.
One thing is for certain. Should the Congress come to power and the scheme, in whatever form, does get implemented, the greatest sufferers will be the middle class. The poor, too, will suffer as infrastructure will crumble and the cost of living will shoot up.
In what appeared to be a synchronised spreading of fake news on social media, Congress-friendly journalists and self-proclaimed fact-checkers were caught spreading fake news that retired NIA judge Ravindra Reddy, who acquitted Swami Aseemanand in Mecca Masjid bomb case, has joined the BJP.
It all started when ‘journalist’ Saurav Datta, who is associated with the left-leaning website Scroll and an online rag which was last found highlighting the CRPF jawans who lost their lives in Puwalama attack on caste lines, shared a tweet.
Saurav’s tweet, now deleted.
Saurav Datta shared a screenshot from one ‘Mangalore Voice’ which claimed that NIA judge Ravindra Reddy who acquitted Swami Aseemanand in Mecca Masjid blast case has now joined the BJP.
As if on cue, the tweet was retweeted over 350 times in less than an hour and quote tweeted by many prominent journalists.
Prem Panicker spreading fake news
Without verifying, whether Reddy has joined the BJP, he was demonised already, casting aspersions that the reason he may have been invited to join the BJP because he acquitted the RSS leader.
Mihir Sharma spreading fake news
Mihir Sharma, who usually likes to twist facts and sometimes spread lies, too thought this was ‘Banana Republic’. Speaking of facts, Samar Halarnkar, who heads the dubious, factually incorrect data website and a faulty ‘fact-checker‘ was also caught ‘retweeting’ the above tweet, helping Datta in further spreading the fake news.
Samar Halarnkar, who heads the dubious faulty data analysis website ‘IndiaSpend’ and ‘fact-checker’ – found spreading fake news by retweeting
Some were found resorting to the oldest trick in the book to absolve oneself of the blame when one knows that the news may be untrue, but wants to shoot off from other people’s shoulders. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal often tweets ‘is this true’ tweets, which more often than not are untrue. Inspired by Kejriwal, abusive troll masquerading as a journalist also put up an ‘if this is true’ tweet.
Abusive troll Swati Chaturvedi’s now deleted tweet
Swati Chaturvedi likes to gloat that she has highly placed sources. However, instead of bothering to confirm with her sources, she chooses the ‘shocking if true’ trick. More like Baingan Republic. Chaturvedi later on deleted this tweet and posted a ‘clarification’ that the man above is not Ravindra Reddy.
NDTV’s Nidhi’s now deleted tweet
NDTV’s Nidhi, too went the ‘shocking if true’ route. Nidhi, too, later on deleted her tweet after she was pointed out that she need not be shocked because this is not true.
‘Journalist’ Dhume admitting he deleted his tweet based on Datta’s fake news
Wall-Street Journal columnist who usually likes to tell a lie a thousand times till it becomes true, Sadanand Dhume, too tweeted based on Datta’s tweet. However, he later apologised for not being careful. Eventually, Datta, too, deleted his tweet, an hour after it had spread like wild fire.
Datta admitting he found it on John Dayal’s Facebook timeline.
Datta admitted that he found the screenshot he shared from ‘activist’ John Dayal’s Facebook page.
John Dayal leading from the front in spreading fake news
Dayal chose to spread fake news without verifying and at the time of publishing this report, the Facebook post is still up despite people pointing it out that the above post is fake news. As of now, the post has been shared almost 250 times on Facebook.
The same screenshot shared by Dayal was later on shared on Twitter by lawyer Sanjay Hegde.
Sanjay Hegde spreading fake news
This was later on spread further by Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh.
AAP’s Sanjay Singh sharing fake news
In fact, not only is the news that Reddy has joined BJP incorrect, but the above image is also not that of Reddy. It is actually that of Ram Dayal Uike, former Chhattisgarh Congress working president joining the BJP in October last year.
Congress Chhattisgarh working president and Pali-Tanakhar MLA, Ramdayal Uike joined BJP in presence of Amit Shah and CM Dr.Raman Singh pic.twitter.com/m2MuwrTraO
And most amusingly, Reddy has actually joined Telangana Jana Samiti, which is a Congress ally.
October 2018 article of NDTV that Reddy joined Telangana Jana Samiti, a Congress allyOctober 2018 article of The Hindu that Reddy joined Telangana Jana Samiti, a Congress ally
The prominent journalists and self-proclaimed champions of truth not only spread a piece of unverified information, but it was also a fake image with the fake news.
As the main election promise for Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party has announced a minimum income guarantee scheme, the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY). According to this scheme, 20% poorest people in the country of 5 crore families will be paid Rs 72,000 per year. This means an outgo of Rs 3,60,000 crore per year, but the party didn’t provide details of how they propose to fund this massive scheme. Now noted economist Abhijit Banerjee, who advised the Congress party on the formulation of the scheme, has made some startling revelations about the thinking behind the scheme.
In an interview with Times Now, Banerjee said that the NYAY will have to funded by new taxes. He said that at present India’s fiscal deficit is so large that the scheme is simply not sustainable without raising taxes.
When asked whether the NYAY will have to be funded by a tax or a series of taxes, Banerjee replied, “that is correct”. He also said that India will have to have new fiscal resources, saying that the country is at present “undertaxed”. He said that India needs to desperately raise taxes irrespective of the NYAY scheme. He also talked about expanding the tax base.
When asked whether the scheme will be viable without increasing taxes, Banerjee tried to avoid the question saying that the economy itself is not viable without increasing taxes. Nothing is viable without raising taxes, he emphasised, implying that the minimum income guarantee scheme is also not viable without increasing taxes.
We’re running a deficit which is so large that we have one of the world’s highest interest rates now. This is simply not sustainable. It’s not good for the economy. We need to do something about it: Abhijit Banerjee, Economist (Nyay Advisor) to @RShivshankar | #NyayKaSachpic.twitter.com/tHk9aU24b2
Banerjee also said that India has been hurt by low inflation during the NDA government, and budgets of NDA government are not viable. He said that stopping the “inflation tax” by the NDA government has hurt the economy badly. He said that during UPA government, although the interests were high, due to the use of “inflation tax” by the government, the share of government debt in GDP was falling. According to Banerjee, now that the NDA government is not using the “inflation tax”, it has meant there are few sources of revenue for the government.
Abhijit Banerjee also said that the implementation of NYAY will mean that lots of current welfare programs will have to be scrapped. He said that many of the current schemes have no purpose, and nobody knows what their purposes are, and they will be replaced by NYAY. He said that subsidies provided for fertilizer, power, water etc are distortionary subsidies, and they need to go. Banerjee said that these subsidies are not good for the economy, they are not good for efficiency.
From the comments of economist Abhijeet Banerjee, it is clear that for the Congress scheme to be implemented, the government will have to increase taxes, raise inflation, and scrap existing welfare schemes, something which Congress party is not telling the people while talking about it.
Kinnar Akhada’s Mahamandaleshwar Maa Bhawani Nath Valmiki has joined the Aam Admi Party ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Bhawani met AAP leader Sanjay Singh and took the membership of the party. The official Twitter handle of AAP shared the news of Bhawani joining the party, calling for making India a nation where their candidate Bhawani is not an exception but a norm.
Every voice matters!
Transgender Chirpi Bhawani will be our candidate for the upcoming loksabha elections from Prayagraj.
AAP has declared Bhawani a Lok Sabha candidate from Prayagraj. She was earlier a member of Congress Party which she joined on July 10, 2004. Bhawani had embraced Islam in 2010 and had even gone on Hajj in 2011. She later converted back to Hinduism and established the Kinnar Akhara in 2015 along with Laxmi Narayan Tripathi.
The Kinnar Akhada made history this year when they took part in the shahi snan during the Kumbh at Prayag. The Akhada was trying to get recognised a separate Akhada but the Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad was refusing to recognise it as the 14th Akhada of the country. But this year, the powerful Juna Akhada took the Kinnar Akhada under its wing, which allowed them to participate in the holy event during the Kumbh.
Bhawani has been a vocal supporter of Transgender Bill. She had also voiced her support for cow protection by participating in the Gauputra Sena Sanrakshak mission to get the Emergency Cow Protection Act implemented.
“The section of the society which was ignored by all the parties, we are with them. I had also participated in their programme. This government had introduced a Bill in which transgender people were put in the category of beggars. Now will win the fight in Allahabad,” said Sanjay Singh. After joining the party Bhawani said that she is not here to defeat anyone. “I have not come here to defeat anyone. I am here to win. Our issues are unemployment, demonetisation and all the promises that were made by the government,” said Bhawani.
The ‘Meme Culture’ has taken social media by storm in recent years. Not only has it given cause for laughs and banter, but it has also affected politics in an unprecedented manner. In ‘rightwing’ corners of the internet, it’s often joked, Donald Trump is the first President to be ‘memed’ into the White House.
It’s true in many respects. Donald Trump used social media to spread his ideas with remarkable efficiency and ‘trolls’ on the internet did the rest. Despite the establishment’s desperate efforts to discredit him, ‘trolls’ made it fun to support his candidacy. And that went a long way towards securing his electoral victory.
In India, too, the ‘meme culture’ has taken root and like in the United States, it’s primarily dominated by young people associated with the ‘rightwing’. Since 2017, the politician most memed perhaps has been the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath. The rightwing meme culture grew as a revolt against the establishment and as a consequence, the more aversion the establishment holds for a politician, the more it endears the politician to the ‘trolls’. I have spoken about it at some length here.
A barrage of Yogi Adityanath memes took the internet by storm when the saffron-clad Mahant’s penchant for restoring the names of places became the focus of media’s attention. The content of the memes revolved around Yogi Adityanath changing the names of celebrities. Pakistani Sarfraz Ahmed, WWE Wrestler Batista, pop star Justin Bieber, all featured in the memes revolving around Yogi Adityanath.
The memes, most probably, originated from leftwing circles who were using the memes to mock Yogi Adityanath. However, the trend was soon picked up by people on the right as well to cheer on the new poster-boy of Hindutva. One celebrity who became central to this was the flamboyant cricketer Chris Gayle. According to the meme template, Yogi Adityanath had renamed him as ‘Krishna Goyal’ and the cricketer could be seen chanting ‘Mandir Wahi Banayengey’.
The whole thing was a joke and was treated as such by everyone. People on social media have a fair idea about what memes are. But unfortunately, it appears outlets like Times of India do not.
In fact. TOI did an entire fact-check on the joke. Fact-check joke, if one thought the mainstream media couldn’t get more ridiculous, well, you are in for a surprise. TOI proclaims proudly that Chris Gayle aka Krishna Goyal has not joined the BJP. Well, thank you, Genius!
In their fact-check, they have used multiple posts where the user clear calls Chris Gayle ‘Krishna Goyal’ as an obvious reference to the running joke about the cricket transforming into a Hindutvavadi.
They have even used a tweet that was clearly made in jest.
That Fact-Checkers are actually using their plentiful resources to fact-check jokes on the internet only goes on to show the glowing scarcity of intellect in media houses. It also goes on to highlight that most of these fact-checkers have a dedicated agenda to paint a certain political party in bad light. Perhaps, it is even an effort to influence results of ‘research’ when an institute or a group of ‘researchers’ take it upon themselves to investigate the causes of Fake News like the BBC did. But at its core, it reveals the clearly political nature of these ‘fact-checkers’.
All in all, contrary to popular perceptions in media circles, people on social media are smart enough to realise that ‘Krishna Goyal’ hasn’t joined the BJP. Perhaps, the resources of these biased fact-checkers will be better spent in fact-checking the many lies that Rahul Gandhi speaks on a daily basis.
Rahul Gandhi, the undisputed King of goof-ups never seems to disappoint his fans. Every time when one starts feeling a little dull and spiritless Rahul gets the ball rolling with his all-new antic.
Rahul Gandhi floated a bizarre, populist idea the other day of a guaranteed Rs 72,000 per annum minimum basic income to every family below the poverty line to add a dominant thrust to his poll campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Today, Rahul, the master of slipups, while addressing a gathering in Haryana, Kurukshetra, with all conviction, reiterated Congress pre-poll promise of providing a guaranteed Rs 72,000 per annum minimum basic income to every family below the poverty line but with a slight twist. Instead of ‘annum’, he used the public platform to commit a ‘monthly’ Rs 72,000 guarantee.
As if this was not enough to do Congress the desired harm, Rahul’s masterstroke would definitely sweep the grand old party off their feet.
Repeating the same claim with yet another thought-provoking twist the Gandhi scion committed to giving Rs 72000 ‘crore’ per year to 5 crore families. ‘Crore’ gives the bizarre commitment a fresh edge. According to his claims the Congress would need to shell out Rs 3,60,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 (1.91 lakh times India’s total GDP) on his dole scheme.
Latest promise by Pappu @RahulGandhi. He will give ₹72000 crore per year to 5 crore families
Pappu will spend ₹ 3,60,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 (1.91 lakh times India’s total GDP) on his dole scheme. ? https://t.co/UsQI43o1b3
— Chowkidar Spaminder Bharti (@attomeybharti) March 29, 2019
According to Rangarajan Committee report, 29.5% of India’s population is below the poverty line. The poverty line has defined as Rs 32 per day in rural areas and Rs 47 per day in urban areas. This means people below the BPL in rural areas earn below Rs 960 per month, and people in urban areas earn below Rs 1,410 per month. Therefore, all 20% population or 5 crore families will qualify for the highest amount of Rs 72,000 per year under the scheme.
If implemented as promised, this will be the second largest head of expenditure of the union government. The estimate of total expenditure for the 2019-20 budget is Rs 27.84 lakh crores, which means the total budget for the scheme will be 13% of the budget.
As usual, Rahul Gandhi who seldom fails to disappoint his admirers took Twitter by a storm. The people who swear by his goof-ups had a field day. Several memes came up poking fun at the Gandhi scions absurdity.
Few also used this to question the extent of money Congress has pocketed through its scams.
Did you hear he’s saying Congress party de sakti hai!! Meaning Congress has 36L Cr with them to be given every year! Imagine the size of scams needed to have such a balance!!
— Chowkidar Langda_Tyagi (@LangdaTyagi10) March 29, 2019
Earlier, hours after Rahul absurd claim on March 25th, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, coming to Rahul’s rescue, had addressed a press conference clarifying that the scheme was not a top-up scheme as claimed by Rahul Gandhi.
A Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh has submitted his resignation to CM Kamal Nath over the administration’s negligence toward the liquor mafia, alleging that the administration is protecting them.
Panchilal Meda, who is a legislator from Dharmapuri district has a penned a letter of resignation to the CM Kamal Nath. In the letter, Meda expressed his resentment, claiming that the liquor contractors insulted and misbehaved with him and his workers when he sought closure of these liquor shops. ” I was insulted by the liquor contractors and when I went to Police station to report on this, I was surrounded by one contractor and a few women, the Superintendent of Police asked me to leave from the back door,” he said.
“I have been asking for closures of these liquor shops but it appears that district administration, excise department and the police are patronising the liquor contractors and no action is being taken against them,” Meda lamented.
Former CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan took to Twitter to attack Kamal Nath’s government over the allegations made by the MLA who resigned. Chauhan alleged that Kamal Nath’s government duplicity stands exposed as it first introduced a new rule to increase the sale of liquor and now the administration has turned a blind eye to the rampant activities of liquor mafia.
कमलनाथ सरकार का असली चेहरा जनता के सामने आ गया है। पहले शराब की बिक्री बढ़ाने के लिए नया नियम लागू कर दिया और अब शराब माफिया को बचाने के लिए आंख-कान दोनों बंद कर लिया है। जनता सबक सिखाएगी। pic.twitter.com/4mUYwgjbx8
— Chowkidar Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) March 29, 2019
Ever since the Congress formed its government in Madhya Pradesh, it has come under scanner for its controversial decisions. Miffed by the government’s attitude, over 25 MLAs formed a group against their own government. Kamal Nath government was also severely criticised for stopping the pension of the prisoners detained during the Emergency.
