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From stone pelter to over ground worker: Arrested Jaish terrorist reveals his role in Pulwama terror attack

OpIndia Staff
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From stone pelter to over ground worker: Arrested Jaish terrorist reveals his role in Pulwama terror attack

The Special Cell of Delhi police had arrested a terrorist of the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) named Sajjad Khan, who was also a close aide of Pulwama terror attack mastermind, near Red Fort area on Thursday night.

Sajjad Khan who was also wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, was tailed for almost a month before being nabbed near Lajpat Rai market in Delhi.

DCP (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwaha, confirming Sajjad Khan’s arrest, said that the police had tracked down a phone number generated using an application called TextNow, reports Times Of India. The number was used by him to communicate with Pulwama attack mastermind Mudassir Khan, who was recently killed by security forces in an encounter in south Kashmir’s Tral area on March 11.

Mudassir Khan had used that number (+190460**123) to send a text message to Sajjad Khan hours after the Pulwama attack on February 12. This communication was intercepted by the Delhi Special Cell and Khan’s number was eventually tracked down to near Daryaganj.

Sajjad Khan had checked into a guesthouse in Delhi. On March 21 Khan had stepped out of his guesthouse to visit the Red Fort where he was nabbed by a team led by ACP Lalit Mohan Negi and ACP Hriday Bhushan. He was picked up from there.

Police said that Sajjad Khan had left Kashmir soon after the Pulwama attack. He had been sent to Delhi on a special task to probe special targets. Khan, who was living in Delhi in the guise of a shawl seller was actually in Delhi to radicalise and recruit Muslim youths of UP and other states and provide them weapons training, explosives, and field craft.

He had been tasked to create a sleeper cell and a hideout for the cadres in Delhi. Khan had also conducted the recce of at least a dozen places in NCR on the instruction of his Pakistan-based handler.

Sajjad Khan confirmed that Mudassir Ahmed Khan, the mastermind behind the Pulwama attack, got in touch with him and started visiting his house soon after the death of his eldest brother, Ishfaq. “He motivated me and my brother Shaukat to join the jihad”.

Sajjad furthered that initially he use to work as a stone pelter and an overground worker. He used to initially provided information about the movement of convoys and cordon and the search operations carried out by security forces in Pulwama.

“Impressed with my work Mudassir instructed me to spot young Kashmiri youths for fidayeen attack”, he told the interrogators. He furthered that on the day of the Pulwama attack he was contacted by Mudassir on WhatsApp and asked to leave for Delhi. “I was in touch with my handlers on TextNow and WhatsApp only”, confirmed Khan.

Mudassir had also sent Sajjad the video of Adil Ahmed Dar, the suicide bomber, who blew his explosive-laden vehicle next to a bus in a CRPF convoy on February 14, which he saw and immediately deleted from his phone, said Khan.

Sajjad Khan, who is the resident of Jammu and Kashmir, allegedly had the details of the Pulwama attack on the CRPF convoy. Reportedly, his two brothers were also Jaish terrorists, who were killed by the forces in encounters in Jammu and Kashmir. One of his brothers was killed in an encounter along with Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar’s nephew Usman in South Kashmir’s Tral in October 2018.

The Delhi Special Cell is now in the lookout for two other youths, Tanveer from Tral and Bilal from Gadpora, whom Khan had recruited as fidayeen.

Bihar: Shatrughan Sinha given the boot, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to contest from Patna Sahib

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar: Shatrughan Sinha given the boot, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to contest from Patna Sahib

The NDA today announced that Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will contest the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha election from Patna Sahib constituency. BJP rebel leader Shatrughan Sinha is the current MP from Patna Sahib. Union Minister Giriraj Singh, who is currently the MP from Nawada will contest from Begusarai.

Announcing the candidates’ list, BJP in-charge for Bihar Bhupendra Yadav said Lok Janshakti Party’s Chandan Kumar will contest from Nawada. Lok Janshakti Party’s Chirag Paswan will contest from Jamui. BJP’s Ramkirpal Yadav will contest from Patliputra, RK Singh from Arrah, Aswani Choubey from Buxar, Radha Mohan Singh from East Champaran, Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran.

JDU will field Dinesh Chandra Yadav, who is currently a minister in Bihar assembly, from Madhepura. Santosh Kumar Kushwaha from JDU will contest from Purnia and Dularchand Goswami from Katihar.

Here is the rest of the list:

List of Bihar candidates for NDA

Related: Previously Sinha’s VIP facility at Patna Airport was withdrawn

Madhya Pradesh: Congress issues clarification after Salman Khan rubbishes claims of him campaigning for them

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Congress issues clarification after Salman Khan rubbishes claims of him campaigning for them

The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee has issued a clarification over Actor Salman Khan’s tweet rubbishing speculations of him joining any political party. After a meeting between CM Kamal Nath and Salman Khan before the announcement of Lok Sabha election dates, speculations were rife that the actor is going to contest on a Congress ticket and will also get involved in the party’s promotion in the state.

“CM Kamal Nath had held discussions with Salman Khan, but those were about appealing Khan to contribute to the development of the state. There were talks of offering Salman Khan with the task of promoting tourism in the state, but the official invitation to the become ambassador for tourism has still not been given. Party has not given any offer to Salman Khan to campaign for it” The clarification issued by MPCC reads, as per a Naiduniya report.

After the meeting with Salman Khan, CM Kamal Nath had told the press that he had reminded actor Khan about his relationship with Madhya Pradesh and appealed for his contribution to the development of the state. He had also given Salman Khan offer to work for the promotion of tourism for the state.

This announcement by CM Kamal Nath had given rise to speculations that Salman Khan will join Congress and will be fielded from challenging Lok Sabha seat of Indore.

Congress leader Pankaj Chaturvedi had claimed that party leaders have talked to khan for campaigning in Indore. Khan was born in Indore’s Palasia area and has spent some childhood years in the city. In 2009, Khan had participated in a road show and had campaigned for Congress mayoral candidate. However, the candidate had lost to BJP.

Amid this, when news of Salman Khan arriving in Mandu city of MP became viral, speculations grew stronger that Khan had joined Congress and was coming there for campaigning. However, it was later clarified that Khan was in Mandu only for a shooting schedule.

After this, Salman Khan himself had to discard the rumours surrounding his political affiliations. On Thursday, the actor tweeted rubbishing the rumours claiming of his political debut.


Subsequently, the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee also issued a clarification, clearing the air and denying giving any offer to Salman Khan to contest from the party and take part in the election campaign.

Sumitra Mahajan is the sitting BJP MP from Indore.

All India Trinamool Congress denies dropping ‘Congress’ from its name

OpIndia Staff
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All India Trinamool Congress denies dropping ‘Congress’ from its name

Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has decided to drop the word ‘Congress’ from their logo. According to reports, though there have been no formal announcements yet, the party has got a new logo and has already been using it.

The new ‘Trinamool’ logo has a blue background with two flowers. It has just ‘Trinamool’ written at the bottom. Party sources have been quoted as saying that the new logo has been in use for over a week now.

The official Facebook and Twitter pages of the party are already sporting the updated logo. The Twitter handles of party supremo Mamata Banerjee, MP Derek O’Brien and leader Abhishek Banerjee’s Twitter handles are also displaying the new ‘Trinamool’ logo.

TMC has ‘dropped’ congress in the new logo

Trinamool Congress was formed by Mamata Banerjee 21 years back after differences with the Congress party over state politics in West Bengal and issues of dealing with the CPI(M).

However, the party will still be registered with the election commission of India in its old name of Trinamool Congress.

The word ‘Congress’ has also been dropped from all party communication materials, banners and posters too. A party leader reportedly said that TMC is now called Trinamool and after 21 years, it is time for a change.

The change comes at a time when the grand old Congress is literally being ‘dropped’ by many other regional parties it had hoped to form an alliance with. After the grand posturing of a proposed ‘Mahagathbandhan’ at the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy last year, Congress seems to have failed in ‘uniting’ the opposition in its quest for a United Opposition.

After SP and BSP had denied an alliance with Congress and left just embarrassing 2 seats for it, RJD has taken 20 seats in Bihar and has left Congress with just 9. Amidst all this, Mamata Banerjee’s decision to ‘drop’ Congress from their party symbol might kindle speculations of the party itself being ‘dropped’ in pre and post-election political manoeuvers.


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Update: Later in the day, the party had denied media reports about the change in party’s name. A statement issued by the party said that the name of the party, as registered with Election Commission is ‘All India Trinamool Congress’. The name and symbol of the party was approved by EC on January 1, 1998, the party said.

How can those who betrayed Dr. Lohia be expected to serve the nation? PM Modi asks in his blog

OpIndia Staff
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How can those who betrayed Dr. Lohia be expected to serve the nation? PM Modi asks in his blog

March 23 is Dr Ram Manohar Lohia’s birth anniversary. In 1936, he was selected by Jawaharlal Nehru as secretary of the Foreign Department of the A.I.C.C. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today blogged his tributes to Dr Lohia as well as Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru who were hanged on this day in 1931. 

Prime Minister Modi’s blog titeld ‘Remembering Dr. Lohia is reproduced below:

Today is a day to honour revolutionaries.

We pay tributes to great sons of Mother India – Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru for their ultimate sacrifice.

We bow to a prolific thinker, exceptional intellectual, revolutionary and devout patriot, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia on his Jayanti.

Dr. Lohia combined a sharp mind and a penchant for mass politics.

When top leaders were arrested during the Quit India movement, a young Dr. Lohia remained unfazed, went underground and even started an underground radio station to further the movement.

In the history of Goa’s liberation, the name of Dr. Lohia is etched in golden letters.

Wherever the marginalised needed a voice, Dr. Lohia was there.

Dr. Lohia’s thoughts inspire us. He wrote about modernising agriculture and empowering farmers, which the NDA Government is effectively doing through efforts such as PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Krishi Sinchai Yojana, e-Nam, Soil Health Cards and more.

Nothing pained Dr. Lohia more than the caste hierarchy and inequality between women and men. Our Mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ as well as our track record in the last five years show that we have made a long-lasting contribution in fulfilling the vision of Dr. Lohia. He would surely have been very proud of the NDA Government’s work.

Whenever Dr. Lohia spoke, inside or outside Parliament, the Congress trembled with fear.

Dr. Lohia knew how disastrous Congress was. In 1962 he said, “During the Congress regime neither agriculture and industry nor the army has improved.”

These words can accurately describe even subsequent Congress regimes, where farmers were harassed, industry was discouraged (except if they belonged to friends and relatives of Congress leaders) and national security was ignored.

Anti-Congressism was Dr. Lohia’s heart and soul. His efforts ensured a shock to the then all-powerful Congress in 1967 elections. That time, Atal Ji remarked- “Due to Dr. Lohia’s efforts, one could travel on board the Howrah-Amritsar Mail without having to pass a single Congress state!”

Unfortunately, today Dr. Lohia would be horrified at the political developments taking place.

Those parties that claim inspiration from Dr. Lohia have completely abandoned his principles. They are leaving no opportunity to insult him.

The veteran socialist leader from Odisha, Shri Surendranath Dwivedy remarked, “He (Dr. Lohia) was imprisoned many times more during Congress regime than under the British rule.”

Yet, today those parties that falsely claim to be Dr. Lohia’s followers are desperate to form an opportunistic Maha Milawat or adulteration alliances with the same Congress. It is both ironical and reprehensible.

Dr. Lohia always believed that dynastic politics was inimical to democracy. He would have been flabbergasted to see his ‘followers’ think about their own families first instead of the nation.

Dr. Lohia stated that one who works with ‘Samta’, ‘Samanata’ and ‘Samatva Bhaav’ is a Yogi. Sadly, the parties that claim to be his followers forgot this principle. They believe in ‘Satta’, ‘Swarth’ and ‘Shoshan.’ These parties are experts at grabbing power, looting as much as possible and exploiting others. Poor people, Tribals, Dalits, OBCs and women are not safe in their rule because these parties give a free run to criminals and anti-social elements.

In his works, Dr. Lohia called for complete equality between men and women. But, neck deep in vote bank politics, it was parties that dishonestly claim to be Dr. Lohia’s followers that opposed the NDA Government’s move to abolish the inhuman practice of Triple Talaq.

Is the commitment to vote bank politics bigger than the commitment to Dr. Lohia’s thoughts?

Today, a moot question facing 130 crore Indians is:

How can those who betrayed Dr. Lohia be expected to serve the nation?

Today they are betraying the principles of Dr. Lohia, tomorrow they will also betray the people of India.

Congress commemorates Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, with the wrong date of their martyrdom

OpIndia Staff
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Congress commemorates Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, with the wrong date of their martyrdom

On 23 March 1931, India’s great freedom fighters, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were hanged by the British. The day is commemorated in India as ‘Shahidi Diwas’.

The official Twitter handle of Congress, however, has made another gaffe in their Tweet commemorating Shahidi Diwas. They have marked 24 March 1931 as the date of the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru. Ironically, they have tweeted it today, on 23 March, without bothering to rectify the date.

Via Twitter

Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were imprisoned in Lahore jail. They were sentenced to death and the British government had set the date of 24 March 1931 for their hanging. A large number of Indian patriots had gathered outside the Lahore jail protesting against the British government.

Fearing that the crowd outside the jail might turn violent and the backlash of killing India’s celebrated heroes, the British government had decided to hang the three brave freedom fighters on the night of 23 March itself. Their bodies were then taken to the woods. Suspecting foul play by the British, when the crowd reached the site where the British were burning the bodies, the jail staff had thrown the half-burned bodies into the Sutlej river.

Congress’s gaffe was called out on Twitter.


Via Twitter

It is not the first time that Congress has done such blunders. The official Twitter handle of the Congress had last year, on the occasion of Rath Yatra, referred to Goddess Subhadra as Lord Jagannath’s ‘brother’. After Rahul Gandhi’s visit to HAL last year, they had Tweeted that the Modi government had favoured “Rafale over HAL,”, probably being unaware that Rafale is the name of a fighter jet while HAL is a public sector enterprise.

The official Twitter handle of Congress probably realised their goof up and promptly deleted the Tweet with the wrong date.

Actor-turned-politician Prakash Raj greeted with pro-Modi slogans as he went to file his nomination

OpIndia Staff
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Actor-turned-politician Prakash Raj greeted with pro-Modi slogans as he went to file his nomination

A clash erupted between BJP workers and actor turned politician Prakash Raj in Bengaluru today. Known for having critical views about the Modi government, Prakash Raj was today greeted with pro-Modi slogans at Bengaluru’s BBMP premises, as reported by News9.


As can be seen in the video, a large number of Modi supporters raised “Modi! Modi!” slogans as Prakash Raj arrived at the venue. In a futile attempt to calm down the growing chants of Modi supporters, Raj raised slogans such as “Down Down Modi” but the overwhelming number of the Modi supporters remained unaffected by Raj’s sloganeering.

Prakash Raj was also booked for poll code violation in Bengaluru by the Election Commission. Raj is accused of using mike to canvass for votes and campaigning at a public rally held at MG Road in the city. Prakash Raj has filed his Lok Sabha nomination papers from the central Bengaluru constituency.

76.48 lakh jobs created in last 17 months, 8.96 lakh jobs in January alone: EFPO payroll data

OpIndia Staff
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76.48 lakh jobs created in last 17 months, 8.96 lakh jobs in January alone: EFPO payroll data

According to the latest payroll data released by the Employment Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the net employment generation in the formal sector shot up to a 17-month high reaching 8.96 lakh jobs in the month of January. The EPFO has been releasing the payroll data since April 2018 covering the period starting September 2017. The number of EPFO subscribers was 131 per cent high in January 2019 as compared to January 2018 when only 3.87 lakh EPFO subscribers were added.

According to the data, a total of 2,75,609 jobs were created in September 2017 and about 76.48 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the EPFO between September 2017 to January 2019. The payroll data had witnessed a slight decline (1.8%) in December 2018 stopping at 7.03 lakh as compared to the estimate of 7.16 lakh released the previous month. For the period between September 2017-December 2018, the EPFO revised the cumulative job addition data downwards 6.6 percent to 67.52 lakh as against the forecast of 72.32 lakh.

Being the closing month of the financial year, March 2018 experienced the sharpest decline with 29,023 members exiting the EPFO subscription contrary to last month’s estimated addition of 5,498 members. During January 2019, the highest number of jobs were created in the 22-25 year age group which was 2.44 lakh jobs. This was followed by 2.24 lakh jobs in the 18-21 year age bracket.

According to the EPFO, the data of the exited members is based on the individual claims and establishments and the data uploaded by the employers whereas the data of new subscribers is based on the Universal Account Number (UAN) generated in the system and those having received a non-zero subscription.

The EPFO data is provisional as the employee records are updated as a regular process and the same gets updated in subsequent months.

China to extend USD 2.1 billion loan to Pakistan to fight its economic crisis

OpIndia Staff
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China to extend USD 2.1 billion loan to Pakistan to fight its economic crisis

China, like a good neighbour, is making every effort to help its friend and neighbour Pakistan during its economic crisis. Dragon has decided to give USD 2.1 billion loan to Pakistan to revive its sinking economy. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance, the amount will be transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Finance ministry adviser and spokesperson Dr Khaqan Najeeb Khan informed that all the procedural formalities for the transfer of the loan have been completed and the funds will be deposited in the SBP account by March 25. “The loan facility will further strengthen foreign exchange reserves and ensure a balance of payment stability”, said Khan.

In November last year following a meeting between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Pakistani PM Imran Khan in Beijing, China had said that it was ready to help its neighbour in its economic crisis but the terms and conditions of the assistance were still being discussed. China is also investing in multiple sectors and launching business ventures in Pakistan instead of providing loans, as was disclosed by Chinese Consul General Long Dingbin in an interview.

Last year Pakistan had also sought the assistance of International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out the country from its economic crisis. However, the IMF had stated in clear terms that the country would have to maintain transparency regarding the already taken loans from countries like China. It required Pakistan to disclose all the details regarding $62 Billion investment from China under the One Belt One Road initiative.

Pakistan is in the Grey list of the Global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which condemned the Pulwama terror attack and at the same time called out Pakistan for failing to take appropriate action regarding terror funding. Being in the grey list of the FATF is causing hardships to the country as it makes it difficult to get international loans.

Farooq Abdullah’s brother, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, questions Pulwama attack, gives clean chit to Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Farooq Abdullah’s brother, Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, questions Pulwama attack, gives clean chit to Pakistan

Extending support to controversial remarks of the chief of Indian Overseas Congress Sam Pitroda about airstrikes on Pakistan, National Conference leader Sheikh Mustafa Kamal has given a clean chit to Pakistan and Jaish-e-Mohammed for its role the Pulwama attack, which had left 40 jawans martyred, and cast doubt on the Indian government, instead.


“Look the way Pulwama attack happened, everyone is questioning it. Even me,” Mustafa said to the News18. “They have refused to even divulge full details about the attack. First, they said 49 Jawans have died, then nearly 40. You cannot even arrive at the correct figures of your dead security personnel.” He added.

He further added that the incumbent government is preventing the truth from coming out.

“When in future the regime will change, the truth will come out upon investigation” NC leader said.

Sheikh Mustafa is the brother of former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah. He has served in state’s cabinet in the year of 1983,1987 and 1996.

A not-so-different statement was also given by Sam Pitroda, who is a considered close confidant of Congress President of Rahul Gandhi, questioning death toll in the Balakot airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force in response to the Pulwama terror attack while saying that it was wrong to attack Pakistan for Pulwama attack.

He also had felt that it was not right to “punish” Pakistan because of a few terrorists. “Eight people (26/11 terrorists) come and do something, you don’t jump on entire nation (Pakistan). Naive to assume that just because some people came here and attacked, every citizen of that nation is to be blamed. I don’t believe in that way,” Sam Pitroda was quoted by reports.

Congress and NC have forged an alliance in Jammu and Kashmir to take on BJP in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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