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Congress manifesto stinks of Pakistani language: PM Modi in his interview to ABP News

OpIndia Staff
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Congress manifesto stinks of Pakistani language: PM Modi in his interview to ABP News

Prime Minister Modi in his interview to ABP News said that there is a pro-incumbency wave in the country.

In a frontal attack on the Congress party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the party which has divided India, broke Andhra Pradesh into two states for its own political gains, is speaking about bridging the north-south divide. PM Modi, in his interview to ABP News, was referring to the excuse Congress has given for party president Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad and Amethi.

“Chunav woh kahan se lade kahan se na lade woh unka vishay hai. Lekin jis tarike se jaana pada hai. Media ne bola hai amethi unke liye mushkil hai. Unko jo kehna hai woh keh sakte hai. Where he fights elections that is their subject. But the way he had to go to Wayanad is what we are pointing at. Media only is saying that winning Amethi may be difficult this time. They can give whichever excuse they want to, ” PM Modi said.

Congress has claimed that Rahul Gandhi will fight from Wayanad as well to try and bridge the ‘divide’ the five years of Modi government has brought between North and South. However, a Congress leader had said the party has chosen Wayanad as Hindus are in a minority in that constituency and hence it may be a ‘safe seat’, lest Gandhi loses Amethi.

Adding that Congress manifesto echoes the language of Pakistan and separatists, PM Modi said, “We want an India where AFSPA is not even required. But for that, we need an atmosphere where such a situation is possible. Congress manifesto stinks of Pakistani language. It is the language of the separatists. Congress has insulted army by bringing in accusations like rape.”

Stressing the importance of sedition law, Prime Minister Modi said that he has full faith in the judiciary to differentiate between ‘Rashtradroh’ and ‘Rajdroh’ (criticism of the government and trying to bring hate and contempt towards the government). “When people were protesting against the nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu, Congress had arrested 6,000 people under sedition laws. The same Congress now wants to abolish the sedition law to stand by the ones who want to break India into pieces. They want them to go free?” PM Modi said.

Speaking on the relationship with Pakistan and the conflict, PM Modi said, “It is unclear who runs the government in Pakistan: the elected government, the army, the ISI or the Pakistanis residing abroad who are running it from afar? Pakistan should stop exporting terrorism to India. We have differences with China, but we are not going to let them get converted into dispute.”

On the controversial topic of proofs of airstrikes on Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot carried out after the Pulwama terror attack, PM Modi said, “Pakistan tweeted it themselves. We had not made any claims. Those who want to debate how many were killed can continue to do so. Pakistan would have badmouthed us if we had attacked civilians and army installations. Our target was only terrorists. We carried out research and was carried out successfully. Pakistan cannot accept it because that will mean they will have to accept that terrorist activities were happening on their land. It is a matter of worry that Indians are speaking the language Pakistan would like.”

Prime Minister Modi often takes a dig at the Opposition alliance, referring to it as ‘mahamilavat’. “I don’t call it Mahathagbandhan, I call it ‘Mahamilavat. NDA is also an alliance. In Jammu and Kashmir when we forged an alliance with PDP, we had come close, but we were not together. The mandate was such that we had to walk together. However, today NDA alliance is not contradictory. Like Shiromani Akali Dal, we are together in good times and bad. Unlike in UPA. Two years back during Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, two guys wore jackets and came on TV as if shooting a film. Today they are standing as opposition themselves.”

He further added that the UPA has no unity. “Omar abdullah says there should be 2 PMs in the country. Congress should answer what is their stand on 2-PM theory. You are forging alliance who says they will abuse India a 100 times if anyone abuses Pakistan. Congress must come clear on their stand on the statements issued by their alliance partner.”

MEA sponsored free alcohol, air tickets, and more during Congress rule: Senior journalist reveals why media dislikes the Modi govt

OpIndia Staff
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MEA sponsored free alcohol, air tickets, and more during Congress rule: Senior journalist reveals why media dislikes the Modi govt

The media in the country has always shared an intriguing relationship with the government of the day. From involving in the allocation of cabinet berths to availing freebies, the Indian media fraternity has been part of an echo chamber but unfortunately, it was never part of public debate.

Now, an interesting video has gone viral, in which senior journalist Ashok Shrivastav can be heard describing anecdotes, which explain the murkier relationship between the media and the past government. Ashok Shrivastav narrated his experience regarding how Indian journalists were gifted with freebies, including expensive alcoholic beverages whenever they travelled with the Indian delegation to foreign countries led by the past Prime Ministers. He said that over 150 journalists would travel officially during the Congress regime.


He further revealed how the previous governments spent lavishly to treat the Indian media establishment during the official trips. Narrating an incident, Shrivastav said that courtesy of the external affairs ministry during the Congress government, journalists were allowed to order expensive cuisine, alcohol while they were part of the Indian media delegation. Srivastav said that after journalists were wined and dined during the flight when they reached their hotel room an expensive alcohol bottle of Black Label would be waiting for them. He also said that many journalists had brought back expensive alcohol back to the country as it would be sponsored by the external affairs ministry apart from the free air tickets and hotel accommodation.

Interestingly, Shrivastav explained how everything changed when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of the country. Post-2014, no media organisations or journalists are being allowed to fly with the official Indian delegation. The media organisations should cover their expenses if they intend to report on Prime Minister Modi’s official foreign trips. He also added how the Modi government cut unnecessary expenses on journalists by not allowing public money to spent on local trips, that used to be sponsored by the previous governments in the past.

The Indian journalists’ fraternity has in the past lamented against the present government for not following the established ‘etiquettes’. It is also believed that resentment against the Narendra Modi government also comes from the fact that there are no such freebies available to them today contrary to the past when ’eminent’ journalists were co-opted by the government for reciprocity of being soft on them.

It is rather worrying to see that the Indian media, dominated by the left-leaning Lutyens cabal, often speaking in a condescending tone targetting the self-made journalists of being co-opted and a mouthpiece to the present Narendra Modi government despite the fact that they themselves have questionable integrity and journalistic ethics in the past.

After Kamal Nath’s brother-in-law now his nephew, Ratul Puri, questioned in connection with AgustaWestland scam

OpIndia Staff
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After Kamal Nath’s brother-in-law now his nephew, Ratul Puri, questioned in connection with AgustaWestland scam

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday questioned businessman Ratul Puri, nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in connection with the Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland scam.

As the Enforcement Directorate penetrates deeper into the AgustaWestland case, more and more skeletons seem to be falling out of the closet. After a few startling revelations made by Michel about one ‘Mrs Gandhi’, ‘Italian Lady’s son, R’ and the inside information he could gather from sources like the PMO and the investigative agencies, the ED tracked down the money trail of kickbacks received by Christian Michel and it has led them to Moser Baer which is owned by Deepak Puri, who is senior Congress leader Kamal Nath’s brother-in-law.

In fact, in his 2014 election affidavit, Kamal Nath had declared that he too held 6450 shares in Moser Baer of Rs 10 market value each.

Moreover, in 2017, Moser Baer had shut its plan and laid off over 2000 employees, allegedly, without clearing their dues. A portal called ‘Ten News’ had spoken to the staff of the plan who had directly named Puri and Kamal Nath. One had alleged that Kamal Nath, during UPA 1 had favoured Deepak Puri and the company now going under is the result of that.

In fact, Moser Baer Solar Limited had incurred a huge debt most of it while Kamal Nath was the commerce minister.

Meanwhile, according to reports, the name of Ratul Puri, chairman of the board of directors of Hindustan Powerprojects, cropped up during the questioning of Rajiv Saxena, who has turned approver in the case. Saxena was arrested by ED after being deported from Dubai.

“I am cooperating with the investigation and will continue to cooperate. I have no connection with defence (deals) and no business dealings with my relatives, I run an independent business. I will cooperate fully with ED and any other government authority that seeks any information from me or asks me for any clarifications. I have no connection with AgustaWestland or defence,” Ratul Puri said.

Michel was extradited to India on 4 December from United Arab Emirates (UAE). Recently it was also unearthed that, Christian Michel’s involvement was not only restricted to AgustaWestland scam. He had also lobbied against France-based Rafale in order to enable Eurofighter, its rival, to grab the MMRCA deal. On 5th January, the Patiala House Court had extended Michel’s judicial custody till February 26.

Christian Michel, the middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper scam, who was extradited from Dubai, has been spilling the beans and his correspondence from the time when this deal was in consideration has made some stunning revelations. Earlier, it was reported how Michel had access to Cabinet Meetings, Cabinet Committee on Security meetings and the then PMO under Manmohan Singh. It has now emerged that he also had access to investigative agencies, reported Economic Times.

Youtube removes video critical of hijab for being ‘hate speech’

K Bhattacharjee
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Youtube removes video critical of hijab for being ‘hate speech’

Social Media giants have been infected with the virus of political correctness for some time now. In recent times, platforms such as Twitter have incorporated social justice dogma into their community guidelines. These measures have led to a great assault on people’s right to freedom of expression.

There have been numerous instances where videos have been either demonetized or deleted from YouTube for violating its policies which attempt to stifle criticism of some regressive Islamic practices and Leftist dogma.

Abdullah Sameer, who shares videos on YouTube, recently tweeted that he was served with a strike by Youtube for a video titled ‘The Strange Story of the Cow in the Quran by Hassan Radwan’. According to the screenshot he shared of the mail he received, the video was removed for violating YouTube’s hate speech policies.


Shambhav Sharma, of the Sham Sharma Show, received a warning for a video titled ‘Celebrating the Hijab insults millions of women around the world’.


Talking to OpIndia.com, Sharma said, “I uploaded a video on my YouTube channel today, titled “Celebrating The Hijab Insults Millions Of Women Around The World”, where I talked about how the hijab is not some symbol of freedom and empowerment. And YouTube just deleted the video, saying it violates their hate speech policies. I didn’t even call for a ban on the hijab because I believe that people should have the freedom to wear whatever they want. I also received a couple of hateful emails from anonymous accounts after the Hasan Minhaj video about reporting my account and getting it shut down, so that may explain it as well.”

He added, “It’s incredible that there are people who constantly label and abuse others as “Bhakts, zombies, IT Cell”, and their videos show up in everyone’s recommendations and have millions of views. There are race baiters like Molyneux and genuine religious bigots like Zakir Naik with close to a million followers each and a verified tick, and YouTube feels the need to target a tiny channel like mine, delete my video and threaten to shut my channel down.” Sharma further stated that he has appealed the deletion but does not expect anything good to come of it.

There has been a deliberate attempt at censoring dissent against leftist dogma on social media platforms. Numerous allegations have been made against the social media giant Twitter for stifling political speech that is not consistent with the beliefs of the Left. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had even admitted the left-leaning bias of its employees.

There have been numerous cases of right-leaning accounts getting suspended on Twitter. Many accounts associated with ABVP, the students’ arm of RSS, were mass suspended, only to be reinstated after protests. Similarly, in 2016 many Twitter accounts were suspended after posting anti-AAP tweets.

Various Classical Liberals in the US have alleged that YouTube has been engaging in a concerted effort to silence dissenting voices. Jordan Peterson, a renowned clinical psychologist who gained almost instant popularity across the world for resisting social justice dogma, has faced similar issues on YouTube as well along with numerous other people.

CMIE, that has ties to P Chidambaram and fear-mongered about ‘unemployment in India’ was a part of Congress Manifesto Committee

OpIndia Staff
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CMIE, that has ties to P Chidambaram and fear-mongered about ‘unemployment in India’ was a part of Congress Manifesto Committee

The Congress party released its 2019 Lok Sabha Election Manifesto with much fanfare on Tuesday, the 2nd of April 2019. The manifesto had several rather dangerous aspects to it. Apart from accusing the Indian Army of sexual violence and torture in Kashmir, the Congress promised to dilute AFSPA, curtail the power of the Media and make the NSA accountable to all politicians, thereby running the risk of making public sensitive national security concerns.

Heading the Manifesto committee was senior Congress leader P Chidambaram. Interestingly, according to a report in the Times of India, the following were the “policy wonks” who helped formulate the Congress manifesto.

Source: Times of India

An interesting name that is included in the list, is that of Mr Mahesh Vyas, CEO of CMIE. Multiple sources have reiterated that around 15 million jobs were created in India by the Modi government per year. However, CMIE decided to present shoddy data to claim that unemployment was at its highest.

Interestingly, the CEO is CMIE, it has now been revealed, was helping Congress build their manifesto.

CMIE has a long and interesting history and is closely linked with Congress minister P Chidambaram who was the head of the Manifesto committee in which Mahesh Vyas was also involved.

CMIE, that brings out periodic Job Survey, is wholly owned by Mr Ajay Shah (and his family), the same person who also happens to be one of the main accused in a mega scam commonly known as ‘NSE Co-location’ scam.

Mr Shah has been accused of accessing data from NSE on a preferential basis in connivance with the authorities and sharing this data with certain stockbrokers for use in High-Frequency Trading. The scam is being investigated by SEBI, CBI as well as by Income Tax authorities.

The current MD of CMIE is Mr Mahesh Vyas, who happens to be the brother-in-law of Mr Ajay Shah. The timing of the commencement of this Job Survey raises suspicion on the motivation as well as the credibility of the data. The co-location scam came to public light in late 2015, and the first Job Survey was out in April 2016.

Several of the news articles (as well as Wikipedia entry on NSE Co-location scam at the time of writing this article) mentions that Mr Ajay Shah is a very close confidante of Mr P. Chidambaram. Given this information and the ownership pattern of CMIE, any ‘Job Survey’ from CMIE should be taken with a pinch (or a tonne) of salt, as one would take it from a Congress IT cell.

The entire story of the close association between CMIE and P Chidambaram and also the improprieties attached its key players can be read here. 

The information at hand begs a few important questions:

1. Since the owners of CMIE are accused of impropriety, was it appropriate to get Mahesh Vyas involved in the Manifesto committee?

2. That Mahesh Vyas and CMIE are connected to P Chidambaram is a known fact. Vyas’ involvement in the Manifesto committee has only reinforced it. Was the CMIE data that was milked by the Congress party reliable and uninfluenced by this association?

 

2019 Lok Sabha elections: 8 constituencies to watch out for as big names go head to head

OpIndia Staff
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2019 Lok Sabha elections: 8 constituencies to watch out for as big names go head to head

With the Lok Sabha elections hardly a week away, political parties are all prepped to fight the big battle which will decide the fate of the country as well as of the political parties for the next five years. Like every election season, this one also witnessed some of the big names of politics crossing over from to other political parties in search of a better future. Parties have pitched their best names for the first phase of elections covering 91 constituencies.

Here is a list of the BJP candidates who would be battling big political names like Sonia Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh.

PM Narendra Modi v Chandrashekhar ‘Ravan’ (Varanasi)

Prime Narendra Modi will be contesting from the Varanasi seat from where he is the sitting MP. No big political party has fielded a candidate from the Varanasi seat yet to contest against Modi. Two other candidates who are fighting from Varanasi are Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar ‘Ravan‘ and former BSP soldier Tej Bahadur Yadav.

Dinesh Pratap Singh v Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli)

Dinesh Pratap Singh who earlier a member of Congress Party will be contesting against Sonia Gandhi from Rae Bareli seat. Singh who joined BJP in 2018 has been a two time MLC while Sonia Gandhi has been representing the Rae Bareli seat since 2004.

Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirhua v Akhilesh Yadav (Azamgarh)

A very successful Bhojpuri singer, actor and producer Dinesh Lal Yadav who is popularly known as Nirhua, is fighting on a BJP ticket against Samajwadi Party (SP) President and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav. Nirhua will be started his political career with this Lok Sabha election.

Prem Singh Shakya v Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri)
BJP  has fielded Prem Singh Shakya against SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Shakya who has been with the BJP for about 16 years, will be fighting against Mulayam Singh Yadav from the latter’s stronghold Mainpuri.
Dr Chandra Sen Jadon v Shivpal Singh Yadav (Firozabad)
Dr Chandra Sen Jadon is contesting on BJP ticket from Firozabad seat against  Mulayam Singh’s brother and former SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav who has left the SP to form Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia. Dr Jadon who is a private practitioner will also be fighting against Ramgopal Yadav’s son Akshya Yadav who is contesting from the same seat.
Thushar Vellapally v Rahul Gandhi (Wayanad)
Bharatiya Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) President Thushar Vellapally will be contesting on the NDA against Congress President Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad constituency in Kerala. Vellapally also has the LDF candidate P Suneer contesting from the same seat.
Smriti Irani v Rahul Gandhi (Amethi)
Union Minister Smriti Irani will be fighting against the Gandhi scion who has been Amethi for the last fifteen years. This times Rahul Gandhi has filed the nomination from Wayanad apart from his traditional stronghold Amethi.
Amit Shah v C J Chavda (Gandhinagar)
BJP National President will be contesting from the Gandhinagar constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The seat is currently represented by senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani. Congress has fielded C J Chavda from the Gandhinagar constituency against Shah. Chavda currently represents the Assembly seat of Gandhinagar North.

Fact Check: Congress and its IT cell head use images from UPA era to attack PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Fact Check: Congress and its IT cell head use images from UPA era to attack PM Modi

Congress and all its leaders have developed a track record of using half-truths and whole lies to attack the BJP, much like the president of her party, Rahul Gandhi. Its  IT cell head Divya Spandana is no exception. Earlier this year, she had spread half-truths about the Vande Bharat Express to discredit the government and insensitively dragged the Pulwama Attack into it in the process.

Congress had recently shared a video where they claimed that PM Narendra Modi has ruined India in the last 5 years. This video was created as an apparent attempt to mock a video on the achievements of PM Modi that had gone viral on social media.


However, it seems, the video is littered with images from the Congress era which are now being used to target the NDA government. In the video, an image of a malnourished child appears on the screen which seems to be an image from 2012.

Here is a screenshot from a Daily Mail report from October 2012 which carries the same image.

Another image that appears in the Congress propaganda video is of a river clogged with plastic garbage.

Here is the result that emerges when one searches for the image on Google:

Source: @pokershash

The Google results clearly show that image is from 2012. Thus, we see that at least some images used in the video depict how things were under the UPA government and not the NDA.

Spandana had also shared ‘news’ from a dubious website ‘IndiaScoops’ to prove that the Rafale deal was a scam. She had also shared an edited image of a newspaper front-page to attack the BJP. In August 2017, she had lied about Amit Shah’s speech.

Congress’ official handle too, had been often found to be spreading fake news and misinformation.

RLD chief Ajit Singh’s racist comment, says we could get a ‘chowkidar’ from Nepal

OpIndia Staff
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RLD chief Ajit Singh’s racist comment, says we could get a ‘chowkidar’ from Nepal

Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh’s son Ajit Singh made a racist jibe against the Nepalese community today.

“If we need a chowkidar, we will get it from Nepal, we need a PM,” he said adding that if PM Modi would have had his way, he would have claimed having killed Ravan after returning from Sri Lanka.

Last month, AAP MLA Alka Lamba had also made such racist slur by saying that, “Kripya iss baar Pradhan Mantri chuniyega, Chowkidar to Nepal se bhi mangwa sakte hai.” However, after drawing flak for her racist comment, she has now deleted her tweet.

Similar comments were also tweeted by Congress leader and a minister in Punjab government, Navjot Singh Sidhu where he said the exact same thing as Lamba.

Being critical of politicians is absolutely fair and healthy in a democracy. However, this outright racism by Opposition leaders to take a dig at the ‘chowkidar’ campaign by PM Modi is insensitive and tone-deaf. Implying that people of Nepal can be only good security guard is among the worst examples of racism.

Racism can be eliminated when legislators and politicians display no-tolerant policy towards it. However, when politicians themselves indulge in such behaviour, it normalises racism and it only gains ground. It is unbecoming of a politician to resort to racism in order to take on his ideological adversary.

Miffed Congress workers in Bihar create ruckus at the party office in Patna over ticket denial

OpIndia Staff
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Miffed Congress workers in Bihar create ruckus at the party office in Patna over ticket denial

Disillusionment is looming large amongst the Congress workers in Bihar as they create a ruckus at the Congress party office in Patna on the denial of the Lok Sabha seat to the former MP Nikhil Kumar from the Aurangabad constituency. The Congress alliance in Bihar has chosen to field Hindustani Awam Morcha(Secular)’s Upendra Prasad as its candidate from the said constituency.


As can be seen in the video, Congress workers protesting against the denial of ticket to their former MP Nikhil Kumar are visibly miffed with the party’s decision of relinquishing the seat of Aurangabad to one of the partners of the grand alliance Hindustani Awam Morcha. Disgruntled party members raised their objections and registered their protest against the party’s decision at the Congress party office in Patna.

While on one hand, the BJP has been swift and astute in stitching alliance with the regional parties and smooth distribution of tickets with its alliance partners, the Congress has been ostensibly clumsy in forming alliances and distributing tickets among its alliance partners.

In Maharashtra, former Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Patil’s son Sujay Vikhe Patil joined BJP because he was denied Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat while being in the UPA alliance. Radhakrishna Patil also declared his displeasure over the Congress-NCP alliance and claimed that he won’t campaign for them. Even former CM Ashok Chavan was heard saying in a tape that he was frustrated with the Congress leadership and was contemplating of resigning.

It is notable here that Congress and RJD had tussled for weeks before deciding on seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections. Finally, Congress had agreed to contest in 9 seats, giving RJD 20, RLSP 5, HAM 3 and VIP 3 seats.

Serious allegations of cash for constituency has also been accused by many Congress leaders. A few days back Ex-AICC secretary Sudhakar Reddy had resigned from Congress alleging that the party is selling Lok Sabha election tickets for crores of rupees.

Shivling placed under a ‘plank’ on sets of Dabangg 3, Salman Khan apologises and calls himself a Shiv Bhakt

OpIndia Staff
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Shivling placed under a ‘plank’ on sets of Dabangg 3, Salman Khan apologises and calls himself a Shiv Bhakt

Salman Khan found himself embroiled in yet another controversy in Maheshwar (Madhya Pradesh) on the 3rd of the ongoing shoot of his upcoming movie Dabangg 3. A photo of a Shivling being covered by a plank on sets of the movie had gone viral after which the plank was removed and Salman Khan had to come forward and issue a clarification.

A plank was installed on the Shivaling in Maheshwar (Source: Dainik Bhaskar)

Salman is currently shooting for his movie Dabangg 3 in Madhya Pradesh’s Maheshwar. Confronted with the controversy, Salman himself had to come out in the evening to issue a clarification in the matter. Salman said, “The Shivling was covered with a platform so as to protect it. However, it was lifted in the afternoon. I’m myself a big Shiva devotee. A couple of months back CM Kamal Nath asked me to shoot in MP as I hail from Indore. So Maheshwar was selected.”

However, the flagrant disrespect of the much-hallowed Shivling hasn’t gone down well with the BJP leaders. Senior BJP leader Dr Hitesh Vajpayee tweeted on Thursday and said, “Chanting Vande Mataram is considered as a threat to your religion. How could you think of putting up a platform at one of the 12 Jyotirlingas in Omkareshwar-Maheshwar and dance on it?”


In another tweet, Vajapayee continued his attack on the Congress seeking an explanation from MP CM Kamal Nath and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh about the apparent insult meted out to the revered Shivaling and if they approve of such anti-Hindu activities. He also asked if the electoral officer of MP will take cognisance of the act which was meant to provoke a class.

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