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Journalist exposes ignorance about road-safety, claims Expressways should not have speed limits

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist exposes ignorance about road-safety, claims Expressways should not have speed limits

The Lutyens Journalists, who often marinate in their own mediocrity, constantly get exposed on social media for their lack of intelligence and failure to comprehend facts. Sucheta Dalal, one of the members of Lutyens cabal displayed her ignorance concerning the basic road safety rules and went on to discredit Narendra Modi government for introducing high-tech bullet trains in the country.

The recent accidents on Mumbai-Pune Expressway and subsequent action by the Maharashtra highway traffic patrol to install radars and speed guns to nab overspeeding vehicles seems to have not impressed Sucheta Dalal. She criticised the introduction of speed limits and speed guns across the highways while objecting to penalise the overspeeding drivers. However, she did not stop there. Dalal, while criticising the road safety norms, lamented over enforcing the existing rules of speed checks on Highways and questioned the government on whether they will justify the same for Bullet Trains.


According to Sucheta Dalal’s rationale, the authorities must not introduce such road safety norms or check overspeeding drivers on Highways as the original intent of building highways like Mumbai-Pune expressway was ‘speed’. She further questioned the ruling party about the reasoning behind introducing Bullet trains if they are going to introduce such check speeds on Highway. As per Dalal’s logic, the speeding on Highways and high-speed Bullet trains are similar as she questions the government whether such rules are also forced on Bullet trains.

However, Dalal deliberately ignores the fact that there have always been speed limits on highways and expressways to check reckless driving which causes fatal accidents. It is correct that Expressways are built to ensure fast transport, but that does not mean there are no speed limits and safety norms on them. Most importantly she misses the fact that these are not new rules notified either by the Centre or the state government. In fact, the Narendra Modi government had increased the speed limit for vehicles on expressways from 100 kmph to 120 kmph, contrary to what Dalal claims.

Driving recklessly on Highways cannot also be equated with similar speeds of a Bullet-train. As Bullet trains operate under a different set of rules and system, drawing a parallel between high-speed bullet trains and speeding on highways is completely absurd. Moreover, even Bullet trains and other high-speed rail networks across the world have speed limits. There are strict safety norms on high-speed rail networks, and they are never breached. Due to such safety norms, fatal accidents occurring on high-speed train systems are much lesser than road fatalities.

Accidents on Mumbai Pune Expressway

According to the National Criminal Bureau Record (NCRB) data, in 2015, the total road accidents in India accounted for 4,64,674 accidents which have resulted in 1,48,707 traffic-related deaths in India. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway also has witnessed a large number of accidents. In the first 10 years since its opening, there were 1,758 accidents with more than 400 fatalities on this road. Fatal accidents on this road happen regularly, with an average of 125 deaths per year. Realising the importance of reducing traffic-related deaths, the government has taken necessary steps like ensuring speed checks, speed breakers on national highways and expressways.

Although fast travel is important, safety and human lives are of utmost importance, and therefore it is essential to implement safety norms on highways and expressways like speed limits, lane discipline etc. There are speed limits on high-speed roads everywhere in the world, like the freeways in the USA have speed limits ranging from 100 kmph to 120 kmph, and police keep a strict watch on overspeeding vehicles using speed guns and other devices. Therefore, it is ridiculous to claim that there should not be speed limits on expressways in India.

Sucheta Dalal, who claims to be a journalist must stay away from such ridiculous arguments, which not only exposes their weak understanding of the facts but also raises questions regarding the credibility of their ‘intellect’ they claim to possess.

Around 15 million jobs created by the Modi govt per year, but the ‘liberal’ propaganda won’t stop

Karan
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Around 15 million jobs created by the Modi govt per year, but the ‘liberal’ propaganda won’t stop

One of the best articles I read last week was by Dr Surjit S. Bhalla which provided an explanation behind the rise of the use of fake news and fake analysis. The article linked the rise of fake news and of questioning the data on the economy to the record performance of Congress in 2014 as it managed to get its lowest ever tally in its history. The article got me thinking and eventually, I realized that I agree with this conclusion as there has been a lot of unnecessary politicization of a lot of things post 2014 by the opposition.

Ironically, a lot of the new-age media platforms and self-claimed fact checkers have also frequently peddled fake-news that has been then cited by opposition leaders to corner the Modi Government. It takes time to debunk fake-news and the opposition has constructively used this fact to its advantage as it tried to set its own narrative. This article focuses on the issue of jobs as we try to understand the reality of employment creation. At the onset, I must state that I had indicated way back on 22nd May 2018 that missing data on jobs will play a critical role in the 2019 elections. I had also stated in the same article how the issue is not the lack of jobs but the lack of data on jobs.

The issue around PLFS and CMIE

At the onset, I must emphasize that the government should release the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS) to ensure that there is at least some data that can be objectively analyzed by individual researchers. Chances are that PLFS may have findings that may not be consistent with other indicators of job creation in the economy- if that’s the case then they should make the report public to identify potential flaws in the survey so that it could be improved in future.

On PLFS being used and compared with the previous employment and unemployment survey, Mr Kant has rightfully put how they both can’t be compared due to the differences in sampling techniques. So, all the exclusive headlines by “eminent journalists” are just headlines that are devoid of any substance and are only serving the interest of those who benefit from such fraudulent analysis as they mislead their readers and construct a false narrative.

A bulk of the criticism on the lack of jobs from the opposition has come with the start of CMIE’s data on jobs [OpIndia has already expressed concerns regarding the reliability of CMIE’s data and you can read that article by clicking here]. While the sample size of most labour force surveys in India has been historically small, the important aspect is whether CMIE is drawing its sample without any skewness in its sampling technique. Mohandas Pai and Yash Baid make a compelling argument against the use of thin surveys as against verifiable and robust data sets such as EPFO, NPS and PPF.

The true picture of jobs

Now the key question in front of us is the true reality of the labour market over the last five years. I refrained from writing it extensively because there was relatively less data points that were available a couple of months ago [an old blog on this issue can be accessed by clicking here], but now, with multiple data points available we can finally make sound conclusions regarding the situation of job creation in the economy.

Dr Bhalla and Dr Das have arrived at an approximate estimate of 8.7 million annual jobs being added by the government. This is based on the estimate of total employment of 448 million in the year 2017/18. Their estimate seems robust and it is likely to be closer to the true scenario of job creation in the economy.

More that arriving at an exact estimate, let us try to establish the situation of jobs. As evident, Dr Bhalla and Dr Das have provided an estimate that shows the positive situation of jobs. It is also important to highlight that these estimates use the EPFO and NPS data both of which also show a positive trend in the job’s growth post demonetization. EPFO data has improved over subsequent months. In fact, 72.32 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from September 2017 to December 2018 as formal sector jobs touch 16-month high at 7.16 lakh in December. This further indicates that there’s a positive change in the data so there must be robust job creation within the economy.

A criticism of the use of EPFO is that it tends to represent more formalization of jobs rather than fresh creation of jobs, but those who criticize the EPFO dataset on these grounds also believe that demonetization didn’t lead to improved tax compliance and more formalization so clearly, their argument is incoherent. Indeed, EPFO data represents a formal sector of jobs and it is likely that some informal jobs may be becoming formal but the robust jobs growth in the 18-21 age group suggests that there must be a high proportion of the EPFO subscribers who are first-time employees. The latest numbers from EPFO suggests that for the categories of sub-18, 18-21 and 22-25 age groups, there has been an addition of 4 million jobs and a bulk of these must be first-time employees. These jobs are formal jobs that come with all social security benefits, so there is a robust creation of good and decent jobs in the economy.

Another source of job creation comes from Mohandas Pai and Yash Baid’s analysis using the data for automobile sector where they found that the sector created 3.4 million jobs in FY18, with a further 2.8 million jobs created in the 9 months ended December 31, 2018. The automobile sector tends to grow only when there is robust demand for automobiles which is again a very healthy sign for the growth of the Indian economy. This robust demand further indicates that the labour market continues to be robust.

Moving on to another indicator, an Aon Hewitt survey indicates that the average salary hike in 2018 is 9.4%. If indeed the labour market would have witnessed massive layoffs and unemployment was at an all-time high, then clearly labour supply would have gone up which would have suppressed incomes. The argument of hysteresis as advocated by some is not valid here as labour supply would have invariably gone up because the unemployment if at all was high (which it wasn’t), it wasn’t high for a prolonged period. Additionally, India has witnessed very moderate inflation for this period so even the real salary hike on an average is robust and positive. Thus, clearly, there must be jobs in the economy which is why companies are keen on retaining their talent.

Leading HR platforms such as Naukri.com also produces its index to measure the employment situation in the country. According to their report, there was a 3 per cent addition in hiring by companies in March 2018 compared to March 2017. Yet again, we find their findings to be consistent with other indicators of job creation in the economy. In the digital space, there are estimates that suggest that the start-up and digital economy added 3.9 million jobs between 2014-18. This means 0.975 million jobs annually.

Recently, even the CII came out with its own numbers for the MSME sector which tends to employ a significant proportion of India’s non-agriculture labour force. According to their report, MSMEs created 14% more jobs in the last four years. This is consistent with the acceleration in growth rates of the GDP that the Indian economy has witnessed over the last couple of years along with the revival of the investment cycle in the economy. The report estimates a total of 13.5-14.9 million job additions per annum. These estimates are again indicative of robust job creation in the economy over the last five years.

While there are ample jobs that are being created in the economy across different sectors, a key area of concern that remains is regarding the skills of those who are entering the labour force. While the government has ensured that there is ample labour demand, what needs to be done now is to ensure that there is a significant push towards augmentation of labour supply through successive skilling and reskilling endeavours. Some amount of policy push has already been given towards skill development and perhaps, in subsequent years we will witness a far more robust and dynamic labour market in India than ever before.

Now that we have multiple sources of jobs, it is important to look at all these sources before we conclude the state of employment in the country. It is evident that apart from CMIE, which is a true sense of outlier for reasons best known to them, all other sources categorically demonstrate that there is robust job creation in the economy. This doesn’t come as a surprise as the government has ramped up public infrastructure projects which have a significant multiplier effect in terms of job creation in the economy. Through these multiple sources of data, we can safely establish that in terms of job creation the last five years have been exceptionally been good and any further debate around jobs would be driven by political considerations rather than all available empirical evidence.

If the ‘liberals’ were not foolish, they would never have to ask these 7 questions about Balakot strikes and its aftermath

Abhishek Banerjee
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If the ‘liberals’ were not foolish, they would never have to ask these 7 questions about Balakot strikes and its aftermath

This is my personal take on what I *think* happened in Balakot and after the Indian Airforce conducted the airstrike. Not surprisingly, our ‘secular’ opposition and ‘liberal’ ecosystem would rather embrace the Pakistani version of events. And because their opinion on this matter is driven by personal jealousy towards PM Modi, I understand that it is impossible to change their mind. In general, conspiracy theorists of any kind do not respond to logic. Any effort to debunk their foolishness only ends up reinforcing their beliefs.

But, being the idiot that I am, let me try to answer all the  ‘questions’ that the opposition and its ecosystem is raising. Besides, it’s really easy to piece together the puzzle.

Q1. Did Indian Air Force strike at Balakot in Pakistan?

Of course, it did. Pakistan confirmed this directly and did so even before India put out a statement.

Q2. Was there a Jaish terrorist camp at the spot where India struck?

Again, of course. Even Al Jazeera confirmed that there was a Jaish “school” at the spot, even showed us a picture of the sign.

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Jaish is a terrorist organization. Any “school” run by them is a terrorist camp. No more justification needed.

Not surprisingly, Al Jazeera decided to go with the headline of “no casualties”. Even though when you read the actual article, Al Jazeera never talks about actually visiting the spot where the “school” was.

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Why was Al Jazeera unable to visit the site of the school? Did the legs of the reporter covering the story get too tired? The truth is that the Pakistan government has denied media permission to visit.

So the Government of Pakistan points to a spot somewhere in the mountains and said something like: “Nothing happened at that spot over there which you are absolutely not allowed to visit“.

And yet, Al Jazeera relayed the Pakistani Government claim of “no casualties” in its headline as if its automatically true. Why?  You tell me.

Q3. Did India’s air strike kill any terrorists at the Jaish camp?

Well, it has been nearly two weeks and Pakistan still won’t let anyone visit the spot where “nothing happened”. What do you think?

To Indian liberals over here who have invested so much emotional capital into the Pakistani narrative of “no casualties”, I have a simple request: call on your beloved big-hearted Pakistani PM Imran Khan to let people visit the spot and see for themselves.

I want to ask our liberals: Doesn’t Pakistan hold all the cards here? Balakot is in Pakistani territory. They can demolish all of India’s claims in half a second by letting people visit the spot! Why won’t Imran Khan just do that and give the good news to Indian liberals and to the people of Pakistan?

So, yes, there were casualties. Of course, there were. Otherwise, there is no imaginable reason for Pakistan to prevent people from visiting the spot.

In fact, there’s more. Didn’t I hear there was a “school” at the spot? If Pakistan could, don’t you think Pakistan would have invited the whole world by now to come and witness the brutality of India targeting a school? Imagine the kind of public relations nightmare that would have been for India!

Why is Pakistan giving India such a pass? Unless they need time to remove the bodies of terrorists secretly from the spot. Quite a few common people live near the area. It will take time to remove the bodies and cover up the evidence.

Q4. Where did the figure of ‘300 terrorists killed’ come from?

Note that India never officially claimed any figure, people have been talking of ‘300 terrorists killed’ since the day of the strike. Conspiracy theorists want to know how India could have a number, officially or unofficially, without counting dead bodies.

Simple, actually.

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Ah!

Q5. Why won’t the Government of India give ‘proof’?

Anybody asking this question should first answer this one: Did you raise similar doubts at the time of the surgical strike of 2016? If so, have you publicly taken back your comments casting aspersions on the government and the military? Have you apologized to the government, to the military and to the people? If not, why?

In 2016, the details came out slowly, one by one. Every single claim made by the Government proved to be correct. Every claim made by Pakistan proved wrong.

Then, why are the same folks who raised doubts about the surgical strike rushing to embrace Pakistan’s version this time again? Why would you embrace the version of the country that was proven to be lying the last time? And in any case, why do you believe an enemy government above your own? Is it because you hate Modi so much that you feel like he is a bigger enemy than Pakistan?

If so, liberals should say that upfront.

I remember lots of doubts and taunts thrown at the Indian version back in 2016 by these same people after the surgical strikes. I don’t remember many public apologies later. In fact, I don’t remember any apologies. Why so?

Now let us address the question of “proof” directly. Of course, I have no direct knowledge of the matter, but from what I have read in media and from journalists (including media known to be heavily anti-BJP) is that a “friendly” country provided us with the ultra-high resolution satellite photos for the strike. Considering how sophisticated this technology is, I am guessing this “friendly” country is either the US or Israel. Could be Japan also, by the way. As a result of this, the Govt of India is probably not at liberty to make the photographs public, giving away the capabilities of the foreign spy satellite.

Q6. Did India shoot down a Pakistani F-16 when the enemy tried to violate our airspace?

This one is easy. We know Pakistan told two obvious lies about what happened on that day. The first is that they didn’t use any F-16s. That’s demonstrably false because the Indian Air Force made public pieces of the missile that could only have come from an F-16.

Again, why would Pakistan randomly lie about not using F-16s unless they had something to hide?

The second lie that Pakistan told is about capturing two Indian pilots, a claim that they officially retracted later.

Now, people don’t usually get confused between numbers 1 and 2. It’s really easy to count from 1 to 2. It’s so easy that even somebody who studied at a Jaish “school” could do it.

So how did Pakistan’s Government manage to mix up the numbers 1 and 2? People on the Indian side saw the Pakistani F-16 go down and it’s likely that Pakistanis ended up “capturing” their own pilot. I read some reports that say the Pakistani pilot was roughed up and beaten very badly by his own. I should not be laughing, I know.

Q7. Why is ‘international media’ so desperate to believe that India didn’t shoot down a Pakistani F-16?

Please tell me you are not talking about that New York Times story. That read more like an ad for why India should buy more American weapons. And imagine what it does to America’s multi-billion $$$$ defence industry if word gets around that an F-16 was shot down by a mere Mig 21?

That wasn’t hard at all. The pieces fit into place almost obviously.

The only remaining question is this: Why has a section of the opposition and its ecosystem refused to piece together this simple puzzle? Why would they rather believe the fantastic claims of a globally discredited government of an enemy country?

You tell me. I have some guesses, but I won’t say more.

Malaysia: Man sentenced to 10 years in jail for Insulting Islam and Prophet Mohammed on Facebook

OpIndia Staff
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Malaysia: Man sentenced to 10 years in jail for Insulting Islam and Prophet Mohammed on Facebook

A Malaysian citizen has been sentenced to more than 10 years in jail and three others were charged for insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammed on social media.

According to the reports, one person, identified as 22-year-old Facebook user “Ayea Yea”, has pleaded guilty to 10 charges of anti-religious activity and misusing communication networks. The guilty has now been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, which is believed to be the harshest such penalty on record in the Muslim-majority country, where concerns over racial and religious tensions have grown in recent months. “Ayea Yea” was sentenced by the Kuching Sessions Court after pleading guilty to 10 charges under Section 298A of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) 1998.

Reportedly, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement that the accused had pleaded guilty to 10 charges of misusing communication networks. The offence carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail or a fine of up to 50,000 ringgit ($12,228) or both. The sentence was meted out consecutively, Mohamad Fuzi said.

Another social media user had also pleaded guilty and a sentencing hearing would be held on Monday. 52-year-old Facebook user “Yazid Kong” pleaded guilty to two charges of posting comments disrespecting Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

Two others, Twitter user “AlvinChow333” and Facebook user “Danny A’antonio Jr”, have pleaded not guilty and were being held without bail. All four were charged under laws against causing racial disharmony, incitement and misusing communications networks.

“The police advise the public not to abuse social media or communication networks by uploading or sharing any form of provocation that can affect religious or racial sensitivities, causing racial tensions within this country’s diverse community,” Mohamad Fuzi said.

On Thursday, Minister in charge of religious affairs Mujahid Yusof Rawa said the Islamic Affairs Department had set up a unit to monitor writings and communications insulting Islam and Muhammad. He said the ministry would not compromise on any acts insulting the religion and called for punishments against those found guilty of such.

However, Andrew Khoo, co-chairperson of the Human Rights Committee of Malaysia said the situation is an “unprecedented” one. “For someone to face five separate charges, and for the sentences to be served consecutively – this is excessive,” Khoo told Al Jazeera. Citing a press report, he said imprisoning someone without representation was in itself a travesty of justice.

While Rahul Gandhi blames PM Modi for Nirav Modi, here is how Congress facilitated the scamster

OpIndia Staff
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While Rahul Gandhi blames PM Modi for Nirav Modi, here is how Congress facilitated the scamster

Rahul Gandhi has been training his guns at the Prime Minister for quite some time now. As is the nature of electoral politics, the jibes and allegations have been hurled with impunity. However, with Rahul Gandhi, along with the jibes, one gets a healthy dose of lies being peddled while the media plays Nero’s guests. A similar lie has been peddled by Rahul Gandhi with regards to the economic fugitive Nirav Modi. Rahul Gandhi has constantly blamed the Prime Minister for Nirav Modi absconding and has drawn strange parallels between the two.

Recently, Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter, his brand-new core constituency, and blamed PM Modi yet again.


However, the question that several people have asked, is that who is truly responsible for the massive financial fraud perpetrated by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi? While the Congress has used this as one of their election planks to attack the Prime Minister, its own sins that facilitated the scam have been less spoken off.

The Enforcement Directorate has already clarified that request for Extradition of Nirav Modi to India was sent in July 2018 to the UK. The UK Central Authority of Home Office has confirmed that the Extradition Request has been sent to the Westminster Magistrate Court for the District Judge for further proceedings. However, one wonders why Nirav Modi felt the need to ‘abscond’ now, when he was living in India, with impunity, for all these years.

Recently, when the Congress was trying to bat for ousted CBI Director Alok Verma, it even disregarded the fact that Alok Verma was allegedly instrumental in covering up in leakage of internal emails on Nirav Modi in 13,000 crores PNB scam according to the CVC report. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who was on the 3 member panel to decide the ouster was the only dissenting voice in the decision to remove Alok Verma from his post. If Congress was truly concerned about the Nirav Modi scam, why did this consideration not play in their decision-making process?

Moreover, one must recall that not too long ago, it was reported that the former Finance secretary Rajiv Takru, working under the erstwhile UPA government had tried to “silence” the PNB whistleblower in 2013. Incidentally, it was the same time that Shehzad Poonawalla, the rebel Congress leader claims that Rahul Gandhi himself had met Nirav Modi. Besides this, it has been alleged that Finance Minister P Chidambaram himself had signed the whistleblower’s termination letter. The Rs 11,000 crores financial scam by Nirav Modi had started under the Congress government itself in 2011. In fact, it was also reported that an unnamed Congress leader was involved in cash deals with Nirav Modi’s stores during the demonetisation period, raising question over the suspicious nature of these transactions and a link between Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Nirav Modi had also emerged.

In August 2018, David Dorsett, Mehul Choksi’s lawyer has claimed that Choksi had ‘loose alliance’ with the Congress which ‘flamed’ the situation, implying the case against him is a case of a political witchhunt. In a conversation with Republic, Dorsett has claimed that there are ‘serious political elements involved’ in the case. Choksi’s lawyer also called Nirav Modi, his nephew, also an accused in the financial fraud, a ‘scapegoat’ and that the authorities are trying to pin the matter on him. He further says that a very serious political element is involved in this whole matter and the political climate in India is heated up in a very ‘serious way’ especially with the elections coming up next year. He claimed that “the politicians in splints right now. They are trying to carry as much popular support as they can and the situation with Mr Choksi has to be seen in that context”. In this context, BJP had even cornered Congress over fielding Mehul Choksi’s lawyer as a candidate in Karnataka Assembly elections.

Interestingly, on 16th May 2014, the day election results were declared with Prime Minister Modi winning the elections, P. Chidambaram, the then finance minister, had signed an order to benefit 13 companies including Mehul Choksi, who is Nirav Modi’s uncle. The 20:80 scheme that was sanctioned by Congress leader P Chidambaram allowed 13 ‘star trading houses (STH)’ and ‘premier trading houses (PTH)’, including Choksi-led Gitanjali Gems to import gold and sell about 80 per cent of their total bullion shipment in local markets. This scheme ended up encouraging gold hoarding and aided these traders to artificially inflate the retail prices. In fact, the Jewellers Association had warned about the repercussions of this decision and had blamed the Congress government of favouring crony capitalism. The warnings had fallen on deaf ears and ignored not only by the Congress government but also the RBI head, Raghuram Rajan.

Essentially, the scam that was levelled by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi originated with the order signed by P Chidambaram encouraging crony capitalism, defended by friendly media. With every revelation, Congress’ tentacles in this scam become apparent. From the 20:80 Gold Scheme, to the Congress connections and the fact that Rahul Gandhi had potentially himself met Nirav Modi.

With all of these connections, one wonders how Rahul Gandhi uses the Nirav Modi card to attack the Prime Minister with impunity. PM Modi had once asked why Nirav Modi felt the need to flee the country now when it is the Modi government in power and not during the Congress regime. The answer seems to be simple, and yet, Nero’s guests played ably by the media have shied away from asking Rahul Gandhi the questions that need to be asked.

Here is why Muslim petitioners won’t budge on Ayodhya dispute

Ashish Shukla
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Here is why Muslim petitioners won’t budge on Ayodhya dispute

Why Muslims don’t want to give up on the Ayodhya issue? Well, Hindu bodies also don’t want to do so for obvious reasons but the fear of our large minority needs to be examined closely.

Most believe that the Supreme Court-mandated mediation process has little chance of succeeding. For one, eight weeks is too little a time for the mediating team to bring everyone on board, look at papers running into thousands, understand its nuances and then be business-like in their mediation with opposing parties. The pattern is: you call one party, then the other, and then bring both together for mediation. This joint session could take several meetings. Once you have understood opposing claims, you chart out a mediation course. (We are not even discussing if all the three mediators would be on the same page in terms of preferred course). Also remember, the mediators would be looking for title-owners to give up their title claims! Thereafter, there is this matter of putting pen to paper before it goes to Supreme Court for its verdict. Simply, eight-weeks are not enough.

(It is another matter though that some of our English mainstream media are huffing and puffing in their political anxiety on the eight-week stretch. The Indian Express in its editorial has worked out that eight weeks would be over right on the eve of General Elections 2019 in May. It says in rejection of eight-week span: “The outcome of the mediation is most likely to have a bearing on the campaign and voting behaviour. The Ram temple is high on the BJP’s poll agenda…clearly, the mediation process cannot be seen in isolation…” In other words, in case of any verdict, for or against, BJP would be in a win-win situation. If it loses, it would hold by the collar the forces who queered the pitch; if it wins, then, of course, it has claimed for its Hindu vote banks their biggest prize).

But let’s examine the Muslim question. The Muslim litigants have largely welcomed the mediation process, knowing fully well that the Hindu camp has already rejected it. Not only the Hindu bodies but even a few central ministers have shown an uncompromising attitude on Ram Janmabhoomi. They suspect that Hindus are being forced to compromise on their principle religious demand. Their suspicion is hardened for the case is hanging by fire for decades and not long ago the Supreme Court had said that Ayodhya litigation was not their priority.

But if push came to shove, Muslims would reject any mediation offer too. Iqbal Ansari, one of the plaintiff, had said previously: The issue could not be resolved through dialogue. The main petitioner Haji Mehboob had opined: The disputed site should be left for a mosque and the temple should be built elsewhere.” Muslim petitioners have no rush to appear acrimonious when Hindus are unlikely to fall into the mediation trap in the first place.

But to return to our original question: Why don’t Muslims want to budge? After all, Babri Masjid was not in use for long; there is enough evidence that Masjids have been closed and shifted around the world. For instance, Australia closed six mosques last year; Saudi Arabia, the one of Shariat law, put the hammer on one of the world’s oldest mosques in Medina. Same was the case with the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. So why not give up on Babri Masjid and earn the gratitude of majority Hindus? It would be the biggest healing touch it could offer to the Hindu majority who are painfully aware of Islamic invaders and the destruction and plunder they inflicted. It would also help Muslims to stop the Congress party from exploiting their fears.

But na, the leadership of Indian muslims won’t take that course. And that’s primarily because once their claim on Babri Masjid is shown as false, as evidenced in this piece, similar claims would be hoisted on Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath temples, central to Hindus’ faith, where mosques were built on the original much-revered temples.

Giving up on Babri Masjid would set off an avalanche. The greatest intellectual in defence of Hindus and their legacy was Sita Ram Goel. His two volumes on the destruction of Hindu temples is a seminal work which readers would do well to buy (Part 1 and Part 2).  It lists over 2,000 temples which were destroyed—in most cases, mosques were constructed on original bases with broken idols of Hindu gods buried on the pathways so that it could come under Muslims feet. So far, none of the Marxist academicians have been able to offer ONE proof against Goel’s work. None of the historians who have grabbed our attention, such as Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar, have risen in its opposition.

(Truth to tell, India’s compromised academicians and historians did try to prove during Babri Masjid dispute that it wasn’t built after destroying an existing Hindu temple. Only, for Archeological Survey of India to conduct an excavation and prove that the base of Babri Masjid indeed proved there existed a Hindu temple. The rebuke these academicians/historians got from the High Court is worth your attention here).

Thus Indian muslims have a great opportunity to win Hindus’ gratitude. But surely it won’t happen. Religion overrides every consideration for several Muslims involved in the process. Who would be seen as approving the destruction of Babri Masjid?

Elections in West Bengal tend to be violent and one-sided, but here is why Modi magic might work in Mamata’s bastion

OpIndia Staff
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Elections in West Bengal tend to be violent and one-sided, but here is why Modi magic might work in Mamata’s bastion

In the Panchayat polls in West Bengal which were held in May last year, we had seen how the old Maoist bastions and tribal areas had turned towards the BJP. While the TMC has scored a resounding 85% of the overall seats, the BJP has made significant inroads in certain areas.

Not only in Purulia and Jhargram, but BJP had also surged in other areas like Bankura, Dakshin Dinajpur, Uttar Dinajpur, Birbhum, Paschim Medinipur, Malda, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts. However, the panchayat polls were marred by widespread reports of violence, murder and even capturing of ballot boxes. Soon after, three of TMC’s ministers ‘resigned‘.

BJP has made significant inroads in West Bengal and is quite likely to give a tough fight to the Trinamool Congress party in the upcoming 2019 general elections, says Pradip Bhandari, CEO and founder, Jan Ki Baat.

“BJP will do much better than what it had done in 2014. In 2007-08 when the TMC started to rise in WB and the Left started to decline, the TMC had got a majority of its seats on the eastern side of West Bengal, from the areas surrounding the Bangladesh border. The TMC started to rise from those areas and that’s how it engulfed the entire state,” Bhandari explains.

“In 2014 the TMC had won the majority of Lok Sabha seats. In 2016 it had won the state assembly elections. However, between 2014 to 2018, the Left and Congress state units have seen a significant and disproportionate decline, the BJP got a vacuum to fill and it capitalised on the same,” he adds. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, out of the 42 seats, the TMC won 34 seats while Congress got only 4. The BJP and CPI(Marxist) got 2 seats each. In 2016 West Bengal state assembly elections, the TMC got 211 out of a total 295 seats while the BJP got 6 seats, an increase of 3 seats as compared to the previous term.

Bhandari says that the BJP is focusing on the western and northern part of Bengal, of areas like Purulia, Jhargram, Alipuduar and Cooch Behar. These pockets are expected to prove favourable for the BJP.

“These are the seats from which the TMC won for the first time in 2014 which was earlier considered a bastion of the Left. The anti-TMC voters have drifted away from the Left and Congress towards the BJP. Hence, BJP has a good chance of getting seats in these pockets,” he says.

Elaborating on why the BJP has emerged as the main opposition party, Bhandari adds, “There are three reasons. First is that there is a fight between hope and fear in Bengal. The Hindus in West Bengal fear that the atrocities carried out by TMC in the last few years are way more than the ones carried out by the Left when it was in power. There is also something like ‘goondagardi tax’ which is implicitly charged on the local population by the TMC cadre.

“Secondly, there are three significant communities which are coming together for the BJP. The fight is between the TMC votes and who is consolidating the anti-TMC votes. The tribals, the Matuas and the non-Bengali Marwari community will play a major role. The non-Bengali Marwari community in the urban areas seem to be supporting the BJP. About 90% of them are with the BJP. The tribals in areas like Jhargram and Adipurduar, about 70-80% have shown signs of leaning towards the BJP. Similarly, the Matua community, which forms a significant population in the eastern part of Bengal are disillusioned by the TMC.”

“Thirdly, it is widely believed that the strength of the TMC is the Muslim population and if numbers are to be believed, about 99% of the population will vote for the TMC. Because of the Muslim appeasement, the Hindus in a lot of places have started feeling a sense of alienation. The polarisation is happening in seats where there is 30-35% Muslim population. The BJP is here consolidating the Hindu population.”

But is the Modi factor still relevant in West Bengal? It is the icing on the cake he says. “Panchayat elections have shown signs of decline for the TMC. People were not allowed to vote and there is a sense of ‘revenge’ if I may say so. People who went to vote were beaten up, not allowed to vote. Hence, while on the outside they may appear like TMC supporters, in reality, they may just vote for the BJP,” explains Bhandari.

While BJP may not be the leading party in West Bengal and the TMC still has a significant upper hand, Bhandari believes that the BJP will definitely be a player in about 25-26 seats. Even if the BJP ends up with 7 seats, it will be on the growth trajectory which TMC was when it had started off. This will mean that the BJP will also be a serious challenger in the state assembly elections.

The elections in West Bengal have a tendency to get violent. In July 2018, a BJP worker’s body was found floating with limbs tied. This was preceded by at least two similar incidents. Almost exactly a month prior to this incident, Trilochan Mahato and Dulal Kumar, both BJP karyakarta’s, were found in two villages of Purulia on May 31 and June 2. While Mahato’s body was hanging from a tree, that of Kumar was hanging from a high tension electric pole.

West Bengal, under Mamta Banerjee rule, harbouring extreme coercion and strong-arm tactics. TMC goons openly terrorize the public without fearing any sought of repercussions. In fact, the West Bengal Panchayat polls were marked by incidents of extreme violence, in which some people were killed and several others were injured. In Murshidabad town, ballot papers were thrown in a pond after a clash between TMC and opposition parties. In some booths in Murshidabad, ballot boxes were looted at gunpoint by unidentified people. BJP supporters were also assaulted and attacked by TMC goons.

“It is now or never for the BJP in Bengal. Things are in their favour, like the disenchanted Hindu population, Muslim appeasement of the TMC, denial of basic services in north and west and the Narendra Modi factor. However, all the analysis will fail if voters are not even allowed to step out and vote. Elections in Bengal tend to get a little violent and hence perception is also important. If BJP comes across as a ‘weak’ party, it may not work for them. It is important for the BJP to not only be strong but to also be perceived as a strong party,” Bhandari explains.

Here are the 5 mind-numbingly stupid things that Left-Liberals say

Ahmed Shariff
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Here are the 5 mind-numbingly stupid things that Left-Liberals say

Left-liberals are self-proclaimed torchbearers of change. They have no idea what they want to change and they have no idea how they are going to change what they pretend to wish to change. However, the process is rather entertaining for the rest of this. Here are 5 mind-numbingly stupid things that left-liberals say:

Open borders! No human being is illegal

The left-liberals harbour the belief that country borders should not exist and that anyone can enter any country any time anywhere.

We are individuals with our own set of beliefs, thoughts, morals and values, but as a country, there are some common values that we all MUST believe in. For example, we believe in a liberated progressive society where women can work and have the freedom they deserve (despite what far-left feminists tell you) and this is not negotiable – for anyone living in this country and anyone wanting to come in.

Unfortunately, our neighbours disagree. They believe a woman wearing anything less than a burqa deserves to be flogged in public or have acid thrown on her face. Sorry, but we have no place for such barbarity in our society – please stay on that side of the border. You want to come in, you follow our rules and you behave yourselves. Period.

Some cultures are better than others and we need to put a wall between ourselves and the terrible ones. Just look at the disasters that are Sweden, Germany, France and the U.K.

I am defying social norms!

Why exactly are they ‘defying social norms’? What have they achieved by doing this? How has it made their life better? What have they gained from this?

One truly gets sick of hearing this from ‘liberal’ millennials all the time. They simply aspire to be different just for the sake of being different:

“I’m a man but I will wear women’s clothing!”

“I will not shave my armpits!”

“I will not wear a bra!”

“I gender-identify as an autistic hippo!”

“I will drink my soy-latte from my nostrils instead of my mouth…”

And then they strut around as if they’ve cured cancer or found the solution to world hunger, while the rest of us are watching them, scratching our heads, wondering, “What are these buffoons even going on about?”

Consider the case of this person – a hirsute man who insists that clothing should not be gender-specific, that is an oppressive rule set by the “evil patriarchy.” Therefore, as an “act of rebellion,” he wears women’s clothes that are… well, “tasteless” doesn’t even BEGIN to describe it. Add to this the fact that he makes ZERO effort to groom and take care of himself because again that would be “pandering to societal rules.” The result? He looks absolutely hideous, revoltingly ugly, and keeps constantly crying about – “I am so alone! Why does no one want to date me?”

I don’t know, buddy, look in the mirror.

We are living in a Fascist state!

If you’re shouting your lungs out every day about how your government is Fascist and your head of state is “literally Hitler” and nothing happens to you… then you need to tone down the drama. You are NOT living in a Fascist state. If you were, you wouldn’t be so vocal about it.

“But I get so much hate online!”

Really? That’s it? In any free society, you can voice your dissent and disagreement. And some haters/trolls do cross some lines and get really abusive, but calling this Fascism is a bit of a stretch. This is not Fascism, this is just some chubby four-eyed chump using his Jio SIM to type a mean comment on his way back from work on the local from Dadar to Virar, ‘cause that’s the only timepass he has.

If the violence goes offline, guess what – it is illegal! It is NOT government-approved standard operating procedure, unlike an actual Fascist country, where the KGB would come knocking on your door at midnight and cart you away to the nearest… no, the FARTHEST Gulag.

These cries of “Fascism” are attention-seeking tactics employed by smooth-talking professional provocateurs. They know very well the government is not Fascist and won’t go to extreme lengths to silence them, so they deliberately provoke people to a point where some lose patience and react angrily and then BOOM! They run a PR campaign to highlight and exaggerate that one incident and play the victim card to gain public sympathy – “Look at all the hate I’m getting!”

Ironically, these same crusaders of free speech will go out of their way to destroy anyone who doesn’t agree with their ideologies. So who really are the Fascists here?

Communism roxx!

Communism – as in “communal” as in “sharing by all members of a community.” An egalitarian, classless society where nobody is rich or poor, there is no private property, everybody owns everything, everybody shares everything, nobody is hungry, everybody’s happy, no capitalists exploiting workers to get rich, all sharing and caring and flowers and sunshine and rainbows… It doesn’t work. Karl Marx failed to take into account the simple truth that humans, like all Darwinian creatures, are competitive.

Inequalities WILL exist in society because all humans are NOT equal. Most people are rich because they are smarter and/or work harder and won the game fair and square. But Marxist theory (fancy name for victim-card playing) disagrees. Marxists believe that the poor are poor not because of bad life choices or they are not intelligent/competent enough or simply because of bad luck, it’s because… “The rich stole from you! Capitalists are exploiting you!” – that is some Bernie Sanders level nonsense right there. Capitalists run the economy. Deal with it.

Communism stems from a misguided sympathy for the poor. Instead of fixing flaws in capitalism, their solution is this massive wealth redistribution program. Basically, all the money is put into a large pool and everyone gets an equal share. At least in theory. There is a very obvious problem that with such a large pool of money, there will inevitably be rampant corruption, embezzlement and mismanagement. Besides, you cannot FORCE equality. If I’m going to be “equal” to everyone anyway, then why bother working hard at all? I’ll just sit back and chill, the government will pay me anyway. They’ll take money from the rich and put it in my pocket. Such a demotivated workforce will bring down the collective productivity of a nation. The country eventually spirals into poverty, famine and starvation. 100 million+ people died under communist regimes in the 20th century, just saying.

Down with Capitalism!

“Capitalist” for most millennials is a fat, overfed billionaire sitting at a lavish spread and whipping away at emaciated workers who break their backs to fund his gluttony. Why such a negative image?

Capitalists are people who take risks by investing their capital – money, time, manpower, resources – to create a product or service that they hope to sell for a profit. They provide employment to people, provide a useful product/service to consumers, pay taxes and generate wealth. Someone has to do it. The capital doesn’t necessarily have to be billions, there is no lower limit to the money.

The most beautiful part of capitalism is, companies compete to create the best product for the lowest price and therefore there exists an automatic quality control mechanism. It’s survival of the fittest. Ever wondered why government services are so terrible? Because of the monopoly. They are the ONLY service providers, no fear of losing out to competition, they can slack off and take it easy. What incentive do they have to act professionally? A guy at a government office can ask you for a bribe, be an absolute jerk, but you have no option but to put up with it. Where else will you go? In a competitive capitalist system, you could simply take your business elsewhere.

Let capitalists provide you with goods and services instead, they will do a way better job. Not because they are better, very noble, human beings, it’s because they HAVE to behave themselves or lose customers to the competition. Unlike the smug-faced government employee who has job security no matter what he does.

The best thing the government can do to help people create wealth is “NOT interfere.” Red tape and over-legislation hinder productivity. Just do some quick online research about how laughably bad Soviet Russian cars were, you’ll get my point.

Grey-listed Pakistan wants India removed from terror financing watchdog FATF’s review body

OpIndia Staff
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Grey-listed Pakistan wants India removed from terror financing watchdog FATF’s review body

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Asad Umar has requested Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, which has listed the country on its Grey-list, to remove India as its Asia-Pacific co-chair for well-known “animosity between two countries” and “unbiased review process”.

In a letter sent to the task force, Asad Umar appealed to FATF President Marshall Billingslea to appoint any other member country other than India as co-chair of the Asia-Pacific to ensure “review process is fair, unbiased and objective”.

The Joint Group is a sub-body of the FATF’s International Cooperation Review Group or ICRG of the Asia-Pacific Group. India’s Financial Intelligence Unit’s director general is the co-chair of the group. Asia-Pacific Group is presenting Pakistan’s case before FATF, of which it is a part.

In the letter, Asad Umar also writes that animosity between Indian and Pakistan is well-known and it also made a reference to India’s air-strikes on Pakistan after the Pulwama attack, as “another manifestation of India’s hostile attitude.” He also writes that “we firmly believe that India’s involvement in the ICRG process will not be fair towards Pakistan.”

India had called for the blacklisting of Pakistan during the ICRG’s plenary session on 18th February 2019. On this and India’s other efforts to isolate Pakistan globally, Asad wrote: “Indian presence among the evaluators and as Co-chair of the Joint Group would undermine the impartiality and spirit of the ‘peer review’ process.”

While assuring FATF of Pakistan’s full faith in accepting the measures suggested by it, Asad writes that India must not be allowed to make political speeches against Pakistan by using ICRG and FATF meetings as platforms.

Pakistan has been subject to various warnings by the global terror financing watchdog. Recently, FATF had released data stating 57% increase in suspicious transactions in the country.

FATF has also exerted pressure on Pakistan to fulfil the commitments it made to curb terror financing and money laundering risks to the global financial system.

India wants Pakistan which is currently listed on Grey-list, to be moved to blacklist for non-cooperation in the fight against terrorism and turning a blind-eye towards money laundering and terror funding. The next review of Pakistan’s progress will be undertaken by the FATF in June 2019.

 

‘People scared when Modi will shoot the bomb’: In the presence of Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader compares PM Modi to a terrorist

OpIndia Staff
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‘People scared when Modi will shoot the bomb’: In the presence of Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader compares PM Modi to a terrorist

Within days after Karnataka Congress leader had wished for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s death, actor-turned-politician Vijayashanti on Saturday referred PM Modi to a ‘terrorist’ in the presence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi at Shamshabad, Telangana.

Addressing a rally at Shamshabad, Telangana Congress star campaigner Vijayashanti compared PM Modi to a terrorist and said that people are scared of the PM for dropping a bomb like they are scared of a terrorist. She made these shocking comments while referring to progressive economic reforms of demonetisation and GST.

“Everyone is scared that at what moment Modi will shoot the bomb. He looks like a terrorist. Instead of loving people, he is scaring people. It’s not the way how a PM should be,” said Vijayashanti.

Vijayashanti said that voters should keep this in mind and vote carefully in the upcoming polls. She further added that a vote for the TRS will go to BJP as “Modi and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao are one.” She also claimed that Telangana Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao has now extended his support to the BJP as Modi had helped him win last years Assembly elections in Telangana.

Congress party has never lost an opportunity to abuse and humiliate Prime Minister Modi for his humble upbringing. Last week, Karnataka Congress leader Belur Gopalakrishna had shockingly called for the assassination of Prime Minister Modi.

In October 2018, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had issued a controversial statement comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a ‘Scorpion on a Shivling’ and claimed that PM Modi cannot be even hit with a chappal.

Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had taken digs at PM Modi’s humble beginnings and called him a ‘chaiwalla’. He had also referred to Modi as ‘neech insaan’ which got him suspended from Congress.  Sanjay Nirupam, another serial abuse has often used derogatory terms to abuse PM Modi by referring to him as ‘illiterate and uncouth’.

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