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West Bengal: 1000 kg of explosives seized from vehicle in Kolkata

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: 1000 kg of explosives seized from vehicle in Kolkata

A team of Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata police has intercepted a vehicle loaded with 1000 kg of explosive material earlier today. As per reports, two persons have been arrested.


 Reports say that a commercial vehicle (TATA 407) coming from Odisha was intercepted by the STF at the Tala Bridge in Chitpur area. The vehicle had 27 gunny bags loaded. Upon inspection, it was found that the gunny bags contained approximately 1000 kg of Potassium nitrate, used for making explosives.

The vehicle had reportedly started from Balasore in Odisha and was going towards Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.

Two persons, Indrajit Bhui (25) and Padmalochan Dey(31), the drive and the helper of the vehicle, both residents of Odisha, have been arrested by the police team. While Bhui hails from the Malek village in Basta block of Balasore, Odisha, Dey is from the Mithani village.

The police team had reportedly acted on prior information and intercepted the vehicle in North Kolkata. The police have begun an investigation over the intended use of the explosives. A case under sections 4 and 5 of the explosive substance act has been registered.

‘Modi is our daddy, he is India’s daddy,’ AIADMK minister K T Rajendra Balaji on the alliance with BJP

OpIndia Staff
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‘Modi is our daddy, he is India’s daddy,’ AIADMK minister K T Rajendra Balaji on the alliance with BJP

Tamil Nadu Minister K T Rajendra Balaji while accepting Prime Minister Modi’s leadership said, “In today’s context due to the absence of Amma (J Jayalalitha), Modi is our daddy. He is India’s daddy. So we have accepted his leadership.”


He said that that in absence of Jayalalitha, PM Modi has been their guiding light. “Modi is our daddy now. Since we have lost our Amma, PM Modi has come as a daddy to guide and support us,” he said.

As the 2019 General elections come nearer, the buzz around the alliance between BJP and AIADMK have started gaining momentum, after both its leaders are holding meetings and discussions on the issue. The state has 39 Lok Sabha seats and currently has an AIADMK government, with DMK in opposition.

Uttar Pradesh: After Moradabad, posters urging Robert Vadra to contest elections come up in Ghaziabad

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: After Moradabad, posters urging Robert Vadra to contest elections come up in Ghaziabad

Days after Congress General Secretary Priyanka Vadra’s husband Robert Vadra had hinted at joining politics, posters urging him to contest from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh have come up. The posters which were put up by Ghaziabad youth congress near Kaushambi metro station read: “Ghaziabad kare pukaar, Robert Vadra abki baar,” roughly translated as “Ghaziabad urges Robert Vadra to contest elections from Ghaziabad constituency”.

Earlier, similar posters had emerged in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, which requested him to contest elections from Moradabad Lok Sabha constituency. ‘Robert Vadra ji you are welcome to contest elections from Moradabad Lok Sabha constituency’ were seen in Moradabad.

Almost a month after his wife Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is also the sister of Congress President, Rahul Gandhi, had been roped in as the Congress General Secretary in UP (East), Robert Vadra, who is facing probes in land deal irregularities had hinted that he could also be taking the plunge this election season.

In a loaded facebook post, Vadra wrote, “The years n months that I spent campaigning n working in different parts of the country, but mainly in UP, gave me a feeling to do more for the people n make smaller changes possible by me, in their areas n when they got to know me, the genuine love, affection n respect I earned was humbling …All these years of experience n learning cannot be just wasted and should be put to better use… once all these accusations n allegations are over, I feel I should dedicate a larger role in serving the people”.

He had also hinted that if and when he chooses to contest he might do it from Moradabad. “I was born in Moradabad and have spent childhood in Uttar Pradesh and I think I understand that area. However, I can stay anywhere and I believe I will be able to understand them.”

However, on March 6 while speaking to ANI Vadra vowed not to join politics until his name is cleared in the money laundering cases.

Robert Vadra is accused of money laundering case and dubious land deal cases. He was recently summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with these cases. He had applied for anticipatory bail in the court earlier last month after a fresh money laundering case was filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The case filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Skylight Hospitality firm owned by Vadra. The case is in relation to alleged financial irregularities in land deals in Gurgaon, Haryana in 2008. The ED had recently attached Vadra’s properties worth Rs 4.62 crores in the Bikaner land scam case.

Pakistan indulges in heavy shelling in ceasefire violation along the LoC once again

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan indulges in heavy shelling in ceasefire violation along the LoC once again

Pakistan, while issuing grand statements of peace talks with India, is playing its usual self along the border by indulging in continuous unprovoked ceasefire violations. Pakistan has again violated ceasefire along the LoC in Shahpur and Kerni sectors of Poonch district by resorting to heavy shelling with artillery and firing of small arms.


The ceasefire violations took place around 6 pm yesterday which were retaliated by the Indian Army. Pakistan has hardly missed a day without indulging in repetitive ceasefire violations ever since the Indian Air Force conducted air strikes in Balakot targeting the training camps of Pakistan based terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Until July in the last year alone, Pakistan had carried out the highest number of ceasefire violations in the past eight years counting more 1432 times. Hardly a week of this month has passed and Pakistan has already indulged in several reported instances of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control.

On March 6, the Indian army had issued a stern warning to Pakistan over the incessant attempts to target civilian and military posts. A statement by the army had stated that any further misadventure by Pakistan will be responded in a befitting manner with dire consequences.

On one hand Pakistan is playing the claims of taking action against terrorist organisations on its soil in the aftermath of Pulwama terrorist attack due to international pressure but on the other hand, it has been targetting Indian civilians and military installations near the LoC.

Invasion of the Sacred: If you embarrass your family on social media for being pro-Modi, you could be featured in next TOI story

K Bhattacharjee
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Invasion of the Sacred: If you embarrass your family on social media for being pro-Modi, you could be featured in next TOI story

Gaurav Sabnis, a not very ’eminent’ liberal ‘intellectual’, recently shared on Twitter the effect politics has had on his familial relationships. He expressed his anguish at being boycotted by his extended family for saying ‘mean things’ about Prime Minister Modi in the family WhatsApp group.


Considering Sabnis is someone who chooses to embarrass his family on social media to score liberal brownie points on Twitter, one is likely to think there are other significant reasons behind his extended family’s decision to boycott him.

Meanwhile, A Times of India journalist has tweeted in response to one of the replies expressing her desire to discuss the matter further with the person, presumably, for a story on the matter.


That mainstream media journalists have fallen to reporting on personal squabbles within families, which have an obvious political slant, speaks volumes of the agenda that they try to peddle.

The series of events that led to this says something about the dystopian nature of modernity. It’s hard to think of a time in the past when it was regarded as socially acceptable to shame one’s family in public to score brownie points in one’s political circles. Since the advent of liberalism, however, it has become an unfortunate reality.

The mainstream media, on its part, provides incentives to people to embarrass their family by lionizing them and portraying them as some sort of heroes in liberal circles for standing up to ‘fascism’. The normalization of such despicable behaviour and even lionizing those who participate in it is one of the many ways in which the mainstream media fuels divisions within the country.

As a matter of fact, proving one’s commitment to the preferred political ideology by denouncing one’s family or near and dear ones publicly is one of the most significant contributions of liberalism to politics. In the liberal world, blood may be thicker than water but loyalty to political ideology transcends them all.

In a sane world, people would sort out their differences with others in the family by having a rational discussion on the matters of import. But in the clown world of liberalism we live in, people use these differences to augment their position within their political circles and use their family as tools for grandstanding.

To complete the circle of comedy, journalists run helter-skelter to publish testimonials on such people and lament how a certain politician is causing family members to abandon each other. Of course, the problem is not with the politician. The actual problem, of course, is with people who advertise their familial squabbles on social media for political objectives and those who rely on such people to peddle their political agenda through their media outlets.

To be fair to the TOI journalist, she was only showing the new tricks she has learnt from her Western counterparts. Blaming politicians for ‘tearing’ families apart is something that began with President Trump in the United States. Progressives spun yearns on how their relationships with their families have deteriorated after Donald Trump rose to prominence.

Liberals have written at great length how Donald Trump has played a role in the degradation of their relationship with their parents.

Some have even blamed him for their marriages falling apart.

Considering the track record of the Indian mainstream media, it is fair to assume that this is exactly what the TOI journalist was attempting to do. The motive was to paint Prime Minister Modi as a divisive figure who is causing fissures within families. The objective appears to have been to absolve Gaurav Sabnis and others like him who shame their own family members in public of their sins and put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Narendra Modi, even though helping people maintain peace within the family is not the job of a Prime Minister.

The invasion of the sacred is one of the intrinsic principles of Liberalism. After invading our religious spaces, it was only a matter of time before an attempt was to invade the sacred space of familial relationships. As I have mentioned earlier, liberalism demands its adherents put their political loyalties before familial bonds. It’s only one of the many reasons why liberalism is antithetical to a cohesive society.

Supreme Court has taken a surprising stand: RSS on SC’s decision to send Ram Mandir issue to mediation

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court has taken a surprising stand: RSS on SC’s decision to send Ram Mandir issue to mediation

On Thursday, the Supreme Court of India sent the Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid dispute to mediation, which is set to begin within 4 weeks and end in 8 weeks. The SC’s decision has drawn a sharp reaction from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which has labeled its stand as “surprising”.


A report on the three-day annual meeting of the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), RSS’s top-policy formation body, said:

“In Ram-Janmabhoomi case, instead of accelerating the judicial process to end the long-drawn dispute, the Supreme Court has taken a surprising stand,” the report further read that SC’s inability to find priority in the sensitive subject associated with Hindu faith is “beyond understanding”.


It also added that the Hindu community is constantly getting neglected. While showing full respect in the judicial system, RSS hoped that Judgment on the dispute gets expedited and obstacles stand removed to pave way for the construction of Ram Mandir.

At the convention, which is going on in Gwalior, various issues related to Hindu cause will be discussed. At the meeting, a resolution condemning the Kerela government for forceful implementation of the SC’s Sabarimala order will also be passed.

Over 1400 RSS functionaries across the country will attend the meeting. BJP president Amit Shah is scheduled to attend too.

“The Sabarimala Temple issue is related to age-old dharmic traditions. The Kerala government is committing excesses against Hindu devotees in the garb of implementing the Supreme Court’s decision.” Manmohan Vaidya, joint general secretary of RSS, was quoted.

The Hindu and Indian Express are livid about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar being included in Ayodhya mediation process

Ashish Shukla
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The Hindu and Indian Express are livid about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar being included in Ayodhya mediation process

There is a massive heart-burning in The Hindu and Indian Express today on the appointment of spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar by Supreme Court as one of the mediators in the long-simmering Ayodhya dispute.

Word almost similar against Sri Sri Ravishankar’s have appeared in the Wire (through its editor Sidharth Bhatia), the Quint and the Scroll—how commie rags work in perfect unison!– and of course the National Herald. But I would concern myself with the big bosses—The Hindu and Indian Express, rather than the sidekicks on the matter.

The Hindu, in an edit piece, writes: “The inclusion of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar as one of the mediators is controversial. In the past, he has made remarks to the effect that Muslims ought to give up their claims and that the failure to find a negotiated settlement will result in “civil war.”

The Indian Express, through this comment on its editorial page, questions “the choice of mediators, particularly Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who is on record asking Muslims to give up their claim as a goodwill gesture and had even doubted the highest court’s competence in adjudicating the matter. In fact, he said in explicit terms that if the Supreme Court decided this matter, the losing party will have no option but to turn to extremism..”

First of all, readers, especially if you spend your morning with The Hindu, please ask your newspaper to provide the evidence that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar did the scare-mongering of “civil war” on Ayodhya. You would have the first proof of the credibility of your incredible newspaper. Then you question them if Sri Sri was really wishing a bad deal for Muslims when he wrote to All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB): “An out-of-court settlement in which the Muslim bodies come forward and gift one acre of land to the Hindus who in turn will gift five acres of land nearby to the Muslims to build a better mosque.” (one acre to Hindus and five acres to Muslims—and this man is working against the interest of Muslims).

I am also willing to help out the readers of Indian Express with their query: Is Sri Sri’s quote below conveys his scepticism on the Supreme Court’s competence to adjudicate the matter?

“We respect the courts (!) but the court cannot connect hearts. After 50 years or 100 years, the judgement of courts will remain as such. But if a solution comes from our hearts, it will be recognized for ages.”

Indeed, Sri Sri has often mentioned that Muslims, by and large, are not opposing Ram temples. While meeting Sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali in Lucknow, Sri Sri had said: “There is really no conflict between the communities. We have been living together for centuries and we have to create an atmosphere of friendliness and togetherness.”

The Indian Express even allowed bigotry in condemning Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s choice as a mediator. “Since the Court preferred to term the dispute a religious matter, potentially impacting our politics, ideally a religious figure should have been kept away from the mediation process.”

The newspaper was willing to overlook that Sri Sri has a reputation of peace-maker and his Art of Living (AOL) isn’t a religious discourse. Don’t they know that in 2015, Sri Sri was awarded Colombia’s highest civilian award for “conflict resolution and rehabilitation in war-ridden areas”? For decades, Sri Sri has been working to bring together disparate groups to find a solution to conflict-ridden matters.

Isn’t a man such as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar best suited to find a solution to Ayodhya riddle? If yes, then why newspapers such as The Hindu and Indian Express won’t welcome a solution? Who benefits if the country is divided? Indeed, who benefits—I leave the readers to find their own answers.

ED continues crackdown on Kashmiri separatists, likely to attach their assets

OpIndia Staff
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ED continues crackdown on Kashmiri separatists, likely to attach their assets

Continuing their crackdown after the Pulwama attack, the Enforcement Directorate is likely to attach the properties of the Kashmir separatists. The ED is currently probing charges of money laundering against the separatists based on an NIA FIR that alleged their activities were being funded by money from Pakistan-based terror groups.

According to reports, the ED is now in the process of identifying properties belonging to prominent separatist leaders. “We will soon file a prosecution complaint in the case. We have identified properties belonging to accused such as Zahoor Watali and some others associated with Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. Watali is the key conduit between separatists and outfits in Pakistan. These properties will be attached in due course,” an ED official said.

Earlier, the ED had recognised as many as 14 properties in Jammu and Kashmir belonging to Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, co-founder of Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist group and plans to seize the same.

Central agencies have identified several properties including malls, office complexes, residential spaces, bungalows, flats, partnership in companies, stone quarries and vast tracts of land, which were directly or indirectly belonging to the Hurriyat conference.

These were in the process of being verified, said sources. Most of these properties are located in Kashmir and few in Delhi in areas like Khirki Village and Vasant Kunj.

In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, the NIA tightened its noose on the Kashmiri separatists, following Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s media address in which, making obvious reference to these separatists he asserted that there are some elements which are in connivance with terrorist organisations and are involved in terror conspiracies. He had furthered that these links would be probed.

Following this the NIA on February 26, the day the Indian Air force conducted ariel airstrikes bombing Jaish terror camps in Pakistan, conducted raids in seven locations including, the residences of Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and JKLF chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik, in Srinagar. Apart from these, houses of Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai, Zafar Akbar Bhat, Naseem Geelani, Masrat Alam, and Shabir Ahmed Shah were also raided.

These raids were in connection to the agency’s investigation in the alleged terror-funding case. A statement by NIA said that letterheads of different terrorist organisations, as well as documents relating to recommendations for a visa for admission in Pakistan educational institutions, were found during the raids.

In the massive crackdown, almost the entire leadership of Jamat-e-Islami and several other top separatist leaders had been detained. The security cover provided to separatists was withdrawn too.

Journalist asks Indian cricketers to learn from someone who put Allah’s law over country’s law

OpIndia Staff
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Journalist asks Indian cricketers to learn from someone who put Allah’s law over country’s law

“War is against the teachings of the Holy Quran. I’m not trying to dodge the draft. We are not supposed to take part in no wars unless declared by Allah or The Messenger. We don’t take part in Christian wars or wars of any unbelievers.”

This is what US boxer Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay before he converted to Islam, had to say when he refused to join the US army (register for the draft) for the Vietnam War. He was convicted for his stand, though the conviction was overturned a few years later thanks to the US constitution that grants one immense personal liberty.

However, what Ali professed was similar to what two-nation theory believes in – where Muslims are part of one common nation (the ummah) and the political boundaries of a country don’t define the concept of a nation. He put his faith above his country. In fact, at that time, Ali was a member of an orgnanisation called “Nation of Islam” that considered white people as evil and asked for separation of races.

Back then, though Ali became a villain for many, he could also get a lot of support as he presented his extremist religious beliefs nicely peppered with talks about injustice against black people in the US. The larger anti-war sentiments also made him a hero for many, who were willing to ignore his extremist religious views as it came wrapped in talks of justice, equality, peace, and brotherhood (though Muhammad Ali’s idea of brotherhood was entirely different then).

Incidentally, this same strategy is adopted by Jihad waging Kashmiris to get popular ‘liberal’ support in India – they camouflage their religious supremacist beliefs under the garb of human rights, injustice, and self-determination.

A terrorist openly says that he is fighting for Islam but our liberals just want to hear that there is injustice in Kashmir. Almost similar to what the left back in US heard only race and injustice against black people though Ali said that he was refusing the draft as “I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah.”

If one has to fight against terrorism, one has to drop the political correctness and call a spade a spade. This camouflaging of religious bigotry and supremacism has to be called out.

But guess what our media does. It has problems with camouflage military caps that Indian cricket team wore on Friday in a match against Australia.

And most absurdly, an Assistant Editor in Times of India asked the Indian team to emulate Muhammad Ali who refused to back his own army. He called the Indian team “wannabe Army men” for this symbolic standing by our men in uniform who have been battling supremacist ideologies and sacrificing their lives to keep us safe.

What does this person want by asking the Indian cricketers to take inspiration from Muhammad Ali? That someone like Mohammed Shami should have refused to wear the cap citing his religious beliefs and should have claimed that Indian Army is fighting Muslims in Kashmir? In fact, almost certainly, if such an incident takes place, it will be a dream come true for our ‘liberal’ media.

Muhammad Ali was a great boxer, he was a sporting legend. But that doesn’t mean that everything he said or did becomes a gold standard. Years later after the draft incident, Ali accepted that some of his beliefs were too extreme and he left the Nation Of Islam, though he continued following Sunni Islam. There are also speculations that perhaps Ali feared being killed by the Nation Of Islam if he didn’t take such an extremist position.

However, for some in our media, his beliefs and deeds are worth emulating and our Indian cricketers did a great disservice to sports by standing by the army instead of refusing to support the army. This article in Times of India was not the only one, another one in Huffington Post’s also attacked the cricketers for sporting the camouflage military caps.

In recent times, there has been a spurt of articles that have tried to attack nationalism and downplay Islamic bigotry. Not just downplay, but a series of articles have been published to whitewash the bigotry; an alleged hate tracker declared that the terrorist who blew up people for ‘drinking cow urine’ was not communal.

Such narrative is being built not just in political or ideological fields, but as we can see, now it is being pushed in sports too. Entertainment was already captured with such narratives being championed by various placard friendly Bollywood celebrities.

Pakistan ha surely got its narrative right, and currently it’s leading by an innings and 44 runs.

Prashant Bhushan may have pushed his luck too far this time

Ashish Shukla
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Prashant Bhushan may have pushed his luck too far this time

Civil Riots…err…Rights Lawyer Prashant Bhushan gets away with murder. But this time he might have pushed his luck too far.

Even as Advocate General K.K. Venugopal was willing to withdraw his contempt and punishment petition against the mischief-making lawyer, the bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Navin Sinha said on Thursday: “You (Venugopal) may or may not withdraw the petition but you have raised a question and we will decide it.” This shows intent on the part of Supreme Court to come down hard on Bhushan.

Prashant Bhushan waded further into the muddle when he wanted Justice Arun Mishra to recuse himself from hearing the petition. Bhushan’s counsel Dushyant Dave initially insisted that there was apprehension in his client Bhushan’s mind that Justice Mishra might be “subconsciously biased” against him. Dave later offered an unconditional apology but Bhushan didn’t.

Venugopal’s contempt petition was on a Bhushan tweet, claiming that “he confirmed personally from Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge” that the January 10 meeting of the panel, also comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CJI’s nominee Justice AK Sikri, had neither discussed nor decided on the appointment of M. Nageswara Rao as interim CBI director. (Typically English mainstream media, barring Times of India, has hidden the offensive tweet-in-question from its readers—remember, these are the same newspapers who were drumming drones on our sight and mind, giving screaming headlines on CBI matter).

Meanwhile, SC would hear a contempt notice against Bhushan after Holi break (March 18-23). The court is annoyed that litigants and advocates air their views on media/social media instead of returning to court. “This is troubling all of us as an institution. This is happening in all cases of importance. Motives are attributed to judges,” observed Judge Arun Mishra. (Typically, N. Ram, Arun Shourie, Arundhati Roy, Aruna Roy and former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah have filed intervention application against a possible gag order).

Almost a year ago, Bhushan had just about escaped any punishment through the lashing of a verbal kind had been delivered by Justice DY Chandrachud on a clutch of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) seeking probe into the death of a special CBI court judge BH Loya in 2014.

Dismissing the PILs, the SC had slammed Prashant Bhushan and his NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), “to mislead the court by manufacturing evidence.” Justice Chandrachud said in his judgment: “Prashant Bhushan adopted a dual mantle and went to the length of personally collecting evidence to bolster the case.”

Among many sharp observations, the apex court had said: “The petition is a veiled attempt to launch a frontal attack on the independence of the judiciary and to dilute the credibility of judicial institutions.” Such PILs, observed the court, “are found to promote a personal, business or political agenda.”

“This has the propensity of endangering the credibility of other institutions and undermining public faith in democracy and the rule of law,” added the court.

On Thursday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said: “the recent application was part of a pattern.” He recalled how the SC had severely criticized Mr Bhushan for asking justices DY Chandrachud and AM Khanwilkar to recuse from the Loya death case because they hailed from the Bombay High Court.  (same Bhushan has now done with Justice Arun Mishra).

What is this pattern and why it has put the institution of the judiciary in this country under risk?

Connecting the dots, it emerges the pattern is to first spread lies, then go the Court with a petition, discredit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, PM Narendra Modi in particular, and swirl a malicious campaign in the newspapers. That most such fake petitions fall flat on its face, doesn’t seem to embarrass or shame this lobby.

Offhand, I could recall two similar mischiefs. In 2017, Prashant Bhushan had pleaded in Supreme Court about an alleged pay-off by Birla-Sahara Group to Modi when the latter was Gujarat chief minister. The apex court dismissed Bhushan’s plea seeking a CBI probe into the matter.  Last year, Bhushan had tweeted: “Scamster (Mehul) Choksi became Antiguan citizen…after Modi met Antiguan president in April…” OpIndialater pointed out that Choksi had become an Antiguan citizen a good six month ago!!!

Then there was the medical college case in which the then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Mishra had observed:  “Mr Bhushan you are now liable for contempt. But you are not worthy to even of contempt.” (It’s another matter that the likes of Shourie, Yashwant Sinha and Arundhati Roy proudly put themselves in frame with Bhushan).

This is the same Prashant Bhushan who had filed a petition on Rafale last year and which Supreme Court had dismissed, saying “there is no reason to “doubt the decision-making process.” Bhushan has now raked up another plea on Rafale for Supreme Court to reconsider its judgment, the hearing of which began on Thursday.

(When Bhushan’s first petition on Rafale was thrown out by Supreme Court, the former had said: “new disclosures are expected soon.” This was on December 18, 2018. Just a few weeks later, The Hindu began its series of stories on Rafale. How did Bhushan know about the “new disclosures”? It raises the suspicion of a lobby working in unison.)

Now to the biggest irony which has concerned me for long. Prashant Bhushan who files petitions and PILs as Virat Kohli scores his centuries, a monotonous regularity, hasn’t touched Arvind Kejriwal all these years. Both run/have run NGOs, both worked together on Anna Hazare’s manch, both lent shoulders in forming Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), both were part of AAP’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) before Kejriwal threw out Bhushan from the party with impunity. Why has Bhushan taken such a humiliation lying down? Does Kejriwal know something about Bhushan which the world doesn’t know?  My guess is as good as yours.

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