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Patna HC slams ‘lifetime entitlement’ rule of Bihar government, asks former CMs to vacate bungalows

OpIndia Staff
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Patna HC slams ‘lifetime entitlement’ rule of Bihar government, asks former CMs to vacate bungalows

The Patna High Court on Tuesday quashed a bill which enabled the former Chief Minister’s to live in government bungalows for life. Calling the bill as “unconstitutional and a drain on the exchequer”, a division bench of the court headed by Chief Justice AP Shahi, ordered former Bihar chief ministers to vacate their bungalows.

The HC order comes as a major setback to Rabri Devi and Lalu Prasad, who have been living at 10, Circular Road. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi has been staying at a Strand Road bungalow. Also, Jagannath Mishra and Satish Prasad Singh, are expected to comply with the order and vacate the government bungalows provided to them at Hardinge Road in Patna’s VVIP area.

However, the HC said that a former CM may not need to vacate a bungalow if he or she is entitled to the same category.

The Patna HC reportedly came down heavily on the rules and cabinet resolution of the Bihar government which had ensured that former CMs continue to enjoy sprawling bungalows and other perks for their lifetime.

The HC bench of Justices AP Shahi and Anjana Mishra termed the rules as “predatory instincts for misuse of public exchequer and an act of the state government going beyond its ethical and legal limits”.

The High court had also served a notice on CM Nitish Kumar but withdrew it after the state government told the court that the said bungalow on 7, Circular Road, is allotted to the Chief Secretary.

The Patna HC’ order came keeping in view the Supreme court order, which last year, struck down section 4(3) of the UP Ministers (Salaries, Allowances, and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981, which granted permanent accommodation to former chief ministers (CMs), saying that they aren’t eligible for government bungalows. The Supreme Court had said that the former chief ministers cannot be granted such facilities as they aren’t holding offices and asked former chief ministers in Uttar Pradesh to vacate the bungalows allotted to them when they were in power.

Following the last year’s order, former UP chief ministers Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kalyan Singh, Mayawati, Rajnath Singh, and Akhilesh Yadav had to vacate their official houses.

The decision by the Patna HC has come to further add to the bungalow worries for the family of Lalu Prasad Yadav. His sons, Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav were both ordered to vacate their government allocated bungalows after RJD fell out of power. While Tej Pratap had left his bungalow claiming that CM Nitish Kumar had unleashed ghosts to haunt him in the building, Tejaswi had tried to hold on to his bungalow by taking legal measures.

Recently, the SC had rejected Tejaswi’s plea against the Patna HC order to vacate the bungalow immediately and also pay Rs 50,000 as a penalty.

Article 370 must go: BJP can’t pussyfoot any longer

Ashish Shukla
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Article 370 must go: BJP can’t pussyfoot any longer

There is no reason why Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in favour of Jammu and Kashmir must not go.

Before we debate the legality/feasibility of abrogation of Article 370, it’s important we bring home to readers its misuse which neither seems to concern the Centre nor to the pseudo-secular gang who control the discourse in this country.

The Jammu and Kashmir assembly lasts for six years. It has a separate text for oath. Its constitution doesn’t have “secularism” or “socialism” words in its preamble. And don’t you think that Prevention of Corruption Act (1988); Indian Penal Code, Domestic Violence Act, Religious Act of 1988, Protection of Wild Animals Act, Forest Rights or Urban Land Ceiling Acts apply to J & K. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) can’t operate without the approval of the J & K government or the High Court. Supreme Court can only hear cases on appeal.

Further, the People’s Representation Act doesn’t apply to the state. Jammu may have more population, more voters and a larger area but it’s Kashmir which has more assembly seats: 47 to Jammu’s 37. Mandal commission report has no mandate in the state. Reservations to SC/STs, provided only in 1991, still don’t allow them representation in politics and the state assembly (Ever seen Mayawati agitated on the matter?).

Says Prashanth Vaidyaraj in Swarajyamag: “Though 73rd (provision for Panchyat Raj, 1993) and 74th (provisions for local administrative bodies, 1993) Amendments in J&K have been made, the state government has refused to enact them into laws. So there is no democratic decentralization. The Panchayat Elections are still held under its archaic 1989 laws. The J&K Right to Information (RTI) Act gives more power to the state government than provided for in the Central Act. (So there remains no accountability to special employment packages or Prime Ministers package regularly provided for)”.

The subsidy to J&K meanwhile is grossly uneven even at the state level. The Kashmir Valley gets financial allocation more than what Jammu and Ladakh divisions put together are provided for. The per-capita subsidy to J & K is 16 times more than West Bengal and 12 times more than Bihar.

Freedom of press to cover legislative assembly proceedings doesn’t work in J&K. The ministers’ quota on education and employment may be 15% elsewhere in the country, in J&K it’s 30%.

And what do you think Article 370 does to Sikh or Hindu minorities?  These minorities who migrated from West Pakistan in 1947 are not considered citizens of J&K under Article 6 of the state’s Constitution as they came from outside the undivided J&K. Meanwhile, those, who left Kashmir for Pakistan during the Partition, are welcomed back and could claim their properties or suitable compensation.

About 150 families from the Valmiki Samaj were brought in 1956 for cleaning works with the assurance they would be granted the status of state’s subject. But it has come only in the case of “bhangis” (sweepers).  Presently, their residential colonies remain un-regularized. Even the interlocutors’ report of Government of India is silent on the matter. Human Rights Activists have no problem that the “Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993” is not applicable to J&K.

So what’s this Article 370 which allows J&K to function much against the national (or for that matter, it’s own) interests?

When Pakistan sent its infiltrators to J&K in 1946-47 and illegally occupied parts of it, the matter went to the United Nations (UN). But since the state’s functions couldn’t be postponed, Article 370 was temporarily introduced. It limited the power of the Parliament to make laws for J&K, but for Defence, External Affairs and Communications. Noticeably, it doesn’t make provisions for the state to have a separate Constitution.

In due course, Article 35A and Presidential Order of 1954 were added. In Article 35A, the state government of J&K has defined the term “Permanent Residents” which bars non-residents from purchasing land in J&K or access to public sector jobs or welfare schemes. This article was illegally inserted in the Constitution by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, who made president Rajendra Prasad to amend the Constitution through his fiat instead of getting the Parliament’s mandate. The presidential order for 1954 provides that no bill to increase or diminish the area of the state or altering its boundaries can be introduced in the Parliament without the consent of the state legislature.

Article 370 was only an additional legislative measure to facilitate the transition of J&K’s accession to the Union of India. In 1950, the Government of India clarified the effect of Article 370 in a white paper on Indian states. Importantly, the Constituent Assembly was to make a recommendation to the President to either abrogate Article 370 or “direct that it shall apply with such modifications and exceptions as he may specify.”

Thus, Article 370 arms the President of India to make amendments without seeking the approval of the Parliament. Article 368 also empowers the Parliament to amend the Constitution with an additional provision in Article 370 (1) (b) and Article 370 (3).

Article 370 makes a mockery of Article 14 which guarantees equality before the law and the principles of liberty: as we have seen, not everyone living in J&K can vote in the election to the state assembly. As Supreme Court ruled in Keshavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala case, any law which interferes with the “basic structure” of the Constitution (equality of status and opportunity to all citizens of India) will be struck down as void. Further, Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, case, sex, place of birth or race.

In view of the Pulwama attack, it’s as good a time as any for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take an aggressive stand on the matter. But what could you expect from the party which doesn’t harp on abrogating the 370 Article since 1998?

Clearly, the idea of providing Kashmiris with the fruits of Indian secularism is not working. Instead, the clamour of “Azadi” has gone up.

NDTV does what it does best: First spreads falsehood over Vande Bharat Express, now twists PM Modi’s statement

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV does what it does best: First spreads falsehood over Vande Bharat Express, now twists PM Modi’s statement

Keeping up with their past record of twisting statements and creating fake news, the controversial media portal NDTV has again twisted a statement by the Prime Minister and made it into a misleading headline.

The controversial NDTV, often known for propagating fake news deliberately indulged in propagating false claims after it twisted the statements of the Prime Minister to suit its political narrative. NDTV, in its attempt to target the PM, reported with a misleading headline indicating that PM Modi sought punishment against people whosoever mocked Train-18.

A misleading headline by the NDTV to target PM Modi

In reality, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday had hit out at people who were mocking Vande Bharat Express, the fastest train of India, which had faced an external hit on the trial run on Saturday and stopped for a while. He had termed the comments against the train an “insult” to efforts of engineers and technicians.

The PM had said, “I salute engineering professionals, who will in future make a bullet train in India and run it too. I am getting a letter of people who are hurt”, the PM said asking them, “Is it right to insult engineers and technicians? Is mocking them right. Can they be pardoned? Should they not be given the right punishment at the right time?”

However, the PM’s statement was for the people to ‘punish’ the naysayers and mockers of hardworking Indian engineers and technicians. It is clear from his statement that he was asking the people of India to ‘punish’ the politicians by not voting for them.

NDTV’s sly attempt to peddle anti-Modi propaganda with a misleading headline was also called out by many on social media.


Congress President Rahul Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, and many others had used the event of technical slag of Train-18 to target the NDA government. They had even gone ahead to brand ‘Make In India’ a failure and had mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over reports of India’s fastest train, Vande Bharat Express suffering a breakdown.

Earlier, In a rush to discredit the success of India’s fastest train ‘Vande Bharat Express‘, the Congress-backed left-wing channel had deliberately ignored the fact of the cattle hit and presented their report as if Train-18 had stopped due to an internal technical fault while trying to discredit NDA government for its successful initiative.

The Vande Bharat Express had successfully completed its first commercial run on the very next day without any snag. However, the people who were so vocally mocking the failure were nowhere to be seen to appreciate the successful commercial runs of India’s fastest train.

The report was retweeted and shared by actor-turned-politician Divya Spandana, who is also Congress IT cell chief,  to not only propagate fake news but to pass some insensitive statements regarding the recent Pulwama terror attack.

Human Rights Watch publishes report on ‘violent cow protection’ based on faulty data, NYTimes peddles it further

OpIndia Staff
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Human Rights Watch publishes report on ‘violent cow protection’ based on faulty data, NYTimes peddles it further

Human Rights Watch (HRW), self-proclaimed defenders of human rights, on Monday published a report titled ‘Violent Cow Protection in India’ claiming that since the BJP came to power in 2014, the party members have “increasingly used communal rhetoric that has spurred a violent vigilante campaign against beef consumption and those deemed linked to it”.

The report asserts that the attacks led by “so-called cow protection groups” many of which claim to be “affiliated to militant Hindu groups that often have ties to the BJP”. “Their victims are largely Muslim or from Dalit (formerly known as “untouchables”) and Adivasi (indigenous) communities,” the report further states.

HRW cites faulty ‘fact-checker’ with the dubious and incomplete database, factchecker.in, for their report. The New York Times, which had earlier referred to saree as the ‘tool of Hindu nationalist campaign‘ piggybacked on the faulty report based on faulty data to peddle the narrative that the “murders of religious minorities in India go unpunished”.

Read also: New York Times uses lies to insult victims of Godhra carnage in a report on Gulbarg Society judgement

Journalist Swati Goel Sharma, who seems to have taken it upon herself as a personal mission to call out factchecker.in’s faulty database, took to Twitter to call out the flawed data.


We have earlier reported how IndiaSpend’s fact-checking website, factchecker.in in its cow-related hate crimes database, the very one which was relied upon by HRW and in-turn NYTimes, was incomplete, flawed and heavily biased. The report had mentioned how 90% of such crimes took place after Modi took office as Prime Minister. However, the database had hardly included any cow-related violence before Modi took office in its database from 2009 to 2018.

This biased reporting of ‘facts’ which are twisted as per convenience and narrative is not new. Earlier we had reported how Hindustan Times had started a similarly biased ‘hate tracker’ which focussed only on identity-based crime reporting of Dalits and Muslims. Their hate tracker also conveniently ignored hate crimes against people belonging to certain political or religious inclination are conveniently ignored, and so are crimes perpetrated by people belonging to certain political or religious ideology. The ‘hate tracker’ was supposedly tracking hate crime from September 2015 onward, but had conveniently missed out on reporting hate crimes when the victim was a Hindu or the one time when one Farooq, who identified himself as an atheist and a free thinker was killed by a radical Muslim group.

But the mainstream media has been actively promoting how the ‘cow-related’ violence has increased in India after Modi came to power. Abhishek Banerjee, a columnist with OpIndia, had written about how IndiaSpend (the same people who run the ‘factchecker’) have regularly indulged in peddling this narrative. They had earlier filed a report how 87 people had died in cow-related violence since 2010, of which 97% of the crimes happened after Modi came to power. The above ‘interactive fact-check’ map is an extension of the same report’. As can be seen even then that their ‘research’ was based on ‘Google search’ with particular keywords.

In fact, the bias is so heavy, that despite their own ground reporter who went on a fact-finding mission for an incident reported as ‘hate crime’ and finding out that there was no communal angle to the incident, factchecker.in had not even removed the ‘hate crime’ from their database after over a week. This, when the media report on basis of which the ‘hate crime’ was added to the database clearly stated that there was no communal angle. To summarize, an incident takes place in Meerut where a bunch of Muslim men attack a boy over a game of cricket. FIR is filed. To settle scores on this FIR, a fake story is created by Abid, a Muslim man, claiming that he was thrashed. Police investigated and concluded that no attack took place on Abid and he had acted on his employer’s instruction. This part is included in the Times of India report as well, which factchecker.in had taken as a base report for their ‘hate-crime tracker’.

Read also: NYT’s racism and elitism is full display after Indian company opens Manufacturing unit in the US

That NYTimes carried out the report, without following basic due diligence and journalistic ethics does not come as much of a surprise. In the past, too, NYTimes has exploited children’s deaths to malign Yogi Government’s crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh. In an op-ed about India that was centred around the CBI raids at the residences of Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, the founder promoters of NDTV. The editorial was titled ‘India’s Battered Free Press’ which read like a textbook case of how it has been distorting the truth.

NYTimes’ former Delhi bureau chief Ellen Barry had also indulged in white-washing the 2002 Godhra carnage where as many as 59 people were burnt alive in a train. She had also spread lies to insult the victims of Godhra carnage in her report on the Gulbarg Society verdict. NYTimes also encourages troll-like behaviour while reporting on democratically elected public representatives where being ‘liberal’ is associated with smoking, drinking and Hindu woman having Muslim friends and boyfriend.

Congress backed Srinagar deputy mayor boasts about ISI links, says can have politicians assassinated by terrorists

OpIndia Staff
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Congress backed Srinagar deputy mayor boasts about ISI links, says can have politicians assassinated by terrorists

The political and security situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir has remained tense in the last few days after the dreadful Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. In such a situation, a chilling sting video has appeared where the deputy mayor of Srinagar is seen claiming close ties with ISI in Pakistan and several terrorist groups, including their top commanders.

As reported by Times Now, the sting video, the authenticity of which is yet to be verified, shows Srinagar deputy mayor Sheikh Imran blatantly claiming that he has deep ties with Pakistan’s ISI and terrorist groups operating in the valley. He also claims that it is easy for him to get his political rivals eliminated.


In the video, Imran is seen claiming to the person behind the camera that he can “bomb his walls within minutes”. He also says that he had faked an attack on himself in the past.

He also claims that it was him who had sent former CM Mehbooba Mufti to Dubai for the Indo-Pak conference and separatist leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Saeed Ahmed Shah Geelani meet only the people whom he (Imran) wants them to.

In the video, Sheikh also boasts of his ties to ISI top brass and his close links with Hizbul commander Riyaz Naikoo. In a shocking revelation, Imran also claims he can have MP Sajjad Lone and Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattoo assassinated.

After the video was circulated, Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattoo has expressed concern over the nefarious links between the Congress-backed politician and terrorist organisations.


Mattoo further shared that in the video, the deputy mayor is also seen boasting that he can send terrorists to the house of a corporator and force him to join PDP. He also stated that Imran’s revelations pose a grave security threat not only for politicians but also for people in general because the deputy mayor enjoys power and police protection due to his political status.

Co-founder of self-proclaimed ‘fact-checking’ blog, AltNews, spreads another fake news by using ‘cropped video’

OpIndia Staff
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Co-founder of self-proclaimed ‘fact-checking’ blog, AltNews, spreads another fake news by using ‘cropped video’

Zubair, co-founder of self-proclaimed fact-checking portal AltNews, which often indulges in co-ordinated attacks against social media users with the help of Islamists, has yet again spread fake news in an attempt to incite communal violence.

Zubair, a sidekick of the founder of AltNews Pratik Sinha, who likes to stalk and doxx people, shared a cropped video claiming that some members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) of Gonda, Uttar Pradesh had raised some anti-national slogans during a protest rally against Pakistan in the wake of Pulwama terror attack by Islamic terrorists. He urged his followers to retweet the same ‘cropped’ video so that fake propaganda can be shared across the platform to incite communal disharmony.


However, the Gonda police soon issued a statement rejecting the claims of Zubair. They clarified that there were no such ‘anti-India’ slogans which were raised at the protests. The Gonda Police in its statements said the videos pertaining to the VHP protest march is being used for ‘corrupt’ purposes and stated that no such slogans were raised during the event.


The Gonda Police also posted videos of the event to falsify the claims of fake-news portal Alt-News. In the video, it can be clearly seen that there were slogans against the terrorist state of Pakistan, contrary to what Zubair claims.


Despite the clarification issued by the Gonda police, the fake news peddler of self-proclaimed fact-checking website AltNews has neither deleted the tweet nor issued an apology for the same.

This is not the first time that Alt News has indulged in targetting national accounts for expressing their utmost respect for the country. Recently, it had resorted to doxing against nationalist account named Squint Neon (@squintneon) after it had exposed a few Islamists accounts. The Alt-News not only doxxed the details of the social media user but also let-off several Islamists to target the user, inviting a barrage of life threats to Squint neon.

Alt-News founder Pratik Sinha has been notoriously known for doxing and leaking of private information of nationalist social media users and accounts critical of Islamists, Congress party, etc. Earlier, a Twitter user had filed a case against Sinha for breach of privacy and claimed Rs 5 crore in damages. He had also displayed his stalker tendencies (the ones which could morph into even dangerous crimes if not controlled) against Journalist Rahul Roushan by targeting his wife and his newborn 2-month-old daughter.

Self-proclaimed ‘fact-checking’ website AltNews, which is funded by fake-news peddler Arundhati Roy has often been caught lying blatantly and have seldom corrected themselves. Recently, they sought to ‘fact-check’ a ‘clipped’ video of journalist Barkha Dutt but interestingly, left out the quotes where she was actually giving a context to the genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley. Altnews ‘fact-checked’ a retired major from the Army, but willy-nilly refused to respond to his side of the story. Altnews fact-checked a fake image in circulation without bothering to name the ones using that fake image. One of their co-founders happily furthers genocidal accounts wishing for death upon anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the leftist cult. The co-founder of Altnews spread lies about ease of doing business rankings. He shared a fake image of BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa right before the Karnataka elections.

The website did some strange mumbo-jumbo analysis to debunk the news of several youths raising anti-India slogans. The Bihar DGP debunked Altnews claims. They are funded by a fake news purveyor, Arundhati Roy (BBC might be reluctant to admit that Roy is a fake news disseminator, but they can read up here). The co-founder doesn’t bother to fact-check even when fake news hits him in the face as long as it conforms to his political bias and the co-founder of Altnews has retweeted fake images in the past.

Altnews has debunked eyewitness accounts in the past without any conclusive proof because it suited their narrative. Spread lies about OpIndia.com itself and also about BJP’s stand, in retail FDI.

Pulwama Attack: Time to abolish Article 370 and implement Uniform Civil Code

Gaurav Singhal
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Pulwama Attack: Time to abolish Article 370 and implement Uniform Civil Code

The debate to abolish Article 370 and bring in Uniform Civil Code has once again come to the forefront after the ghastly attack by Pakistan backed terrorists which killed 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama last week. RSS has been advocating for discussions with various stakeholders to put in place a common code. In its election manifesto for 2014 General Elections, BJP reiterated its commitment to draft a common civil code drawing upon the best traditions and harmonising them with modern times.

“BJP believes there cannot be gender equality till such time India adopts a Uniform Civil Code, which protects the rights of all women.”

According to the Constitution of India, Article 370 provides temporary provisions to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, granting it special autonomy. Dr BR Ambedkar, the principal drafter of the Indian Constitution, had refused to draft Article 370. Article 370 was eventually drafted by Gopalaswami Ayyangar.

Uniform Civil Code (UCC) means having one set of identical personal laws applicable to all citizens of India irrespective of caste / creed / community dealing with the right to property; personal matters like marriage, maintenance, adoption, inheritance and divorce. Goa is the only state in the county which has a UCC.

Proponents of UCC argue that as per Article 44 it is one of the directive principles which has been laid down by the constitution.

“The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”

Opponents argue that it is only a directive principle and shall not be enforceable by any court (Article 37). Further, it interferes with Article 25 which guarantees citizens the right to freedom of religion. Also, many of the other directives have not been made law after 60+ years of independence, so why only this should be implemented.

The BJP and the Left parties are supportive of a UCC while Congress and some representative bodies of minority communities are opposed to it. In fact, India’s first Prime Minister and Congressman Pandit Nehru was supportive of a UCC but buckled under pressure. He had said,

“Well, I should like a civil code which applies to everybody, but wisdom hinders. If the member or anybody brings forward a Uniform Civil Bill, it will have my extreme sympathy. But I confess I do not think at the present moment, the time is “ripe” for me in India to push it through. I want to prepare the ground for it.”

The ripe time it seems has come. India emerging as a world superpower is being constantly peddled by Pakistan which has been encouraging terrorist activities in India. A UCC is required to present one face of unity and strength to the world. It also helps to bring in Indianness, Bhartiya asmita.

Nehru overcame opposition from his own partymen to pass the Hindu Code Bill in stages through a difficult Parliament. When asked by Taya Zinkin, correspondent of Manchester Guardian, six months before the China War, what was his greatest achievement, Nehru didn’t mention the freedom of India. He said it was passing the Hindu Code Bill, which freed Hindu women from the shackles of a law which permitted polygamy and denied inheritance. Taya Zinkin asked Nehru why he had not ensured a similar legislation for Muslim women. The political climate, said Nehru, was not right.

So, Congressmen please revisit your opposition to UCC.

When minorities have agreed to a uniform criminal law, then why not a civil law. When Muslims have agreed to a uniform civil code in many countries like Australia, Unites States and United Kingdom, then why do they have an issue in agreeing to a similar thing in India.

The Supreme Court of the country in various judgements like Shah Bano case in 1985, Sharda Mudgal case and in Vellimuttam’s case in 2003 has made observations that there needs to be a UCC. In a recent judgement in July 2014, the Supreme Court termed the fatwas as illegal and said that it has no place in independent India and cannot be used to punish the innocent. The verdict triggered a debate on Muslim personal law and the necessity of having a UCC.

Are all Muslims opposed to UCC? No. There seems to be a divide in the community regarding the powers of the Muslim Personal Law Board and their relevance in modern society. Arif Mohammed Khan, former union minister, who resigned in the aftermath of the Shah Bano case, in one of the TV debates on the topic, opined that the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law in some cases are very divergent from the Shariat Law. He went on to say that personal law is not among the five pillars of Islam.

People who swear by the Muslim personal law fail to recognise the fact that this was enacted by the British as recently as in 1937. That too with an ulterior motive of bringing a divide in India. It is important to understand that prior to British, the Shariah law was administered by the Qadis who had properly imbibed the spirit of Islamic laws, so the Muslim personal law is not a divine law. In fact, not even Hindu laws are divine laws and should be adaptable to change.

Parties after Independence and especially Congress have treated Muslims as a vote bank and successive governments have refrained from making any changes to the existing law / adopt UCC for fear of backlash from the community. It is these same parties which preach secularism.

If India is a secular country, why not secular laws for the population? Critics in minority community believe UCC is sort of an imposition by the majority community and preach reforms within the community through changes in personal laws. This opposition won’t solve their problems though.

India needs a Uniform Civil Code, like many developed countries, so that citizens across religions have the same set of rules to adhere to. This will do good not only to plight of women among Muslims but also among Hindus and other communities.

And for those who say it interferes with the fundamental right to religion. Article 25 of the Constitution states, “Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law regulating or restricting any financial, economic, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice.”

Also, the “special status” of Jammu and Kashmir allows it to retain the law prohibiting outsiders from buying land, and the central government cannot overrule it. This prevents the assimilation of Kashmiris in India. Repealing act will allow people outside of J&K to buy land and improve the cultural scene of the valley.

To sum up, entire India is asking in one voice to repeal Article 370 and implement the Uniform Civil Code in the country. Let’s see if BJP government listens to the mood of the people…

Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan warns Afghan peace talks will be affected if India retaliates against Pakistan

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan ambassador to Afghanistan warns Afghan peace talks will be affected if India retaliates against Pakistan

With Pakistan’s level of anxiety, fearing drastic retaliation from India over the dastardly Pulwama attack, clearly skyrocketing, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan warned on Tuesday that peace talks between the United States and Afghan Taliban militants would be affected if India resorted to violence against Pakistan, considering it has an important role to play in the US-Afghan peace effort, given its links to the Taliban.


Pakistan is clearly having a cold foot after India has strongly condemned and stands steadfast to avenge, Pakistan backed Pulwama attack executed on February 14. The remarks by Zahid Nasrullah comes in the aftermath of this brewing tension between the two countries.

India has been engulfed in deep anguish and extreme infuriation after Pakistan backed terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad audaciously attacked a convoy of 70 vehicles of the CRPF carrying 2500 personnel which was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. In what is being considered the most gruesome attack in the last 3 decades, over 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives as a suicide bomber, rammed an explosive-laden car into the CRPF bus, which was part of the convoy.

Anticipating something big coming their way, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, in a televised address has first been seen playing the victim card and then threatening India with dire consequences if it decides to attack Pakistan.

As expected, throughout the video, Pakistan PM Imran Khan has not once condemned the dastardly attack on the Indian soldiers in Pulwama that claimed 44 lives. Instead, Pakistan PM appeared to emphasise more on Pakistan being the biggest victim of terrorism. Foreshadowing disaster, Imran alleges that starting a war is easy but ending it is very difficult and catastrophic.

However strong Pakistan might be wanting to portray themselves as, from the outside, but their internal jitters and apprehensions are obvious from the way their diplomats have been suddenly springing up with statements following India’s rage behind the Pulwama attack.

Earlier in the day Pakistan FM Qureshi had also in a letter to the United Nations sought immediate intervention to ‘diffuse tension’ with India. Though ranting the same rhetorics and furthering their denial mode, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi urged that the UN must step in to defuse tensions as it is imperative to take steps for de-escalation.

How much ever, Pakistan’s envoy tries to dilute or divert the situation, this time there is no stopping India from taking resolute actions against Pakistan for harbouring and nurturing terrorism. The outrage against Pakistan in India is high, following the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama. This time, Pakistan will definitely have to answer for every innocent life lost in the dreadful terror attack.

Pulwama attack: France to move UN to put Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar in UN sanction list

Raju Das
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Pulwama attack: France to move UN to put Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar in UN sanction list

In a significant development in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, France is going to move a proposal at the United Nations (UN) to ban Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar. The Pakistan based terror organisation has claimed responsibility for the horrific attack on a CRPF convoy on 14th February at Pulwama near Srinagar.

“At the UN, France will lead a proposal to put Masood Azhar on the terrorist list. It will happen in a couple of days,” a senior French official told PTI. The decision of France was discussed between Philippe Etienne, diplomatic adviser to the French president and Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor of India.

This is not the first time France has sought to ban Masood Azhar at the UN. In 2017, a similar proposal was brought at UN by the USA, which was supported by France and the UK. The proposal was submitted with the Sanctions Committee 1267 of the UN. But the move was blocked by China.

Before that, India had also moved the US Sanctions Committee for banning Masood Azhar, but those attempts were blocked by China. Out of the 15 members of the security council, only China is blocking the move. China says that there is a lack of evidence against Azhar, and he does not qualify as a terrorist to face UN sanctions.

If Masood Azhar is declared as a terrorist by the UN, Pakistan and other countries will have to freeze his assets and put a ban on his travel. At present Azhar enjoys complete freedom in Pakistan, although his Jaish-e-Muhammad is officially banned in the country.

Promises of “guaranteed action” ring hollow given the track record of Pakistan: MEA on PM Imran Khan’s statement

OpIndia Staff
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Promises of “guaranteed action” ring hollow given the track record of Pakistan: MEA on PM Imran Khan’s statement

The ministry of external affairs has issued a strong reaction to the statement issued by Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in light of the Pulwama attack. Today the Pakistan PM had issued a video message, which appeared to be heavily edited. In the video, Imran Khan did not condemn the attack on CRPF convoy on February 14, but threatened India with dire consequences if it decides to attack Pakistan.


Reacting to the statement, the ministry of external affairs has said “We are not surprised that the Prime Minister of Pakistan refuses to acknowledge the attack on our security forces in Pulwama as an act of terrorism. Prime Minister of Pakistan has neither chosen to condemn this heinous act nor condoled with the bereaved families.”. The MEA noted that Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammed and the suicide bomber claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistan PM ignored the same. “It’s a well-known fact that JeM & its leader Masood Azhar are based in Pakistan. These should be sufficient proof for Pakistan to take action”, MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

Responding to Imran Khan’s offer to investigate the matter if India provides proof, MEA said that it is a lame excuse. The MEA added that even after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, proof of involvement of Pakistan based terrorists was given to them, but despite this the case not progressed for more than 10 years. Similarly, no progress has been made in the Pathankot attack case. Promises of “guaranteed action” ring hollow given the track record of Pakistan. In this “Naya Pakistan”, Ministers publicly share platforms with terrorists like Hafiz Saeed who have been proscribed by the UN, the statement issued by MEA read.

MEA also said that Pakistan’s claim of being the greatest victim of terrorism is not true, as the entire world knows that Pakistan is the nerve centre of terrorism.

It is regrettable that the Pakistani prime minister has insinuated that India’s response to the terrorist attack is determined by forthcoming general elections. India rejects this false allegation. India’ democracy is model for the world, which Pakistan could never understand. We demand Pakistan to stop misleading the international community, and to take credible and visible action against the perpetuators of the Pulwama terrorist attack and other terrorists and terror groups operating from under their control, the statement by MEA added.

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