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BJP to send high level delegation to Chief Election Commissioner to complaint against Mamata government

OpIndia Staff
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BJP to send high level delegation to Chief Election Commissioner to complaint against Mamata government

The delegation led by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to meet the Chief Election Commissioner tomorrow to complain about the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee blocking rallies of senior BJP leaders in the state.

Earlier today, West Bengal government had denied permission for landing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s helicopter when he was to address a rally in the state. Later, Yogi addressed the rally through the telephone. In January, the West Bengal government had denied permission for landing to BJP President Amit Shah’s chopper for a rally in Malda.

Prior to that, after being denied permission for their proposed ‘rath yatra‘ or the ‘Gantantra Bachao yatra’ in West Bengal, BJP had announced dates for the public meetings the party intends to carry out in the state of West Bengal.

There is a complete breakdown of law and order in Kolkata right now as West Bengal Chief Minister has begun a dharna to ‘save constitution’ after the CBI reached Kolkata Police chief’s residence as part of probe in the Saradha chit fund scam. Putting her weight behind Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, Mamata called the Supreme Court ordered CBI probe as a political vendetta by Modi and Amit Shah.

Kolkata: CBI claims Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar destroyed evidence, Mamata Banerjee begins her dharna in support of Kumar

OpIndia Staff
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Kolkata: CBI claims Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar destroyed evidence, Mamata Banerjee begins her dharna in support of Kumar

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee started her dharna today in support of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar against whom CBI launched a probe in connection with the Saradha scam. Earlier today, when CBI officials arrived at Kumar’s residence, five of them were detained by Kolkata Police. They were later released. Following this, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee came out in support of Kumar and called the CBI probe against him a political vendetta.

TMC MP Derek O’Brien also blamed Modi and Shah for the CBI probe and said that the investigation is being carried out on behest of NSA Ajit Doval.


Interim CBI Chief M Nageshwar Rao said that there is evidence against Kumar and he has been instrumental in causing the destruction of the evidence and obstructing justice.


Rao said that they have taken charge of all evidence and seized all documents and are not cooperating with the CBI. He even said that a lot of evidence is being destroyed or being caused to disappear. Earlier, too, the CBI had claimed that the West Bengal government was obstructing investigation in Saradha Chit Fund scam. It has alleged that the “hostile” government is delaying the filing of the final charge sheet.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has come out in support of Mamata. Former Prime Minister, JD(S)’ Deve Gowda has extended his support and said that the situation is like that during the Emergency. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, too, expressed solidarity with Mamata and blamed Modi and Shah for an SC directed move.

The Saradha Scam was brought to light in 2013. Many political leaders were connected with this Ponzi scheme that was run by a consortium of over 200 companies. The Saradha Group had reportedly collected more than 200 billion rupees from lakhs of small investors. The Group had collapsed in April 2013 and a year later, the Supreme Court of India had ordered the CBI to take over the investigation from the state SIT.

Silent protests held at Delhi against Twitter’s left-wing bias and deliberate silencing of opposite ideology

OpIndia Staff
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Silent protests held at Delhi against Twitter’s left-wing bias and deliberate silencing of opposite ideology

On Sunday, several social media users protested against the bias of microblogging site-Twitter, which has lately begun censoring social media users for criticising left-wing and ultra left-wing accounts, causing concern among users.

According to the reports, an organisation named Youth for Social Media Democracy (YSMD) conducted a silent protest from Delhi’s Saket to Lado Sarai where the regional office of Twitter is situated, accusing the micro-blogging site of deliberate bias against right-wing accounts ahead of Lok Sabha elections.


The press release published by the outfit reads, “Over the last few months, Twitter and Facebook have been systematically trying to curb free-speech of individuals who subscribe to the non-left-wing ideology by suspending their handles, restricting their reach and removing trends from the trends list. However, it has been ignoring offensive, abusing and threatening tweets from left-leaning ideologues and senior leaders of the Congress.”


The curious case of Twitter censoring social media users for disagreeing to left-wing and ultra wing ideology at the time of crucial general elections has upset several social media users. With opposition parties and Lutyens media ecosystem backed by the Congress party indulging in false narratives and propaganda, right-wing users have expressed fear that more fake news may emerge in the social media platforms.

It is also accused that several prominent right-wing accounts are shadow-banned by Twitter. This means while the account is not blocked or suspended, the Tweets posted by that account do not appear on the timeline of the followers of that accounts. Tweets from such ‘shadow-banned’ accounts do not appear in search results also, effectively meaning that tweets of such persons remain invisible to users, unless they visit the Twitter account page of such persons.

This is not the first time that right-wing accounts, fact-checking accounts and other social media users who disagree with the left-wing accounts have faced bans and scrutiny from the Twitter. Recently, tweets from Scientist Anand Ranganathan, a free speech warrior and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri were withheld by the Twitter ‘in response to a legal demand’.

Twitter is fast becoming a platform where ideological battles are fought, at times, by stifling the voice of those they disagree with and Twitter’s ‘hateful conduct’ policy reveals a definite left-wing bias. Facing accusations of discriminating against conservatives on the social media platform, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in an interview to CNN had admitted that most of the employees of Twitter have a left-leaning bias.

Recently Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had created a furore in India by posing with a placard that declared ‘Smash Brahminical Patriarchy’, an extremist Leftist trope of demonising an entire community. Later Twitter India’s legal head had apologised profusely to everyone for hurting their sentiments. A local court in Jodhpur, Rajasthan has also admitted a plea against Dorsey over the anti-Brahmin placard.

OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Sunday, 3rd February, 2019

OpIndia Staff
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OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Sunday, 3rd February, 2019

In the hustle and bustle of the day, it is only natural to miss some of the biggest developments that impact the nation. The OpIndia Evening Dispatch will catch you up on the day’s event even if you have been busy thus far.

1. Bihar: Seemanchal Express derailment claims seven lives, relief and rescue operations on

As many as seven people have lost their lives in the Seemanchal Express derailment accident that took place in Bihar’s Sahadai Buzurg earlier this morning. Rescue and relief operations are currently underway and two teams of NDRF have reached the spot. Indian Railways has issued helpline numbers for Seemanchal Express derailment.

2. BJP sounds the poll bugle, launches the ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ campaign

With the high-stakes Lok Sabha elections just a few weeks away, the BJP today got into its campaign mode with the launch of ‘Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat’ campaign through which it plans to reach out to as many as 10 crore families across India to finalise the manifesto. The committee, headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, will finalise the manifesto which will be compiled after consultation with various stakeholders, which include state units of the party and its supporters. The manifesto is being called ‘Sankalp Patra’.

To compile the manifesto, BJP President Amit Shah flagged off a ‘Rath Yatra’ on Sunday, through which mobile vans will be sent across the country to collect the suggestions. There will also be as many as 7,500 physical kiosks to collect the same. Apart from soliciting and accepting such suggestions through social media, phone calls, WhatsApp, etc. The BJP aims to reach out to 10 crore families through various means for compiling the manifesto.

3. After being denied to enter West Bengal by Mamata government, Yogi Adityanath addresses rally via telephone

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a public rally at Balurghat in West Bengal’s district of South Dinajpur by telephone, after he was denied permission to address a public rally by Trinamool Congress government of the state. The West Bengal administration had denied permission for landing of UP CM’s helicopter earlier today.

4. Bangladesh: Mosque makes an announcement to save cows, two cow thieves get killed by locals

The grave issue of cow smuggling and illegal cow slaughter is not just a worry for India but also for the neighbouring country Bangladesh. Dhaka Tribune reports that two suspected cattle smugglers were allegedly killed by an angry mob at Kaliakair Upazila in Gazipur of Bangladesh.

As soon as an incident of cow theft occurred, an announcement was made through the local mosque microphone. An angry mob who spotted the cattle smugglers chased down two of them while the others got away. The two cattle smugglers were beaten up heavily after they were captured by the mob. Their bodies were recovered by police and sent to Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College and Hospital in Gazipur for post-mortem.

5. Amit Shah asks opposition to clarify their stand on building Ram temple in Ayodhya

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah while addressing the Booth Adhyaksh Sammelan in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, reminded the booth workers the importance of  2019 general elections saying that the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are yet to be won.

Speaking on the Ram Temple issue Shah assured the workers that the party is committed to building a Ram Temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya at the earliest. He blamed the Congress party for delaying the proceeding of the Ram Mandir case in the Supreme Court. Shah urged Congress President Rahul Gandhi to clarify before the elections whether he wants Ram Mandir to be built in Ayodhya or not. He even urged Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati to also make their stand clear on the issue.

6. Four months after ED froze their bank accounts, Greenpeace India shuts its Delhi and Patna office

Four months after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) decided to freeze the accounts of the Greenpeace, the controversial NGO has decided to shut two of its regional offices in India and has asked its staff to leave due to a block on its bank account after accusations of illegal donations.

According to the reports, the centre had cancelled the registration of Greenpeace India under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, (FCRA) and froze foreign funding in 2015. Following that the Enforcement Directorate had accused them of receiving illegal donations while freezing its accounts. Greenpeace has decided to shut down its offices in Delhi and Patna, will also lay-off around 40 staffers. Reportedly, its campaigns and operations in Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad were closed down in 2015.

7. Arvind Kejriwal moves on from ‘EVMs are rigged’ conspiracy, ‘your name is removed from voter list’ is the latest

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has moved on from ‘EVMs are rigged’ conspiracy to ‘your names are deleted from voter list’ conspiracy theory. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while addressing a public rally at Badarpur in Delhi on Saturday, said that the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) hates Muslims and people from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. That is why he claimed their names are removed from the voter list.

In recent times, it has been found that the Aam Aadmi Party is indulging in a misinformation campaign against the BJP by calling people randomly on their phones and telling them that their names have been removed from the electoral rolls of New Delhi.

8. We will stand with all the people who were ever part of India: PM Modi pitches for passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill

Speaking at a rally in Vijaypur, Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to grant citizenship to immigrants belonging to six minority religions —Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Prime Minister Modi said that people belonging to ‘Bharat’ who are residing in neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have been inflicted with severe torture and added that nobody in the past gave attention to address the plight of these people who are now seeking India’s refuge.

9. Bihar is centre for unemployment: Congress President Rahul Gandhi insults Bihar

While addressing a rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, Congress President Rahul Gandhi today said that Bihar is famous only for unemployment. “Bihar is centre for unemployment,” said the Congress President.

“Do you know what is Bihar a centre for? Unemployment. Bihar is a centre for unemployment. Go to any village in Bihar and ask the youth what they do, you will get the answer that they are not doing anything,” said Rahul Gandhi.

10. Unprecedented: High drama in Kolkata as CBI reaches top cop’s residence, CBI officers detained by Kolkata Police

Major drama took place in Kolkata as the CBI team which had reached Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s residence was detained. A showdown ensued as Kolkata Police took away some of CBI officers to Shakespeare Sarani Police Station amid the commotion. Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, a 1989 cadre IPS officer of West Bengal cadre, is being investigated in connection with the Saradha scam.

Kolkata drama: Mamata Banerjee comes out in support of Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, calls CBI probe a ‘political vendetta’

OpIndia Staff
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Kolkata drama: Mamata Banerjee comes out in support of Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, calls CBI probe a ‘political vendetta’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today came out in support of Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and termed the CBI probe against him a ‘political vendetta’ by the BJP. Alleging that the CBI is acting on behest of Prime Minister Modi, Banerjee accused PM Modi and Amit Shah of ‘harassing’ her. She said that the BJP is ‘torturing Bengal’ and forcibly trying to ‘destroy Bengal’ because she did the Brigade rally.


Putting her weight behind Kolkata Police Commissioner, Banerjee said that he is “the best in the world”. Adding that the CBI action was NSA Ajit Doval’s idea, she said that since the CBI came ‘without notice’ to the Kolkata Police Commissioner’s residence, they could have ‘arrested the CBI’ but let them go instead.


She even said that she will sit on a dharna to ‘save the constitution’ and even carry out her cabinet from the dharna manch.

Ashtadhatu idols of Hanuman, Sita and Lakshman stolen from temple in Baharaich, UP

OpIndia Staff
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Ashtadhatu idols of Hanuman, Sita and Lakshman stolen from temple in Baharaich, UP

In another incident of idol theft in temple, the ashtadhatu murthis of Lord Lakshman, Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita were stolen on Saturday night from a Ram-Janki temple situated in Rampurva village in Hardi Police station area in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, reports Amar Ujala. The thieves broke the lock of the temple in the night and took away the murthis worth crores in the international market. The incident has angered the people in the area. The police assured the people appropriate action and started investigating the case.

The incidents theft of precious murthis with high values in international market are on a considerable rise. In another such incident, three diamond studded gold crowns were stolen from the Govindraja Swami temple in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. The police are on a look-out for the thieves. The former Chief Priest of the Tirupati temple had earlier alleged that the State government and the temple administration were mishandling the temple affairs.

Theft of antique idols has become a constant threat to temples, especially precious murhtis of the temples or jewellery offered to the deities by devotees. Several incidents of thefts of murthis were reported last year mostly involving the theft of antique idols with high value in the international market. In November last year, the ancient ashtadhatu idol of Ugratara temple in Guwahati was stolen. Although the thieves were arrested by the police, the stolen items including the ancient idol could not be found. Due to this, the temple management had decided to get new idols made.

Unprecedented: High drama in Kolkata as CBI reaches top cop’s residence, CBI officers detained by Kolkata Police

OpIndia Staff
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Unprecedented: High drama in Kolkata as CBI reaches top cop’s residence, CBI officers detained by Kolkata Police

Major drama took place in Kolkata as the CBI team which had reached Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar’s residence was detained. A showdown ensued as Kolkata Police took away some of CBI officers to Shakespeare Sarani Police Station amid the commotion. Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, a 1989 cadre IPS officer of West Bengal cadre, is being investigated in connection with the Saradha scam.

As per reports, Kumar, who is believed to be close to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, had gone ‘missing’ and the Election Commission had even sought an explanation about his absence from state home secretary. Later, Banerjee had said that Kumar was on leave. However, Kolkata Police later denied the media reports of his absence.

Drama unfolded earlier in the evening today as the CBI team landed at Kumar’s residence and the team was detained by the Kolkata Police. Director General of Police, as well as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have also reached Kumar’s residence and a meeting is currently underway. Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim also just arrived at Kolkata Police Commissioner’s residence.

Note: This is a fast developing story and we shall update the same as more information is made available.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally in Patna, does not condole deaths in Bihar train accident

OpIndia Staff
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Congress President Rahul Gandhi addresses a rally in Patna, does not condole deaths in Bihar train accident

Congress President Rahul Gandhi who was on a visit to Bihar to address the  ‘Jan Akanksha Rally’ at Gandhi Maidan in Patna appeared to have ignored to condole the death that occurred in the Seemanchal Express train tragedy amid his hurry to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, along with his party colleagues, the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan- Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot respectively, were present at Patna on a day when the unfortunate train tragedy took place in the state. However, none of the leaders present on stage had the courtesy to express their grief in the hour of the tragedy. Even though Rahul Gandhi posted a tweet regarding his condolences for the people who lost their lives in the tragedy, he did not utter any word on the issue while he was present at the rally.

Six people have lost their lives died and several others have been injured after nine bogies of Delhi-bound 12487 Seemanchal Express derailed in Sahdai Buzurg of Bihar in the early hours of Sunday at 3:58 am. The Ministry of Railways has released announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of those who lost their lives in the Seemanchal Express derailment in Bihar Sunday. Rs 1 lakh would be given to the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those who suffered simple injuries.

Rahul Gandhi while addressing the rally did stick to his regular pattern of false accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rahul Gandhi who has been virtually blessed by the Congress-backed mainstream media resorted to his usual distorted accusations regarding Rafale deal which he has not able to prove yet. Rahul Gandhi went on falsely claim about farmer loan waivers in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh despite the fact that none of the government headed by a Congress Chief Minister has not fulfilled his promise of loan write-offs. He even ended up insulting the people of Bihar by calling Bihar a centre for unemployment.

The speech was filled with quintessential Rahul Gandhi goof-ups as he referred Nalanda University as “Nalinda” and threw up some magical numbers with reference to Rafale deal. The Congress President Rahul Gandhi also displayed his creativity of connecting entirely unspecified and unrelated issues with the industrialist Anil Ambani and fugitive Nirav Modi.

Rahul Gandhi’s farmer loan waiver lie exposed: Amidst severe outrage farmers threaten ‘mass suicide’ over fake loans in Madhya Pradesh

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi’s farmer loan waiver lie exposed: Amidst severe outrage farmers threaten ‘mass suicide’ over fake loans in Madhya Pradesh

Kamal Nath led Congress government’s promise in Madhya Pradesh, to waive-off farms loans under Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana has turned out to be a debacle. The false promises of loan-waivers have created a stir amongst the poor farmers in the state. Rahul Gandhi in December 2018 had boasted that the Congress government has succeeded in waiving loans of all farmers.


Amidst what can be seen as a massive loan-waiver scam brewing in the state, the farmers have now, threatened to commit ‘mass suicide’ after their names appeared on the state government’s loan waiver list even though they do not have any dues or have loans far smaller than the ones that are listed.

The distressed farmers of Hilgan village assembled at the panchayat office to protest against the faulty list on Saturday “We will commit mass suicide if this issue is not resolved at the earliest,” they said.

What is shocking is that there are several like the farmer named Ramkumar Singh Lodhi who found his father’s name also in this list who had died a few years ago. According to TOI, the list mentioned a loan of Rs 70,481 against Lodhi and Rs 9,547 against his father’s name. In reality, the farmer had taken a loan of Rs 17,000 only for sowing gram crop earlier this year and there was no loan taken on his father’s name.

Another farmer, Brajendra Singh, said, “Almost 100 farmers of the village are affected and those who have never taken a loan have been made defaulters out of the blue.”

However, according to the state government, it has already ordered a probe into complaints of fake loans.

The Congress party with their misadventures and the politics of farm loan waivers seems to be in the middle of a severe crisis as, recently, yet another farmer in the state of Madhya Pradesh was reportedly deceived by the Kamal Nath led Congress government after just Rs.13 was set to be waived-off against a loan of Rs.24,000.

Kamal Nath’ government’s inadequacy to keep up the big promises of loan-waivers made at the time of wooing people to garner votes before the State election has already taken three lives of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. Along with these deaths, many farmers across the state who had taken the loan from banks before 31 st March 2018 and that of more than Rs 1 lakh, have reportedly got loan waiver benefit of mere Rs 25-30.

The Congress government in the Madhya Pradesh seems to have already lost their control as the state has been rocked with severe protests by the farmers along with severe law and order issues in the state. Within weeks of Congress coming to power in the state, there has been a series of murders of BJP and RSS workers in the state raising concerns about the issue of law and order in the state.

The government soon after assuming power in Madhya Pradesh had set in new conditions to waive-off farms loans contrary to its earlier promise of unconditional loan waiver. In addition to this, the Congress governments in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are facing severe outrage from the farmers within weeks of their government formation, as both governments in the respective states had created a crisis by mismanaging the supply of urea.

Similar dubious cases of non-existent farm loans being waived off have been reported in Congress led Rajasthan as well. Scores of names have appeared in the list of beneficiaries for the farm loan waiver scheme who had no loans against their names.

It so seems that the Congress in its haste to grasp a hold on few states had made several commitments without working out on the strategies. Had they concentrated on the here-and-now and thought of the aftermath earlier, it might have been possible for the Congress-led government to survive this experience.

Bihar is centre for unemployment: Congress President Rahul Gandhi insults Bihar

OpIndia Staff
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Bihar is centre for unemployment: Congress President Rahul Gandhi insults Bihar

While addressing a rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, Congress President Rahul Gandhi today said that Bihar is famous only for unemployment. “Bihar is centre for unemployment,” said the Congress President.


“Do you know what is Bihar a centre for? Unemployment. Bihar is a centre for unemployment. Go to any village in Bihar and ask the youth what they do, you will get the answer that they are not doing anything,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi’s insult to Biharis did not go down too well with Twitter users who expressed their displeasure over his comments.


Some people even pointed out that Bihar is not a centre for unemployment. After all, former deputy chief minister of the state was a 9th-fail fellow dynast like Rahul Gandhi.


And some didn’t let this opportunity to mock Rahul Gandhi pass.


This is not the first time a Congress leader has insulted Bihar. Earlier, Kamal Nath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader had insulted people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar by announcing that the incentive for investment will only be put in place once 70% of Madhya Pradesh people get employment. “People from other states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh come here and local people don’t get jobs,” he had said soon after assuming office.

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