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Bizarre Karnataka politics: Wife of hospitalised MLA threatens legal action, assaulting MLA still denies brawl

OpIndia Staff
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Bizarre Karnataka politics: Wife of hospitalised MLA threatens legal action, assaulting MLA still denies brawl

In a bizarre series of events, two Karnataka MLAs from the Congress party were reported to have been involved in a brawl that led to the hospitalization of one of them. The fight broke out while the MLAs were holed up in a resort amidst news of ‘Operation Lotus’.

Now, J.N.Ganesh, the MLA who was reported to have hit Anand Singh with a bottle, has come out and denied the allegations against him and claimed that there was no scuffle between the MLAs.

He told reporters on Monday, “The high command has asked us to compromise and not to bicker among ourselves. There is no problem between us. We have come to an understanding. If their family is hurt, I would like to apologize to them. When we sat down for discussion, Bheema Nayak and Anand Singh indulged in a heated debate, but when I did not agree with their statements, it became an argument. We are all together. I don’t want to comment on who had consumed alcohol. The high command has made it clear that we should not do anything that will embarrass the party. I will do everything that my party asked me to do.”

Denying the allegations, he said, “No such incident has taken place. Anand Singh, Bhima Naik and I were talking when something happened. This is it. What happened is personal. But what is being shown is a complete lie. Even I was hurt but I didn’t say anything.”

Ganesh’s statements came after Singh’s wife threatened legal action against him. “I am at the Mumbai airport with my son and daughter, waiting for my flight to Bengaluru. I’m completely in the dark. After reading media reports, I have been continuously calling my husband. But he hasn’t answered. I am worried and tense. I am actually going out of my mind, not knowing what has happened. When my son called D K Shivakumar, the minister said that there was nothing wrong. Everybody is just telling us that he is fine. But I have seen in media that Ganesh has attacked my husband. If he attacked my husband, I will not spare him – I will not keep quiet. I will certainly initiate legal action against him. Our loyalty to the party is secondary,” she was reported to have told a Television channel.

The Congress had recently moved 76 of its 80 lawmakers to the Eagleton resort in Bengaluru amid fears of poaching by the BJP. Four of the Congress MLAs did not make it to the resort and also failed to attend the Congress legislature party meet on Friday. All the four MLAs have been sent a showcause notice by the Congress party. Recently, two independent MLAs, H Nagesh and R Shankar had withdrawn their support from the Karnataka government.

Central Government ready to prosecute former Home Minister P Chidambaram in Ishrat Jahan affidavit case: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Central Government ready to prosecute former Home Minister P Chidambaram in Ishrat Jahan affidavit case: Reports

Senior Congress leader and former Home Minister P Chidambaram has landed in fresh trouble after Central government has made up its mind to prosecute him in the Ishrat Jahan affidavit change case, Sunday Guardian reports.

According to the report, the government is going to obtain permission from Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu to prosecute Chidambaram, who is currently a Rajya Sabha leader.

The case dates back to June 2004, when Ahmedabad Police with help of Intelligence Bureau officers gunned down a 19-year old girl Ishrat Jahan along with three others for allegedly belonging to terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba and harbouring intent to assassinate that time Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The case had received national uproar after the encounter was accused to be fake.

In the case, an affidavit was filed by Home Ministry at Gujarat High Court on 6 August 2009, which was under P Chidambaram at that time. The affidavit had said that encounter was genuine, and Ishrat and her fellow companions were LeT operatives. The affidavit was physically filed by that time undersecretary for internal security at the Ministry of Home Affairs RVS Mani. However, a second affidavit filed by the same officer on 29 September 2009, which changed the course of the investigation. The second affidavit said that the previous affidavit misinterpreted Ishrat’s connections with LeT, and stated that Ishrat did not belong to LeT. The “revised affidavit”, was reportedly drafted by P Chidambaram, who is a professional lawyer himself.

“Although I have no recollection of seeing the first affidavit, let us presume that I did. Then came the report of Magistrate S.P. Tamang. This report caused an uproar and there was demand mainly from Gujarat that Government of India should clarify or dispel misinterpretation being placed on the First affidavit. This is why a second, short affidavit was filed!” said a tweet by Chidambaram in 2016. The SP Tamang report mentioned here was filed at Gujarat’s Metropolitan court, after filing of the first affidavit. It had incriminated Crime Branch of deliberately kidnapping and killing 4 people without any links to any terror organization. The report was challenged by the Gujarat Government.

The decision to draft the second affidavit, absolving Ishrat Jahna and others of any terror links, was alleged to have been taken by Senior Congress leaders in order to frame Former CM Narendra Modi and prosecute officers like DG Vanzara, who had conducted the operation. Even the officer who filed both the affidavits, RVS Mani, had claimed that he was tortured in order to sign the second affidavit. He also accused Satish Verma – the special investigation team (SIT) chief in the case, of torturing him and intimidating him. Similar claims were also made by Home Secretary GK Pillai, who said that second affidavit was drafted at a political level.

The Sunday Guardian report also states that a senior Congress leader from the western part of the country had written to PMO expressing dismay over the first affidavit, that it did not frame CM Narendra Modi and Home Minister of state Amit Shah and gave a clean chit to Ahmedabad Police and IB Officers involved in the operation. The report also states that the decision to draft the second affidavit was taken by the top leadership of the Congress party. The amended draft allegedly withdrew all statements incriminating Ishrat Jahan. The second affidavit, according to report, was to be filed by the same officer who filed the first affidavit so that it does not raise eyebrows.

Government’s nod to prosecute P Chidambaram could not have come at the worst time. The Congress leader is already getting grilled by Enforcement Directorate, in relation to the INX media case. In November last year, the union government gave its nod for prosecuting him in the Aircel-Maxis case. CBI has also filed a charge sheet against his wife Nalini Chidambaram in the Saradha Chit Fund scam in West Bengal. Now, the allegations of filing of the second affidavit for political reasons can land P Chidambaram in an unprecedented crisis.

India surges ahead, likely to overtake UK in largest economy rankings in 2019: PwC report

OpIndia Staff
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India surges ahead, likely to overtake UK in largest economy rankings in 2019: PwC report

As per a report by the British consultancy multinational, PwC, India is set to overtake the United Kingdoms in 2019 in the rankings of world’s largest economies. The UK is projected to fall two places to 7th with France expected to march ahead of them as well.

“India and France are likely to surpass the UK in the world’s largest economy rankings in 2019, knocking it from fifth to seventh place in the global table,” PwC’s Global Economy Watch report said. The report projects a 7.6% real GDP growth rate for India, 1.7% for France and 1.6% for the UK.

The report also remarked that although France and UK have often switched places due to roughly equal populations and levels of development, India’s climb in the rankings is likely to be permanent.

“India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, with an enormous population, favourable demographics and high catch-up potential due to low initial GDP per head. It is, therefore, all but certain to continue to rise in the global GDP league table in the coming decades,” the report states.

“India should return to a healthy growth rate of 7.6 per cent in 2019-20 if there are no major headwinds in the global economy such as enhanced trade tensions or supply-side shocks in oil. The growth will be supported through a further realisation of efficiency gains from the newly adopted GST and policy impetus expected in the first year of a new government,” Ranen Banerjee, Partner and Leader – Public Finance and Economics of PwC India was quoted as saying by PTI.

India had become the world’s 6th largest economy in 2017 after relegating France to the 7th spot. The PwC report also remarked that the Global Economy is expected to slow in 2019 as G7 countries return to long-run average growth rates.

Meanwhile, as per reports, China is suffering the impact of Trump’s Tariffs and its 2018 growth was the lowest in nearly 3 decades. The GDP grew at 6.6%, the slowest for the country in 28 years.

Fact-Check: As claimed by Navbharat Times journalist, was Railway serving food marked for 20th January on 19th?

OpIndia Staff
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Fact-Check: As claimed by Navbharat Times journalist, was Railway serving food marked for 20th January on 19th?

On 20th January 2019, BJP spokesperson Tajinder Bagga tweeted about the Railway Ministry taking measures to ensure transparency. He tweeted that earlier, in train journeys, passengers used to complain that the food was being sold at a higher rate and that they were often unaware of the actual price. To solve this issue, the railway ministry has started stamping the food with the price of the item. He lauded the railway ministry for the step taken.


However, when Bagga tweeted, a journalist with Navbharat Times, Damodar Vyas tweeted to him wondering how the Railway Ministry was serving food marked for 20th January on 19th January itself.


Somehow, Vyas’ Twitter feed showed him that Tajinder Bagga had tweeted on 19th January instead of 20th January. But as evidenced from the embedded tweet of Tajinder Bagga, his tweet came on 20th January itself.

Wondering how Vyas misinterpreted the tweet, OpIndia decided to investigate further.

When one goes to the Settings page of one’s Twitter account, one sees several timezone options from which one can choose according to where that person is based. For someone based in India, the ideal timezone setting would be that of GMT (Greenwich meantime) + 5:30. This is the Indian Standard Timing setting. When Tajinder’s tweet is viewed with this timezone setting (that of India) the date displayed on the tweet is 20th January.

Time Zone setting of a Twitter account

Now, if the timezone setting is changed to International Time Zone, which would be GMT – 11:00 (International Date Line West), for example, the same tweet, which was tweeted on 20th January according to IST (Indian Standard Timing) shows that the Bagga tweeted on 19th January.

International Date Line (West) Timezone setting on Twitter
Tajinder Bagga’s tweet after timezone was selected as International Date Line (West)

The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary line on Earth’s surface defining the boundary between one day and the next.

Time Zone map showing the International Date Line.
Source: timeanddate.com

The International Date Line is located halfway around the world from the prime meridian (0° longitude) or about 180° east (or west) of Greenwich, London, UK, the reference point of time zones. It is also known as the line of demarcation.

As one can see from the map, if India is about 5:30 ahead of GMT, the western countries would be some hours behind GMT. Hence, the difference of date in Vyas’ twitter timeline could well be because his Twitter TimeZone setting was not optimised to show Indian Standard Timing and was set to show some other TimeZone.

Till the time this article was published, however, the journalist had not deleted his tweet even after several people pointed out to him that his tweet was factually incorrect and that Tajinder Bagga had, in fact, tweeted on 20th January itself and not 19th January.

Swine Flu in Rajasthan: 60 new cases reported, total number now over 1200

OpIndia Staff
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Swine Flu in Rajasthan: 60 new cases reported, total number now over 1200

According to reports, 60 additional Swine flu cases have been registered on Sunday, in Rajasthan. This takes the total tally of positive cases registered in the state to 1233 so far.

19 out of the 60 positive cases have been registered in the capital city of Jaipur. With 10 cases registered, Udaipur recorded the second highest number of people suffering from Swine flu. Three people each in Bhilwara and Pratapgarh and two each in Ajmer and Bharatpur were also found swine flu positive.

A resident of Bikaner died due to swine flu on Sunday, taking the death toll in Rajasthan to 49 this year. Recently two people had died in Jodhpur and Udaipur each while one death occurred in Barmer.

In the last thirteen months, the death count in Rajasthan, due to Swine flu has risen to 200. Two doctors of Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital have also been tested positive for swine flu this year.

The dreaded swine flu virus had claimed almost 90 lives in Maharashtra last year. According to statistics sourced from the directorate of health services, a total of 88 deaths due to swine flu have been reported from January to 25th September 2018.

Despite several high-level meetings, including those where the Cheif minister and Health minister have also been present, the situation still remains serious in Rajasthan.

The state government has issued a high alert. Leaves of doctors and paramedical staff in the state stand cancelled. The state government is claiming to have made the required arrangements for procuring swine flu medicines.

BJP President, Amit Shah had also been recently admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (AIIMS) after being diagnosed with Swine flu. He was discharged on January 20.

Madhya Pradesh: Catholic Church priest arrested for abetting a 17-year old girl’s suicide

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: Catholic Church priest arrested for abetting a 17-year old girl’s suicide

A 33-year old Catholic priest, Father Prakash Damor has been arrested in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh for abetting a 17-year-old girl’s suicide, as per reports.

As per reports, inspector Kailash Chauhan of Ranapur police station has stated that the suicide note of the girl, who had allegedly hanged herself at her house on January 4, stated that Father Prakash Damor was harassing the minor girl to marry him.

Some media reports have also stated that the Church priest was pressurising the girl to convert to Christianity.

“We arrested him under IPC section 306 (abetment of suicide) and also under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act Tuesday (January 15),” Chauhan said.

Reportedly, the accused Christian priest Prakash Damor had first met the minor victim at a missionary school where she was studying in Class 11. The police officials said that Father Damor was produced before a court the same day and was remanded in judicial custody.

Jhabua Catholic Diocese spokesperson Father Rockey Shah has reportedly stated that the Church stands with the girl’s family in their grief while claiming that Damor has been booked without proper investigation. “We want an in-depth inquiry so that the real culprit is arrested,” he said.

The country has been rocked by repeated rapes and other abusive incidents at Churches, as recently Franco Mulakkal, a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar, was arrested and released on bail later for allegedly raping a 44-year old nun at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014. Similarly, Father Johnson V Mathew, a priest of Malankara Orthodox church was accused in the rape and sexual abuse of a married woman belonging to the fold was arrested in July.

In another incident, a 60-year-old pastor named Chandra Kumar belonging to a local church in Nagaland was arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old girl in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district.

Recently, a special Mahila Court in Cuddalore had sentenced a church priest to 30 years in prison and nine others to life in prison for their involvement in the horrifying 2014 Tittakudi rape case, which involved two minor girls.

Rahul Gandhi colluding with BJD to help mining mafia in Odisha: Claims expelled Congress leader Srikant Jena

OpIndia Staff
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Rahul Gandhi colluding with BJD to help mining mafia in Odisha: Claims expelled Congress leader Srikant Jena

Srikant Jena, who was recently expelled from the primary membership of the Congress has dropped a ‘bombshell’ after he accused the Congress party president Rahul Gandhi of surrendering himself before the Patnaik family and mining mafias in Odisha.

Expressing relief over his exit from the Congress party, Jena threatened Congress president Rahul Gandhi of holding “an explosive press conference” during Gandhi’s scheduled visit to Odisha. Jena has also claimed that he would expose the Congress president to such an extent that the latter would “not be able to show his face in public”.

“I am glad that I am relieved from the responsibility of remaining in the Congress party. I had written many letters to Rahul Gandhi asking whether he will stand with Patnaik brothers and mining mafias or with the people of Odisha,” Mr Jena told at a press conference.


Jena, who was also an All India Congress Committee member and former Union Minister claimed that the Congress was scheming with the Biju Janata Dal to encourage the rule of Patnaiks, allegedly referring to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Odisha Congress President Niranjan Patnaik.

Targetting the Congress President, Jena said, “Rahul Gandhi has chosen to allow a rule of the Patnaiks over the interests of the people of Odisha. I will travel across the state to expose the Congress leadership for what it is. This is not expulsion, I had already written a letter requesting him to accept my proposition or else relieve me from the party. I wanted to expose him but he has exposed himself.”

It is notable here that Jena had been opposed to present OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik being appointed. Niranjan Patnaik’s family in into a host of successful businesses, mining included. His brother and media bigwig Soumya Patnaik had joined BJD last year.

“This is just the beginning. On January 25, I will give certain facts. The full country will know what Rahul Gandhi is and what he is protecting,” he said.

Along with Jena, Krushna Chandra Sagaria, a former MLA from Koraput was also expelled from the Congress for anti-party activities. Sagaria had already resigned as MLA in October last year, for “failing to provide justice” to a young Dalit rape victim in Kunduli who eventually committed suicide.

The Congress now seems to be in trouble in Odisha as few days prior to this, it’s working president Naba Kishore Das and tribal MLA Jogesh Singh resigned from the party to join BJD last week. At least six more sitting MLAs are reportedly likely to quit and join the BJD. In 2014 assembly elections, Congress was humiliated after it won just 16 seats in the 147 seat assembly with a mere 25.7 per cent of the votes polled. Following the defections of Naba Kishore Das and Jogesh Singh and the expulsion of Sagaria and Jena, the strength of Congress party in the House has come down to 12.

Trouble in mahagathbandhan? Azam Khan upset with Mamata’s ‘United India’ rally, says it failed to represent Muslim interest

OpIndia Staff
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Trouble in mahagathbandhan? Azam Khan upset with Mamata’s ‘United India’ rally, says it failed to represent Muslim interest

Samajwadi Party’s senior leader Amaz Khan is not too happy with Mamata’s United Opposition rally which took place on Saturday in Kolkata. According to reports, Azam Khan felt that while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attended the rally, the rally failed to adequately represent the interests of the minority.

According to Khan, since there was only one Muslim leader from Kashmir and one from Assam, the representation of Muslims, the second largest religious population, was “merely namesake”. He even slammed the Opposition leaders for sticking to political rhetorics instead of talking about issues that may help the nation progress.

He further said that Muslims should also get the benefit of 10% reservation for economically weaker section.

On Saturday, Kolkata’s Brigade Parade ground had turned into a heady mix of contradictory political ideologies coming together to defeat Modi in the upcoming 2019 general elections. Akhilesh Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal, Jignesh Mevani, Hardik Patel, Tejashwi Yadav, HD Kumaraswamy, Chandrababu Naidu, Farooq Abdullah, Arun Shourie, Shatrughan Sinha, DMK’s MK Stalin were all present at Mamata’s rally, while Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BSP’s Mayawati stayed away from the show of strength.

Why India can’t ignore Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal

Ashish Shukla
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Why India can’t ignore Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has had her way since the rath yatra planned by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is struck down by the Supreme Court. Now, her government has refused to grant permission to Amit Shah to land his chopper in Malda citing ‘Airport under construction’, however, that reason too doesn’t hold water.

Predictably there is no outrage in Lutyens’ Media which is par for course since they had similarly ignored Ms Banerjee postponing the Vijay Dashmi celebrations after Muharram fell on the same day.

Media never devoted columns and editorials when Supreme Court had to step in even for nominations in Panchayat elections last year. There was no outrage in newspapers when 13 people were killed on the voting day itself; in all 50 lives were lost.

All too often Mamata Banerjee cites law and order problem to throw up her hands in despair and media sees no oddity in it since law and order is state subject and TMC owns West Bengal in its iron fist, having won 211 of the 295-seat assembly in 2016.

Media, which cries itself hoarse on the autonomy of Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) being under threat sees nothing wrong in Ms Banerjee barring the central agency from operating in her state. They have no problem when Ms Banerjee pulls out of the Ayushman Health insurance scheme only because all the credit was going to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ms Banerjee could raise the demons of a “civil war” (on the issue of settlers in Assam) and still be spared a critique. An FIR to arrest RSS’ Rakesh Sinha on his social media posts is nothing alarming in the prejudiced eyes of the media who swear by the freedom of speech as its gospel.

So deathly is the silence of media on affairs in West Bengal that you wouldn’t even remember Jihadi forces rained violence in Bashirat district against Hindus last year. Those BJP leaders fled the state by dozens in the wake of the violence.

Media sees nothing communal when “ramdhenu” is replaced with “rongdhenu” in school textbooks in West Bengal; when a fatwa-issuing Islamic cleric (Maulana Nurur Barkati) against Narendra Modi is emboldened enough to use “lal-batti” atop his car even as the practice is banned; when Rs 2500 and Rs 1000 is given as monthly stipend to 56,000 imams and muezzins of the state (no such windfall to Hindu priests).

Ms Banerjee seems to provoke Hindus no end up like when she appointed Firhad Hakim — a TMC MLA who once referred to Kolkata’s Garden Reach area as “mini-Pakistan”– the chief of the famous 300-years-old Tarakeshwar Temple. One of TMC’s Rajya Sabha member (Ahmed Hussain) is a founding member of the banned outfit, Students Islamic Movement of India; There is Rs. 1.5 lakh worth of state scholarship to those Muslim students who get less than 50 per cent marks at the school level (even as other students, including Hindus, can only secure it at over 50 per cent overall marks). “Those dead during Haj are compensated with Rs 10 lakhs while the Hindu families of those killed in riots get Rs 35,000,” said Tapan Ghosh, then a leader of the Hindu Samhiti.

Even as media has criminally turned its back on these dangerous trends, Hindus seem to be getting their act together in the state. Presently there are 1500 odd RSS shakhas in the state—as against 800 in 2013. BJP is now the main opposition party in West Bengal. A true glimpse of this renaissance would be visible over next couple of weeks when BJP/RSS plan to hold multiple rallies in Bengal.

Hindus, pushed against the wall, might strike back electorally against the present dispensation in Bengal. They are 70 per cent in numbers to 27 per cent Muslims. However, an entitled Muslim population—also bloated by illegal Bangladeshi Muslims in the sate—won’t concede the acquired ground readily. Bengal is sitting on a volcano about to burst even as media wouldn’t let you know.

A day after BJP leader was murdered, another attacked and looted in Congress ruled Madhya Pradesh

OpIndia Staff
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A day after BJP leader was murdered, another attacked and looted in Congress ruled Madhya Pradesh

Within weeks of assuming power in Madhya Pradesh, Congress government led by Kamal Nath seems to have failed to check the law and order issues in the state. After the shocking murders of two BJP leaders, another has now been attacked and robbed in the state.

According to reports, on Sunday, a BJP leader Jitendra Soni of the Barwani district, his son Ravendra and two of his relatives were assaulted and robbed by unidentified persons near Charvi village, 30 km from the district headquarters, raising concerns about the growing crime rates in the state within weeks of Congress party coming into power.

The vice-president of a local unit of the BJP, Jitendra Soni, a jeweller, was returning from the market when a group of half a dozen men attacked and robbed him of gold ornaments, about 40 kg silver and Rs.50,000 cash.

YD Bhutia, District superintendent of police said that the assailants threw stones at the vehicle, following which Jitendra, who was driving, panicked and drove onto a narrow path where the SUV got stuck. Soni was admitted to a hospital while others suffered minor injuries in the incident. They also took away the key of the SUV before fleeing, the police said.

The attack on BJP leader Jitendra Soni comes at a time when serious crimes are being unleashed against the other BJP leaders in the state after Congress party came into power. Two days back, local-level BJP leader, a 48-year old Manoj Thackeray was found dead in the same district when he had gone for a morning walk. Thackeray’s body was found a few minutes away from the road near Radha Swami Bhawan of Balwadi village.

In another incident, Prahlad Bandhwar, BJP leader and the chairman of the Mandsaur Municipal Corporation was shot dead on Thursday evening by unidentified criminals. As per reports, Bandhwar was shot at in full public view, near BPL square in the city.

Just a day before Bandhwar’s murder, an Indore based businessman was killed in a similar incident of shooting in a public place.

Interestingly, Bala Bachchan, the home minister in the current Congress government, in charge of the law and order in the state, is also from the Barwani district, where one BJP leader has been murder and another has been attacked. The minister has denied the BJP’s allegations that its leaders are being targetted after Congress took power in the state.

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 after Kamal Nath government failed to deliver its promise of loan waivers. 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.

The politics of loan-waivers by the Congress party has already taken three lives of farmers in Madhya Pradesh. 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.

Reportedly, a massive loan-waive scam has also been brewing in the state of Madhya Pradesh after reports emerged that various beneficiaries listed by the government eligible for farmer loan waiver did not even exist in reality. Many discrepancies and irregularities are already being unearthed in the loan waiver schemes.

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