Gujarat High Court has framed issues in plea against Congress leader Ahmed Patel in relation to alleged malpractices committed during his 2017 Rajya Sabha elections.
We had reported, earlier this month, that Supreme Court has directed Gujarat High Court to initiate a probe against Patel, taking former Congress leader Balwantsinh Rajput’s election plea as grounds. An election petition was filed by Balwantsinh Rajput in Gujarat High court challenging Elections Commission’s decision of invalidating of two votes, which had led to Patel’s victory and Rajput’s defeat in Gujarat Rajya Sabha election.
Before Rajya Sabha elections of 2017, the total strength of Gujarat Congress MLAs had reduced from 57 to 52, after many MLAs had defected to BJP, including Balwantsinh. During polling, Congress had appealed to invalidate votes of its two MLAs, citing a technical issue claiming two Congress MLAs, Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavji Patel, did not show their vote to Congress polling agent. A similar request was also sent by BJP to EC appealing to invalidate votes of two Congress MLAs, Shailesh Parmar, also the Chief Whip of the party, and Mitesh Garasia. While the appeal of Congress was accepted, the request of BJP was denied by EC. The invalidation of two votes, made the victory of Ahmed Patel easier, as it brought down the winning number from 45 to 44.
In April last year, the court dismissed Patel’s plea demanding the dismissal of Rajput’s election petition. Rajput had also accused Patel of indulging in malpractices. Ahmed Patel then approached the Supreme Court, where the court upheld the High Court’s order and directed it to initiate a probe against Patel.
According to reports, High Court has framed six issues against Ahmed Patel. Among them, the biggest is whether Ahmed Patel indulged in corruption and affected the outcome of polling. The issues also include whether the decision to invalidate votes of Bholabhai Gohil and Raghavji Patel was wrong and whether votes of Shailesh Parmar and Mitesh Garasia, were actually invalid. One of the issues also challenges EC, whether its actions were “being violative of the principles of natural justice, without any authority of law”.
The court will hear the case again on January 18. After framing of issues against Ahmed Patel, the Congress loyalist is now surrounded by several cases alleging his involvement in corruption and election malpractices. Agencies are already probing his involvement in the Sandesara group fraud, and also in the AgustaWestland corruption scandal, in which the extradited middleman Christian Micheal has allegedly identified his role.
Last Monday, a special Mahila Court in Cuddalore delivered an important judgement sentencing 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.
According to the reports, the court had found 16 of the accused guilty of various charges such as abduction and under provisions of the POCSO Act, including a Christian priest Aruldoss, who had sexually assaulted the minors and had forced them to watch pornography. He was sentenced to a jail term of 30 years and a fine of Rs 5 lakh.
The gang’s kingpin, Anbazhagan from Salem has been sentenced to life in prison and a fine of Rs 3.21 lakh, while another convict Anandaraj was sentenced to four life terms in prison and a fine of Rs 2.1 lakh. Selvaraj was sentenced to three life terms and fine of Rs 30,000. Mohan Raj and Mathivanan both were sentenced to two life terms each and fines of Rs 2 lakh. Fathima was also sentenced to two life terms with a fine of Rs 4.4 lakh. Sridhar, the driver who took the children to different places in the state, was sentenced to two life terms and a fine of Rs 4.4 lakh. Kala and Lakshmi were awarded two life terms and a fine of Rs 4.2lakh
Special Public Prosecutor K Selvapriya, said a 13-year old victim was studying in school at Tittakudi, while a woman who ran a hotel lured her and coerced the minor into sexual intercourse with her husband and other men during 2014 Pongal.
Shockingly, they pressurised the victim to bring another minor girl in order to let her go. The first minor victim took another 14-year-old girl from her neighbourhood to the woman. Reportedly, both minor girls were sexually assaulted by the men and they were later trafficked to various places in the state including Salem, Panruti, Vadalur, Virudachalam and Ulundurpet, where they were sexually assaulted by several men.
Meanwhile, the children managed to escape and reached Tittakudi where they reported the incident to the police and identified 19 accused, including the idly shop owner Tamilarasi and her husband Satheesh. Seventeen people were arrested, including the Christian priest Aruldoss in connection with the case.
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 accused in the rape and sexual abuse of a married woman belonging to the fold was arrested in July.
The horrific rape occurrences at Churches are turning out be a grave issue in the country, as another 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.
So imagine my surprise the other day when I read this Business Standard article trying to show Rahul Gandhi ahead of PM Modi using Google Trends data. Because I have myself been following Google Trends data on this for a while and they show no such thing.
So I had to check this out. It is a good thing that Business Standard provided a screenshot, which let me see the period they were checking for, which happened to be Jan 1, 2018, to Jan 6, 2019.
Okay, so I checked it out on Google trends for the same period.
Google search trends of “Modi” and “Rahul”
Huh? All I see is “Modi” uniformly ahead of “Rahul”. What is Business Standard even talking about?
To be fair, search terms can vary. There are many ways people could be wording their searches for PM Modi and the Congress President Rahul Gandhi. I started with “Modi” and “Rahul” because those are the shortest ways people generally use to talk about these two people.
But we need to “shop around” with some variants before we can confirm a trend. How about the respective full names: “Narendra Modi” and “Rahul Gandhi”? Looking closely at the screenshot that Business Standard provided, they seemed to have tried out the full names.
So here is the data.
Google search trends for “narendra modi” and “rahul Gandhi”
Again, Narendra Modi is almost uniformly ahead of Rahul Gandhi. An exception occurs between Dec 9 and Dec 15, 2018, right after exit poll data came out and Congress went on to form governments in 3 states.
Okay, let’s try something else to try and confirm the findings of the Business Standard. Google Trends measures two kinds of searches: these are “term searches” and “topic searches”.
As Google explains, “term searches” can be very imprecise and cover all sorts of related information, which may be irrelevant. A search for “banana sandwich” may lead to “peanut butter sandwich”! If you want more precise searches, you need to look at “Topic searches.”
Difference between “search term” and “search topic”
So I decided to try a precise “Topic search” for Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi. Here is the result.
Google trends for search topics “Narendra Modi” and “Rahul Gandhi”
Ouch! It got really bad for Rahul Gandhi once I tried the precise “topic search”. The PM is not only well in the lead, but his lead is actually increasing.
So what am I doing wrong that I can’t seem to find the “data” that Business Standard was providing? For this, I decided to read the fine print in the article. Here’s what I found.
The catch in Business Standard article
Ah…so they pared down the data to the news segment only, not across all categories. Okay, let me do that:
Google search trends for “news” segment for “Narendra Modi” and “Rahul Gandhi”
Again, PM Modi seems to have a clear and very uniform lead. Rahul Gandhi hasn’t come close all year.
Okay, enough with the precise “topic searches”. Let me go back to the imprecise “term search” data and see what happens.
Google search “term” trend for “Narendra Modi” and “Rahul Gandhi”
It does look better for Rahul Gandhi but PM Modi is still in the lead. There were only 3 periods of the year when Rahul’s numbers surpassed those of the PM. One is when the Congress formed its government in 3 states this December. Another has come between May 13 and May 19. We can immediately recognize this as the period when exit polls wrongly predicted a win for the Congress in Karnataka. So at least 2 of these 3 periods can easily be dismissed as momentary surges of interest in Rahul.
But still, we can find no sign of the “data” that Business Standard was offering us. How did they find Rahul to be in the lead? Looking carefully in the screenshot, I managed to decode what they meant by “news segment”. I was looking in the category of “news”; instead, I needed to look at “news search”.
Okay done.
Google “News search” trend for “modi” and “rahul”
Huh? Modi is still way ahead! What happened here?
Oh, I know! I put “Modi” and “Rahul” again. That’s not what Business Standard did. I have to use full names! So I did.
Google “news search” trend for “Narendra Modi” and “Rahul Gandhi”
What? Modi ahead? Again.
Oh, I know! I am so absent-minded that I missed using the exact specifications required to discover a lead for Rahul Gandhi! I used the precise “topic search” data instead of the imprecise “term search”.
So this time before clicking away, I decided to make a full checklist so that I don’t miss something.
(a) I need to put the full names “Narendra Modi” and “Rahul Gandhi”. Can’t use “Modi” and/or “Rahul”
(b) I can’t use the precise “topic searches”. I must use the imprecise “term searches”.
(c) I can’t use web searches or youtube searches. I must restrict to the news.
(d) I can’t go to the category of news. I must use only the “news search” filter.
With this careful list of filters, I was finally able to get Rahul Gandhi to move ahead of Narendra Modi in Google Trends.
Finally, with a bunch of conditions, Rahul Gandhi surges ahead of Nanredra Modi in Google search.
Congratulations to Rahul Gandhiji and every liberal out there.
Your candidate is ahead, finally.
There’s data and there are aberrations. To confirm a trend in the real world you have to look around. Check for common sense variations. Without that your “data” would be as good as our famously inaccurate opinion poll industry. You cannot just filter your data and pare it down to a certain specification until you find the result that you are looking for.
That’s called looking at aberrations, not data.
The good news for both liberals and opinion pollsters is that bad data has never affected their social, economic or political standing. So you can carry on.
UPDATE: After this article was published by OpIndia, we received a communication from Business Standard informing us that in wake of these details, they have withdrawn the story. The same can be confirmed by visiting their website here.
In a sharp attack against the Congress party, BJP leader and Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that some Congress leaders had visited Pakistan to seek help to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
While speaking on the second day of the BJP’s National Convention held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, Nirmala Sitharaman accused Congress leaders of playing dirty politics by seeking help from Pakistan to remove PM Modi’s government.
“The defence forces conducted surgical strikes across the border and instead of commending them, the opposition wanted proof,” Sitharaman said. “We showed them the proof and some Congress leaders went to Pakistan to seek help to remove Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. A big shame on our Opposition that they went to Pakistan and said, ‘please help us to remove them’. This is the kind of politics that the Congress plays.”
Nirmala Sitharaman statements targetting the Congress party comes as an apparent reference to senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, who had called for the support of Pakistan to not only remove the current government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also to help Congress come to power. This is not surprising since earlier, Congress had even promoted a ‘Modi hatao, Desh bachao’ Facebook advertisement in Pakistan.
Congress ad in Pakistan in October 2018.
Congress rhetoric at home and Pakistan’s rhetoric at the UNGA also had eerie similarities and Pakistan trolls had tried to shield and promote Rahul Gandhi fervently on Twitter. One can also recall how Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had gone to Pakistan for Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony and hugged the Pakistan army chief undermining the thousands of soldiers who are butchered by Pakistan. He had then asserted that he rather visit Pakistan than South India. In fact, global terrorist Hafiz Saeed had also endorsed Congress’ “vision” of Kashmir.
As per reports, four months back, Rajasthan Police had arrested one Army jawan on charges of espionage in Jaiselmer. After interrogations, it was revealed that he was in touch with the Pakistani ISI operatives through social media.
Sepoy Somveer Singh got in touch with one ‘Anika Chopra’ over Facebook and was chatting regularly with her and exchanging details and information about the armoured unit including its movement. Now, multiple accounts of officers and jawans are under probe with whom ‘Anika Chopra’ was in touch with.
As per reports, ‘Anika Chopra’ sent Sepoy Singh a ‘friends request’ on Facebook back in 2016. He was flattered that a lady officer had approached him and he was so smitten that had even decided to divorce his wife and marry ‘Anika Chopra’. The military intelligence started monitoring his activities since last five months after he got a call from Jammu. It was revealed that ‘Anika Chopra’ was operating out of Pakistan.
‘Anika Chopra’ asked him questions like ‘where are you posted?’ and asked for pictures of the tank and other sensitive information. Soon enough, ‘Anika Chopra’ started blackmailing him and Singh reportedly started taking money in exchange of information. Sepoy Singh was not the only one honey-trapped by ‘Anika Chopra’. As many as 50 jawans are under investigation.
Pakistan intelligence is increasingly using social media for spying activities. A few months back, an Engineer at Brahmos facility in Nagpur, Nishant Agarwal, was arrested for alleged spying and passing on sensitive information to his ISI handlers. Even then Pakistani handlers had used social media accounts to honeytrap Agarwal.
Pakistan has also tried to lure the army jawans for carrying out espionage against India. In October last year, an Indian Army soldier of Meerut Cantonment was caught and several others detained by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad on the charges of espionage activities carried out on the directions of the infamous ISI. The arrested jawan was stationed in the Army’s Signal Regiment in Meerut Cantonment.
In September last year, Uttar Pradesh ATS team had arrested a BSF Jawan, Achutanand Misra, a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa district, for sharing vital information about India’s defence preparedness with ISI lackeys. He was “honey-trapped” by a woman claiming to be a journalist into sharing information about unit operational details, police academy and training centre. Prior to that, a person named Ramesh who worked as a cook in an Indian diplomat’s house was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir military Intelligence Unit and the Uttar Pradesh police from Pithoragarh for bugging the house and passing off the information to the ISI.
Recently, a suspected Pakistani spy was arrested from Arunachal Pradesh border who had allegedly passed sensitive information about Army deployment and location, weapons information and number of Artillery installations in Kibithu to his Dubai based handler.
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.
Here is the low-down:
1. Prime Minister Modi launches a scathing attack on the Congress
During his speech addressing the BJP National convention at Ramlila Maidan, Prime Minister Modi minced no words in his attack against the Congress party. He attacked the Congress for its alleged role in dubious defence deals and attempting to jeopardize National Security. Modi also referred to alleged Agusta Westland Middleman Christian Michel during his speech.
While promising measures to tackle farm distress, Modi accused the Congress party of reducing farmers to mere vote bank. He said that the Congress had allowed the distress to snowball into a national crisis.
Modi also said that the Mahagathbandhan was formed with the intent of fooling people and is only an opportunistic alliance for defeating him. He also asserted that Congress believes only in dynasty and not Democracy.
2. BSP-SP alliance announced in UP! Sordid history forgotten?
In a joint conference by SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati, the SP and the BSP have declared their alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 General Elections. Only two seats have been left for the Congress, the traditional Gandhi bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareili.
Mayawati appears to have forgiven the disrespect that was meted out to her by members of her alliance partner in 1995. It is said that SP leaders had physically assaulted her and tore apart her clothes. She was then rescued by a BJP MLA from any further humiliation.
3. Congress hooligans vandalize movie theatres while Rahul Gandhi defames India in Dubai in the name of ‘intolerance’!
In an absolutely deplorable display of hooliganism, Youth Congress leaders of Kolkata created a ruckus outside Hind Inox at Central Kolkata and torn down the screen in two places as an act to stop the screening of the movie. As all of this was happening, Congress President Rahul Gandhi was busy demonizing India with his ‘intolerance’ narrative.
4. RLD Chief Ajit Singh’s shameful words for Smriti Irani, PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath
Ajit Singh speaking at an event called ‘Kisanon se Samvad-(dialogue with farmers)’ at Kosi Kalan in Mathura on Thursday went on to take a dig at PM Modi and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath while resorting to a sexist slur against Union Minister Smriti Irani by calling her “Hatti-Katti gai”- a well-built cow.
“I read in newspapers these days that your cows, bulls and calves (gai-bail-bachhde) are roaming around a lot, You are locking them up in schools and colleges. People call them Modi-Yogi. Is that right?” said RLD Chief Ajit Singh. “Some people also say that a ‘hatti-katti gai’ (well-built cow) has come. Smriti Irani is also moving around,” Singh said.
5. ‘Fake News’ Propaganda
An image has been circulating on social media which claims that the UP government will distribute 5 lakh condoms during the upcoming Kumbh Mela.
To confirm the veracity of the claims, team OpIndia contacted the Director, Informations of the Kumbh Mela, Shri Shishir. He stated that the claims made by the viral news clip and the websites mentioned here are totally false. He also stated that there is no such government circular about the distribution of condoms and this is an attempt to spread malicious propaganda to defame the mega event.
In a separate incident, noted Economist S Gurumurthy has sent a legal notice to The Economist for an article that called him a ‘fixer’ who ‘gets things done in Delhi’.
6. Another case of Love Jihad
An 18-year-old girl who left her family about nine months ago to marry a man of her choice has returned to her home in Barmer. The girl had alleged that her husband, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar, forced her to eat cow meat and read namaz.
The young woman had also alleged that Gulzar, a resident of Jammu Kashmiri who worked in a café in Barmer, was blackmailing her with an edited photo. She also claims that preparations were being made to sell her in Dubai.
7. Tulsi Gabbard becomes first Hindu American to run for President
After becoming the first Hindu to be elected to the US House of Representatives and swearing her oath on a Bhagavad Gita, Gabbard became the first Hindu to run for the Presidency of the USA when she announced her candidature on Twitter. Our profile of Gabbard, who doesn’t shy away from her Hindu identity, can be read here.
8. Columbia University recognises Sushruta’s contribution to Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery
In India, Hindus have always known that the “Father of Surgery” is Sushruta, an ancient Hindu physician who performed cosmetic and reconstructive surgery thousands of years ago. Now, it appears, the knowledge appears to be becoming mainstream in the academia. Read the details here.
9. URI – The Surgical Strike released yesterday. Here is the review
In a review of the Movie Uri based on the Surgical Strikes against Pakistan, Opindia Editor Nupur Sharma heaps praise on the movie that has been deemed a ‘propaganda’ movie by liberals. She writes, “This movie was bound to irk the “liberals” who demonise the Army constantly, wanted proof of the surgical strike and have a pathological hatred for anyone that doesn’t harbour the kind of toxic hatred for the current dispensation as they do.”
10. Is Rahul Gandhi the ‘progressive leader’ that media paints him as?
In his latest article, Karan Bhasin dismantles the media narrative that Congress President Rahul Gandhi is a ‘progressive’ leader. He states, “The masks are off Rahul Gandhi as he represents everything that has been wrong with the society since decades and when you scratch underneath the surface, you’d find the “regressive party of the so-called “progressive leader”.
11. Rafale pricing comprehensively deconstructed
The Rafale deal has been in the news for a very long time with Rahul Gandhi screaming “chowkidaar chor hai” and alleging a scam where there exists none. OpIndia columnist Rohit Vats analysed publicly available data to reach the conclusion that the current Rafale deal is far better than the one signed by Congress in 2007. Read the detailed analysis here.
12. Remember the time Akhilesh Yadav said he should have killed a man and NDTV crowd applauded him?
13. 7 takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech today
Prime Minister Modi gave a rousing speech at the second and last day of the BJP National Convention. In case you missed it, here is his speech summarised in 7 quick points.
Additional Reading for the day:
1. Read the CVC findings against ousted CBI Director Alok Verma
CBI Director Alok Verma has been ousted from his post by a High Powered Committee comprising of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Justice Sikri (nominee by Chief Justice Gogoi) and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. The ouster was owing to the corruption charges against Alok Verma. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had submitted a report on 9th January 2019 after investigating the complaint against Alok Verma and Rakesh Asthana. Read the full details here.
2. The Accidental Prime Minister movie review
The Accidental Prime Minister takes us through the ten-year journey in about two hours, acting as a ready reckoner, lest we forget. Read the full review here.
3. Missionary possible, according to Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court has ruled that missionary activities are not prohibited in India. The Court was hearing a case where a doctor’s OCI was cancelled by authorities claiming that he was carrying out evangelical, medical missionary and conversion activities. Read the details here.
On the second and the last day of the National Convention of the Bharatiya Janata Party being organised at the Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the gathering of party members. Modi encouraged the party members to gear up for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and make the party win. Here are a few takeaways from his speech:
On the First Prime Minister
“Had Sardar Patel been the first Prime Minister of India, the picture of the country would have been different”, Modi said. “I also would like to add, had Atal ji been the Prime Minister after the elections of 2000, the country would have reached elsewhere”, he added. Blaming Congress for ruining ten significant years of the country in corruption and scams he said, “It will not be wrong if I say that the between 2004-2019 the country has lost 10 significant years to corruption and scam. These 10 years were very crucial at the beginning of the 21st century”.
On the Issue of Corruption
Modi praised his government for not having any case of corruption against it, unlike the previous Congress government. He said, “This is the first time in the history of the country that the government has no allegation of corruption. We can be proud of the fact that there is no blot on us.” He said that his party has shown that government can be run without corruption and that the country can be changed for the good of the common people.
On 10% Reservation for General Category
The Prime Minister said that the weaker sections of the General category cannot be deprived of the rights which were given by Baba Saheb Ambedkar to the backward classes of the country. Clarifying on the impact of the implementation of 10% reservation, he assured that this will not deprive the other people of their rightful share. He said that 10% seats will be added in the existing seats in educational institutions. “I do not and have not claimed that this will solve all the problems. But this is a step towards solving the problem”, he said referring to the 10% reservation.
On Women Participation
Modi said that his government has worked for ensuring greater participation of women in different sectors referring to the Maternity Bill which was passed by his government in 2016. He said that women are now flying fighter planes
On Bank Loans
Attacking the Congress government for adopting corrupt ways to help its own people get loans from banks Modi said that there were two ways of getting loans in the country- Common process and Congress process. Common process people took loans from the bank for home and education etc and they had to repay the whole amount. Under the Congress process, the banks were forced to give loans to people whom the party favoured. Such people managed to take further loans to repay their previous dues.
On Opposition Parties
Modi called the Mahagathbandhan of the opposition parties a historically failed experiment. He said that the very same parties that came into existence to oppose the Congress the party have now joined hands with the same Congress party against one person (referring to himself). They (opposition want a majboor sarkar, we want a majboot sarkar,” he said. He gave the example of alliance made between the TDP and the Congress in Telangana which lost the election. Referring to the Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s statement Modi said within few months of forming the coalition government in Karnataka and the Chief Minister is already feeling reduced to a clerk.
He attacked the Congress for creating hurdles in the proceedings in the Supreme Court and the Parliament. He said that Congress is delaying the hearing in the Ayodhya case on one pretext or the other through its lawyers. He criticised the Congress for opposing the bills in the Parliament including the NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
On CBI
Modi said that Congress has no respect for government agencies and that they question the agencies out of fear of being caught. He said that when he was the CM of Gujarat he never stopped the CBI from entering the State. “I never stopped the CBI from entering Gujarat when I was the Chief Minister”, he said. “In 2007, a Congress minister said that Modi will go to jail within a few months. Amit bhai ko to unhone jail mein daal bhi diya tha. But we didn’t form a law to stop CBI from entering Gujarat as we had faith in the law. These people are levelling allegations on agencies because they’re scared,” he added.
The Prime Minister concluded his speech with the slogans of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram” as the party members rose to cheer him.
In India, Hindus have always known that the “Father of Surgery” is Sushruta, an ancient Hindu physician who performed cosmetic and reconstructive surgery thousands of years ago. Now, it appears, the knowledge appears to be becoming mainstream in the academia.
In its History of Medicine series, the Columbia University Irving Medicine Center confirmed that the roots of modern cosmetic surgery go back over 2500 years.
The article says, “During the 6th Century BCE, an Indian physician named Sushruta – widely regarded in India as the ‘father of surgery’ – wrote one of the world’s earliest works on medicine and surgery. The Sushruta Samhita documented the aetiology of more than 1,100 diseases, the use of hundreds of medicinal plants, and instructions for performing scores of surgical procedures – including three types of skin grafts and reconstruction of the nose.”
The article also states that the Sushruta Samhita provides the first written record of a forehead flap rhinoplasty, a technique where a full-thickness piece of skin from the forehead is used to reconstruct a nose. The article says of the treatise, “The Sushruta Samhita documented the aetiology of more than 1,100 diseases, the use of hundreds of medicinal plants, and instructions for performing scores of surgical procedures – including three types of skin grafts and reconstruction of the nose.”
Interestingly, the Mahabharata lists Sushruta as a son of Vishwamitra. And the name also features later in the Bower Manuscript where the legendary physician is listed as one of the ten sages in the Himalayas. The Bower Manuscript is a birch bark document dated between the 4th to 6th century.
A substantial section of the media has painted Rahul Gandhi as a progressive, liberal and young leader in India’s political landscape. Now, I don’t want to question their wisdom and I want to avoid getting into political rhetoric on the subject; if they believe he has “come of age” I believe they may have facts to support their assessment.
However, I also have some facts that I would want to present that may make one wonder how progressive and how liberal the Indian National Congress led by Rahul Gandhi is. The answer to this very apparent when one considers their opposition or rather hesitation to sit in the parliament house and vote for the triple talaq bill. While Rahul Gandhi is busy lecturing in colleges on “Women-Empowerment” he needs to be reminded that it was his father who overturned the Shah-Bano judgement and devoid the Muslim women of their basic rights. It is logical then, to expect the Congress to stage a walkout on the triple talaq bill, after all, why would they undo what was the result of their politics of appeasement.
However, Rahul Gandhi has reinforced his misogynist thoughts when he made the statement that the Prime Minister asked a “woman” to defend him. Someone should have told Rahul Gandhi that women defend not just the Prime Minister but every Indian. We come from a land that worships warrior Goddesses like Durga and Kali and our freedom has been protected by women of valour like Rani Laxmibai. You can’t blame him for his ignorance, though, but you must blame him for such a regressive statement. I am yet to see feminists move on to streets and ask for an apology, but then again, I don’t need them to fight this battle for gender equality as they only dilute it with their selective outrage. In fact, many of them hail him as the “most” progressive politician in India.
This most “progressive” leader of India is so proud of being born as a Man that he’s resorted to publicly asking people to “Be A Man” on Twitter, I wonder what it does be to “be a man” or “be a woman”. Isn’t the liberal discourse fighting to break these gender stereotypes? Maybe the fight is not to break such stereotypes but to bring back certain people in power, it seems.
It is not just misogyny; the Congress, its leaders and sympathizers are also some of the most intolerant individuals in public discourse. In fact, their favourite button on “Twitter” is the block button that they use every time someone presents them with facts, data or asks them a question.
This also shows the “elite” mindset that persists amongst them, which forces them to not be considerate of diverse sets of views. But all of this is in contrast with what Rahul Gandhi says or portrays in public life; underneath the hugs and “politics of love” is a great PR campaign that’s trying to rebrand the most regressive party as a torchbearer of the liberal discourse. Interestingly, my liberal friends seem to have no problem with this as these liberal friends represent the ecosystem that has benefited from the rule of Congress.
But irrespective of these branding and PR efforts, the facts will remain the same and when people judge them on facts: they’d realize the truth. The masks are off Rahul Gandhi as he represents everything that has been wrong with the society since decades and when you scratch underneath the surface, you’d find the “regressive party of the so-called progressive leader”.
PM Modi while addressing the crowd of more than 12,000 delegates and office bearers on the second day of the National Convention at Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi mounted a blistering attack on Congress and the purported grand alliance-Mahagathbandhan. Modi alleged that the opposition has no vision and their only purpose of coming together is to defeat one man-Modi.
राजनीति विचारों पर की जाती है। गठबंधन विजन पर बनते हैं। लेकिन ये पहला अवसर हैं जब ये सब राजनीति दल सिर्फ एक व्यक्ति को हराने के लिए एकजुट हो रहे हैं : पीएम मोदी #NaMoAgainpic.twitter.com/QLbJA8N5Tk
Modi called into question the intention of the political parties forming the grand alliance. He termed the opportunistic grand alliance as an endeavour to deprive the country of strong governance provided by the BJP. Calling the entire Mahagathbandhan as a ruse to fool people, Modi said that those political parties who questioned Congress’ work-ethics are now forming an alliance to deceive the people of this country.
Modi also highlighted how this grand alliance seeks to form a helpless government in which rampant corruption will occur unabated, kickbacks will be received for defence deals, farmers will be swindled in the name of farm loan waivers and national security will be jeopardised.
वो मजबूर सरकार चाहते हैं ताकि रक्षा सौदों में दलाली खाई जा सके, हम मजबूत सरकार चाहते हैं जिससे देश की सेना की हर जरूरत को पूरा कर सकें। वो मजबूर सरकार चाहते है ताकि किसानों की कर्जमाफी में भी घोटाला कर सकें, हम मजबूत सरकार चाहते हैं जिससे देश का किसान सशक्त बनें : पीएम #NaMoAgainpic.twitter.com/QwFXsWhfm2
PM Modi also spoke about how Congress president Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders who are out on bail in the National Herald case signify the subversion of the system caused by Congress and its dynasty system. He proclaimed that Congress not only gobbles up public money but it expropriates government land as well.
Slamming Congress for casting aspersions on the integrity of government institutes like CBI, Election Commission, CVC, CAG, and Army, PM Modi claimed that Congress thinks only they are right, rest all organisations are wrong. Modi said that Congress leaders have faith in dynasty politics and not in the democracy.
जमानत पर बाहर घुमनें वाले इन नेताओं को न कानून पर विश्वास है, न सत्य पर भरोसा है, और न ही इनको संस्थानों पर विश्वास है। इनको राजशाही पर भरोसा है, लेकिन हम लोकशाही को मनाने वाले लोग हैं : पीएम मोदी #NaMoAgain
Regarding the Ram Mandir issue, PM Modi alleged that Congress is deploying its battery of lawyers to impede the justice. According to him, Congress is least interested in resolving the dispute and wants the dispute to carry on forever. On the chronic agrarian distress, Modi said that the Congress leadership fools the farmers by promising incentives such as farm loan waivers which never reaches them. Whereas his government has taken the necessary steps to alleviate farm distress and are committed to double farmers’ income by 2022.
In a reference to the alleged middleman Christian Michel, PM Modi said that his government has extradited the middleman for being involved in suspicious defence deals while the earlier regimes provided chartered planes to foreign middlemen to escape. Modi also zeroed in on Congress for Michel’s involvement in alleged parallel negotiations for Eurofighter to sabotage Rafale deal. Earlier he had questioned whether the Rafale deal did not go through during the UPA era because of the dealings with ‘Michel mama’.
