Home Blog Page 6795

Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh exhibit rebellious tendencies for left out of ministry

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress leaders in Madhya Pradesh exhibit rebellious tendencies for left out of ministry

Within two weeks of forming the government in Madhya Pradesh, two Congress MLAs, Adal Singh Kansana and Dr Hira Alawa, have opened a front against the Congress leadership for not getting ministerial berths. Kansana has attacked the MP Jyotiraditya Scindia and AICC general secretary Deepak Babariya for denial of a ministerial position to him.

On Wednesday, Kansana alleged that Scindia and Babariya did not want him to become a minister. He also registered his protest with the former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and the former PCC chairman Arun Yadav. The Congress has got six seats from Murraina district, but not a single minister. On the other hand, Dr Hira has claimed that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi has reneged on his promise of offering him a stake in the MP government. He has now sought a meeting with Rahul Gandhi to raise his grievances.

Apart from these two, the only Congress MLA who won from Mandsaur parliamentary constituency, Hardeep Dung is also unhappy on being left-out from the cabinet. While giving an interview to ‘Nai Duniya’ he claimed that according to the parliamentary area and ethnic equation he should have been inducted into the cabinet. The supporters of KP Singh also expressed their resentment on the social media for the injustice meted out on their leader. Supporters targeted Jyotiraditya Scindia and former Chief Minister Digvijay Singh for the ‘flawed’ distribution of ministerial positions.

The supporters of indignant leaders took to the streets to protest against the Congress leadership. On Tuesday, an alert was issued in the Gwalior district, looking at the demonstrations by the protestors on the state highways. Security has been beefed up along the borders of Murraina, Bhind, to prevent the protesters from entering Gwalior from Murraina. More than a hundred soldiers and officers were deployed at the old cantonment border in Gwalior and Banwar in Murraina. Security personnel were stationed at Jyotiraditya Scindia’s palace to stop the protesters from entering his residence.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has also expressed his discontent over his sole MLA not being inducted in the cabinet by the Congress. Taking a jibe at Congress, Akhilesh said that such autocratic behaviour from Congress has cleared his way in 2019.

However such resentful statements from SP chief Akhilesh Yadav should be taken with a pinch of salt. Though strategists assume that the Congress will be excluded from the proposed alliance in Uttar Pradesh for Lok Sabha 2019, SP and BSP may well be indulging in shadow-boxing with Congress to consolidate their respective caste-equations.

Bareily: Madarsa manager, father of 11 children, gives triple talaq to his wife of 19 years

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Bareily: Madarsa manager, father of 11 children, gives triple talaq to his wife of 19 years

According to reports,  a Muslim man from Bareily has given triple talaq to his wife of 19 years. The wife had reportedly objected to the extramarital affair of the husband named Syed Siraj Ahmed. The accused is reportedly a manager in a local madarsa.


The woman named Arjumand Jafri is the second wife of the man who had married her after the death of his first wife with whom he had 8 children. The man is also allegedly involved in physical relations with his daughter-in-law. According to the woman, Siraj’s son from his late wife Miraj used to misbehave with her and had beaten her up several times. Miraj forced his father to divorce Jafri and throw her out of the house. As per reports, while marrying Jafri, her husband had not revealed the fact that was married and has eight children from his deceased wife.

Jafri has filed a complaint against her husband in the local police station. The incident has happened at a time when the Triple Talaq Bill which not just criminalises but also punishes the practice of triple talaq is being discussed in the Lok Sabha today. Despite the Supreme Court verdict that set aside the practice of triple talaq calling it unconstitutional, the cases of triple talaq have not declined.

Muslim women continue to suffer as the opposition parties keep playing politics over the sensitive issue which impacts the lives of thousands of Muslim women.

We only outrage, we never celebrate

S. Sudhir Kumar
-
0
We only outrage, we never celebrate

When GST was introduced in July 2017, our restaurant bills started showing 18% GST. Many folks started sharing the bills online and slowly a narrative was sought to be built that we are paying an exorbitant tax, now that GST has come! It was amazing to me that how could we forget that just a day earlier, we were paying 21% in taxes (VAT, ST, ST on VAT!). Today, that particular tax is 5% only. If we were so cynical and outraged about being taxed at even 18%, have you ever wondered why we don’t celebrate the lower taxes we pay now?

We outrage when we have new knowledge of 12% tax on Sanitary pads. Yet, we do not acknowledge the fact that these were earlier taxed at 15% and then don’t celebrate when the tax is bought down to 0%. We outrage when our politicians fight against each other, but never celebrate when they come together for 31 times in 20 months to implement the biggest ever tax reform of Independent India.

We outrage when GDP growth sees a temporary dip, but don’t celebrate when the growth picks back within the year. We outrage when don’t find a place in the top 10, but don’t celebrate when we become the 6th largest economy in the world. We outrage when we are ranked 144 in ease of doing business, but remain cynical and don’t celebrate when we reach 77.

We outrage with memes when our Prime Minister travels abroad. We don’t celebrate when India pioneers innovation through International Solar Alliance. We don’t celebrate when India enters into “Currency swap” agreements with major powers like Japan and the UAE.  We outrage when our Prime Minister affectionately hugs other leaders, but we don’t celebrate the many unprecedented benefits of the visits by our Prime Minister.

We outrage on “Made in China” but don’t celebrate “Make in India”. Look around us – today we have almost every major automobile company manufacturing in India (Ford, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Suzuki, Volkswagen, General Motors, Mercedes etc); almost every mobile company is now manufacturing their phones in India; Boeing has begun to manufacture in India; Khadi sales are up – yet we remain cynical when someone comments on Make in India.

We don’t celebrate the fact that thousands of Indians gained employment while constructing the world’s tallest statue of India’s tallest leader. We don’t celebrate the fact that the tourism potential of the world’s tallest statue will create immense opportunities in the lives of many poor. Instead, we outrage. We outrage because our definition of helping the poor is still restricted to giving them free money, so we remain cynical and ask – but how will this help feed the poor?

We outrage on bad loans to industrialists, but don’t celebrate when more than ₹80,000 crores of that money come back into our banking system. We outrage on a loss of ₹5000 crores, but don’t celebrate when Jan Dhan accounts bring in nearly INR 85,000 crores into our banking system.

We outrage on demonetisation, but don’t celebrate the cancellation of more than 3 lakh bogus companies and their directors. In fact, our media told us that the cancellation of licenses is a veiled threat to comply with the law! We outrage on our informal sector, but don’t celebrate the nearly 8 lakh additions per month to EPFO. We outrage on taxes, but don’t celebrate the nearly 3 crore additional tax returns filed. Neither do we celebrate the savings due to the reduction of the taxes. We outrage on lack of jobs, but don’t celebrate the spirit of crores of Indians who have enthusiastically embraced entrepreneurship through MUDRA, Standup India, and Startup India.

We outrage on Air India’s losses, but don’t celebrate when 35 new airports are made operational. We outrage on Air India’s pricing, but don’t celebrate UDAN which enabled lakhs of common people to take a flight journey for the first time, and many times. We outrage during accidents, but don’t celebrate the significant strides made in making Indian Railways safer.

We outrage when India’s National Security Advisor is made to head a key security agency, but never celebrate the efforts he has put in to prevent terrorist attacks in the country. We outrage on how AFSPA is misused, but never celebrate when a conducive situation gets created to withdraw it.

We outrage when we lose internet connectivity for 5 minutes, but never celebrate when more than 1 lakh of our villages got connected with an optical fibre network. We outrage when drought comes, but don’t celebrate innovative programs like Jal Yukt Shivir or Mission Kakateeya. We outrage on poor medical facilities, but don’t celebrate when more than 2.5 lakh fellow citizens get free dialysis treatment.

We outrage on linking Aadhar to our bank account, but don’t celebrate the INR 90,000 crores saved by the government of India, by linking our Aadhar to our bank accounts. We outrage on politicians living in lavish bungalows, but don’t celebrate when nearly 1500 of them are evacuated.

We outrage and ask “Where is my tax money going”, but don’t celebrate when our fellow citizens living in 18,000 villages get access to electricity for the first time. Leave aside outrage, we couldn’t even acknowledge the fact our friends from the northeastern states didn’t even have basic rail and road connectivity as recently as 4 years back. And we are so busy outraging that we forgot celebrating when our friends from North East get roads and railways for the first time.

In the months of October and November, fuel prices touched historically high prices. Today, in December, fuel prices are below what we used to pay in 2013. If you were outraged and cynical about our polity for high prices, shouldn’t you be equally appreciative and celebrate of the low prices today, just in a matter of weeks?

I can go on and on. We outrage. We never celebrate. I only hope that the next time we outrage, we pause for a bit and think twice. Maybe we have more cause to celebrate than outrage.

Himachal Pradesh to receive Rs 26,000 crores for infrastructure development, PM Modi announces in Jan Abhaar Rally

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Himachal Pradesh to receive Rs 26,000 crores for infrastructure development, PM Modi announces in Jan Abhaar Rally

Celebrating one year of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Himachal Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public Jan Aabhar Rally in Dharamshala. PM Modi released a document titled ‘Imaandar Prayaas Ka, Ek Saal Vikas Ka’, highlighting achievements of the state government in the last one year.

PM Modi congratulated Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and his government for various initiatives that have been taken by his government in last one year. In his speech, he called Himachal Pradesh as the land of brave soldiers who were ever ready to make supreme sacrifices at the border.

“Himachal Pradesh is like my home. I worked here for several years for the party’s organisational work. I have worked here, learnt a lot travelling through the state. I felt happy seeing those I worked with becoming front-line leaders,” PM Modi said in Dharamshala.

Praising Kangra’s local food cuisines and fresh crops, PM Modi said, “When I used to work here in Himachal, I always felt how this brilliant crop gets destroyed even before it reaches the market.”


 

PM Modi added that the Himachal Pradesh received only Rs.21,000 crore during the previous government and it has received Rs.72,000 crore after BJP government came to power at the centre. PM Modi said he has been given a chance to serve the people of Himachal and the increase in allocation of Rs.50,000 crore was possible because the Government of India believes that Himachal Pradesh government uses the funds judiciously for the development of the state.

PM Modi also said that infrastructure projects worth Rs.26,000 crore are under progress at various stages of development in the state. He added that Indian Railways has changed the coaches of Kalka-Shimla railway to add transparent roofs to enhance the tourists’ experience. The transformation of Himachal tourism and transportation are extremely vital, said the Prime Minister.

Speaking about the One Rank One Pension scheme, PM Modi said that country’s soldiers were demanding for one rank one pension scheme for the last 40 years, but the previous government fooled our soldiers and allocated only Rs.500 crore.

“When we came to power, I called for the file and officers were left stunned. There was nothing. We realised there was Rs.12,000 crore required for it. It’s difficult for govt to take out Rs.12,000 crore in one go. I called soldiers, asked them that I’ll give it in 4-5 instalments. Today I am happy, we gave it in four instalments and my soldiers have received the money,” said the Prime Minister.

He further accused the Congress party of acting likewise with the farmers by promising loan waivers before the polls but failed to do after it won the elections. “These people (opposition) are doing the same with farmers. In Punjab, don’t know how many promises were made to waive off farmers loans before polls, not even a penny has been given till date,” PM Modi slammed the opposition.

PM Modi lauded the efforts of Himachal Pradesh government initiatives to build ‘home stays’ venture, saying there are more than 80,000 homestays and resorts registered online.

BJP president Amit Shah, Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Union Health Minister J P Nadda, BJP state in charge Mangal Pandey, BJP state president Satpal Singh, BLP veteran Shanta Kumar were all present in Dharmashala to celebrate the first year anniversary of the Himachal government.

Varanasi: Constable Atiullah Khan suspended in connection with cow smuggling racket

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Varanasi: Constable Atiullah Khan suspended in connection with cow smuggling racket

As reported by Jagran, a police constable, Atiuallah Khan was suspended from service in connection to a cow smuggling racket. Khan was suspended by SSP Anand Kulkarni who suspected a nexus between him and the cow smugglers. A departmental inquiry is also initiated against him.

In November, STF team had nabbed illegal cow meat smugglers where five people including one Mohammad Asif Ilahi were arrested. On interrogation, they named few more people, including constable Atiullah Khan. Khan allegedly helped cow smugglers in lieu of money. Khan would then ensure the money reaches other people in the department too. More people are expected to be investigated in the case.

Earlier in September, a constable named Haider in Mirzamurad thana was investigated after an audio clip where he was allegedly asking for a bribe to release a vehicle smuggling cattle went viral. On found guilty, he was sent to jail.

As per reports, there is a deep nexus between cow and cattle smugglers and police in areas like Varanasi, Prayagraj, Bhadohi and Chandauli. The thanas earn as much as Rs. 3 to 5 lakh per month. Since higher-ups are reportedly involved, no investigation takes place.

Amroha: A day after NIA nabbed terror module members, their kin stage protest on highway

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Amroha: A day after NIA nabbed terror module members, their kin stage protest on highway

In a dangerous turn of events, family members of those arrested by the NIA yesterday for their alleged links to ISIS in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh have resorted to protests and blocked the highway.


Yesterday, NIA had made ten arrests in the terror module case. The welding shop owned by arrested brothers Raees Ahmed and Saeed Ahmed is said to be crucial in the operations of the terror module as NIA allegedly confiscated a number of incriminating objects including crude weapons, a rocket launcher, raw material for explosives and ISIS literature from the shop.

In the video, the father of the arrested brothers Raees and Saeed from Saidapura Imma village in Amroha can be heard asserting that his sons could not have possibly done anything that they are being accused of and demanded their release. The mother of those arrested has also casts aspersions on the raids carried out by the NIA. Apart from the parents, a large crowd can also be seen present at one of the locations where the NIA conducted raids yesterday.

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) in a joint operation with the Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad on Wednesday had conducted searches across 17 locations in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in connection with a new ISIS module named ‘Harkat ul Harb-e-Islam’.

The NIA IG has said that their level of preparedness suggests they wanted to carry out explosions in near future by remote control blasts and fidayeen attacks. A total amount of Rs. 7.5 lakh, 100 mobile phones and 135 sim cards were recovered along with laptops. A country made rocket launcher was also recovered. Reports claimed that the Ahmed brothers had made the rocket launcher and also stored chemicals for explosives, pipe bombs and other material in their shop.

Recently, the NIA had also raided several locations in Delhi, Noida and Mewat in Haryana to bust a terror module supported by Hafiz Saeed’s organisation FIF.

 

Maharashtra to implement 7th pay commission from January 2019; announcement likely today

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Maharashtra to implement 7th pay commission from January 2019; announcement likely today

The Maharashtra government is all set to implement the 7th pay commission in the state from January 2019 onward. An announcement in this regard is likely to be made today, according to highly placed sources in the finance ministry of the state.

It is expected that the arrears of the seventh pay commission will be given with retrospective effect from January 2016 along with dearness allowance for last 14 months. With nearly 19 lakh government employees, the arrears may cost the exchequer Rs. 40,000 crore.

Minister of State for Finance Deepak Kesarkar announced the implementation in Legislative Council on 30th November during the Question Hour. The government had appointed a committee headed by retired bureaucrat KP Bakshi over the issue but will not wait for the report for its implementation.

Harish Rawat-led Uttarakhand government was reportedly the first government to implement the recommendations of the commission.

Dear journalists, in your hate for Modi and Doval, don’t become terror apologists. Read about IEDs first

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Dear journalists, in your hate for Modi and Doval, don’t become terror apologists. Read about IEDs first

In a major success in combating terrorism, yesterday the National Investigative Agency (NIA) busted a new ISIS module named ‘Harkat ul Harb-e-Islam’. In a joint operation with Uttar Pradesh police, the agency conducted raids at 16 locations in Delhi and UP and arrested 10 suspected terrorists. A huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered during the operations, which included a rocket launcher, 13 pistols, 25 kg of explosive chemicals like Potassium Nitrate, Ammonium Nitrate, Sulphur etc, 112 alarm clocks to be used as timer device for bombs, 134 mobile phone SIM cards, mobile phone circuits and batteries, pipes, remote control switches, steel containers which are used to pack explosives, and ammunition for firearms. Photographs of seized items were released by the NIA to media.

In the photographs it was seen that other than deadly weapons, there was a packet of sutli bombs, or firecrackers used during Diwali etc. And many people, including journalists, started mocking NIA for this, suggesting such sutli bombs are harmless and it can’t be a terrorist plot. Many people accused NIA of making up a fictitious terror module. They also mocked the recovery of handmade pistols, saying even local level gangs don’t use such weapons nowadays.

There are two problems with this mocking NIA for recovery of sutli bombs. First, those were not the only things recovered during the raids. They also recovered pistols, which may be locally made, but still able to fire and kill, and a huge amount of raw material for making bombs, apart from a rocket launcher. Recovery of more than hundred each of alarm clocks and SIM cards, along with 25 kg of explosive chemical, prove that they were planning to detonate a large number of bombs with timer devices and remote controls. With the entire country coming under mobile phone coverage, now it is possible to detonate a bomb remotely from anywhere in the world if that bomb is rigged with a cell phone.

Now coming to firecrackers, at first glance it may look amusing to see it among other deadly weapons, but in bad hands, even firecrackers can be deadly. The term that we most often see with weapons used by terrorists is IED or improvised explosive device. This means that whatever material is available is improvised to make an explosive weapon, as opposed to a conventional military bomb.

As traditional explosives like RDX and TNT are not easy to obtain, terrorists often ‘improvise’ using other materials to obtain the chemical compounds needed to make a bomb. Several compounds of Nitrogen are used to make IEDs, and most of them are obtained from fertilizers and firecrackers. Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer is favourite with terrorists, due to its easy availability in large quantities.

The common firecracker or sutli bombs used during festivals and ceremonies are made of black powder, flash powder etc. These powders contain explosive compounds like potassium nitrate, sulphur, aluminium powder and several other chemicals. Such chemicals found in firecrackers are often used to make improvised bombs by terrorists. When enough powder from firecrackers is packed with shrapnel and connected with a detonator, it makes a deadly bomb.

The kind and amount of material recovered during the raids clearly indicate that the terrorists were planning to make dozens of bombs, which could be detonated either remotely or using timer devices. By mocking NIA, the journalists are essentially defending the terrorists by suggesting their bombs were not dangerous. The hatred for the Modi government and Ajit Doval is so much among these people that they chose to ignore the several incriminating items recovered and focus just on one item.

Several cases of bombs made using firecrackers have been reported in the past, including in India. In October this year, two persons were injured when a bomb they were making using black powder obtained from firecrackers exploded, they had added glass pieces and nails as shrapnel. In 2016, a pressure cooker bomb was detected on a railway track at Ghorasan in Bihar, which was made of material from firecrackers.

In the famous Times Square bomb scare in New York in 2010, the bomb found in a parked car was made using consumer-grade firecrackers, urea, petrol, propane gas, and alarm clocks, all commonly available items. The bombs ignition source had malfunctioned, hence it didn’t explode, else it would have cause causalities.

It is important to note that, anything can be a deadly weapon in the hands of motivated terrorists. Even vehicles have been used as weapons to kill people. The four planes in 9/11 attacks were hijacked by the terrorists using nothing more than box cutters. Therefore, it is important that such terrorists are apprehended, no matter what weapons they were planning to use to kill people.

NIA may have used the pack of firecrackers as a representative sample, but 25 kilograms of explosive chemicals is a huge amount. By mocking NIA for this, the journalists are exposing their ignorance and their hatred for the government.

The statement issued by NIA, which gives detail of material recovered in the raids, has been attached below:

Expelled Sikh Congress leader cleans Rajiv Gandhi statue with his turban to show allegiance to the party, faces outrage

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Expelled Sikh Congress leader cleans Rajiv Gandhi statue with his turban to show allegiance to the party, faces outrage

After two Youth Akali Dal members had blackened the Rajiv Gandhi statue on 25th December with black spray paint, some Congress leaders later cleaned the statue with milk in order to purify it. Going a step ahead to show allegiance to the Congress party, an expelled Sikh Congress leader Gursimran Singh Mand took off his dastar (turban) and cleaned the statue with it.

Mand got the whole act of cleaning the statue with his turban recorded in a video and posted it on social media seemingly in an attempt to win the praises from the party. But instead of bringing him praises the video sparked huge outrage on social media. The dastaar also called pugg is considered a very important part of Sikhism since the time of first Sikh Guru. Guru Nanak Dev had honoured Guru Amar Das with a special dastaar when he was declared as the next Guru.

Mand was expelled from Congress party in 2014 from the primary membership of the party including five others for alleged anti-party activities. As per the release of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Mand had levelled wild and unsubstantiated allegations against the party president Pratap Singh Bajwa and the senior Congress leadership managing the State affairs. He along with others had launched a movement to oust the PPCC President who was appointed by Sonia Gandhi, the then Congress President and the mother of Present Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

In February this year, some pictures of Mand with local Congress MP Ravneet Bittu and MLA Bharat Ashu had surfaced based on which Mand was claiming that he had rejoined the Party. After the party workers protested, the District Congress President Gurpreet Gogi issued a statement clarifying that Mand was not re-inducted into the party. It appears that out of his desperation to rejoin the Congress party, Mand went to the extent of cleaning the statue of Rajiv Gandhi with his turban to please the top Congress leadership.

After NIA busts ISIS module, ‘Liberals’ cast aspersions on the raids

K Bhattacharjee
-
0
After NIA busts ISIS module, ‘Liberals’ cast aspersions on the raids

As we have reported earlier, the NIA has busted another ISIS module in the country during raids at over 15 locations. A Maulvi, a civil engineering student from Amity University in Noida, third year BA student, an auto-rickshaw driver, welding shop owner and a garments business owner are among those arrested. A woman believed to be linked to the module was detained as well and is being interrogated.

The remarkable frequency at which Muslims across the country are joining ISIS should concern us all. We have constantly reported on the staggering numbers of ISIS recruits in the country. However, it appears certain people believe that the exemplary work carried out by the NIA is rather a political gimmick and instance of rising Islamophobia. Others believe that the entire thing was a sham.


It appears that Piyush Rai conveniently forgot to mention the country made rocket launcher that was recovered by the NIA as well. And as for Rohini Singh, whose exemplary work during the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections is quite well known, that she thinks the NIA has embarrassed itself during Narendra Modi’s reign as Prime Minister is no surprise at all.


Scroll published an article that can only be described as a cleverly veiled accusation of Islamophobia against the NIA. Throughout the article, the outlet constantly casts aspersions on the NIA raids and attempts to paint the arrested accused in a sympathetic light.

The article quoted relatives of the accused vehemently denying that they have anything to do with any terrorist module. One of them said, “He has always been a peaceful person and that is why he chose to be a teacher in the first place.” The article also reports, “Relatives of all six men arrested in Jaffrabad claimed that the accusations were untrue. At least four of the men sported beards, they said. These identity markers, the relatives claimed, were used by the security agencies to target their relatives.”

The claims made by the relatives are dubious, to say the least. If we look at the conduct of relatives of terrorists who have carried out deadly attacks in the past in various parts of the world, we could see that they all claim they had no idea what their kin was up to. And we can be pretty sure that had these people accused to be ISIS terrorists succeeded in carrying out an attack, the same people would have come forward and said that they had no knowledge of the activities of the perpetrators. It’s extremely unfortunate that relatives of those arrested are conjuring up mythical claims of Islamophobia against the NIA. From the material that has been recovered during the raids, it certainly appears that the accused were up to no good.

We have reached a point where liberals see political gimmicks behind NIA raids that “claim” to have busted an ISIS module. It is a shame that even national security is a matter of politics for them. But then, it has always been that way. None of them saw politics when the narrative of Saffron Terrorism was conjured out of thin air by the Congress party. In fact, they have swallowed that narrative completely and devote much of their time to prove the existence of ‘Hindu terrorism’.

Instead of appreciating the NIA for the stellar work it has been doing during the past few years, attempts are being made to tarnish their reputation by casting aspersions on their intentions. It’s fair to question government agencies, there have been many occasions when they have disgraced themselves in the past, but ISIS is not a matter of politicking. At a time when Islamic terrorism has ravaged the West and much of the world, India has remained largely untouched by any form of terrorism outside of Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.

The fact of the matter is, the raids by NIA haven’t come out of the blue. ISIS has been targeting India for recruitment and in recent times, there have been plenty of Muslims from India who have been joining the terrorist outfit. If liberals see Islamophobia or doubt the motives of the intelligence agencies without any apparent reason, then there is much need for introspection. It is one thing to oppose someone politically but inadvertently furthering the Islamist narrative after NIA raids due to political inclinations is a step too far which could have very terrible consequences.

1...6,7946,7956,796...7,673Page 6,795 of 7,673