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Days after Congress govt in MP ‘waives off’ loans, farmer commits suicide because he wasn’t eligible

OpIndia Staff
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Days after Congress govt in MP ‘waives off’ loans, farmer commits suicide because he wasn’t eligible

After the politics of ‘loan-waivers’ consumed lives in the Congress-JDS ruled Karnataka, this time a farmer from Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh has committed suicide after he found out that he was not entitled to the loan waiver scheme announced by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath, reported Times Now

According to the report, a farmer belonging to Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh had obtained a loan of Rs.3 lakh for agricultural purposes. The family of the deceased farmer alleges that he ended his life as he was not entitled to the farm loan waive-off promised by the newly elected Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

Reportedly, the farmer had obtained a loan after March 31st, which is the cut-off date for ‘waive-off’ of the loans taken by the farmers in the state. Anybody, who had taken the loan after March 31s,t 2018 would not be eligible, as per the new government’s order, contrary to unconditional loan waive-off promised by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

One of the new conditions set up by the Kamal Nath government to sanction the so-called farmer loan waiver in Madhya Pradesh is an upper ceiling of Rs 2 lakh as the maximum amount up to which a farmer can have his loan waived off.

In Karnataka, which is another Congress-ruled state, farmers have been complaining against the government after several instances of farmers receiving repayment notices came to light despite Congress’ claims to have waived-off farm loans.

Within the last five days, two farmers in Karnataka have committed suicide after they failed to repay their farm loans.

From secularism to social justice, every ‘liberal’ principle in India is sacrificed at the feet of the Congress Party

Abhishek Banerjee
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From secularism to social justice, every ‘liberal’ principle in India is sacrificed at the feet of the Congress Party

Two days ago, it came to light that 52 unfortunate people, members of Dalit and tribal communities, had been held in slave-like conditions in Karnataka, some for as many as three years. Some were made to work as labourers for 19 hours a day, hardly ever paid any wages and the women were exploited sexually as well.

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As we come to terms with the realities of this shocking tale of barbarism, the most deafening of all is the silence of the social justice warriors and sections of the political, media and NGO complex that claim to speak for the marginalized and oppressed in our society.

The reason is not far to seek. Karnataka, after all, has been a Congress/JDS ruled state for about six years now. There is no BJP to blame. One can easily compare with the tenor and intensity of the media coverage and political outrage that followed a shocking caste atrocity against Dalits in Gujarat’s Una in 2016.

This is only the latest reason to conclude that every purported liberal principle in India lies stretched out at the feet of the Congress Party.

What are the so-called liberal principles that our elites claim as their own?

Is social justice one of these liberal principles? Then, how come the social justice crowd has nothing to say about this barbaric act that has come to light in Karnataka? Why have all the ‘caravans’ of social justice that are active on Twitter and outside done a U-turn and driven away? Why is the radical anti-caste rhetoric limited to headline catching placards and photo ops with global CEOs? And to anti-Hindu sloganeering by Communist student activists who have probably never had a non-upper caste leader in seven decades?

Someone said on Twitter that this incident in Karnataka would have made it to the pages of New York Times, Washington Post and Guardian if only it had happened in UP or Gujarat. Can anybody deny this?

How about feminism then? Anybody remember Bishop Franco Mulakkal? Took the Kerala Police three months to initiate some action against him. Meanwhile, the aggrieved nuns ran from pillar to post begging to be heard even as powerful church officials and politicians spread the worst possible smears about their character. And then, in three short weeks, Bishop Franco Mulakkal got bail and walked out to a hero’s welcome by the Church in Jalandhar. India’s liberals could not care less. Because Bishop Franco was wearing three levels of magic armour: he worked for the Catholic Church, the crime allegedly happened in CPI(M) ruled Kerala and Franco now resides in Congress-ruled Punjab! Soon after Bishop Franco walked out on bail, a key witness in the case died under mysterious circumstances. That was news … for about half a day.

What else can we expect in a country where the Editor’s Guild waited five years to suspend Tarun Tejpal despite the nature of the allegations against him. Tejpal was suspended along with M J Akbar, who has found out the hard way what happens when you leave the mothership and try to defect. The ghosts of your past lie asleep only as long as you toe the line of the secular liberal establishment.

And don’t you dare speak of Triple Talaq and the absence of rights of Muslim women in divorce? Indian liberals are quite happy to throw both secularism and feminism under the bus.

In India, the fashionable way to show your support for gender equality and dignity of women is to oppose Hindu festivals like Rakshabandhan and Bhaidooj. Bishop Franco Mulakkal can do whatever he wants.

Let’s take gay rights, another much celebrated liberal cause. All three organizations who opposed the legalization of homosexual relationships in the Supreme Court were from a Christian background, but for some reason, liberals were seen taking out their anger against Hindutva! It is worthwhile to point out that contrary to popular perception, gay relationships have NOT been legalized all across the nation. Homosexuality continues to be criminal in Jammu and Kashmir, owing to the special status of this state as per Article 370. If you haven’t heard many liberals highlighting the issue of gay rights in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in India, you know exactly why.

How about the environment? In India, liberals are happy to be champions of beef consumption, even though it is an accepted scientific fact that beef is one of the biggest drivers of global warming. Rather, the liberal concern for the “environment” in India manifests itself in a desire for curbs on Hindu festivals and usually peaks around Diwali.

And don’t get me started on ‘secularism’, the most highly regarded of all liberal principles in India. The so-called secularism is thrown into cold storage when Kamal 1984 Nath becomes Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

The secularism exists only as a stick to beat the BJP if some drunk guy breaks a window pane of a church somewhere in Maharashtra.

The issue of privacy and data has been in the news again, recently. Just imagine how big the Cambridge Analytica data theft story would have been in India if the Congress symbol had not been found in the office of their CEO.

Did I forget to talk about liberals and ‘free speech’? There is perhaps a no bigger joke in India than this. Right now the TMC government in Bengal has placed outright curbs on the BJP from holding a yatra but no liberal sees this as a free speech issue. Can somebody give an example of a single law passed by Modi sarkar that is anti-free speech? In all the celebrated cases where anti-nationals have been booked for sedition, the government has used laws that were conceived and passed and repeatedly abused over the years by the self-appointed Bharat Ratna Prime Ministers of the Congress Party.

The great Nehru was so stung by criticism from the RSS that he tried to order restrictions on the RSS mouthpiece Organizer. The RSS went to court … and won. That didn’t stop Nehru, who decided to amend the constitution immediately to get his way. But objective fact matters little and baseless allegations about ‘undeclared emergency’ rule the narrative. Because at the end of the day, every purported principle of Indian liberals is existed purely to serve the political ends of the Congress Party.

The Curious case of Justice Ranganath Misra who gave clean chit to Congress for 1984 Sikh massacre

K Bhattacharjee
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The Curious case of Justice Ranganath Misra who gave clean chit to Congress for 1984 Sikh massacre

Recently, senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 1984 Sikh genocide. The court made scathing observations when it said that Kumar enjoyed political patronage and there was a concerted effort to shield him.

The verdict, that was finally delivered after years, put the spotlight back on the ghastly 1984 anti-Sikh genocide. To make matters worse for the Congress party, it decided to elevate Kamal Nath, another leader who was suspected of being involved in the genocide, as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Post the assassination of Indira Gandhi, a massive organised genocide took place against the Sikhs which was spearheaded by Congress.

After much public pressure, former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was forced to set up the one-member Justice Ranganath Misra Commission of Inquiry to probe the 1984 Sikh massacre. Justice Misra found 19 Congress workers guilty but gave the party a clean chit. He declared that “the riots which had a spontaneous origin later attained a channelised method at the hands of gangsters”.

Ranganath Misra’s report, absolving the Congress party of all guilt, came under heavy criticism. The Citizens Justice Committee (CJC), a body of lawyers and jurists, which was invited to assist the Commission withdrew from its hearings after criticizing its procedures severely in a report to Misra. The CJC claimed that witnesses were not being provided with any protection, they were being exposed to constant threats and intimidation and the aura of secrecy around its procedures made any independent evaluation impossible.

V.M. Tarkunde, a retired judge of the Bombay High Court, said, “We did not feel there was any point in our participating any more. This has been a one-sided investigation. We were never given a chance to participate in it as we had been promised.” The CJC’s petition also claimed that “not one officer from the government or the Delhi administration has been invited to step into the witness box.”

Gen. J.S. Aurora stated, “From the beginning, the terms of reference of the Commission were biased against the victims. The investigation did not go to the victims, the victims were forced to come to the investigation with the burden of proof on them.” The withdrawal of the CJC meant the removal of the only body that was representing the victims from the proceedings.

The book ‘When a Tree shook Delhi” written by senior editor Manoj Mitta and H.S. Phoolka, claims that the Ranganath Misra Commission presented a “diluted” version of events. It claims that “given the circumstances in which it was appointed, the Misra Commission faced a credibility crisis from its very birth. For almost six months, the government had blatantly stone-walled all demands for an inquiry into the carnage.”

Khushwant Singh wrote of the Commission, “‘Operation Whitewash’ had begun. Before Mishra was half-way through, the panel of lawyers representing victims of the Holocaust led by Soli Sorabjee expressed its lack of confidence in the learned judge’s impartiality and withdrew from the commission. Mishra went ahead and submitted his findings to the government. As expected, he held the Lt Governor and the police commissioner of Delhi guilty of dereliction of duty. It must have occurred to him that neither of the two could have acted the way they did without the instructions of higher-ups, including the prime minister or someone acting on his behalf or the home minister. I doubt if Mishra can look at his own face in a mirror.”

Interestingly enough, Ranganath Misra’s career shows an upward trajectory since the report was submitted in 1987. he became the Chief Justice of India on the 35th in September 1990 and served until the 24th of November next year. He was appointed the first chairman of the National Human Rights Commission. Eventually, He served as a Congress MP between 1998-2004. He was also awarded the chairmanship of the National Commission for religious and linguistic minorities and the National Commission for scheduled castes(SCs) and scheduled tribes(STs). Considering the fact that Congress leader Sajjan Kumar was recently convicted for his role in the massacre and the senior Misra’s political career, it appears the critics of the Ranganath Commission Report had good reason to believe that the Commission was merely hogwash.

Importantly, the Ranganath Commission report on religious and linguistic minorities recommended a 10 per cent reservation in government jobs for Muslims and another 5 per cent for other minorities and recommended that Scheduled Caste status be extended to all religions. Since the Supreme Court bars reservations above 50%, it was believed that religious reservations could be implemented by reducing the reservations for OBCs.

2016 Nawada rape case: Then RJD MLA and two others get life imprisonment for raping a minor

OpIndia Staff
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2016 Nawada rape case: Then RJD MLA and two others get life imprisonment for raping a minor

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Raj Ballabh Yadav and two others have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a lower court for raping a minor girl in 2016. At the time of the crime, Raj Ballabh Yadav was an MLA and was later suspended from the party. The court has also ordered 10 years rigorous imprisonment for three others who were convicted in the case.

According to the reports, a local court in Patna on December 15 had convicted Yadav and five others in a case of raping a minor girl in 2016. Special MP and MLA court Judge-cum-Additional District and Sessions Judge Parshuram Singh Yadav convicted RJD leader Raj Ballabh Yadav under section 376 (punishment for rape) of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) 2012.

Rajballabh Yadav, an MLA from Nawada has also been slapped a fine of Rs 60,000 by the court. On February 16, 2016, Radha Devi and Sulekha Devi had taken the minor victim to Yadav’s residence in Nawada on the pretext of a birthday party and had assisted Yadav in the rape of the minor girl. The court sentenced both with life imprisonment and also fined Rs 30,000 each.

Tusi Devi, Chhoti Kumar and Sandip Suman, the three other convicts who had assisted Radha Devi and Sulekha Devi in sending the minor to Nawada were also sentenced to 10 years in jail and fined Rs 10,000 each.

Raj Ballabh Yadav had avoided arrest for a very long time but had to surrender after a local court had ordered to attach his properties. However, he had later obtained a bail Patna High Court, which was cancelled by the Supreme Court on November 24, 2016.

“I will move the high court against this faulty judgment. I have faith in the judiciary. I say with total confidence that I committed no rape. The so-called evidence was fabricated as part of a conspiracy to destroy me politically,” said Raj Ballabh Yadav after the sentences were pronounced.

RJD party has been rocked by various cases against its leaders, as its supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has been found guilty for indulging in fodder scams when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar and is currently serving a total of 14 years in jail.

Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, including daughter Misa Bharati and son Tejashwi Yadav, are also facing several cases related to disproportionate assets and also for conducting benami transactions. Addition to this Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family, including Tejashwi Yadav are accused in multi-crore Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) scam.

Department under Punjab CM Amarinder Singh is building dam to protect his farmhouse from monsoon flooding: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Department under Punjab CM Amarinder Singh is building dam to protect his farmhouse from monsoon flooding: Report

According to a report in Indian Express, the Department of Soil and Water Conservation of the Agriculture Ministry in Punjab which reports to CM Amarinder Singh is building a dam at Siswan village in SAS Nagar district to divert the flood water which would have flown into the property owned by the Chief Minister.

A farmhouse is being built on land owned by Amarinder Singh at the foothills of Shivalik Hills outside Chandigarh. He had bought the property measuring approximately 7 acres in January this year. The check dam is allegedly being built to prevent the flow of a seasonal rivulet into the property of the Chief Minister. During Monsoon seasons rainwater from nearby rivulets reportedly partially floods the area where the farmhouse stands.

The construction of the dam reportedly began this year alongside the construction of the farmhouse after a resolution was passed by the Village Panchayat asking the government for a dam claiming that the water flowing downhill was flooding their fields. As per the report, the village Panchayat never felt the requirement of the dam earlier.

The farmhouse and the dam in the Siswan village, Image Courtesy: Indian Express

However, CM’s Media Advisor Raveen Thukral reportedly dismissed any conflict of interest and said that the dam was being built on a resolution passed by the Sarpanch of the village and that it was not CM’s personal project. He said, “This is not the first such dam is being constructed in the area. The Department of Soil and Water Conservation, Punjab, has constructed many earthen/ stone masonry check dams in District Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar in the past 15 years. These dams have been constructed as and when the local villagers have complained that the seasonal rivulets have been flooding their fields, causing soil erosion”.

The dam which was earlier being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), is now being funded under NABARD-Rural Infrastructure Development Fund-17 after the Chief Soil Conservator sanctioned funds. As per the records of the Soil and Water Conservation Department, the dam is categorised as a water harvesting/recharging structure and has an approved cost of Rs 15,20,800. The IE report claims that records show that the project was given a sanction in July 2018 but the initial movement in this regard began six months before that.

As claimed by Indian Express, the resolution was passed by the Panchayat on June 2, 2018, contrary to claims of the Sarpanch who said that it was passed six months ago.

Chief Conservator of Soils, Dharminder Sharma called the construction of the dam alongside the construction of the CM’s farmhouse a coincidence.

Naseeruddin Shah skips Ajmer Lit Fest after protests over his controversial remarks

OpIndia Staff
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Naseeruddin Shah skips Ajmer Lit Fest after protests over his controversial remarks

Actor Naseeruddin Shah has skipped the Ajmer Literature Festival after his controversial statements created a stir in mainstream and social media. As per reports, members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and other groups have held protests against him in Ajmer.

The BJYM and other right-wing organisations had staged a protest and shouted slogans at the LitFest venue against Naseeruddin Shah, demanding his apology for his remark. Protestors had also reportedly burnt posters of the event with Shah’s pictures.

Naseeruddin Shah, in a TV interview earlier this week had remarked that the death of cows was being given more importance than the death of a policeman.

People on Twitter too had called out at the veteran actor for his contentious remark.


Amongst this severe backlash, Amit Jani, president of the Navnirman Sena, booked Shah a one-way ticket to Pakistan, while, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendranath Pandey likened him to a character he had played in the 1999 movie ‘Sarfarosh’.

“Naseeruddin Shah is a good artist. In one of his movies, he played the role of a Pakistani agent. I think he is growing into that character now,” Pandey had said.

Naseeruddin Shah left Ajmer after attending a program at his old school in the afternoon. Defending his remarks today, Naseeruddin Shah had said that he spoke as a “worried Indian” who has every right to express concerns about the country he loves.

Speaking to media persons after attending an event at his alma mater, St Anselm’s Senior Secondary School, the actor said, “I have said this before too, but I don’t know why this time I am being labelled as a traitor. It is very strange.”

Naseeruddin Shah had referred to the Bulandshahr incident where a policeman was killed by a violent mob after people took to streets protesting against police inaction over rampant cow slaughter in the area. He had stated that he is fearful for his children in India.

As Alka Lamba is asked to resign, AAP flip flops dubiously on 1984 resolution including revoking Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna

OpIndia Staff
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As Alka Lamba is asked to resign, AAP flip flops dubiously on 1984 resolution including revoking Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Alka Lamba was reportedly asked to resign from the party over a resolution that was presented in Delhi Assembly on December 21, while the party is expected to take action against Somnath Bharti and Jarnail Singh. According to reports, Somnath Bharti has been removed from his post as party spokesperson, while action against Jarnail Singh is also being taken.

On December 21, a resolution was reportedly passed in the assembly demanding that the Bharat Ratna conferred upon former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi should be taken back. Several media houses had reported that the Delhi assembly has already passed such a resolution.

Late in the night on Friday, Alka Lamba tweeted that a resolution was presented in the assembly demanding that Bharat Ratna award given to Rajiv Gandhi should be taken back. She said that she was asked to support the resolution in her speech, but she refused to do so, and she walked out of the house in protest against the resolution.

In the resolution tweeted by Alka Lamba, it is clearly mentioned that firstly, the Delhi assembly should impose upon the Ministry of Home Affairs that strict and swift action is taken against the culprits of the 1984 genocide. In the last two lines of the resolution tweeted, it is mentioned clearly that the Bharat Ratna conferred upon Rajiv Gandhi should be revoked. As one can see, it is a typed resolution and the Bharat Ratna point is not hand written.


The resolution, proposed by Jarnail Singh, seeks to expedite justice for victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and also to declare the riots as worst genocide in the history of India’s national capital.

Apparently, the party was not happy with this public display of defiance by the MLA. True to Arvind Kejriwal’s policy of instant removal of dissidents, the party leadership asked her to quite from the primary membership of the party, which she complied with. The party has already accepted her resignation.

Immediately going into damage control mode, MLA Somnath Bharti claimed on Twitter that the demand to revoke Rajiv Gandhi’s Bharat Ratna was not part of the original resolution prepared by Jarnail Singh. He claimed that while presenting the resolution, Singh mentioned about the matter in his speech. After that, Bharti suggested that it should be included in the resolution. He claimed that he had written a hand-written note demanding the same and included it in the resolution. Bharti said that the house did not pass that additional note, as amendments are needed to be voted separately. He said that he had suggested the amendment, but that amendment was never passed by the house.


Bharti said that the speaker of the house did not even put the suggested amendment to vote, hence there is no question of assembly passing that resolution.

The same was later officially claimed by the party.


This lie was even endorsed by by AAP sympathetic journalists.


Interestingly, these claims by Bharti and Saurabh Bhardwaj seem dubious. The resolution tweeted by Lamba clearly has nothing handwritten. The demand to take Bharat Ratna back from Rajiv Gandhi is clearly typed just like the rest of the resolution.

In fact, a video of the resolution being passed was tweeted by Congress leader Ajay Maken.


With a video of the resolution being passed, one has to wonder why AAP has been lying about the resolution.

Majinder S Sirsa believed that this had exposed the lying nature of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP. He also claimed that this u-turn was owing to a call from the Gandhis.


One now wonders whether Arvind Kejriwal will finally break his silence and tell people what the truth is and why AAP felt compelled to lie.

Note: This article has been updated with relevant information

Madhya Pradesh: IAS officer transferred within hours of being threatened by Congress MLA

OpIndia Staff
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Madhya Pradesh: IAS officer transferred within hours of being threatened by Congress MLA

A video of a newly elected Congress MLA from Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh has gone viral. In this shocking video, Congress MLA Kalawati Bhuria can be heard targeting an IAS officer and threatening him of transfer, reported TimesNow.

According to reports, the newly elected Congress MLA, Bhuria, speaking at a victory rally, accused District Collector Ganesh Shankar Mishra of not working in the interest of the people. She also went on to say that Mishra had transferred various officers in the district. She further threatened IAS Ganesh Shankar Mishra of immediate transfer from Alirajpur district. Interestingly, hours later, the Madhya Pradesh government transferred IAS officer Mishra along with 47 other IAS officers in a major reshuffle after coming to power in the state.


In the video, Kalawati Bhuria says the District Collector Mishra has failed in his duties and he will have to go from Alirajpur soon. MLA Bhuria asserted that soo, the collector will have to ack his bags and leave.

“You have four days to stay in Alirazpur. Enjoy the food of Alirajpur for a few days. You have troubled us a lot. I will make sure that you will pack your bags and leave the city soon,” threatened MLA Bhuria.

Kalawati Bhuria is elected to the Madhya Pradesh legislative assembly for the first time from Jobat of Alirajpur district. She is the niece of the Ratlam MP and Congress leader Kantilal Bhuria. Kalawati Bhuria in the past had also served as Jhabua’s district panchayat president for 18 years.

Within days of assuming power, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has transferred 48 IAS officers, which includes 24 District Collectors who were appointed by the previous government headed by Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Similarly, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in a major bureaucratic rejig had transferred 40 IAS and 8 Rajasthan Administrative Service officers.

Shameful comment by Congress leader: Goa CM Manohar Parrikar sticking to chair like a leech, blackmailing Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Shameful comment by Congress leader: Goa CM Manohar Parrikar sticking to chair like a leech, blackmailing Modi

Congress’ malicious and uncouth comments against Goa CM Manohar Parrikar regarding his health never seems to stop. Jaipal Reddy, a former union minister and senior Congress leader has gone a step further to mock CM Parrikar’s battle with cancer and stated that he is ‘sticking to his chair like a leech’.

As per reports, Jaipal Reddy, who was addressing his party’s concluding function at the ‘Jan Akrosh Rally’ organised in Margao town on Thursday, stated that in his attempt to retain his post as CM, Manohar Parrikar is ‘blackmailing’ PM Narendra Modi.


Reddy stated that as Parrikar was the defense minister during the Rafale Deal, he is in a position to blackmail PM Modi and there is no morality in Manohar Parrikar ‘sticking to his chair like a leech’.

It is notable here that ever since the news of Manohar Parrikar battling with cancer was made public, Congress has been on a constant attack mode to remove him from his post.

In September this year, when Parrikar was being treated in AIIMS, Congress had approached the governor unsuccessfully to stake claim to form the government in the state.

When their attempt to form a government was foiled after BJP announced that Parrikar will continue as CM, Congress in Goa had floated the conspiracy theory that BJP is only letting him continue as CM because he knows some ‘secrets of Rafale deal’.

In another despicable display of power lust, a Congress leader in the state had again floated the theory that Parrikar might already be dead. Despite the Goa government clarifying that CM Parrikar has been clearing files from his hospital and there is no work pending from the CM’s office, state Congress spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu had demanded that BJP should either ‘show’ Parrikar in person or conduct his ‘Shradh’ (death rituals).

Recently, after images of Parrikar inspecting a bridge in Goa were circulated on Social media where it was seen that he had a tube attached to his nose. Congress leaders and several other persons had gone on a frenzy of insensitive and even hateful remarks against the CM. Instead of admiring his grit and dedication to work, Congress leaders had stated that BJP should remove him from the office.

After Jaipal Reddy’s statements regarding CM Parrikar, BJP has stated that Congress is trying in vain to stir up the Rafale issue even after it was cleared by the Supreme Court that there is nothing wrong in it.

Reddy had made the remarks in the presence of other senior Congress leaders like Ravi Naik, Digambar Kamat and state Congress chief Girish Chodankar.

Recently, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court had dismissed a petition filed by a local leader named Trajano D’Mello which sought a medical examination of the  CM. The court had stated that the petitioner had hidden his own political affiliations and making unsubstantiated allegations to make the court interfere into the CM’s privacy.

Agency handling Rajasthan police Twitter account needs to stop lying about Utambar case to hide their own goof-up

Nupur J Sharma
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Agency handling Rajasthan police Twitter account needs to stop lying about Utambar case to hide their own goof-up

A controversy erupted on December 17th when Rajasthan Police Twitter handle goofed up and ended up terming a real incident as fake news. A user had Tweeted about an incident in Utambar, Rajasthan where allegedly, some men had entered a Rajput’s home and misbehaved with his daughters. The Twitter user claimed that these were Muslim Congress supporters. Along with his tweet, he had attached a video as well.

As it turns out, the video was of an old incident that took place in Ranchi, Jharkhand. However, the Rajasthan police Twitter handle took a screenshot of just the text part of the tweet and asserted that the news was fake.

We spoke to the investigating officer of the Utambar case and got a confirmation that the incident from Utambar was indeed true. However, the Rajasthan police Twitter handle had clearly goofed up in not including the screenshot of the old video posted by the Twitter user while terming it fake news and erroneously ended up terming the Utambar incident as fake news.

What followed was nothing short of shocking. We were contacted by the PR agency that runs the Rajasthan Twitter feed and was asked, repeatedly, to alter our headline with Direct messages of tweets and articles by propagandist websites and handles. We did not. Then, when the agency persisted, we asked them to the first tweet and acknowledge publicly that they indeed goofed up and that the Utambar incident was not fake.

However, the next day on 18th November, the PR agency handling Rajasthan police’s Twitter account tweeted denying even the Utambar incident where girls were misbehaved with.


Before talking about the latest conversation, it is imperative that we go back a little in time to 17th December. I had personally spoken to the investigating officer in the Utambar case and got the details.

In the conversation, first, the IO confirmed that there was a complaint of girls being misbehaved with. This conversation took place on the 17th itself. The IO had said that this entire disturbance in Utambar was the result of a political clash when after winning, Congress was taking out a victory procession. Supporters of ‘another party’ had raised objection and filed a complaint about hooliganism. That was followed by a counter FIR, presumably by Congressmen. In the initial complaint, there was no accusation of the girls being misbehaved. However, later, that complaint was also made.

In this audio, the IO clearly says that there were injuries on the two girls and their medical tests were also conducted. At that time, the test results were due.

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A second part of the conversation is posted below. In this portion, the IO confirmed that 7 arrests have been made in this regard. According to a Dainik Bhaskar report dated 17th December, the name of the ones arrested in this case are Firoz Khan’s son Huzur Khan Bhojakor, Alawataya’s son Elidwanwan Rawat, Rauf Khan’s son Fakir Khan Rawat and Mojboor Khan’s son Hameed Khan. They also found two jeeps used in the incident. At the time of this conversation, the IO was not at his station and could not recall the names of the top of his head, considering the number of criminals he must deal with on a regular basis, that was understandable.

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This conversation was on the 17th. On 18th of December 2018, the PR agency that handles Rajasthan Police’s Twitter handle has summarily denied that any incident took place in Utambar where girls were misbehaved with.

After I saw the Rajasthan Police’s tweet, I called up the Investigating Officer again to take an update on the case. Wondering if the status has changed or perhaps, I had misunderstood everything that the gentleman had said.

When I called up the IO on 20th, much after the Twitter handle of Rajasthan Police had denied any misbehaviour with the girls in Utambar, the gentleman confirmed against that the investigation in the case was still on. He said that the men arrested had already been produced in court. These were the ones accused of hooliganism including misbehaving with the two girls.

He said that the investigation is on in both FIR and counter FIR. The first was against the side which was celebrating their electoral victory (Congress) and the other, was a counter FIR by those celebrating their victory against supporters of the ‘other party’.

The IO confirmed that the reports of the medical tests conducted on the girls have been submitted to the court and now, they are waiting for a date from the magistrate so the girls can make their statements in front of the magistrate.

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The only way that Rajasthan Police Twitter handle could dismiss the claims and say that no molestation took place with the girls in Utambar, is if the girls had withdrawn their complaint, or if the investigating officer or the courts had dismissed the complaints concluding that no molestation had taken place. But, it is evident from our conversations with the Investigating Officer that the case of misbehaviour with the girls in Utambar is still very much under investigation. The Rajasthan Police has not yet confirmed whether molestation happened or not.

In fact, the PR agency handling the Twitter handle was downright dishonest when it uploaded the FIR to insinuate no misbehaviour took place with the girls considering the IO has confirmed that this incident was not included in the original FIR but came to light only 2 days or so after the first FIR was filed.

It is thus intriguing that the PR agency that handles the Twitter account of Rajasthan Police would go out on a limb and tarnish the image of the Rajasthan Police by outright lying about an ongoing investigation just to save their own skin and cover-up their own goof-up.

The Rajasthan Police has been extremely forthcoming in providing information and clarifying where the investigation stands. The PR agency that made a blunder by not including the screenshot of the video they were trying to refute is now brazening it out by calling the Utambar incident itself ‘fake news’.

We reached out to Rajasthan Police against for their comment on the Twitter handle’s false info. We have received no response yet. We also tried to reach out to the family of the girls who has alleged physical assault, but the family is scared and refused to talk to us. This could be because there is also a counter FIR or, because of some pressure. But that will only be revealed after a full investigation.

It would certainly be in the interest of Rajasthan police to get rid of an agency that has the temerity to lie on social media about an ongoing police investigation just to cover their own tracks thereby misleading the citizens.

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