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Gujarat: Deputy CM Nitin Patel asks for action against Alpesh Thakor even as Gujarat Congress continues to support him

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Deputy CM Nitin Patel asks for action against Alpesh Thakor even as Gujarat Congress continues to support him

Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel, reprimanded Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor, of indulging in violence and instigating it. He also told media in Gandhinagar, that strict action should be taken against people like Alpesh Thakor and his Thakor Sena, especially by Congress.

“He (Thakor) had given orders to Thakor Sena members to assault North Indians. His outfit indulged into violence against North Indian community in Gujarat,” said Patel saying that Thakor is trying to gain political mileage out of the incident. “Congress has been trying to play dirty politics and misleading people of Gujarat. They have tarnished image of Gujarat at national level,” said Nitin Patel.

However, Congress is brazening it out as Gujarat assembly leader of opposition and MLA from Amreli, Paresh Dhanani defended Alpesh Thakor and his Thakor sena for trying to incite a mob to take to violence against non-Gujaratis in parts of the state.

“When Gujarat government has failed to ensure employment to local youth and is pretending that 80% of jobs were secured for local youths in industries, it is their responsibility to see that youth is not diverted,” said Paresh Dhanani. He even said that Alpesh Thakor should not be held responsible for the violence.

Yesterday, we had reported how Alpesh Thakor was recorded trying to instigate violence against migrant workers demanding reservation for jobs for Gujaratis against non-Gujaratis and had even issued a deadline for them to leave Gujarat. He also warned that they will come to check places if all migrant workers have left the place or not. He also warned Gujarat government that if demands are not met “….then tyres will burn, trucks will be stopped and trucks will be broken.”

Vijay Rupani led Gujarat government, has been convincing migrant workers of safety from violence, and also have arrested hundreds in connection with violence against migrants.

The indefatigable, the defiant, the man of honour: What it means to be Pon Manickavel

K Bhattacharjee
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The indefatigable, the defiant, the man of honour: What it means to be Pon Manickavel

Art collectors, activists, celebrities and industrialists in possession of dubious artefact are in a panic these days. They are in a panic because they do not know how to regularize their artefact and the Idol-Wing of the Tamil Nadu Police has sent shock-waves with their crackdown on entrepreneurs Ravir Shah and Kiran Rao.

Inspector-General of Police of the idol wing CID A.G. Pon Manickavel has issued a crisp stern warning: Produce proof or certificates if they wish to retain the artefact or surrender the undocumented idols. Failure to do any of these would invite criminal action if caught.

Those in possession of undocumented artefact would do well to heed Manickavel’s warning. His track record does speak volumes of his capabilities. Earlier this year in June, two 1000-year old bronze idols of Rajaraja Chola and his wife, Lokamadevi, were recovered by the idol-wing after they were stolen from the Brihadeeswarar Temple 50 years ago and Temple officials allegedly did not report it. It is perhaps the crowning jewel in the illustrious career of Manickavel. During his career, Manickavel has helped crack over 50 cases and recovered 20 idols including the ones mentioned above and continues to be an inspiration to many in the Police force.

Another of his significant accomplishments was busting the smuggling racket in Puducherry. In December 2016, a team of the idol wing headed by Manickavel had raided a house in Colas Nagar and recovered 11 panchaloha idol worth crores. One of the idols recovered was of Lord Nataraja and the antique alone was valued at Rs. 31 crores then. In addition to it, idols of Mahishasura Mardini, Somaskandar, Kalyanasundara, Lord Shiva, Parvathi and Amman were among the panchaloha idols seized from the house.

It appears, however, that considerable attempts are were being made to undermine Manickavel. After a stint at the idol wing, Manickavel was shunted out to as IG Railways but the Madras High Court intervened to retain him in the idol wing. He was eventually given full additional charge as IGP, Idol Wing, by the Tamil Nadu government in September 2017. However, things haven’t been particularly cordial between Manickavel the state government. Despite his excellent track record, the government wanted to transfer all cases which were thus far being investigated by the Idol Wing to the CBI. The Madras High Court, however, had stayed the operation of the government order which was issued in this regard.

During the whole fracas regarding the transfer of cases to the CBI, Pon Manickavel was busy doing what he does best: catching idol smugglers. In a scene that appears to be straight out of a Bollywood movie, a team led by Manickavel chased a car in auto-rickshaws and managed to recover a stolen panchaloha idol of Amman. Four people were arrested as well.

There is a rot within the system as well that Manickavel’s work has comprehensively exposed, despite it being rumoured, that the idol wing was supposed to be a ‘punishment posting’ for him. There is complacency, disregard and complicity involved in the manner in which the idol wing has been treated thus far with inadequate man-power and a lack of proper infrastructure to function efficiently. There is also a sentiment that the state government is dragging its feet when it comes to the persecution of idol smugglers.

Manickavel has also played a significant role in exposing the corruption within the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department for which he had to suffer a severe backlash. In August, a senior official of the HR & CE department was arrested by the idol wing in connection with the misappropriation of funds. According to officials, two idols which were supposed to contain 5.75 kg of gold combined did not contain even a single gram of gold in them.

The HR & CE officials in turn had decided to protest against Manickavel for what they deemed as harassment. “Even before we start interrogating anyone in the case, we are being accused of harassment. In the absence of actual examination of the accused/witnesses, the complaint of harassment by a few is false and malicious. Such an allegation is intentional and is being levelled by some HR&CE officials who could be involved in the wrongdoing,” said a senior officer in the Idol Wing. The matter is currently in the Court.

The HR & CE department has been an object of intense criticism for Manickavel. He has expressed his lack of confidence in the institution on several occasions. Once he said in Court, much to the embarrassment of the officials, “Idols worth several hundreds of crores of rupees are preserved in rooms fitted with locks costing just Rs 250.” On another occasion, after he had informed the Court that idols weren’t being maintained properly by the department, the Court asked, “If the idols are kept locked up without any maintenance, what is the purpose of having such a department?”

Manickavel has also been ruthless with people within the Police force. With a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian who on occasions sends policemen home for being shabbily dressed, it hardly comes as a surprise. In 2008, Manickavel was informed by an idol smuggler himself that Khader Basha, who was Inspector then, and Subburaj, who was Head Constable, had allegedly illegal dealt with six bronze icons which were recovered from him. They were subsequently arrested.

Unsurprisingly, Manickavel has had to deal with his share of allegations of wrong-doing and corruption against him. Thiru S.R.Jangid, IPS, formerly Deputy Inspector General of Police, Chengalpattu Range, had accused him of misappropriation of case properties, involvement in a heinous crime, direct involvement in a case of assault and covering up the case by dishonest means and other related crimes.

The matter was a subject of departmental proceedings. However, the charged memo for the series of events which occurred in 2002 was issued only in 2009. The Central Administrative Tribunal eventually quashed the charge memo. When the decision of the Tribunal was appealed against in the Madras High Court, the Court observed in December 2014, that the Tribunal had reached its judgment based on due consideration of all relevant facts and they deemed the order just and proper. On the matter of an inquiry into the said charges, the Court stated that all inquiry and final orders are not passed within 8 months, the inquiry will be considered dropped.

More recently, in February 2018, a petitioner had approached the Court accusing Manickavel of contempt of a court order. However, he eventually apologized for levelling such serious allegation against the Police Officer and submitted that he was withdrawing all allegations against him.

People who have closely followed the cases of heritage theft in India have nothing but effusive praise for Manickavel. Temple Activist T.R. Ramesh said about him on Twitter, “TN HRCE Officials are ready to face hell in their next births but no possibility of conviction in this birth. Pon Manickavel’s honesty drives them desperate.”

Manickavel has acquired the stature of an icon in the state owing to his numerous exploits. A movie based on him is currently on the works and is titled after his name, ‘Pon Manickavel’. The director of the movie, AC Mugil, has admitted that he is a fan of the Police officer and Prabhu Deva will play the character in the movie. “I have met Pon Manickavel sir in person and I’m a big fan of his honesty. Prabhu Deva plays an upright police officer in the film which also has a few scenes from the real-life incidents but can’t reveal more details as we have just started the shoot”, Mugil told FirstPost.

Manickavel endured a great many hardships during his career and constant attempts were made to undermine his authority and work. Despite everything around him, he persisted with his efforts and achieved significant success and earned the respect of his compatriots and those around him.

He is due to retire in November this year and we can be fairly certain that many people in positions of great power will breathe a sigh of relief when that happens. And that is a true measure of greatness when people you have fought your entire life are glad that you are no longer in the fight.

As the renowned historian, Oswald Spengler, once remarked, “Our duty is to hold on to the lost position, without hope, without rescue, like that Roman soldier whose bones were found in front of a door in Pompeii, who, during the eruption of Vesuvius, died at his post because they forgot to relieve him. That is greatness. That is what it means to be a thoroughbred.”

MHA takes cognisance of complaint against The Wire’s founder being invited to address IAS officers

OpIndia Staff
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MHA takes cognisance of complaint against The Wire’s founder being invited to address IAS officers

The Narendra Modi government has taken cognisance of a strong objection against the decision to invite Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding Editor of Leftist propaganda website The Wire, to speak at the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). The Home Ministry has assured that it would be very careful in the future before inviting such people at prestigious governmental institutions and events.

According to a report by MyNation, the organisation Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) had questioned the rationale of inviting Siddharth Varadarajan to speak in such institutions and government events. The LRO had registered its complaint to both Home and Defence Ministry regarding the invitation to a person who has allegedly professed anti-India stand and sympathises with the violent Naxal movement.

Siddharth Varadarajan, an American citizen and husband of DU professor Nandini Sundar, who herself is accused of murdering a tribal in Chattisgarh Sukhma, have often known to have taken anti-India and often abused Indian armed forces. Varadarajan, who runs a website called ‘The Wire’ which is notoriously known for publishing fake news and anti-Indian propaganda, has been caught pants down several times for spreading misinformation on social media.

The Defence Ministry had also ordered Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) to probe against the decision to invite Varadarajan to speak at LBSNAA at Mussoorie to address the IAS officer trainees, the My Nation report claimed.

The Union home ministry’s left-wing extremism division said, “We have received your complaint regarding inviting people at IAS training academy. We assure you to take precaution in future in this regard.”

Meanwhile, LRO, a Delhi based legal organisation has called Varadarajan as an “active Maoist cadre” and also accused him as one of the main accused in the Shamnath Baghel murder case in Chattisgarh’s Bastar, along with his wife, Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar.

In its letter to the Defence Ministry, protesting against the decision to invite a person who has consistently abused the country and its armed forces, has highlighted some facts associated with the left-wing scribe Varadarajan. Following are the details LRO has written in its complaint to the ministry.

  1. Mr Siddharth Varadarajan is the husband of Delhi University professor Nandini Sundar who is main accused and conspirator in Shamnath Baghel murder case of Bastar in Chhattisgarh state. At present, her arrest is pending due to interim order by Hon Supreme Court of India. The deceased Shamnath Baghel was social worker from Maoists — Naxal infested region of Chhattisgarh and he was peacefully and democratically opposing violent communist Maoist insurgents unleashing terror in the region. As per FIR registered against Siddharth Varadarajan’s wife Nandini Sundar (case number: IA 14-2016 filed Nov 10th 2016 in WP Civil 250-2007), Nandini hatched a conspiracy to kill Mr Shamnath Baghel. After registering FIR, Nandini approached Hon Supreme Court to quash said FIR, but the court refused to do so citing evidence produced before the court.
  2. Surrendered Naxal-Maoist commander Podium Panda confessed in a press meet in Raipur and then before the high court that he had accompanied Nandini Sundar many times to meet top Maoist commanders in deep jungles of Bastar.
  3. The Wire, a website run by Siddharth Varadarajan, always publishes malicious news reports levelling baseless allegations of rapes, molestation, staged encounters against security forces engaged in anti-Naxal ops. That proves he is not a journalist but an active Maoist cadre and inviting him in public programme is a brazen act of promoting violent Maoist terrorist ideology.
  4. Siddharth Varadarajan’s website The Wire and Nandini Sundar both published mischievous allegations of rape on the minor girl against CRPF commando in anti-Naxal operation, but the medical test proved allegations wrong and the said victim girl too clarified that no one raped her. Nandini Sundar deleted the controversial tweet but The Wire still has the same report on its website.

Siddharth Varadarajan has often been found resorting to lies and propaganda to further their ideological agenda has been schooled by the social media users several times. Varadarajan’s controversial media portal ‘The Wire’ had also run a series of allegations with glaring loopholes and inconsistencies against the BJP President Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah over his business dealings. In response to the allegations, Jay Shah had slapped Rs.100 crore defamation case against ‘The Wire’.

#MeToo: ‘Will Congress paper throw him out’? Asks former employee of National Herald and victim of harassment

OpIndia Staff
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#MeToo: ‘Will Congress paper throw him out’? Asks former employee of National Herald and victim of harassment

India has seen several harrowing tales of sexual harassment surface recently. After comedians and actors, women started outing powerful Editors and colleagues from the media fraternity. In fact, some even stepped down from their posts.

Now, a former employee of Congress mouthpiece National Herald has spoken up narrate her tale of workplace harassment.

She has written about how Pinaki Bhattacharya of the now-defunct Sunday Mail used to ask her if she wanted to have sex and how her complaint was shrugged off as something which is normal in newsrooms.

She has also written about how Tarun Tejpal, who was protected by most of the left-liberals before he got caught in Goa like to kiss, hug or touch women employees. The now deceased Vinod Mehta had alleged caressed her hand constantly while interviewing her for a job.

Interestingly, she has also accused Uttam Sengupta who is now the Editor of Congress mouthpiece National Herald. National Herald is owned by the Gandhi family and is currently under ligitation for alleged scam perpetuated by the Gandhi family.

Uttam Sengupta, the Editor of Gandhi family owned National Herald who befittingly calls himself “chatukhor” on Twitter allegedly harassed the victim.

The victim has also alleged that she reported his harassment and intimidation tactics following which a “sham internal inquiry” took place at National Herald. Considering Uttam Sengupta still works at National Herald, no action was taken against him and the victim “left in disgust”.

She has also asked whether Congress would now throw Uttam Sengupta out. Interestingly, Sengupta has been retweeting a bunch of #MeToo tweets recently but most of his colleagues, friends and Sengupta himself have kept quiet about these allegations against him.

Not too long ago, Congress IT Cell member had also been accused of sexual harassment. The victim, in that case, had said that she did not expect justice from Divya Spandana, the Congress IT Cell head. Divya had, in turn, had supported the accused wholly. It was only obvious that the so-called internal inquiry was set to be a sham. Chirag, the accused, was later arrested.

The Congress party president who talks constantly about women empowerment even in unrelated events hasn’t spoken up and neither has National Herald issued a statement. We will update the article as and when a statement is made either by the publication or the accused.

Misa Bharti admits to rift between her brothers, calls it ‘media twist’ later

OpIndia Staff
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Misa Bharti admits to rift between her brothers, calls it ‘media twist’ later

Confirming to the reports previously surfaced about a possible rift between Lalu Prasad Yadav’s two sons, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, the RJD supremo’s elder daughter Misa Bharti on Monday, October 8, 2018, while addressing party workers in Maner reportedly admitted that relations between her brothers have soured of late. She also hinted that there are some in the family who indulge in “stabbing her from the back”.

Seemingly dissatisfied, Misa Bharti reportedly claimed that there were forces within her family who stabbed her in the back. According to a report in Hindustan Times, Bharti said “I am a woman. If the enemy musters courage and wages a war face-to-face, I can become a Rani Laxmibai and fight back. But I cannot tolerate someone, whether a worker or a leader, backstabbing me,” she said. She also said, “Why to talk about others when there are explicit differences among brothers in my own family.” When Tejashwi Yadav was asked about Misa Bharati’s claim, he reportedly avoided answering the question stating that he hadn’t heard what she said.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s eldest daughter, Misa Bharti quickly covered up the gaffe by defending herself stating that every family has internal conflicts as all five fingers are not the same. “Even our family has witnessed a rift between two brothers but where do differences not come up? Five fingers of our hands are not equal. But the RJD is like a big family,” Bharti said. She later dismissed any rift between the brothers by claiming that the media had twisted her arguments and presented them out of context.


Spokesperson of the BJP Nikhil Anand expressed no surprise on the admittance of dispute between the Yadav brothers. He said that the RJD has always been about the Yadav family and the internecine conflicts between the siblings will work towards sabotaging their party’s prospects in the upcoming polls.


The conflict between Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav gathered steam when the latter insinuated party members of ignoring and sidelining him in the party. It is notable here that as Lalu Yadav has been convicted in the fodder scam, other family members have also been under probe by several agencies. Misa and Tejaswi are both facing trouble as the I-T department has seized their benami properties. Rabri Devi and Tejaswi are also under investigation for their alleged involvement in the IRCTC scam.

16 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh arrested in Mathura, had paid money to sneak through border

OpIndia Staff
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16 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh arrested in Mathura, had paid money to sneak through border

Sixteen Bangladeshi immigrants were arrested in Mathura on Monday as reported by Times of India. These illegal immigrants were found in possession of Adhaar cards and Voter cards which they had obtained by submitting fake documents to government offices for legalizing their stay in India. As confirmed by the Police, these illegal immigrants have been staying in Mathura for past 3 years, working as ragpickers.

Mathura’s Senior Superintendent of Police Babloo Kumar disclosed the identity of illegal Bangladeshi people arrested as following: Mohammad Baker (32), Mahur (33) and his wife Rihanna (33), Mahabur (26) and his wife Ritu (23), Litton (30), Mosali (24) and his wife Sirina (22), Kiviriya (39) and his son Yusuf (19), Mannan (36), Mohammad Farukh (48) and his wife Sapna (38), son Yasin (18), Yasin’s wife Rabiya (21), Meenu (50) On the other hand, the local citizen who has sheltered him in Kosikalan has been identified as Ilyas (62).

“On the basis of a tip-off, the local intelligence wing and police in a joint operation nabbed 16 residents of Bangladesh along with four children who had been living illegally in Kosikalan for over two years. They had paid Rs 8,000-10,000 for crossing the border.” SP (Rural) Aditya Kumar Shukla said.

Eight Aadhar cards, one PAN card, one driving license and other documents have reportedly been recovered from them. Two persons named Wakar and Meenu had reportedly taken Rs 8000 each from them.

A case has been registered all the arrested. The court has sent everyone to judicial custody.

Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh have often been found in possession of Indian identity documents. The state of Assam has enforced the National Citizenship Registry (NRC) to identify illegal immigrants in the state. North-Eastern states like Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya frequently see cases where illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar manage to obtain Indian documents to stay in India.

EC comes down hard on Congress in Court: ‘Congress using fake documents to scandalise EC’

OpIndia Staff
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EC comes down hard on Congress in Court: ‘Congress using fake documents to scandalise EC’

The Election Commission (EC) on Monday in the Supreme Court accused the Congress party of using forged papers to undermine the integrity of the Commission ahead of elections in five states.

The EC alleged that the Congress is resorting to peddling wrong voter lists that have been rectified by the Election Commission earlier after finding some discrepancies. The ECI said to the court it had rectified the error in the voters’ list in June after Congress had complained about the same and went on to accuse the Congress of using fake lists to discredit the institution.

Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Sachin Pilot had filed a petition in the Supreme Court as they had claimed that there were nearly 60 lakh fake voters in the state. Following this, the apex court had issued a notice to Election Commission to respond to the allegations. Election Commission had denied the allegations and said that these are “misleading and misconceived”.

The Election Commission had also said that the Congress party leaders should be punished for furnishing fabricated voter list. The Commission had asserted that it had always upheld the integrity and purity of the electoral process and was committed to holding “free and fair elections”.

The Supreme Court bench comprising of Justice A K Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan was hearing the responses of the counsel representing the EC. Vikas Singh representing the Election Commission said that “Despite the voter list being corrected, Congress continues to peddle mistakes in earlier lists and attempts to discredit a statutory organisation which has earned an impeccable reputation for conducting free and fair elections”. “This is nothing but using forged documents to scandalise the EC”, said Singh to the court.

Kabil Sibal appearing for the Congress demanded an inquiry conducted by the CBI into the duplicate votes and also wanted to fix responsibility on the EC officials who are alleged to be involved in creating Bogus voters’ list.

Vikas Singh supported the call for a probe on the charges but also added that there should also be charges against people for false accusations and should be punished if their allegations turn out to be false. “The allegations should be taken to a logical end. Let there be an inquiry. If EC officials are found guilty, let them be punished. But if the petitioners are found to have made wrong charges, they should also be punished”, said Vikas Singh.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the dates for the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Telangana. The states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will go to poll on November 28 and December 7 respectively and the results will be announced on December 11, 2018.

Crude bomb goes off in Mumbai slum, Azrul Sheikh and a minor arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Crude bomb goes off in Mumbai slum, Azrul Sheikh and a minor arrested

Two men were arrested on Sunday afternoon after a bomb they were assembling accidentally went off, injuring one of them. The impact of the explosion was so high that it sent the household articles tumbling down in the neighbourhood shanties.

The bomb was loaded with ball bearings, nails and glass shards, typical of terrorist attacks to maximize casualties. Eyewitnesses said that the explosion was extremely loud and could be heard within a radius of 1 KM. The case has since been transferred to the Crime Branch and the Anti-Terrorism Squad has started its own parallel investigation.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWEjZPUjus]

One of the two arrested has been identified as Azrul Shaikh, 22. The other person is a minor. They both reportedly worked for BEST and MTNL as contract labourers, mainly involved in digging trenches for electric wires. Shaikh and his accomplice, both the natives of West Bengal, had recently moved in on Garib Nawaz Road in Antop Hill with Shaikh’s aunt. Police have stated that they had gathered potassium nitrate powder from ‘sutli’ bombs and were trying to develop a crude bomb by adding glass shards, nails and ball bearings to it.

Though the police on Monday refused to say whether they suspected a terrorism angle, they were actively considering all possibilities. A team of Crime Branch will leave for West Bengal on Tuesday for further investigations.

The bomb remains collected from the site have been sent to a forensic lab. The investigating team refused to comment on the explosives used by Shaikh. “We will wait for the FSL report,” said an officer. Neighbours have stated that Sheikh was injured in the blast. “We have registered an offence and the case has been transferred to the Crime Branch,” DCP N Ambika of zone IV reportedly stated to media.

Watch: Congress MLA Alpesh Thakore’s hate speech in Gujarat, inciting mob to take to violence against non-Gujaratis

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Congress MLA Alpesh Thakore’s hate speech in Gujarat, inciting mob to take to violence against non-Gujaratis

Days after widespread violence in Gujarat, shocking videos have emerged where Congress MLA from Gujarat, Alpesh Thakore is giving a hate speech against non-Gujaratis and instigating the mob to take to violence.


In a video which is believed to be from Becharaji, Gujarat, from last month, Alpesh could be heard saying, “all these outsiders who come here, they commit crime here which has led to increase in ‘goondagardi’. Villagers are beaten up and run off to their own hometown in other state after committing the crime. Is our Gujarat for such people?” Inciting people present there to take to violence, he said, “The trucks of these companies will be stopped and their doors will be broken.”

He then asks people how many are in a mood to fight? “Containers will be stopped, trucks will be stopped, and if needed, we will burn tyres.

In another video, he could be seen justifying violence.


The above video is edited by Japan Pathak, who tweeted it to put relevant portions. Full video could be seen here. He says, “Our system of protest is very clear. We don’t take to violence, we don’t break the law.” In the same interview, he says, “If these companies (which invest in Gujarat) do not give 85% of the jobs to Gujaratis, then tyres will burn, trucks will be stopped and trucks will be broken. I believe we should fight aggressively and now that same Alpesh Thakore is getting into the field to play his cards. We will then see how these ‘lions’ are dragged on to the roads.”

Adding how much he loves the colour of blood, he said, “We are going to put up an aggressive fight where you will be able to see blood on my white shirt. Because the red colour on your screen and that red colour is my identity. Along with that red and blue colour, we will lead a bloody protest.”

The recent violence in Gujarat followed a rape of a minor girl in a Thakor dominant village, after which a labourer from Bihar was arrested by police accusing him of the crime. After it was known that a person from Bihar has allegedly raped a Gujarati Thakor girl, it was reported that Kshatriya Thakor Sena instigated revenge violence against people from Bihar and UP working in the state, in various industries as well as people working as street vendors. The attacks were instigated by messages circulated in various social media networks. Following the attack, hordes of people from the two north Indian states have been leaving the state via buses and trains.

Later, evidence emerged that another Congress leader MV Thakore, also associated with Kshatriya Thakore Sena led by Alpesh Thakore, was seen threatening violence against non-Gujaratis. In the video, Thakore was seen threatening non-Gujarati people of massive violence if they don’t leave the state, and he had given them time till 9 PM on 8th October to do so. He said that after the deadline is over, he does not want to see anyone from Bihar and UP in his village. Everyone from Bihar and UP will have to leave, and they will come again to check, he added.

Gujarat minister and chief minister have urged the migrant workers who had left to come back and assured them of safety.

Meanwhile, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, instead of questioning leader of his own party for such hate speech, has decided to brazen it out by blaming ‘unemployment’ for the violence.

#MeToo: Now Comedian Varun Grover accused of sexual harassment, denies allegations categorically

OpIndia Staff
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#MeToo: Now Comedian Varun Grover accused of sexual harassment, denies allegations categorically

The country has been gripped by a string of sexual allegations against prominent personalities after the #MeToo movement hit India. After the various film and media personalities, including stand up comics, being outed by women on the accusation of sexual harassment, the latest to be accused is comedian Varun Grover.


The story narrated by the victim anonymously dates back to 2001 when Varun Grover was the victim’s senior in Benaras Hindu University. The victims recount that Varun was the head of the dramatics society and she looked up to him for his skills.

She says that one afternoon, Varun inviter her to rehearse for the annual fest and had told her that she reminded him of Tillotama, the Apsara. Varun Grover had told her that he was writing a play and she would be the lead role as Tillotama.

She said that they finally met at a music club where he was to give her insights into what role she is to play. He said that she was to play a character which was playful and childlike but also destructive.

She says he kept calling himself Vishwakarma which she at the time thought was a joke. She said that he asked her to walk towards him from a distance with her arms extended, which she thought was play acting. He then snuck up behind her and grinded against her which made her feel terribly uncomfortable.

The victim says that she pushed him away and yet, he held her hand and said he was Vishwakarma and she was Tillotama.

Varun Grover has denied these allegations categorically. He has said that these statements are defamatory and untrue and that he will post a detailed response shortly.

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