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Another one bites the dust? Akhilesh Yadav unhappy with Congress attitude in forging mahagathbandhan

OpIndia Staff
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Another one bites the dust? Akhilesh Yadav unhappy with Congress attitude in forging mahagathbandhan

The Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance is beginning to crash even before its actual inception, as the proposed allies seem to be casting aspersions on this idea. According to the reports, this time it is Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who appears to be unhappy over Congress attitude ahead of the elections.

Just a day after Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Mayawati thrashed Congress Party and rejected any alliance with the grand old party in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday has called the Congress to take the initiative to bring anti-BJP parties on one platform in poll-bound states.

Akhilesh Yadav expressing his displeasure over the delay by the Congress to bring like-minded parties said that the delay in this regard might prompt other parties to declare their candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in both states. He further expressed fear over the delay as it might hamper the so-called ‘Mahagathbandan’.

Yadav said, “I am saying even today that the Congress should show its large-heartedness, and it should contest elections by taking along all the political parties who have similar thoughts and ideology”. He further went on to mock Congress saying that the party will be accusing other political parties of colluding with BJP after they decide to contest alone. He was referring to the failure of the Congress to stitch an alliance with BSP, which is now fighting alone in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

The cracks in Mahagathbandhan has already appeared, as BSP supremo in a press conference slammed Congress and called Congress leader Digvijaya Singh as a ‘BJP agent’. She had accused the Congress of playing minority appeasement and also using Dalits but not doing anything substantial for their development.

Incidentally, this comes after Akhilesh Yadav had asked for a much larger role in the alliance and had demanded an all India pact with Congress rather than just a coalition in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party leaders had argued that the alliance between the party and Congress is not a one-way traffic and cannot be formed for the convenience of the Congress.

C’mon, India Today! Google is not coming out with a Pixel Mini!

OpIndia Staff
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C’mon, India Today! Google is not coming out with a Pixel Mini!

India Today today published an article claiming that on the 9th October event, Google is all set to launch ‘Pixel Mini’ alongside Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. They quoted a social media post by Google which ‘revealed’ the ‘Pixel Mini’.

India Today falling for the Pixel Mini rumour

In the image posted by Google, it says how they have heard of the rumours of the ‘mini Pixel’ and wonder how ‘mini’ is too mini? They had phones in 4 different sizes displayed next to each other with a measuring scale next to it. India Today then claims that later this year, Google will launch 3 phones instead of two.

Unfortunately, India Today fell for a rumour or a joke Google played with the curious cats who were speculating about the Google event on 9th October for the launch of new phones. According to a popular tech blog GSMarena.com, Google was taking a dig at the rumours and was trying to shut them down, ‘creatively’. Another website, bgr.com, too mentions that Google has trolled the fans by the clever post on social media.

Earlier there were rumours that Google is launching a notch-less all-screen Pixel Ultra, which was perhaps a marketing gimmick by Google to deceive those looking for the leaks of the Google Pixel 3. Now, Google seems to be mocking the fans by ‘mini Pixel’ phone, which India Today seems to have taken seriously.

Supreme Court rejects Prashant Bhushan’s petition seeking stay of deportation of Rohingyas

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court rejects Prashant Bhushan’s petition seeking stay of deportation of Rohingyas

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising chief justice Ranjan Gogoi, justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph dismissed a petition to prevent India from deporting illegal Rohingya immigrants to Bangladesh. This order of the court clears the path for deporting 1st batch of Rohingya immigrants back to Myanmar.

As we had reported earlier, India is sending 7 Rohingya immigrants back to Myanmar today. The persons were held in a detention camp in Silchar in Assam since 2012 after they were arrested by Assam police. They were already transported to the border town Moreh in Manipur yesterday, the immigrants will be handed over to Myanmar authorities at the Moreh border post. Myanmar authorities have already confirmed the identity of the persons and have granted necessary travel permits.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan had filed a petition on behalf of Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, to prevent the Indian government from deporting Rohingya immigrants to Myanmar. Yesterday, Bhushan had mentioned the case in the court of Chief Justice requesting an urgent hearing. On his first day as Chief Justice, Ranjan Gogoi refused to take the case for urgent hearing, saying the matter does not deserve such urgency. He had commented, “if they are deported, we can always get them back if it’s (deportation) wrong. Do not worry.”

The petition had requested the top court to “pass an order restraining the Union of India from taking any steps towards the deportation of any Rohingya refugees lodged in jails or detention centres in Assam or other parts of the country in contravention of non-derogable principles of customary international law and during the pendency of the case”. Taking up the petition, the three-bench judge dismissed it today, clearing the path for sending back the 7 Rohingya immigrants back to Myanmar. The court said that the immigrants were already convicted and Myanmar is also ready to accept them, so there is no reason to block the deportation.

This plea was filed as a part of an ongoing petition against Indian government’s decision to deport over 40,000 Rohingya immigrants back which was filed last year.

Babul Supriyo alleges West Bengal police threatened singer Shaan to cancel concert if Supriyo attends

OpIndia Staff
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Babul Supriyo alleges West Bengal police threatened singer Shaan to cancel concert if Supriyo attends

Union Minister Babul Supriyo on Wednesday alleged that he was stopped from attending a music concert of singers Shaan and KK. He further said that the singers were threatened by the West Bengal police to cancel the license of the show if he attends it.

Babul Supriyo in a series of tweets claimed that the state police woke up Shaan in his hotel room and threatened the singer of cancelling the license to his upcoming show if Babul Supriyo visits the concert.


According to the reports, the singer-turned-politician said that he was supposed to attend a concert of Shaan and KK called  ‘‘No1 Yaari Hai’ in Asansol, but had to return to Kolkata as he did not want either Mamata Banerjee or her police officials to stop the Shaan and KK’s concert.

The Union Minister attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, he added, “I have asked Shaan not to take any calls or get perturbed by tjis get into this muck .. He is dear friend.. so is KK.. cant let Mamta and her police spoil their show.. I will not go to the show it will fight this out What are spineless hunch of men in uniform thinking?”


Babul Supriyo also expressed shock after some TMC leaders and Asansol Mayor attended the event and questioned the Mamata Banerjee that on what authority did they stop him from attending while allowing TMC leaders to enter the venue.

He further added that he was asked by the people inside the venue to attend the event but Babul Supriyo said that he was going back to Kolkatta, as he did not want the police to disturb Shaan and KK’s concert.

Ayushman Bharat helps 23,287 patients receive free medical care worth Rs 38 crores in just 10 days

OpIndia Staff
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Ayushman Bharat helps 23,287 patients receive free medical care worth Rs 38 crores in just 10 days

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat has seen approximately 23,387 claims in just 10 days since its launch on 25 September. According to reports, this amounts to claims worth Rs 38 crores that have been settled and poor people across many states have availed healthcare benefits free of cost.

The number of claims settled is from both private and government hospitals. The average claim size per patient has been reportedly Rs 19,357 so far. Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO of Ayushman Bharat has tweeted recently that a total of 1.7 crore beneficiary eligibility letters with family cards have been dispatched to reach thousands of towns and villages.


A report in The Hindu Business Line has stated that by early 32,814 hospitals across the country had applied for empanelment under the scheme, out of the 13,865 have already been empanelled or are in the process of empanelment.

Dinesh Arora, the deputy CEO of Ayushman Bharat had tweeted days back that a woman suffering from cervical cancer, who was admitted in a hospital in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, was flown to receive critical care in a Chennai hospital. The treatment and transportation costs were all borne under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.


Though the scheme is still facing initial hiccups with some hospitals facing technical issues, unavailability of Ayush Mitras in all the hospitals and transition problems from pre-existing schemes o the new one, the work is seeing rapid progress and the initial worries are expected to be streamlined soon.

When the scheme launched, five states, namely, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Delhi and Punjab had declared not to adopt the central scheme. Of these states, while Odisha has already launched its own healthcare scheme named Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojna, the Punjab government had declared yesterday that they would be joining the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna or Ayushman Bharat has been praised globally as the largest universal healthcare scheme in the world. The scheme aims to provide free healthcare to 10 crore poor families in India, benefiting about 50 crore Indians. The director general of WHO had praised the scheme and had called it a ‘great commitment recently.

Shakti Kapoor, once accused of asking for sexual favours in lieu of work, mocks Tanushree

Nirwa Mehta
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Shakti Kapoor, once accused of asking for sexual favours in lieu of work, mocks Tanushree

It was 2005 when film star Shakti Kapoor was caught in a controversy where a sting operation carried out on him showed offering a woman help in her career in return for sex. The clip, which was aired on India TV back then, showed Shakti talking to the undercover reporter saying, “I want to make love to you… and if you want to come into this line (film industry), you have to do what I am telling you to do.” He then goes and names three actresses who ‘slept their way’ into films. Part of the clip can be seen below.

On Tuesday, while addressing media for his upcoming new film, which is supposedly an ‘erotic thriller’, Kapoor was asked by one of the journalists on the allegations of sexual harassment levelled by film actor Tanushree Dutta on Nana Patekar. However, making a joke of the allegations, Kapoor said that ‘he does not know about it because ten years back he was a kid’.


Shakti Kapoor’s ‘joke’, which is received as with laughter from the audience, is a bit rich coming from someone who himself was once accused of being part of the rampant sexual exploitation in the film industry. That Kapoor was accused of indulging in ‘casting couch’ the term used for men or women in power in the film industry offering work in lieu of sexual favours.

While many have stood up and extended support to Tanushree Dutta, many, many more film stars have chosen to maintain silence or not to speak about it, including Amitabh Bachchan, who ironically starred in 2016 drama film ‘Pink’ which talked about consent.

One may argue that these men were not present on the set when the alleged incident took place, so how can they comment on it. Fair enough. However, instead of dismissing it like Amitabh Bachchan or making a joke out of it like Shakti Kapoor, perhaps one could be little more sensitive and not fuel the trolls who are bullying Tanushree. Perhaps an ‘I am not aware, but an investigation should be carried out and guilty should be punished’ wouldn’t have hurt.

Tanushree Dutta has accused film actor Nana Patekar of inappropriately touching her during the shooting of an ‘item song’ in the film ‘Horn OK Pleassss’ back in 2008. She had complained about it back in 2008 as well and has maintained her stand over the years on the alleged incident that took place in 2008.

India prepares to send Rohingya interlopers back to Myanmar, petition filed in SC to keep them

OpIndia Staff
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India prepares to send Rohingya interlopers back to Myanmar, petition filed in SC to keep them

Seven Rohingya Muslims who were lodged in jail since 2012 for illegally entering India were sent to the Myanmar border for deportation. They were held in the Silchar detention centre in Assam before being transported to the Myanmar border at Moreh in Manipur in a bus by the Indian police. This will be the first deportation of Rohingya refugees from India.

Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, additional director general police in India’s northeastern state of Assam said, “This is a routine procedure, we deport all illegal foreigners.” Mahanta said the seven are likely to be handed over to Myanmar border guards at the Moreh border post on Thursday. India has already secured travel permit for them from Myanmar authorities after the identity and address of the refugees were confirmed by Myanmar. They are residents of Rakhine state of the neighbouring country.

To oppose this move by the Government of India, a petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing and seeking a restraint on the deportation of these illegal immigrants back to Myanmar.


The petition filed by Mohammad Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, states that “the situation in Myanmar is extremely dangerous for the Rohingyas to return and they are likely to be subjected to torture and even killed”.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted the application before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and K M Joseph seeking an urgent hearing into the matter. The bench accepted the petition but declined to specify a date of hearing.

Multiple reports of forbidden activities committed by Rohingyas across the country have surfaced. In one such instance, Rohingyas in Mewat were alleged to have links with terror networks. In another case, a whopping Rs 30 lakh cash was found in possession of a few Rohingya Muslims in Jammu & the J&K police suspected a terror funding case. In a concerted attempt to effect demographic change, an overwhelming number of Rohingyas travelled in long-distance trains from Northeastern states to southern parts of India, putting the law and order in those states under tremendous pressure.

Earlier this week, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked the states to identify Rohingya refugees and collect their biometric data. A report will be prepared from this data, which will be sent to Myanmar through diplomatic channels, in an attempt to resolve the crisis of Rohingya refugees.

In the wake of such illegal activities, it is only befitting of the Indian Police to take stern action against these interlopers & minimize security threats posed by them by rightfully deporting them back to their country.

Sting reveals Khalistani’s nexus with Pakistan, China and Maoists, claims Dal Khalsa backed AAP

Jhankar Mohta
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Sting reveals Khalistani’s nexus with Pakistan, China and Maoists, claims Dal Khalsa backed AAP

In an exclusive, Republic TV has uncovered the ‘Break India’ movement of the ‘front for Khalistani groups’, whose members have been caught on camera, in a sting operation conducted by Republic TV senior journalist, Shawan Sen, accepting working hand in hand with China, Pakistan and Maoists to impair havoc in India.

Republic TV in its exclusive report brought out some shocking facts which go on to reveal that from attacking political leaders with the support of the ISI, openly extending support to terrorists like Hafiz Saeed, to carrying out anti-India campaigns in the UK and USA, Khalistani supporters who have lately become active have made ‘break India’ their core impulse.

Shamsher Singh of the ‘National Sikh Youth Federation’, a front for Khalistani groups, was caught on tape making outrageous revelations. In the video, he is seen calling for wanting to ‘break up India’ by giving a free hand to Naxals, Maoists, and others who have a similar ideology. Calling it a complete radical movement, Shamsher Singh said, “We want Naxals to be free. Dravidistan to be free. We want the Maoists to be free. Because our enemy is the same. Our enemy is Delhi“.

Reiterating on similar lines, Gurcharan Singh, member of the once-banned Dal Khalsa said, “The enemy of your enemy is your friend. That is the simple thing. And secondly, when the union is smashed into small parts we will need a coalition of such groups.” He, in a shocking revelation, mentioned that they have links in every single state of India and that they are funding every terror activity in India.

Gurcharan Singh, amongst the several other sensational claims he made also alleged that the Dal Khalsa had backed the Aam Aadmi Party in the Punjab Assembly Elections 2017.

When Republic TV’s Piyush Mishra asked AAP leader and Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia for his reaction, the latter refused to comment on the sting, instead abused Mishra and blocked the Republic.

Another ‘pro-Khalistani’ who reportedly has links with the terrorist organization, Babbar Khalsa, and wanted for the bombing which took place in Patiala and Ambala in 2010 and several murders in India, Paramjeet Singh Pamma, was also caught on the sting, wielding their China connections. When senior news editor, Shawan Sen, asked the Khalistani separatist about the support they receive from the UK, US and China to carry out their war against India, this is what he had to say, “All I can say is that we have got a very good response, very good response and we had a very good approach and in a legal manner and the response is unbelievable.”

During the whole investigation, many such more stunning and shocking revelations were uncovered by the Republic TV. From a possible link of Pakistan in the attack of Akali leader Manjeet Singh in the US to the claims that the group has killed over 2,700 people, including many PMs, CMs and Generals of the Army. In fact, Republic TV had also accessed a video of the same most wanted Sikh Khalistan terrorist, Paramjeet Singh Pamma, openly leading a protest campaign against Indian PM Modi and Mahatma Gandhi a day ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s UK visit in April 2018.

‘Rafale would be a game changer for the Indian defence system’: Air Force Chief

Jhankar Mohta
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‘Rafale would be a game changer for the Indian defence system’: Air Force Chief

While interacting with the media, Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa on Wednesday appreciated the NDA government for buying 36 off-the-shelf Rafale fighter jets from France, calling it a ‘bold step‘.

When asked whether the Indian Air Force (IAF) was informed and consulted before the procurement of the 36 fighter jets worth Rs 58,000 crore, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa revealed that the air force was consulted at an appropriate level.

Calling the decision taken by the government a ‘game changer for the Indian defence system‘, Dhanoa maintained that the government was given some options by the IAF and the sole authority to make a choice amongst those options was that of the government.

Only three options were left when negotiations between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Dassault reached an impasse- wait for something to happen, withdraw the RPF (request for proposal) or make an emergency purchase. We chose the last. In the past, too, we acquired two squadrons of the Dassault Mirage,” the Air Chief Marshal said.

Further commenting on the issue, the Air Chief said that both-the Rafale jets and the S-400 air defence systems, a deal for which is likely to be signed with Moscow during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, are like a “booster dose” for the air defence system.

India had confirmed that despite US sanctions, the S-400 Triumph missile system deal with Russia will be taken ahead and India will continue its strategic defence partnership with Russia.

Earlier in September as well, the Air Chief Marshal had said that by providing the Rafale jets and S-400 system, the government is strengthening the IAF to counter the shortfalls of the country’s depleting squadrons. The IAF vice-chief Air Marshal, SB Deo had also strongly endorsed the Rafale fighter jets, calling it a “beautiful” aircraft and saying it will give India an “unprecedented” combat advantage.

The Air Force chief’s statements come at the wake of the controversy around the Rafale fighter jet procurement deal. Despite repeated clarifications from the government that there have been no irregularities in the procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France, the opposition parties have been crying foul play over the government to government deal.

Rahul Gandhi had even got to the extent of lying on the floor of the Lok Sabha when he had claimed that French President Macron had told him that there was no confidentiality clause in the Rafale deal.

The BJP had, however, filed a privilege motion against the Congress President for his “baseless allegations” against the government and distorting the facts in the Parliament.

Recently, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group had filed a Rs.5000 crore defamation lawsuit against National Herald for an alleged ‘libellous and derogatory’ article published on the Congress mouthpiece regarding the Rafale deal.  Reliance group had also sent ‘cease and desist’ notice to Congress leaders stating that freedom of expression does not give politicians license to make distorted statements to suit their political interests.

Recently the Supreme Court has also listed a petition filed by a lawyer seeking a SIT probe into the Rafale deal.

Changes in Twitter bio of Congress IT cell head fuels speculation about punishment/promotion

Nirwa Mehta
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Changes in Twitter bio of Congress IT cell head fuels speculation about punishment/promotion

Social media has been abuzz since the Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana removed the details from her Twitter bio which described her as someone who handles social media and digital communications for Congress.

Change in bio of Divya Spandana on Twitter

Hours back, her bio was reinstated and she is again back to ❤️ing Congress.

Speculations were rife that Divya may have been fired either for the various goof ups by Congress on social media, or for not taking a stand against teammates accused of sexually predatory behaviour or for just sharing soft porn websites to prove ‘Rafale scam’.

Many also claimed that she might actually be promoted considering she has successfully managed to train a team of trolls and also show us different facets of Rahul Gandhi.


While Divya has reportedly refuted claims of Divya being sacked from Congress, NDTV has claimed Divya was ‘upset’ with Congress as much of her role was transferred to Nikhil Alva, son of Congress leader Margaret Alva, limiting her duty. She has also reportedly not shown up for work, showing maybe all is not well. NDTV report also claims that her ‘Mera PM Chor Hai‘ stunt hasn’t gone down too well with Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

But going by how Rahul Gandhi himself has reduced the post of the president of the grand old party to a troll, by his hug-and-wink drama and his lies on Rafale deal, it really wouldn’t come as a surprise if Divya is indeed promoted to a bigger, meatier role.

And now that the bio is back, here is a poll for you, dear readers. What do you think? Has Divya been punished or promoted?

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