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Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and alleged close friend of Robert Vadra ready to spill beans: Reports

OpIndia Staff
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Arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari and alleged close friend of Robert Vadra ready to spill beans: Reports

The links between Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra and shady arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari have earlier been discussed. It was reported that Dassault Aviation had refused to partner with Bhandari’s Offsets India Solutions due to his questionable background and proximity to Robert Vadra. Official classified documents were also found in Bhandari’s possession and he was charged with the Official Secrets Act.

It was also reported that Bhandari was seen with Vadra on multiple occasions in luxury hotels both in India and abroad. Bhandari was also connected to hawala operators who had also contributed significant sums of money to the Aam Aadmi Party. Bhandari has also been linked with property purchases of Vadra and was allegedly the beneficiary of several information leaks regarding high profile defence deals.

Now, reports have emerged that claim, Sanjay Bhandari, who allegedly had very high profile links in the political circles of Delhi which helped him to expand his business and acquire multiple assets, is now attempting to speak out and name the politicians who helped him, in exchange for a clean chit from the authorities. News portal BTVI.in has reported that Bhandari had sent an associate who attended the recent event where the last rites of senior Congress leader RK Dhawan were being performed. The associate informed some high ranking government officials that Sanjay Bhandari might be ready to talk.

Republic TV has reported that Bhandari has sent a message through the associate that he is under a lot of pressure and wants a quick response from the government. The associate who contacted the government on his behalf was reportedly an arms dealer himself and had previously managed to get a clean chit after he provided valuable information to the government. He is now reportedly trying to broker a similar deal for Bhandari.

BTVI report names the associate as arms dealer Sudhir Choudhrie and states that he was arrested with his son Bhanu in London in 2014 under allegations of fraud in a Rolls Royce and Indian Air Force deal. However, both father and son were later released on bail when no solid evidence against them was found.

Republic TV states that the NDA government is yet to respond to Bhandari’s request, Bhandari is keen to reveal the names of the politically powerful people who helped him secure shady arms deals. Bhandari is reportedly currently living in London.

‘Unauthorised change in ownership’ leads to cancellation of registration of CPI(M) mouthpiece Daily Desher Katha

OpIndia Staff
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‘Unauthorised change in ownership’ leads to cancellation of registration of CPI(M) mouthpiece Daily Desher Katha

The Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) has cancelled the registration of CPI(M) mouthpiece Daily Desher Katha, published from Tripura for alleged “unauthorised change of ownership.” According to the letter by the RNI to Daily Desher Katha, the registration has been cancelled on the basis of report from sub-divisional magistrate.

Earlier in August, a complaint was registered against the publication for allegedly violating the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. According to the report, a mismatch was found between the information of the editor, printer and publisher provided in the newspaper’s declaration and the data maintained with the RNI.

Meanwhile, condemning the cancellation, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury called it an ‘autocratic’ decision of the BJP-led Tripura government and suppression of democracy. Calling it a ‘brazen attack on freedom of press’, CPIM, in a statement, said that the DM of West Tripura has cancelled the registration on dubious and flimsy grounds.

For the first time in four decades, the newspaper did not get published on Tuesday, 2nd October. The CPI(M) will be holding a protest against this decision.

Fearing action through Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, defaulters pay up Rs 1.1 lakh crores

OpIndia Staff
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Fearing action through Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, defaulters pay up Rs 1.1 lakh crores

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) has proved to be a game changer for the Indian banks. So far, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted 977 cases where the lenders or the operational creditors filed insolvency action against the defaulters, says a report. The fear of strict action among the defaulters has led to the recovery of 1.1 lakh crore in this fiscal year.

This is another development after the telling letter of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan to the parliamentary committee. In the letter, Rajan pointed at UPA functioning between 2006-08 and asserted that it was that functioning that led to increased NPAs in the banking sector.

He stressed on how it was common for the aides of politicians to call the banks and prompt the authorities to offer loans to their favoured corporates or groups, liable for a straight case a quid pro quo. The enactment of IBC has sufficed both to clear the dues and bring liquidation. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) report states, NCLT admitted 977 cases out of which 92 are closed on review, 34 closed by resolution and 136 closed via liquidation. IBBI released data showed that the 42% of the cases missed the 180 period deadlines. The law allowed another 90-day extension for their resolution.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley called it a success of IBC, as they aimed at recovering 1.8 lakh crore this fiscal year. The amount sums up to two and a half times the recovery in the fiscal year 2017-18, loosing up the accumulated NPA.

The government had earlier accredited the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in helping to recover about half of the NPAs left behind by UPA government. Prior to 2014, strategic debt restructuring schemes like 5/25 and S4A allowed UPA to obscure NPAs, bearing severely on the Public Sector Banks. The Era preceded had worsened the situation due to lack of any systematic loan-making programme.

Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi’s flimsy allegations don’t stand the test of facts

Shashank Goyal
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Rafale deal: Rahul Gandhi’s flimsy allegations don’t stand the test of facts

In an earlier article this author had traced the entire timeline of the Rafale deal since 2004 and highlighted that since 2013, Dassault was unwilling to own responsibility for aircrafts manufactured by HAL. This had become a deal breaker at that time.

In view of the above, the following facts about the final Rafale deal stand out against allegations being levelled by the opposition.

Allegation 1:

  • Price of the deal is not disclosed

Facts:

  • Total deal value is already in the public domain and reported in most mainstream media publications including Business Insider, Times of India, Reuters to name just a few
  • India has paid €7.8 billion for 36 aircraft from France in ready to induct (fly-away) condition
  • The only aspect not disclosed is the line item break-up of pricing. It is absolutely reasonable to not disclose what features, capabilities and weapon systems are bought by Indian Air Force

Allegation 2:

  • Deal price is three times higher than what previous government (UPA) had negotiated

Facts:

  • India’s deal value is fully in-line with or lower than what other countries have paid
  • Qatar deal is €7 billion for 24 aircraft = €292 million per aircraft (Rs. 2495 crore)
  • Egypt deal is €5.2 billion for 24 aircrafts = €217 million per aircraft (Rs. 1850 crore)
  • India deal is €7.8 billion for 36 aircrafts = €217 million per aircraft (Rs. 1850 crore)

(INR values in brackets are based on Euro to INR conversion rate on 26 Sep 2018 – intended for deal comparison purpose)

  • Meanwhile, this 18 seconds video shows that on four different occasions, Mr. Gandhi has quoted that UPA could have bought Rafale for
    • 520 crores
    • 526 crores
    • 540 crores
    • 700 crores
  • Numbers from Qatar and Egypt deals prove that prices quoted by Mr. Gandhi are unrealistic. Price of fully loaded aircraft depends on what features and capabilities are added on top of the base aircraft
  • UPA is comparing the price of “base aircraft” (500 crores) with “fully loaded” version with all add-on features, capabilities and weapon systems (1800 crore)
  • If other countries are spending in the range of 2000 crore per aircraft and UPA could really get the planes for 500 crores – why didn’t they?

Allegation 3:

  • The government replaced HAL by Reliance

Facts:

  • HAL was supposed to manufacture 108 planes in India, which is not part of the deal anymore. All 36 planes are coming in fly away conditions, hence there is no role for HAL. Even during UPA, the main roadblock was that Dassault did not want to partner with HAL for the manufacture of the remaining aircrafts.
  • Reliance is supplying components to Dassault as part of the offset clause – not manufacturing planes. There are 72 offset partners in total. 
  • Both these organizations are addressing different parts of the deal and are not a replacement for each other

Allegation 4:

  • Reliance has no plane manufacturing experience

Facts:

  • That’s true, but it’s not needed
  • Dassault will manufacture all 36 planes and send them in fly-away condition. Reliance does not need to manufacture planes
  • Reliance is only supplying components to Dassault. It is one among the 72 Indian companies selected as suppliers by Dassault as part of the offset clause. The list of Indian suppliers includes Tata, Mahindra, L&T, Godrej among others – the full list is accessible here

Allegation 5:

  • Reliance has no defence experience

Facts:

  • Reliance Defence and Engineering was formed by taking over Pipavav Defence
  • Technology, capability and experience in defence sector already exists and was acquired under a new company name
  • The decision to buy components from Reliance is Dassault’s not government’s
  • For a defence and commercial aircraft company like Dassault, the business depends on reputation – they cannot afford to deliver sub-standard products to win some small deals just because some government asked them to
  • Since 2013, Dassault wasn’t willing to own responsibility for planes manufactured by HAL due to quality constraints and was willing to let go of the entire deal with 126 aircrafts
  • Why would they agree to procure from Reliance for a small 36 plane deal, if Reliance was not capable?
  • Dassault has already clarified about their differences with HAL since 2013 and their reasons for including Reliance on the list of Indian suppliers

Other glaring holes in scam theory:

As far as allegations of scam are concerned, so far Mr Gandhi has called Rafale as a –

    • 36 thousand crore scam
    • 40 thousand crore scam
    • 58 thousand crore scam
    • 1 lakh 30 thousand crore scam

  • All this in a deal whose total value is only 59 thousand crores
  • and 50% of which is set to be invested back in Indian companies as part of the offset

Unless Mr Gandhi knows something about making more money in scams than the deal value itself, the whole “scam” allegation is a concoction of misrepresented facts and randomly thrown around numbers.

Broader perspective:

  • Indian Air Force needs 42 squadrons of fighter jets for effective defence across borders
  • By 2014, it was down to only 25 squadrons
  • With more MiG planes retiring, IAF will reduce to only 11 squadrons of active fighter jets by 2024

In this alarming scenario, where the strength of Indian Air Force has been rapidly diluting, UPA government just sat on the deal during their two terms of 10 years. 

After coming to power in 2014, NDA government closed the deal quickly to procure finest fighter jets for Indian Air Force. Additionally, in 4 years Mr. Modi’s government has also strengthened India’s local defence manufacturing capability through multiple collaborations under “Make in India” –

  • Hanwha-Techwin (HTW) of South Korea in collaboration with India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is manufacturing K9 Self-Propelled VAJRA-T9 Artillery guns in Hazira, Gujarat
  • Boeing (USA) in collaboration with India’s Tata Aerospace Ltd is manufacturing fuselages for AH-64 Apache military helicopters in Hyderabad
  • Boeing (USA) has collaborated with India’s HAL and Mahindra Defence for manufacturing F/A-18 Fighter Jets in Bengaluru
  • Saab (Sweden) has offered to manufacture Gripen fighter jets in India with Adani
  • Lockheed Martin (USA) has offered to manufacture F-16 fighter jets in India with Tata
  • Lockheed Martin has also offered to manufacture third generation Javelin missiles in India
  • Russia is in the final stages of manufacturing Kalashnikov Assault Rifles in India

Modi government needs to be applauded for swift decision making in not only procuring the best equipment for Indian Forces but also rapidly developing the local defence manufacturing capability in India.

Watch: Ahead of Indian Air Force’s 86th anniversary, IAF’s Garud Commando Force conducts exercise at Adampur airbase in Jalandhar

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Ahead of Indian Air Force’s 86th anniversary, IAF’s Garud Commando Force conducts exercise at Adampur airbase in Jalandhar

The Indian Air Force today conducted air exercises at Jalandhar’s Adampur airbase and the visuals are spectacular.

Indian Air Force celebrates 86 years on 8th October and the IAF’s Garud Commando Force, the special forces unit of the IAF was formed in September 2004.

Deriving its name from the legendary mythological bird, who was also the mount of Lord Vishnu, the Garud Commando Force has a strength of about 1080 personnel. The Garud commandos are trained at the regimental training centre at Chandipur. Garud commandos are armed with Israel-made grenade launchers and semi-sniper rifles.

Suspended Congress leader accuses another Congress leader of having Maoists and ISIS links

OpIndia Staff
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Suspended Congress leader accuses another Congress leader of having Maoists and ISIS links

Allahabad Congress leader Haseeb Ahmed, who was expelled from the party for chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Bam Bam Bole’ which caused embarrassment to party president ‘Shiv Bhakt’ Rahul Gandhi, has now accused another Congress leader of having links with the Maoists and ISIS.


According to Haseeb, Allahabad district Congress leader Anil Dwivedi didn’t like the chants and hence got the three Congress leaders suspended. He then accused Dwivedi of having links to Maoists and ISIS.

As per reports, 3 Congress leaders, namely Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Mukund Tiwari, Youth Congress Pradesh secretary Haseeb Ahmed and former general secretary of youth congress Jitendra Tiwari were suspended from the party for shouting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Bam Bam Bhole’ as their ‘activities’ made ‘Shiv Bhakt‘ Rahul Gandhi ‘uncomfortable’.

Anil Dwivedi, a district president in Congress party has informed that the three persons had ignored ‘party discipline’ and Rahul Gandhi’s security while chanting the slogans and hence they have been expelled.

Haseeb Ahmed has earlier been in news for depicting Rahul Gandhi as Shri Krishna protecting Renuka Chowdhury’s honour and BJP leaders including the Prime Minister as Kauravas as a recreation of the famous episode from the Mahabharata when the Kauravas attempted to disrobe Draupadi.

He had also got creative with posters in a bid to urge Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka Gandhi to take over the reigns and join the politics actively.

Congress election poster
Both of them know who is the real threat to the party.
Congress election poster
The duo hinted that they were not sycophant like Digvijay Singh, who gave dishonest feedback.
Congress election poster
Haseeb and Shreesh appear to be fan of Bollywood too. Agnipath.

On an earlier ocassion, he had also claimed Rahul Gandhi is Parshuram’s descendant.

He had also extended his support to Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav after Nitish Kumar broke alliance with RJD in Bihar.

During the run up to the Uttar Pradesh elections, Ahmed had also portrayed Rahul Gandhi as Arjun.

Haseeb Ahmed portraying Rahul Gandhi as Arjun

While the Congress is trying its best to toe the soft Hindutva line ahead of upcoming elections, it comes as a surprise that after proclaiming Rahul Gandhi as a ‘janeu dhaari shiv bhakt’, the Congress party would expel a leader fo merely chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’.

Congress has repeatedly played the caste card during elections too. Recently, the party had also proclaimed that Rahul Gandhi has “Brahmin DNA”.

It would seem like for the Congress party, religion is merely a tool of election propaganda while caste is a knife to divide the Hindus with. Just like Lingayats were used during the Karnataka elections by giving them a minority religion status, Congress now seems to be using the Brahmin Shiv Bhakt card, while getting offended at the chants of Har Har Mahadev, just to divide the community and score election brownie points.

Bijnaur: Disabled cleaner stabbed, Suleiman and Imran arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Bijnaur: Disabled cleaner stabbed, Suleiman and Imran arrested

In Bijnaur, the police have arrested the main accused Suleiman and his brother yesterday for brutally stabbing a disabled cleaner early on Sunday morning. According to reports, police have also made strict security arrangements in the Najibabad area of the city anticipating communal clashes as tensions had escalated after the disabled cleaner named Naveen was attacked.

Early on Sunday morning, Naveen, a disabled young man, who is working as a temporary cleaning employee, was cleaning the streets near Jabtaganj area in Najibabad. At that time a resident of the area, Suleiman reportedly had an argument with Naveen and brutally attacked him repeatedly with a knife. After Naveen fell down bleeding, some people had informed the police and he was admitted to the district hospital. As his situation was critical, he was later shifted to Meerut.

The entire incident was reportedly recorded in CCTV. Protesting over the attack on their colleague, the cleaning staffers in the city had called for a strike. As Naveen’s attackers were Muslims, the incident also fanned communal tension in the area. The police were deployed in the Najibabad area to control any untoward incidents. Naveen is reportedly from the Valmiki Samaj. The videos of the incidents had gone viral in the local area and police personnel were deployed on strategic locations throughout the day and night to prevent communal clashes.

On Monday, taking clues from the CCTV footage, the police had arrested the main accused Suleiman and his brother from the nearby Charbag Nayi Basti. The sharp knife used to stab Naveen was also reportedly recovered from his residence. Seeing the flaring tensions between two communities in the region, ADG Prem Kumar reportedly camped in the area for the night while SDM Pankaj Varma and CO Arun Singh were patrolling the streets to oversee the situation.

After Suleiman and his brother Imran’s arrest, the tension in the area has reportedly reduced a little. Both the accused have reportedly been sent to police custody. However, the police have reportedly stated that both Suleiman and Imran were meat sellers and they are looking into the case to find out why they had attacked Naveen. Naveen’s condition has been stable and he has been recuperating in the hospital.

Pro-AAP video blogger Dhruv Rathee gets sued for defamation to the tune of Rs 15 lakhs

OpIndia Staff
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Pro-AAP video blogger Dhruv Rathee gets sued for defamation to the tune of Rs 15 lakhs

Dhruv Rathee, the popular pro-AAP video blogger has been sued for defamation to the tune of Rs. 15 Lakhs by a software engineer and BJP volunteer Vikas Pandey. The case of defamation has been filed by Pandey owing to a three-part video series that Dhruv Rathee had released on his YouTube channel that alleged that Vikas Pandey was a member of the BJP IT Cell and had tried to bribe some Mahaveer Prasad (who claims is an ex BJP IT Cell member) with Rs 50 lakh to speak against him.

In a document released by Vikas Pandey, he has enumerated how Dhruv Rathee allegedly defamed Pandey by making tall and malicious allegations without providing any substantive proof.

Vikas Pandey has also alleged that this video made by pro-AAP video blogger Dhruv Rathee was shared by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that “led to a lynch mob against him and his family on social media”.


Pandey says that he has initiated a civil defamation suit against Rathee and is in consultation with his family and might also initiate a criminal defamation suit against him in due course of time.

Vikas Pandey said, “Dhruv Rathee says that he asked Mahaveer to install an app to record calls. He claims that he suggested the idea to Mahaveer so that he can record all calls, which it did according to him. His whole video is based on that ‘recording’ which he claims many times in the same video/follow-up tweets and media interviews, had bribe offer in it. He, however ‘regrets’ that he didn’t have the recording of ’50 lakh bribe’ offer in a follow-up video after I filed a police complaint. Why was that call recording not available? Hasn’t he just claimed in this video that he heard it all including a lot of ‘abusive ones’?”

Pandey adds, “In follow-up interviews and tweets he repeatedly mentions that I had offered bribe a huge amount of 50 lakh to Mahaveer. Such sensational tweets/articles have been widely circulated and shared by thousands. After the police complaint, he concedes he had no recording, no chat, or no proof whatsoever to make such claims against me”. 

OpIndia reached out to Vikas Pandey and asked him what he would say to people who might allege that this is him trying to stifle free speech. Vikas Pandey said, “Freedom of expression is limited to opinions. Not statements alleging criminality without any proof. Dhruv Rathee is free to hate me. He is not free to accuse me of bribing anyone without providing any proof. That tarnishes my image and is defamation, not freedom of speech. He spent time and effort releasing a 3 part video where he convinced many that I was a criminal. I am not. He provided no proof for his baseless, motivated allegations. Freedom of Expression is not the right to lie”.

also: Dhruv Rathee speaks the same language as the terrorist who killed 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama attack

Delhi: 31 year old Ankit Garg shot dead, sister accuses family of Muslim girl he was in love with

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi: 31 year old Ankit Garg shot dead, sister accuses family of Muslim girl he was in love with

In a shocking incident, 31-year-old Ankit Garg, a teacher in Delhi, was shot dead in broad daylight by a masked gunman in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri area. Garg was reportedly in a relationship with his student, a Muslim girl, and while they wanted to get married, the girl’s family was opposing the same. According to police, Ankit was shot at by a gunman who was waiting for him for 25 minutes at the staircase of the coaching centre where he used to teach.

As per reports, Ankit was threatened many times before he was shot dead. Police is currently investigating the case. In another such incident, in February this year, a Hindu boy named Ankit Saxena was brutally murdered in Delhi for being in a relationship with a girl named Shehzadi from the Muslim community. The alleged murderers were relatives, including parents, of the girl. The Ankit Saxena case particularly gained gravity because this went on to become a classic example of varied media houses’ bias reporting where mainstream media tried to conceal the religious identity of the girl’s family.

In September, a Muslim woman was killed by her brother and father for being in a ‘relationship’ with a Hindu man in West Bengal. In June last year, a pregnant Muslim woman was burnt alive by her family in Karnataka for marrying a Hindu man, while a Hindu man and his Muslim wife were killed in broad daylight by woman’s brother in Uttar Pradesh in November 2014.

Shiv Bhakt Rahul expels partymen for chanting Har Har Mahadev, BJP lashes out

OpIndia Staff
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Shiv Bhakt Rahul expels partymen for chanting Har Har Mahadev, BJP lashes out

Three Congress workers have reportedly been expelled from the party for shouting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Bam Bam Bhole’. As per reports, the ‘activities’ of these three workers at Bamrauli airport on 28th September made their ‘Shiv Bhakt‘ party president Rahul Gandhi ‘uncomfortable’.

According to a report in Jagran.com, 3 Congress leaders, namely Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Mukund Tiwari, Youth Congress Pradesh secretary Haseeb Ahmed and former general secretary of youth congress Jitendra Tiwari.

The report states that when Rahul Gandhi landed in Bamrauli airport in Uttar Pradesh after his Chitrakoot address on 28 September, these three leaders shouted slogans like ‘Shiv Bhakt Rahul Gandhi Zindabad’, ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and reportedly gifted a picture of Lord Shiva to him. Rahul Gandhi reportedly found these slogans unnecessary and uncomfortable. On top of that, former MLA Anugrah Narayan Singh, who was supposed to bring food for Rahul Gandhi was reportedly stuck in a traffic jam and thus Rahul had to go back hungry.

Anil Dwivedi, a district president in Congress party has informed that the three persons had ignored ‘party discipline’ and Rahul Gandhi’s security while chanting the slogans and hence they have been expelled. However, Haseeb Ahmad, one of the expelled leaders, has reportedly stated the media that similar slogans were raised in Amethi too after Rahul Gandhi returned from Kailash Mansarovar yatra. He has also reportedly questioned Rahul Gandhi’s sincerity because there is nothing wrong in chanting Har Har Mahadev.

Haseeb Ahmed has earlier been in news for depicting Rahul Gandhi as Shri Krishna protecting Renuka Chowdhury’s honour and BJP leaders including the Prime Minister as Kauravas as a recreation of the famous episode from the Mahabharata when the Kauravas attempted to disrobe Draupadi.

Earlier Haseeb had got creative with their posters and shown his support for Congress president’s sister, Priyanka Gandhi, since ‘mother is ill and brother is overworked’.

Congress election poster
The poster that was not at all liked by the Congress high command.

The BJP, however, has lashed out at Congress and Rahul Gandhi stating that the entire projection of Rahul Gandhi being a Shiv Bhakt was a total farce.


Sudhanshu Trivedi, the BJP spokesperson, has stated that Rahul Gandhi has shown his true colours from Mansarovar to Prayag Raj and he is not a Shiv Bhakt but rather a ‘Bagoola Bhakt’ (fake devotee, referring to the Panchatantra tale of a heron that fakes religious devotion to find easy prey).

It is notable here that since Gujrat elections, Rahul Gandhi and Congress have been trying very hard to play the ‘soft Hindutva’ card. Rahul was seen temple hopping during the Gujarat and Karnataka elections. He had also claimed to have gone on a religious pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar. Congress party workers and leaders have made several attempts to portray him as a Shiv Bhakt, Ram Bhakt, and even an Avatar of Shiva.

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