There have been numerous media attempts to paint Kanwariyas as perpetrators of violent crimes in recent weeks. Earlier we have reported how CNN News 18 had tried to paint an incident of mob violence by Muslims as ‘Kanwariya Menace’. The trend seems to continue.
Yesterday in Siwan, Bihar a 62-year-old kanwariya was dragged from a vehicle and was beaten to death by a local mob. According to reports, a vehicle carrying kanwariyas from Babadham had brushed a bike about 5 km from Lohgajar village. The young man in the bike reportedly called almost a dozen of his associates and the mob started assaulting the kanwariyas in the vehicle. Even female kanwariyas were not spared. Due to the assault by the local mob, 62-year-old Janardan Yadav. Six other kanwariyas, including women, were also injured in the mob assault. Arrests were yet to be made.
However, as pointed by journalist Swati Goel Sharma, The Telegraph ran the report with the headline, ‘1 lynched after Kanwariya vehicle hits bike’. The headline by Telegraph might give the readers an impression that it was perhaps the kanwariya who was involved in the lynching and not the victim. Especially, considering the malign campaign that the media has run against kanwariyas.
News: A vehicle carrying #kanwariyas hits a bike in Bihar. Bike rider calls his henchman, brutally assaults occupants of vehicle including women, kills a 62-year-old kanwariya.
Lakhs of Hindu devotees undertake the Kanwar yatra every year and sparing some stray incidents the yatra is mostly peaceful. However, the recent attempts by the media to paint Kanwar yatras in the negative shade has caused people to take objections.
There has been several maligning attempts and generalisations when it comes to kanwariyas. In another such attempt, Business Standard had insinuated the idea that kanwariyas are ‘jobless’. In the meanwhile, deliberate and violent attacks on kanwariyas, like the incident in Fatehpur, Rajasthan fail to get enough attention from mainstream media.
As the country celebrated Raksha Bandhan on 26th August, many people and politicians are remembered Mother Teresa on her birth anniversary. People regard her as the angel or the saviour of the poor, one who helped the poor kids and families of Kolkata in their worst times. While, it is common to spot a portrait of Mother Teresa hanging in hospitals and schools, being a symbol of compassion and generosity. This image is intact, at least in the minds of the most people in India, since their childhood.
I am a firm believer of democracy. Thus, I abide by the core concept of democracy to question the ambiguous authority, immaterial of their influence in the society. Even Gods and scriptures, can be questioned and sometimes criticized. It’s neither wrong to revere the people who gave all of theirs for others nor erroneous to follow their ideals, which all of us should do. But, the ideals must always be in factual premises, as nobody can go unquestionable in a democratic state. None can surpass the sanctity of democracy.
You would be pondering over now and while reading the title that how can someone question Mother Teresa? Well, no right-minded one can do so, so how can I? In fact, when I heard of Christopher Hitchens, even I wondered about tainting the saintly figures like Mother Teresa, who earned a Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979 and was consecrated the title of Sainthood by Vatican in 2016.
Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu or Mother Teresa was not more than an Albanian missionary, who traveled to India through Ireland. History immensely provides to reveal the horrors that the poor and proselytized witnessed at her clinics and hospitals, due to the ardent and orthodox views she espoused of the Christianity.
Her views on abortion and contraception
Abortion is an issue that forms a significant part of western politics. Strict set of laws are in effect in some western and Latin America countries to punish the act of abortion, even in the case of rapes.
India, where the laws are comparatively liberal regarding abortion still grieves the unfortunate death of Savita Halappanavaran. She was a woman of Indian origin, who died because of the strict abortion laws in Protestant-dominated Ireland which prevented the treatment for the complications of septic miscarriage at the 17th week.
It is ironical that Mother Teresa and Ireland both shared similar views on abortion, to the same extent. In fact, Mother Teresa in 1992, while addressing a crowd in Knock, Ireland, said:
‘’Let us promise Our Lady who loves Ireland so much that we will never allow in this country a single abortion. And no contraceptives.’’ [Page 58, The Missionary position, Christopher Hitchens]
The aversion to abortion and contraception was maybe explained by Mother herself in her speech at Norway while addressing the investiture, after receiving the Nobel Prize.
‘’And I feel one thing I want to share with you all, the greatest destroyer of peace today is the cry of the innocent unborn child…Even in the scripture it is written: Even if mother could forget her child – I will not forget you – I have carved you in the palm of my hand.’’
After toppling the Indira Gandhi government, Janta Party came to power in 1977 with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister. In same year, PM Desai introduced a bill in the Parliament to discourage the use of ‘force or inducement’ in conversion of tribes, mainly in the north-east region of country.
As a result, many Christian NGOs and churches protested against the bill in Bombay, Delhi and Kolkata. Mother Teresa herself wrote a letter to Desai:
Mother Teresa’s letter to PM Moraraji Desai regarding introduction of anti-conversion law in parliament(Emphasis added)
In addition to being a vocal supporter of anti-abortion laws, she even dared PM Desai, to accept the demands of Christians in India or be ready to face spiritually dire consequences at the time of death.
Mother Teresa exploited the poor’s suffering
To put a context to the above sub-heading, have a look at what Mother Teresa had for an answer to Malcolm Muggeridge’s question [Page 11, The Missionary Position].
Malcolm: ‘Do you teach the poor to endure their lot?’
Mother Teresa: ‘I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.’
Commenting upon above Mother Teresa’s logic and reams of other evidences, Christopher Hitchens wrote in his book:
“Mother Teresa was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.”
Christopher Hitchens was one of the staunch critics of Mother Teresa.
One can easily discard Hitchens book and evidences as being biased and written with an agenda, and his critics often do that. But, The Lancet, one the world’s oldest and most respected medical journal, sent Dr. Robin Fox to check the condition of Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying Destitute.
Dr. Fox labelled the environment at those centres as ‘’haphazard’’ and severely criticized the lack of professionals at the hospice.
Dr Fox account in The Lancet regarding abysmal conditions in Dying Home(Emphasis added)
As you can see the snippet for yourself and paint the image of clinics and hospitals, handled in the most pathetic manner. The Home disallowed the patients from medical tests and prohibited the use of analgesics (painkillers) at their centres. Many benign and harmless diseases used to kill patients merely because of lack of antibiotics. They made the lives of the poor so insignificant.
One cannot simply argue the lack of resources. The Home ran in action nearly for four decades, and the charity received ample donations from people to maintain it. In the cited journal, Dr. Fox himself asserted that conditions of centres prevailed purely in accord to Mother Teresa’s wishes, thus the question of her unawareness can be excluded for the abysmal conditions of Homes of Dying.
Susan Shields a sister at Missionaries of Charity had the following to say, [Page 47, The Missionary Position]:
Susan Shields’ statement regarding inflow of donations but still unused on conditions of House
Many authors claimed that the needles were used multiple times in the centres,and never even sterilized and were merely ‘’washed’’ to clean them.
Mother Teresa used to tell her patients that they are suffering from pain as same as ‘’Christ faced the pain on cross.’’
Anand Ranganathan, a scientist and columnist, who is widely known on social media for his brilliant threads including his ‘’Made my day’’ thread, where he calls out the hypocrisy of politicians.
He similarly, wrote a thread in which he exposed her hypocrisy.
29,000 have died in our one house since we began in 1952. We give them all the special ticket of St. Peter. [Laughter] – #MotherTeresapic.twitter.com/VWR2tjpXys
The tweet makes it very clear what Mother Teresa used to think of the dying and suffering kids at her facilities.
Mother Teresa used to baptize the dying children
Susan Shields again says:
Susan Shields’ testimony regarding proselytizing of dying children(Emphasis added)
This account and various others are votary of the malaise that seemed to have plagued Mother Teresa’s mind and motives. Sisters were sent to bed of dying children and surreptitiously asked to rub wet cloth on child’s forehead and chant relevant verses, so as to baptize the dying.
What a person could be like who baptizes children even at death! Evangelist in the garb of an angel.
Stories about baptizing dying children is also present in UK’s most circulated newspaper, here.
All of this statements by sisters of Missionaries of Charity shatters the mantle of altruism and generosity from Mother Teresa. Her bizarre justifications and exploiting suffering of poor, creates a very different canvas of Mother, from what we had seen since childhood.
Mother Teresa herself used to get capricious treatment from American Hospitals, but didn’t even allow painkillers and antibiotics to help poor children from excruciating pain at her centres. If this is not hypocrisy, then what on earth is!
Some other accounts regarding Mother Teresa by other journalists and writers
More clinching evidences are put forth by Dr. Aroup Chatterjee in his book ‘The Final Verdict’ and ‘Mother Teresa: The Untold story’
In 2013 a French research paper published in a journal called Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, analyzed 96% of literature pertaining to Mother Teresa, and drew various conclusions.
Their researches corroborated Dr Fox’s observation of Dying Homes published in The Lancet, regarding hygiene and medical awareness. They also questioned about the usage of large sum of money, that Mother Teresa received from donors across the globe. They called enrtire image made by media a myth and severely criticised pusillanimous attitude of media while addressing the various allegations on Teresa’s works.
Entire research paper is summarized in this news report.
Even, a documentary was released in 1994 of the name ‘’Angel’s Hell’’ on criticized Mother Teresa. It was based on interviews done by Malcolm Muggeridge who was a great admirer of Mother Teresa and her miracles, but all his claims were later debunked by his cameraman Ken McMillan.
Mary Loudon, former volunteer at House of Dying in Kolkata, was another witness to tragedies and abjection at those houses.
On the night of 2 December 1984, Bhopal witnessed one the world’s most gruesome incident of history. The leakage of Methyl Isocynate killed thousands of people immediately, the world’s worst industrial disaster.
Anees Chisti, a reputed journalist penned down a book named Dateline Bhopal. She quotes Mother Teresa views on tragedy and the main culprit Warren Anderson.[ page 51, Mother’s Message of Hope]
Snippet from Dateline Bhopal
The archetype of humanity and compassion asks the victims to ‘’forgive’’ the perpetrators. Maybe, Mother didn’t realize the quantum of the tragedy that not only killed but even crippled thousands and left them suffer whole lives. I can’t even imagine, a person, let alone a Saint, to have such views on human tragedies.
Conclusion
Mother Teresa coming from West to eastern countries to take care of children seems so beautiful and angelic! As Krithika Varagur here cites, historian Vijay Prasad,
Mother Teresa is the quintessential image of the white woman in the colonies, working to save the dark bodies from their own temptations and failures.
We have to bear with the bitter tenets of democracy, no half-truth shall elude the people for long. The smearing attempts by some part of the media has left the people untouched of the public ideals. They still feed the people on the British origins make us fond of anything that is western. We need to stop being fans of West or at least be more pragmatic.
The Gujarat government has sought an explanation from a missionary school in Gandhinagar over the allegations of a teacher cutting off Rakhis from the students’ wrist.
As reported by Hindustan Times, few parents of students studying in Mount Carmel High School, complained to the education department, that a teacher cut off the Rakhis tied on to the wrists of students studying in Class V, a day after Rakshabandhan, which was celebrated on 26th August 2018.
Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on Wednesday said that a notice has been issued to the school.
“The incident was unwarranted. We will not tolerate any act which hurts religious sentiments. My department has issued a notice to the school sought an explanation about who did it and who ordered it. We will take a further decision after getting the reply,” Chudasama told reporters.
Agitated with the entire incident, activists of BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested outside the school on Wednesday, reportedTimes of India. The report says, “ABVP leader Rishikesh Mandalia claimed that when the protesters confronted the school management, they denied that such an incident happened”.
The occurrence of such incidents tell an unsettling story of the systematic way of humiliating Hindu students in Christian Schools and making them feel disgraced by targeting their religious and cultural customs and traditions.
In one such incident recently a Christian Convent school in Bharuch, Gujarat had barred girl students from entering school, if they were found to be wearing henna (mehendi) on their hands. It is reported that the school principal made around 40 girls stand outside the classroom for four hours as a punishment for applying the henna on the hands. Later the school management apologised after a protest by parents.
Various such incidents have been reported in the past forcing one to believe that as the yoke of British regime was overthrown, the agents from the Vatican did not have the authority to abolish Hindu traditions and cultural values forcefully. Thus they were left with only one way to inculcate the disrespect for Hinduism in the minds of Hindus- that was through their education system.
We had earlier reported that in a similar incident that occurred in Kerala, the principal of a government school in Pallakad had issued a diktat, threatening the students with expulsion if they are found to be using religious symbols like kumkum on their foreheads or sacred threads on their wrists. Earlier, a government school run by an evangelical Christian affected an order on girl students not to wear flowers and bindi.
In February 2015, an 11-year old girl of St. Ann School in Secunderabad, Telangana was forced to stand outside Principal Sally Joseph’s room for two hours as punishment for wearing a Tilak on her forehead.
In September 2015, some girl students of St Mary’s Convent School in Kanpur were forced to stand in the sun as punishment for wearing Rakhi and Mehendi. One girl was forced to rub her hands on a rock to remove the Mehendi and thus, her hand was injured.
In June 2016, another regressive anti-Hindu incident took place when St Vincent Pallotti School of Bengaluru had expelled an LKG student for having a Sikha or Tiki (ponytail).
Similarly, In January 2017, the authorities of St. Joseph School in Rameswaram had suspended two boys for having sandalwood paste (Vibhooti) on their forehead. And the same year-end it was also reported how in Keezhapudur, a convent school was punishing some Hindu students for bursting crackers during Diwali and giving appreciation letter to those who did not.
The Delhi University’s standing committee on academic matters has recommended the removal of two books from the reading list for history because they “glorify Naxalism” and “legitimize conversion of tribals to Christianity”. The two books in question are “Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthropological History of Bastar, 1854-2006” by Nandini Sundar and Archana Prasad’s “Against Ecological Romanticism: Verrier Elwin and the Making of an Anti-modern Tribal Identity”.
“On Tuesday they arrested activists calling them ‘urban Naxals’, and they are trying to paint us with the same brush. But they have nothing against us, so this is how they are targeting us,” Prasad told TOI while claiming that the recommendation was politically motivated. Nandini Sundar, meanwhile, has taken to Twitter to suggest that it was not DU which objected to her books but BJP members.
Times of India carries a story on “DU” objecting to my books, when it was only a few BJP members. The aim, of course, is not what my book or Archana Prasad’s book actually says, but to further the “urban naxal” demonisation.. so here goes about The Burning Forest:
Talking to OpIndia.com, Dr Geeta Bhatt, who is a member of the committee that recommended the removal, said, “It was a meeting of the standing committee of academic matters where syllabus of all Post Graduate departments had come for approval. The History department prescribed these books for teaching a paper on Adivasis, Caste and social exclusion. Concern was raised as the book by Nandini Sundar glorifies the Naxalites and their deeds while Archana Prasad’s book gives legitimacy to conversions of tribals.”
Responding to Nandini Sundar’s insinuation that only a “few BJP members” had raised their voice against the book, Dr Bhatt said, “All the members in the committee are from Delhi University. The HOD of all departments, Deans of colleges, Academic council members are part of the committee.”
She also rubbished Prasad’s allegations that the recommendation was politically motivated. She said, “Our concern is that the books referred should not have content which justifies any armed resistance or conversions.”
Nandini Sundar is the wife of S Varadarajan of The Wire and is accused of a tribal man’s murder in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma. Archana Prasad was also booked in the same case. The Superintendent of Police of Bastar had also written to the Vice Chancellors of JNU and DU asserting that the two had tried to instigate the villagers against the Police.
It is well known that information is power and the democratization of it will surely cause irk among those who enjoy benefits from being informed at the expense of the ill-formed general public.
The entire media scenario has been abuzz with the perception of ‘civil society’ being persecuted and the main propagators of this idea are claiming to be torch-bearers of neutrality and constitutional values. Some of them are journalists of repute. Controversial journalist Rajdeep Sardesai is one of them. Now, Rajdeep has been trying to better his public perception by using a mouthful and deceiving title ‘Newsman’.
Perpetuating the same manufactured perception, Rajdeep Sardesai gave an interview to the news portal, The Quint. The entire interview reads like a tactfully curated PR release to showcase Rajdeep in a kinder light. The interview goes to the extent of making Rajdeep a victim as opposed to the fact that he himself has been the aggressor on multiple occasions, which is dealt with in details in the latter part of this article.
“Rajdeep Sardesai, veteran journalist, has been propped as PM Modi’s biggest nemesis. His coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the cash-for-votes controversy, and a ‘soft’ Sonia Gandhi interview has given enough ammunition to the supporters of PM Modi and the BJP to brand him as a Modi-hater.”
To insinuate that there was no agenda behind this and Rajdeep was just a ‘newsman’ is fallacious on so many levels, that this seems like a PR exercise is evidenced by the fact that none of Rajdeep’s answers was countered. For example, when asked about his soft stance on Sonia Gandhi and Laloo Prasad, Rajdeep simply states that he like the ‘underdog’ Laloo but fails to answer why he continued with his soft stand even after the ‘underdog’ became convicted of syphoning of funds while holding a union minister portfolio.
In his answer about Sonia Gandhi, he claims that the lack of time forced him to ask ‘soft’ questions. Rajdeep claims whenever he tried to ask a different question, Sonia shut him down. Now, for a self-righteous newsman, it is a very revealing statement, as this exposes the inability of having the guts to not bow down to power and maintain the strict line of questioning.
This was, however, in complete contradiction to Rajdeep’s answer to the question of being anti-Modi, where he states:
“I do believe that it is important for a journalist to show the mirror to the politicians to be able to say like it is. That’s what I’ve tried to do. And, I think, if that leaves me vulnerable to the charge of being anti or pro-Modi. It’s unfortunate but I’m willing to live with it now. I have no problems with it, my conscience is clean. And we have to be anti-establishment at one level.”
This is a clear indication of the duplicity that is synonymous with Rajdeep. The newsman may like to share a bottle of beer with Jyoti Basu and Bal Thackrey but the temperature will differ according to the ‘newsman’.
According to Merriam-Webster the term ‘Newsman’ denotes – ‘A person who gathers, reports and comments on the news.’ There is no mention of suppression or manipulation of news. The extraordinary thing about the internet is that this newsman, no matter how hard he tries, can never deny that he himself has indulged and been a part of the politically motivated dissemination of information or in his case suppression of a particular ‘sting’ to save the face of his then found new friends in a political party.
It is hard to remember something which happened nearly ten years ago, especially in today’s world of ‘information overload’. Rajdeep was at that time the Editor-in-Chief’ of CNN-IBN and his channel had done a sting on ‘cash-for-votes’. The sting was to be aired on the very critical date of July 22nd, 2008 the day of the no-confidence motion in the parliament. The motion was triggered by a split in the government due to an Indo-US nuclear deal.
As Rajdeep stood outside the parliament on that eventful day announcing the impending telecast of the scoop, three MP’s from the Bharatiya Janata Party on July 22, 2008, rushed into the well of the Lok Sabha displaying the Rs 1 crore to show they had been bribed. They then deposited the cash in the office of the Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Interestingly, the sting focused on the serial number of the notes given to the MP’s. The reason behind this was that it can be confirmed if one is to claim that those notes were not the ones in the video, the serial number can be used as markings of reference.
The sting claimed to show Amar Singh, Rajya Sabha MP, had promised them Rs 3 crore each to go against the BJP whip and vote for the motion triggered by a split in the government over the Indo-US nuclear deal. The BJP MPs also said that Sanjeev Saxena, who worked for Amar Singh, told them that they would be given a total advance of Rs 1 crore. They added Saxena had also been filmed handing over cash to MPs. The MP’s also claimed that the entire operation was planned by the then leader of the opposition and now the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and executed by L.K.Advani’s former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni.
In a typical Rajdeep way, the sting was not shown that day and in the evening Rajdeep appeared on his channel citing “National interest” for the cause of withdrawal of Broadcasting. He sat on it for 10 whole days as the public and the politicians grew restless and on 30th July 2018, Rajdeep wrote a very superfluous article stating his defence which in summary amount to –“The sting was not complete”.
The very first question that anyone would ask is why would Rajdeep announce on TV that the tapes would be telecasted very shortly and right after that announcement say that his channel has chosen not to showcase the tape?
In his article he states:
“Quite simply, we have chosen not to telecast the story yet because we did not feel that the story was complete. Credible journalism is based on accuracy not speed, facts not sensationalism, reportage not allegations and assumptions.”
By his own admission, he was certain of the fact that the story was good to go when he was standing outside the parliament but then suddenly after only a few hours and an epiphany he came to the conclusion that the story was not yet complete.
To cover up, this attempt to safeguard vested interest Rajdeep argues that he has submitted all the un-edited tapes and footage to the speaker:
“All the raw, unedited footage was placed before the Speaker within 24 hours of the parliament fracas. Not a single frame has been edited in any form. The Speaker has subsequently ordered an inquiry, which media reports suggest, is to be completed by the 11th of August.”
Going back to the unfinished business of Rajdeep, if one person feels that the sting is inconclusive how can the same person turn around and say this is and can be used as evidence. It seems like the main intention here was to keep the sting off the public domain. One wonders if by disposing the entire tape to the Speaker, Rajdeep very astutely made sure that certain people’s integrity was not questioned and then backed by video evidence.
Sudheendra Kulkarni, one of the key persons in this whole fiasco in his column in The Indian Express newspaper, writes that he was “with the CNN-IBN team almost from the beginning to the end of its sting operation and have witnessed the recording of its operation”.
The above-stated statement is in stark contrast with the high-headed moralistic view of his channel that Rajdeep mentioned in his article.
In this article, Rajdeep writes:
“We would like to reiterate that at CNN-IBN we remain committed to quality and independent journalism. Our commitment is to the truth. Truth that cannot be partial, inconclusive or sensational, but one that must adhere to exacting standards of fairness and accuracy.”
In this case, the truth was partial. It was evident that there was an outside influence at play here. Kulkarni also alleges that not all tapes were submitted to the speaker Somnath Chatterjee on 26th July 2008. He states –
“In their statement, the CNN-IBN reporters talk about recording the cash being placed on the table by the BJP MPs. They even said on camera that they have proof of cash being paid to win votes. But the panel did not get those tapes”
In the end, the sting was aired 20 days later and the sting had no mention of Amar Singh or anyone conclusive, there was just a footage of a person calling someone stating – “Kam ho gaya”. The eight-member committee, headed by V. Kishore Chandra Singh Deo, completed its probe in 11 sittings and submitted its report on November 12, 2008. It said there was no case against Patel and no “clinching evidence against Amar Singh”. It said the role of BJP worker Suhail Hindustani, Saxena and Kulkarni should be investigated at length by “an appropriate investigating agency.
However, the question of how public interest got served by withholding a sting in order to minimize damage to certain individual’s reputation is still unanswered.
The Aam Aadmi Party government has reportedly refused to implement the Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme until its name is changed. As per reports, the party wants the scheme to be named as ‘Mukhya Mantri Aam Aadmi Swasthya Bima Yojna-Ayushman Bharat’.
As per reports, the AAP also thinks that the coverage of 20 million people under this scheme is not enough and it wants to add another 50 million beneficiaries to it. The AAP government has also put the renaming of the scheme as a condition for implementation. The central government reportedly has refused to entertain such demands.
CEO of Ayushman Bharat Dr Indu Bhushan has reportedly stated that the states can keep the scheme state specific but it is a national program and its national outlook will be given a priority. She also mentioned that the AAP government is expected to revert on the issue soon. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has reportedly rejected the Delhi government’s proposal and a senior official has been quoted as stating the Ayushman Bharat scheme is an ambitious project by PM Modi which aims to provide quality healthcare for the people of India and it should not be moulded into a political vendetta.
PM Modi had announced a budget provision of Rs 10,000 crores for this scheme and it is scheduled to roll out from September 25th.
It is notable here that when the scheme was initially announced, the AAP had rejected it saying they will bring their own health insurance scheme. AAP had argued that the scheme is based on the socio-economic census of 2011 and it does not accurately include the number of beneficiaries that should be included in Delhi. The Ayushman Bharat scheme launched by the centre aims to provide health insurance of Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore families in the country. Under the scheme, 40% of the cost will be borne by the state and the rest by the central government. Some of the states were unwilling to join the national scheme. While Odisha has already come up with its own healthcare scheme for 70 lakh people that offers Rs 5 lakhs in health insurance to men and rs 7 lakhs to women, Delhi had failed to come up with its own scheme despite its claims.
It is notable here that the Ayushman Bharat is considered as the biggest universal healthcare scheme in the world. It plans to provide poor families with cashless insurance protection of Rs 5 lakh per year and is aimed at including 500 million Indians.
The AAP seems to have developed a sudden obsession with names. Earlier this week it was reported that it has made its leader Atishi Marlena drop her surname as it was deemed ‘too Christian’ for contesting elections. Recently estranged AAP leader Ashutosh has also claimed that during the 2014 elections the party forced him to use his surname against his wishes to appeal to his caste base.
Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana yesterday tweeted an image which compared the global Islamist terrorist organisation Muslim Brotherhood which was founded in Egypt with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
In an image, she juxtaposes the Muslim Brotherhood and the RSS and tries to draw parallels between the two in a rather flippant manner.
She claims that the Muslim Brotherhood and the RSS, both established in the 1920s, want to replace a ‘secular state’. She claims that the Arab Spring in 2011 gave a boost to the Muslim Brotherhood which got Mohamed Morsi as President in 2012, and Anna movement from 2011 got Modi to power in 2014.
That the Muslim Brotherhood and the RSS are similar in any manner is a figment of a nervous mind’s imagination and hence shouldn’t even be dignified. It is perhaps a precursor, fearfully so, of how the Congress might lash out at a social and cultural organisation such as the RSS because it would never want to risk being out of power again.
This post by Divya comes days after Congress President Rahul Gandhi embarrassed himself on an international platform by making the same comparison in Britain. Since its inception in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has used jihad and violence to achieve its political objectives. In the 1970s, it moved from violence to electoral politics and in 2012, Mohamed Morsi became Egypt’s first elected President only to be overthrown soon after.
Her ignorance, however, is not just limited to the comparison she has drawn, following her employer, Rahul Gandhi’s footsteps. It also exposes the deep malaise that has infested the Congress party for years. Conflating secularism with the dominance of Muslims and communalism with the dominance of Hindus or even equal rights between Hindus and Muslims. The countries, other than the ones like Russia etc, where the Muslim Brotherhood is banned in, are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria etc. Which country would she like to refer to as ‘secular’ is a question one must ask the Congress.
Manmohan Singh had famously said that Muslims have the first right on the Nation’s resources. The Congress party has always attempted to put on a facade of ‘secularism’. If the two are put together, Congress’ definition of ‘secularism’ becomes quite evident.
Congress has always used religion as a tool for politics, not as a matter of faith. During Gujarat, Rahul Gandhi and his coterie turned into staunch Hindus, during Karnataka, they preferred to share the political bed with radical Islamist outfits like PFI and now, as 2019 nears, their aims seem to be to demonise RSS, a cultural organisation, to create a fear psychosis that might just help them recover from their dwindling political fortunes. Of course, the entire process of religious-shape-shifting has been sprinkled with cases like opposing Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, Congressmen fighting for RSS and comparing Triple Talaq to Lord Ram.
One must ask Congress, that if it was them that hobnobbed with PFI, which party’s image could be closer to the Muslim Brotherhood between Congress and BJP?
This is not the only lie, however. Divya also asserts that it just like the Arab Spring helped Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood seize political power in Egypt, it is Anna Hazare’s movement that helped RSS and BJP come to power. Interestingly, Divya completely skips over Arvind Kejriwal and AAP, that were the direct product of the Anna movement. Politics makes for strange bedfellows, but as is evident, politics and the fear of never returning to power also makes excellent liars.
The Internet is full of trolls who are busy comparing the ISIS to the RSS but coming from the grand old party, it gives legitimacy to demonising of the cultural organisation like the RSS. All this when Congress itself is hobnobbing and sympathising with Naxals while comparing the RSS to terrorists. On the recent crackdown of ‘Urban Maoists’ in connection to the Koregaon-Bhima case, the Congress had come out in support of those arrested and referred to the arrest as ‘draconian’.
The draconian arrests of Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Fereira and Vernon Gonsalves & other human rights activists further substantiate the anti-democratic actions of the ruling govt. PM Modi’s ‘New India’ is nothing but a dictatorship wrapped in expensive advertising. #BhimaKoregaon
In essence, Congress has managed to use religion to divide the nation, like in the case of Lingayats or claiming to be janeu dhari Hindus or trying to incite Dalits. It has managed to shake hands with radical Islamist outfits like PFI just to retain power and It has defended Naxals and Maoists who wish to bring down any duly elected government of India with the help of an ‘armed struggle’. Perhaps it is now time to ask Congress, that given its track record, who is more likely to be compared to the Muslim Brotherhood? The Congress or the BJP?
As a part of its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over the Rafale deal, the Congress party today tried to gherao the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This came after Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley posted a detailed response over the allegations about the deal in a Facebook post, after which he and Rahul Gandhi traded accusations on Twitter.
On Thursday, hundreds of Congress party workers came onto the streets in New Delhi and tried to gherao the PM residence, but they were stopped by security forces. After that, they staged a protest.
Senior Congress leader Hanumantha Rao said the prime minister has not answered “properly” on the Rafale deal. “People who have no experience in defence manufacturing have been awarded contracts under this deal. We want to know how much money is being wasted in this,” he said.
Congress is trying to intensify its offensive Modi and BJP in the run-up to the General Elections next year, and this seems to part of that strategy.
Congress stages protest near PM residence. Source: Congress Twitter handle
It is, however, interesting to note that Congress chose to gherao PM’s residence on a day when PM is not even in the country.
On Thursday morning PM Modi arrived in Kathmandu to attend the BIMSTEC Summit 2018 which is being held in the Nepalese capital. BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a regional organisation of seven nations of South East Asia, comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal.
With SAARC virtually rendered ineffective as a regional organisation, largely due to non-cooperation of Pakistan on various issues, India has been giving more importance to BIMSTEC in recent times. It also fits nicely with India’s effort to increase cooperation with South East Asian nations, though its Look East policy, which will also help in the development of North Eastern states of the country.
The point of a ‘gherao’ is generally to disallow a person from leaving the premises so they are eventually forced to respond or negotiate the protesting party’s demand. One wonders how the Congress plans to ‘stop the PM from leaving his residence’ by a ‘gherao’ protest when the prime minister is not even in the country, let alone his residence.
Republic TV claims to have narrowed down Nirav Modi’s location to a luxury apartment in London. Shawan Sen, a Republic TV journalist who has been tracking Nirav Modi and his brother Nishal Modi, through Hong Kong and London, has stated in his report that he has tracked Nirav Modi to a super luxury apartment in Westminister, London where Nirav has been served his extradition notice. As per reports, Modi has two addresses in London and Sen claims to have visited both.
Republic TV also claims that Sen got a phone call from Nishal after he tried to inquire about the brothers at the lobby of the apartment building when Nishal has claimed that he is in Belgium. Republic TV report cites both the brothers as claiming that the entire PNB scam was committed by Mehul Choksi and they are being trapped.
The channel has claimed that when Sen tried to go to the flat where Nirav Modi is supposedly hiding, he was asked by an unknown person from the neighbouring flat to go back. Upon reaching the lobby, Sen claims he was questioned by the building manager and the building manager mentioned that Ami Modi, Nirav Modi’s wife, once lived there but not anymore. In the lobby, there was a picture of Ami Modi and another woman with a note, “Ask the lady to vacate the premises.”
Republic TV also claims that Nirav Modi has another flat located near the Tower of London and he has been shuffling between the two apartments since past two months. Sen reportedly also managed to find the phone number of Nirav Modi and tried to talk to him but he didn’t answer.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi are both wanted by the Indian law enforcement authorities over the Rs. 12,000 crores PNB scam. The Interpol had also issued red corner notices on both of them in July. While Choksi has been tracked to Antigua and the Indian government is trying to bring him back, attempts are also on to get Nirav Modi extradited from the UK.
A massive crackdown has been underway on supposed Naxal sympathizers in connection with the violence at Bhima Koregaon last year and an assassination plot to murder Prime Minister Modi. The residences of prominent ‘Civil Rights Activists’ have been raided and they have either been detained or arrested. Following the crackdown, there was a meltdown in the left-liberal camp and all its players scurried to blame the central government.
Post the meltdown, op-eds started being written eulogising the ones raided. One saw a concerted attempt to whitewash the crimes that those arrested have committed in the past. An impression is being created that the all the accused who have a history of arrest were arrested merely because of fake charges and that there was never any evidence of them having committed a crime.
One of the main people to be eulogised seems to be Vernon Gonzalves is a member of Communist Party of India (Maoist) and was convicted in 2007 by a Nagpur sessions court under the Arms Act, Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The Quint reports, “In 2013, Gonsalves was acquitted in 17 cases against him. He walked out of jail after spending nearly six years in various Mumbai prisons.”
The report attempts to create the impression that he was let out of jail in 2013 because he was found innocent and quotes him intensively to paint a picture of how he was falsely accused.
In reality, he was convicted in 2007 by a Nagpur sessions court under the Arms Act, Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after the prosecution in the case asserted that nine detonators, 20 gelatin sticks, a walkie-talkie set, a computer, Naxal literature were seized from the duo in a raid in a chawl in Govandi, Mumbai.
While it is true that he was acquitted in 17 cases against him, he was allowed to walk out of jail only because he had already been incarcerated for the period he was sentenced.
With all due sympathies to Sagar Abraham Gonsalves, Vernon’s son, he has been spreading falsehood on Facebook regarding his father’s history. In a post, he writes, “After spending 5 and half years in jail, my father was acquitted in all cases. 5 and a half years of a person’s life was spent languishing in prison for crimes he had never committed. What a wonderful job the state had done.” That is patently untrue as has been described above.
His statement could have been ignored if outlets like Firstpost weren’t using it to create a wave of sympathy.
The selective quoting of facts to paint a convicted man as an innocent persecuted by the state in actuality plays right into the hands of the Naxal propaganda. The Ultras also choose to believe and aim to convince others, by violence or otherwise, that the Indian state is persecuting its citizens. The Naxal ‘movement’ is in fact rooted in the ideology that the government should be overthrown to be replaced with a government that conforms to the Naxal ideology. Media has somehow, become a knowing or unknowing participant in that seditious delusion.
The media and the intellectual elite have a habit of whitewashing the crimes of one of their own. Convicted for sedition, Binayak Sen was whitewashed as well, whitewashed enough to have the privilege of delivering a keynote address at an event at Tata Institute of Social Sciences and being in a committee for police reforms of the Aam Aadmi Party and was named a member of the government’s Planning Commission on health by the Congress party.
It is indeed bewildering that a man who has been convicted under Arms Act, Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) is revered by the media and the ‘civil society’ as a civil rights activist. Such venerated treatment of people with a history of conviction is one of the primary reasons why the mainstream media has lost all credibility.
