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Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan: How former Prime Minister Vajpayee led India to new dawn in science after Pokhran tests

OpIndia Staff
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Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan: How former Prime Minister Vajpayee led India to new dawn in science after Pokhran tests

In 1965, India’s second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave the slogan, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” (Hail the soldier, hail the farmer) to encourage the soldiers and farmers when the nation was reeling under the effect of 1965 India-Pakistan war. A week after the Pokhran nuclear tests were carried out in May 1998, India’s former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee improvised on the same slogan and said, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan” (Hail the soldier, hail the farmer, hail science).

In May 1998, a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions were conducted in India at Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range, Operation Shakti. This was India’s second successful nuclear test after Smiling Buddha (also called Pokhran 1) was conducted on 18 May 1974, Buddha Purnima.

During the 1998 general elections when the BJP came to power with an exclusive mandate, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had publicly lobbied for nuclear test explosion. Preparations for the test were carried out under complete secrecy for fear of being detected by spy satellites of the US and other countries. A very small group of scientists, senior military officers and politicians were involved in the preparation to ensure it remains a secret. The chief scientific adviser and the Director of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr Abdul Kalam, and Dr R. Chidambaram, the Director of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), were the chief coordinators of this test planning. The scientists and engineers of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMDER), and the DRDO were involved in the nuclear weapon assembly, layout, detonation and obtaining test data.

Finally, 11 May 1998, which was also Buddha Purnima, India became a full-fledged nuclear-armed state. As per reports from archives,

The actual timing of the tests were dependent on the local weather conditions. It was hot in the Thar Desert in early May, it reached 43 C on the day of the test. But the critical factor was the wind. Although the tests were underground, they were shallow tests and the sealing of the shaft could not be guaranteed to be leakproof (a number of shaft seal failures had occurred in the U.S. despite much deeper burials). Winds blowing toward inhabited areas, as occurred on the morning on 11 May were not acceptable. But by early afternoon the winds had died down and the scientists decided to go ahead with the tests. Prime Minister Vaypayee and Brajesh Mishra, his Principal Secretary, had waited at the official residence since at least 9 a.m. to hear the test results. Kalam called at 3 p.m. to tell the Prime Minister that the winds were dying down and the tests could be conducted during the next hour.

K. Santhanam of the DRDO, who was in charge of the test site preparations, gave the two keys that activated the test countdown to Vasudev, the range safety officer, who was responsible for verifying that all test indicators were normal. After checking the indicators, Vasudev handed one key each to a representative of BARC and of the DRDO, who together unlocked the countdown system. At 3:45 p.m. the three devices detonated.

Addressing the nation after the tests, Vajpayee hailed the scientists and engineers who made Pokhran tests a success.

A week later, while addressing a Sainik Sammelan at the Pokhran test range, Vajpayee coined the above slogan. The Opposition, led by Congress criticised the tests and questioned the same. Senior Congress leader Salman Khursheed accused the BJP of conducting the bombs for the political gains and not national security. He even questioned why the tests were necessary. To that, Vajpayee gave a fitting response in the Parliament.

He asked whether one should be prepared for self-defence only in case of threat? This nuclear test was a way to prepare the country in case of threats to national security.

Other countries, however, weren’t too happy with the tests. The United States issued a strong statement condemning the same and in compliance with the 1994 anti-proliferation law, the United States imposed economic sanctions on India, including cutting off all assistance to India except humanitarian aid and banning the export of certain defence material and technologies. Japan, Pakistan and China too were condemned the nuclear tests.

Twenty years after the 1998 Pokhran tests, it is believed that India will make yet another bid for admission in the National Suppliers Group (NSG), an elite group of 48 countries which deals with fissile materials and nuclear technology. If India manages to become a member of NSG, it would mean access to cutting-edge technology from fields which vary from nuclear energy to medicine. In what might potentially be a major boost in staking a claim for an NSG membership, India became part of the “Australia Group” which strives to check the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons in January this year. With India now successfully being part of three prominent export control groups, the other two being the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Waseenaar Arrangement, and the US too claiming that it is working closely with its international partners to secure India’s entry into the NSG, it remains to be seen whether China can be finally forced to forsake its opposition.

Vajpayee was admitted to AIIMS, Delhi following a heart attack on 11th August and his health has been deteriorating since. Currently he is critical and on life support.

Former Yazidi sex slave spots tormentor in German streets, authorities admit they cannot do anything

OpIndia Staff
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Former Yazidi sex slave spots tormentor in German streets, authorities admit they cannot do anything

In a bizarre incident but one that is symptomatic of Europe in recent times, a former Yazidi slave girl, Ashwaq Ta’lo, met with her ISIS captor in the streets of Germany, The Times has reported. When she reported the incident to the relevant German authorities, she was told that her tormentor was also a registered refugee and there was nothing they could do. She has left Germany since then and now lives in Kurdistan.

In another incident that portrays a deep sense of irony, a Swedish woman who opposed the deportation of migrants was raped by two teenagers from Afghanistan after she agreed to accompany them to their accommodation late in the night after having met them at a bar.

Intelligence services have known for some time that many terrorists have entered Europe posing as refugees. German authorities have been aware for a long time that terrorists have entered the country posing as asylum seekers from Syria and nearby countries. However, despite the obvious security threat, Germany has remained resolutely committed to accepting migrants from conflicted areas. Even Angela Merkel was forced to admit in 2017 that some ‘refugees’ were ‘no doubt’ a security threat.

Germany, in recent years, has seen a spike in violent crimes committed by young male refugees. A government-backed study revealed that violent crimes had increased by 10% in 2015 and 2016 and over 90% of that is attributed to young male refugees. Despite the valid concerns regarding unbridled immigration, the liberal left in Europe strongly believes that any policy that does not guarantee every immigrant an unequivocal right to migrate and settle in Europe is inherently racist.

Rejoicing death – how self-declared ‘liberals’ showed they are worst of humanity as Vajpayee remains critically ill

OpIndia Staff
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Rejoicing death – how self-declared ‘liberals’ showed they are worst of humanity as Vajpayee remains critically ill

Scratch a self-proclaimed liberal and find a hater who rejoices in the death of someone because their political ideologies differ. And it is not someone who is ‘followed by a leader’ who is rejoicing. It is those who whined about someone who ‘rejoiced’ when a senior journalist was shot dead last year because the PM followed.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has been on life support after his health deteriorated. While many people poured their wishes for his speedy recovery, there were others who scorned and were spiteful of him. Here are some of the tweets by so-called liberals showing their hate for a man who is probably breathing his last.


One self-proclaimed ‘free-thinker’ referred to Vajpayee as a founder of a terrorist organisation. He even wished death upon him by rooting to ‘pull the plug’.


Communist leader Kavita Krishnan, who otherwise spends time defending rape accused from her party cadre and the Left academia, too, shared her disdain for Vajpayee.

Rape apologist Kavita Krishnan showing her disdain for Vajpayee


Disgraced former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who regularly spews venom, too chimed in with his 2 cents.


A journalist associated with The Wire, the left propaganda website which regularly indulges in spreading lies, already declared at Vajpayee dead at 2:42 pm and whined about the road blocks that would follow the demise.


She later deleted the tweet.

While death is inevitable, and all of us must die at some point, to generate so much hate for a 93-year-old breathing his last is rather unfortunate.

Hindus first lose lives and then, the narrative

Ashish Shukla
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Hindus first lose lives and then, the narrative

Every Independence Day fills me with sadness and anger. For the day next is August 16, albeit of 1946, when the Muslim League government of the day in undivided Bengal provoked violence against Hindus, described by the then TIME magazine as the “worst communal riots of the century.”

History remembers the day as the ‘Direct Action Day’ or the ‘The Week of Long Knives.’ On July 29, 1946, Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah had made a call for ‘Direct Action’—a call to all Muslims in the country—to mark its rejection of the constituent assembly and to demonstrate to British and Congress that a separate nation called Pakistan alone could offer them security.

Were Muslims unsafe in Congress-dominated India? Mahatma Gandhi would’ve called it the ‘greatest irony.’ All his life he was accused of Muslim appeasement, from Khilafat movement to Malabar riots and later to funding Pakistan with Rs 55 crores which was the last straw for a Hindu protagonist, Nathuram Godse. All these killings after Direct Action Day, Noakhali, and Punjab partition still had Gandhi reaching out to Pakistan even as their infiltrators were carving out Kashmir illegally–looting, killing and raping with impunity.

Had Muslims been unsafe in India, the call for Pakistan would’ve come much before than it finally did in 1940. Had Muslims been unsafe, an overwhelming majority of Indian Muslims would’ve thought little of Muslim League till 1945. If Muslim security alone was uppermost in Jinnah’s mind, he ought to have worried about millions of Muslims he was leaving behind in vivisected India.

So, that’s Exhibit A:  Jinnah’s call for Direct Action Day had little basis but for his own personal agenda. He found a ready ally in Britain who were stung by Congress’ non-cooperation during World War II and wanted to teach them a lesson. Britain also wanted to retain a foothold in the Indian sub-continent, access to the critical Arabian Sea and to stem the advances of Russia and its’ Communism to the Middle East where oil was beginning to be the new big lolly.

The next set of facts are undisputed too: That (a) the then Bengal Chief Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, ‘king of goondas‘ made an inflammatory speech in Calcutta while calling for a bandh on the day; (b) police and other security services were given off for the day; (c) Muslim League mouthpiece The Star of India called upon Muslims to remember the jihad, the Battle of Badr, when a handful of Muslims overpowered the heathens, (d) Pirs and Mullahs were urged to mobilize Muslims on the prayers of Friday, the 16th.

From this stage on, the Left-Liberal academia takes over the history that reaches us. Ramachandra Guha admits that although “the violence was started by the (Muslim) League, the main sufferers were Muslims.” The Quint quotes a writer and a BBC programme to show how Hindus were enacting violence; Scroll mentions that 75% of victims were Muslims; The Wire asserts that Suhrawardy is ‘misremembered’ as a Hindu-hating communal leader for he wanted a united Bengal (who are we to tell them that’s because Suhrawardy didn’t want to lose Calcutta, the nub of Bengal’s economy).

What’s their source of claiming that more Muslims lost their lives? Some bloggers and historians. What’s the source of these bloggers and historians? Again some other bloggers and historians. That’s how the Left-Liberal grows the tree of agenda.

Now, what’s the official position?

Exhibit A: In absence of the official figure, only a widely varying figure of between 4,000-10,000 killed, mostly a guesswork; (b) In August 1946, the Government of Bengal appointed an enquiry commission presided by the Supreme Justice of India, Sir Patrick Spens. Although the commission interrogated many witnesses, its conclusions were never published!

Exhibit B: Why the report wasn’t published? You would never see a select academia/historians mentioning or questioning it. You would never find this Left-Liberal bloc telling you about ‘evil’ Governor Frederick Burrows and his complicity in Direct Action Day; you would never find this Left-Liberal cabal tell you that during the days of the partition, the sentiments of British officers, be it police or army or bureaucracy, were overwhelmingly pro-Pakistan because of the non-cooperation of Congress during World War II. Or the role of such British officers in helping infiltrators in Kashmir in 1947-48.

You pay enough attention and you would get the pattern in modern day: it’s never Hindu right-wingers who are killed in Kerala but violence is from both sides; it’s never BJP leaders who are massacred and thrown into gutters in West Bengal but losses are on both sides. You would get the pattern when the proposed Citizenship Bill for Hindus who are emptied from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh is opposed tooth and nail by these official raconteurs. Why the brilliant account of Hindus’ suffering in Bengal by Tathagata Roy “My People, Uprooted” is kept hidden from your attention. For anyone but Hindus is the creed.

Even though they all concur that Muslims initiated the riots at the call of Suhrawardy; that police was pulled in, yet somehow more Muslims died on a data which is non-existent! (and dare you disbelieve them.)

So I will follow August 16 this year with both trepidation and sadness. Trepidation is to watch out for fresh “painted” accounts by the unscrupulous. Sadness, for if a debate, seminar or remembrance of the day is observed, it would somehow be BJP who would be plastered as communal!  Meanwhile, you and I would keep sitting on our haunches—and watch our next generation brain-washed and swamped with guilt. The continuing horrors on millions of Hindus in the east of our land are neither heard nor told.

So first you lose lives; then you lose the memory of these lives and instead of outrage are left with guilt. That’s how brilliantly a narrative is controlled.

Nirmala Sitharaman on the Rafale row: Congress has been beating around the bush showing their ‘desperation’

OpIndia Staff
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Nirmala Sitharaman on the Rafale row: Congress has been beating around the bush showing their ‘desperation’

Amid ongoing row over Rafale deal, the Congress party on Thursday said that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that HAL was not competent enough to produce aircraft. Referring to Nirmala Sitharaman’s interview to Times Now, Congress said that the Defence Minister added fuel to the fire by saying that Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was not competent enough to produce aircraft.

Congress took to Twitter, trying to berate the government, and clearly, in its attempt to do so, it so seemed that the parties frustration over the Rafale deal has reached its optimal.


Nirmala Sithraman, while speaking to Times Now, being her candid self, refuted the continuous allegations by once again stressing that “The desperation of the Opposition is clear. Congress is displaying irresponsibility. The deals can be made without middlemen. There is no basis to Congress’ claims that the prices of the Rafale are higher than at the time of UPA government,” she said.

On being questioned as to why the government did not prefer HAL, she claimed that (watch from the 29:00-minute mark), HAL’s production has scaled up under NDA and further went on to counter-question the Congress by saying that if the “Congress had so much love for HAL, why didn’t they sit with the French (company) and talk it out to see what is deficient about the HAL’s offer and what can be done to improve it and how HAL indeed get’s it”.

The Defence Minister furthered that the government was quite actively engaged with HAL, and sneeringly blamed Rahul Gandhi for triggering misunderstandings, “for the love of HAL… UPA, Shri Rahul Gandhi doesn’t just help talking,” the Defence Minister said.

Last week, Rahul Gandhi had dared the prime minister to a debate on the Rafale deal and claimed that he will not be able to answer his questions on the issue “even for a second”. Before that, Gandhi has also termed Rafale a ‘corruption of century’.

Rahul Gandhi and his grand old party have been relentlessly demanding that the government share details of the Rafale fighter aircraft price as it accused the Modi government, (though innumerable times been proved wrong) of buying them at thrice the price negotiated by the UPA government for 126 aircraft.

My debate with a Leftist friend over demands to cancel Pondy Lit fest

Nirwa Mehta
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My debate with a Leftist friend over demands to cancel Pondy Lit fest

The other day I was at Khan Market in Delhi where one is bound to spot a celebrity journalist or a celebrity lawyer at any given time. While I couldn’t spot anyone, perhaps they were chilling in a boutique brewery somewhere in New Friends Colony, I spotted my Leftist friend who has blocked me on Facebook after I pointed out in her status update that despite being a communist, it is kind of hypocritic she was still working in a private bank, thereby contributing to ‘crony capitalism’ and chose to commute in her Hyundai Creta instead of taking the metro. It is amusing how people who ‘like to speak the truth’ don’t really like to hear it. My conversation with this friend, let us call her JC, went something like this:

JC: Hey, long time! Where have you been? Haven’t heard from you since a while.

I thought of reminding her that she had blocked me on Facebook and later on WhatsApp, thereby making it amply clear she doesn’t want to hear from me.

Me: Yeah, just work. Plus with 2019 coming up, days are getting busier, busting propaganda of the Leftists.

I deliberately tried to poke her instead of exchanging some pleasantries. If she has stripped me off the rights to poke her on Facebook, I was determined to do that in the real world. And my, was she triggered!

JC: What Leftist propaganda, everywhere else there is saffronisation, from schools to universities to government. Even the latest Pondy Lit Fest is saffronized. I cancelled my bookings at last minute.

Me: Why are you opposing the lit fest?

JC: It reads more like a shakha than a literary festival.

Me: How? Many people present there, like scientist Anand Ranganathan, have been vocal critics of the RSS and the BJP from time to time. And there’s also the feminist icon Kalki Koechlin, who clearly isn’t an RSS supporter.

JC: C’mon, you know these people are RSS supporters, and they don’t match the quality of our litfests. It is a waste of money.

Me: Ah, ‘your’ litfests, eh? so it’s us vs them?

JC: Don’t twist my words. I said it’s a waste of money. It is government funded.

Me: But your friends are not raising an issue with that. Their contention and problem is because it’s ‘saffron’. Hence they want to cancel it.

JC: Yes, that’s dangerous.

Me: What about your commitment to free speech then?

JC: Free speech can’t be given to ppl who themselves don’t believe in it. If we allow propagation of speech that believes silencing voices, one day we will have not free speech.

Me: Don’t you think that sounds kind of meta, since it’s you who is silencing voices?

JC: C’mon, we are fighting for free speech. You’re again twisting my words.

Me: Okay, so you say one must not be allowed to propagate a belief if that particular belief ends up eliminating an environment that enables propagation of numerous or plural beliefs?

JC: Hallelujah! Finally you get it.

Me: Then communism should be banned in a democracy no? Because if communism prevails, there is no democracy?

JC: Again you are twisting my words. Also, I’m not a communist, so if you think this hurts me, try better.

Me: But the last time I called you one, you were hurt enough to block me on all communication platforms. Clearly it hurt you enough that time. Okay, what about banning Islam in a secular democracy. Because once Islam prevails, it doesn’t allow propagation of other religions?

JC: You are such an Islamophobe. You hate Muslims just like your leader hates them.

Me: But why are you hurt? Are you a ‘saffronphobe’ if you are not going to a litfest because people speaking there, according to you, have ‘saffron’ ideology?

JC: You know what, I’ll catch up with you later.

And before I could ask her how she plans to catch up with me, she was gone. Guess I won’t be spotting her at Khan Market for a few months. Maybe I should hang out at India Habitat Centre and try and catch up with her there over a glass of chilled nimbu paani.

London authorities return 12th century Buddha statue missing form Nalanda

OpIndia Staff
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London authorities return 12th century Buddha statue missing form Nalanda

A 12th-century bronze statue of Buddha that went missing from the site museum at Nalanda 57 years ago has been returned to the Indian High Commission in London by London Police. According to reports, the statue was stolen in 1961 with 13 other statues from the Archeological Survey of India site museum at the historical site of Nalanda.


The statue was reportedly identified at a trade fair in London in March 2018. A researcher Lynda Albertson of the Association for Research Into Crimes Against Art (ACRA) and Vijay Kumar from India Pride Project identified and reported to the authorities. The case was then taken over by the Metropolitan Police’s Art and Antiques Unit and upon inquiry, the Archeological Survey of India confirmed the identity of the statue. The dealer and the current owner of the statue have reportedly cooperated with the police and the London authorities reportedly believe that the statue had changed hands several times over the years.

The UK government’s department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, (DCMS), along with the London Metropolitan Police handed the statue over to the Indian High Commission in London marking India’s 72nd Independence Day yesterday.

This was the second such incident of ancient Indian artefacts being returned to India after the MET museum of the United States of America returned two statues to India just days ago. One statute was an eighth-century statue of Devi Durga and another was a third-century limestone statue of a male deity. The Durga statue is reportedly from the Chakravarteswar Temple in Uttarakhand’s Bajinath, a medieval capital city and the other statue was a part of the excavated inventory form the Nagarjunakonda site museum.

India has a rich cultural heritage and the theft and smuggling of ancient idols have always been a problem. Not only the statues and artefacts are highly valued in international markets, they represent a part of India’s history and hence are regarded as priceless. The government of India has been trying to get previously stolen statues and artefacts back to India through diplomatic channels. During PM Narendra Modi’s US visit, 200 ancient artefacts have been handed back to India.

Two years ago, Australia had returned three ancient Indian statues and currently, the Tamil Nadu government is in talks with the Australian authorities for the return of seven ancient temple idols currently on display in the Canberra based National Gallery of Australia.

A UNESCO estimate states that by the year 1989, over 50,000 idols and artefacts had been stolen from India to be sold in international markets. The business of stolen artefacts is believed to be of Rs 40,000 crores a year. There are still hundreds of priceless statues missing from India.

 

 

 

Watch : Madhu Trehan obfuscates when it comes to talking about corruption in the media

Abhishek Banerjee
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Watch : Madhu Trehan obfuscates when it comes to talking about corruption in the media

I don’t smoke. I don’t do drugs. I do however watch Newslaundry. In fact, this vice of mine has taught me several things over the years. Watching Newslaundry descend from watchdog to lapdog has given me several insights about the psyche of the privileged and arrogant liberal elite.

If you have ever wondered why there had to be a break between Newslaundry and someone of Anand Ranganathan’s intellectual capacity, look no further than this video of Newslaundry’s latest “Media Rumble.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7uruZ0Cwo?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

So what is the Media rumble? It is Newslaundry’s big annual bash, for which they accept, among other things: corporate money. Being the inexorable troll that I am, I ended up tweeting this to Abhinandan Sekhri, the CEO of Newslaundry.


To his credit, Sekhri replied thus, which I thought I should reproduce here.


So, as Newslaudry itself says: when corporations pay, corporations are served. Yet, for some mysterious reason, when corporations pay for annual conferences that bring publicity to a news website, the news website should be trusted to serve the ‘people’ instead of serving the corporations.

Are you buying this excuse? I leave it to your judgement, but may I suggest you make up your mind after hearing some of the stuff that happened at this conference? You may please decide after that if it was the ‘people’ or the corrupt establishment that was served.

The video I posted above is from a debate anchored by Madhu Trehan at the Media Rumble. The fun begins around 23:30 when Pankaj Pachauri starts saying the uncomfortable stuff. Let me reproduce some of the best stuff here:

On ABP News (watch from 23:30)

Pankaj Pachauri: The relations between the govt and the journalism and media they have become toxic and let’s talk about that if you want to talk about what’s happening…

Madhu Trehan: Well, let’s talk about ABP News.

PP: Yeah, let’s talk about it. ABP News before the last election held an award function where I met the ABP News promoter owner who told me very grandly that all our awards have gone to the BJP states because they are running such good  … Chief Ministers are running such way. I said fine, very good… 

For three years after that, the ABP News is totally talking about the government … on the basis of govt functionaries coming to your event, you will get your sponsorship and your money and one day that stopped and then you become a rebel then you become a champion of Freedom of Speech. What the hell is this?

On media houses and mining industry (watch from 24:50)

Pankaj Pachauri: Right now, there is a crisis in the mining industry in the country and believe you me there are eight to seven, eight to nine media houses who have interest in mining and it’s going on everywhere. 

On Indian Express (watch from 26:00)

Pankaj Pachauri: I’ve seen managing editors sitting outside mukhyamantri’s office for two days and it pained my heart as a journalist. It really killed me because these are the people I worked with, they are the people who are like my icons in journalism…

Madhu Trehan (interrupting): Pankaj, I don’t know what you are talking about because …

PP: I am talking about how media has become subservient to the government of the day.

MT: The point is that is like saying everything is bad because we know that there are journalists and editors who stand up to the government and will not sit outside anybody’s office to get an audience, they are not waiting for handouts for their visits to their conclaves or summits there are enough media houses who function in an as upright way as is possible in a country like ours or any other country for that matter. 

PP: Name me two. I can challenge that name me two and I’ll give you instances. 

MT: Indian Express.

PP: Indian Express, okay. 

MT: Be careful. 

PP: Indian Express invited the head of RSS in 2013 or something because they were going to print both Panchajanya and Organizer in their printing press and…  Indian Express since its inception, since the Emergency and everywhere has always sided against a certain kind of politics in this country and it continues to do that. I mean from Ram Nath…

MT: No, you are talking about dishonesty..you are talking about catering to ..

PP: I am talking about dishonesty. I have reported on Indian Express running a campaign against Ambani in the 80s which was funded by the Wadias. The pictures. I have reported on them. 

MT: Be careful Pankaj, this is defamatory. 

PP: This is all reported. 

MT: Reported doesn’t make it right. It is defamatory so be careful.

PP: I have written about it, I have interviewed Mr Arun Shourie who was running that campaign those days.

MT: And Arun Shourie told you that Nusli Wadia was paying him? 

PP: No, we found out who was paying it we got pictures from Bombay.

MT: (desperate interruption) We’ve really run out of time and I really wanted to.

PP: I wanted to tell you. You can’t give me two names, you gave me one name.

MT: I gave you Indian Express which you said was corrupted … I mean this discussion is being sidelined… 

Now, I have no idea if Pankaj Pachauri’s accusations were true. What I do know is that Madhu Trehan would not let him complete. And that the discussion went on for around 7 minutes after Madhu ji allegedly “ran out of time” to let Pankaj Pachauri finish. Since the whole discussion is 35 minutes long, that is a good 20% of the total time that was still left when Madhu ji allegedly ran out of time.

Here is another interesting thought that came to me. Pankaj Pachauri asked Madhu to give two names of honest media houses. But she gave only one name: Indian Express. And since Pankaj Pachauri was in Manmohan Singh’s team, he would certainly know about media being subservient to the ruling dispensation.

Why didn’t Madhu Ji name India Today? After all, she was the founding editor of India Today magazine. Her brother Aroon Poorie is the Chairman and Editor in Chief of India Today Group.

When asked to name an honest media house, would it not have been more natural for Madhu Trehan to name India Today? Why didn’t she think of it then? Was she worried that Pankaj Pachauri would say something damaging? Who knows…

Like I said, I leave it all to your judgement. Who you think was being ‘served’ at this Media rumble: the establishment or the people?

Two Sadhus opposed to cow slaughter found brutally murdered inside temple premises

Jhankar Mohta
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Two Sadhus opposed to cow slaughter found brutally murdered inside temple premises

Two Sadhu’s were mercilessly stabbed to death and another severely injured inside temple premises by unidentified persons today triggering mob violence in the Bidhuna area of Auraiya district, as reported by NavBharat Times.

According to PTI, the mob, infuriated by the killing, set some shops ablaze and pelted stones forcing the police to resort to baton charge, lob tear-gas shells and fire in the air to disperse the mob. Subsequently, the situation was brought under control, however, to maintain law and order the area has been kept heavily guarded by the armed personnel.

Though the exact intent behind this gruesome murder is still unclear the cops suspect the victims’ opposition to cow slaughter is one of the prime reasons behind this abhorrent act, following which, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, directed the top officials including the Principal Secretary (Home) and the state DGP to ensure the case was figured out within 48 hours and strict action was taken against the miscreants.

The chief minister also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the two deceased sadhus and Rs 1 lakh for the injured monk, an official spokesman said in Lucknow.

The two sadhus identified as Lajja Ram Yadav and Harbhajan were overpowered and attacked with sharp objects by unidentified persons on the intervening night of 14th and 15th August, Inspector-General (Kanpur Range) Alok Singh said. They were found dead at the Bhayanak Nath temple in Kundarkot village, with their limbs stretched over the cots and tied with clothes. The third Sadhu, Ram Sharan, was critically injured and referred to a hospital at Saifai in Etawah.

“People were generally complaining that the area where the murders took place was witnessing cases of cow slaughter and the victims were opposing it. That could be a possible motive behind the attack”, the IG said, adding, Station House Officer, Akhilesh Mishra, was placed under suspension on charges of negligence.

A similar ghastly incident was reported two days back, in which a temple mahant (head priest), Kalidas and another priest, Sonpal, were beaten to death in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district on Sunday night, triggering protest by the locals.

The incident took place at a Shiv temple which lies between the villages of Milik and Bijauli under the Shekhupur Satkana village panchayat. As per a report by Amar Ujala, two theories are doing the rounds. One, the attackers may have entered the premises with an aim to loot. Second, the attack could be the result of a dispute over 36 bighas of land adjoining the temple.

A Dainik Jagran report said that it was the third such incident in two days in a temple in the area. The murder follows a spate of incidents in various parts of Aligarh where temples have been vandalized and idols desecrated.

Three arrested over incident of maulvi refusing to sing national anthem in UP madarsa

OpIndia Staff
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Three arrested over incident of maulvi refusing to sing national anthem in UP madarsa

Yesterday, on the 72nd Independence Day of India a video surfaced where one would see a Maulvi refusing the sing the national anthem while the flag was being hoisted at a Madarsa. In the video, one person is seen arguing with the Maulvis present. After the flag hoisting, the person in the video insists that the national anthem is sung. The Maulvis, in turn, say ‘Humare yahah aisa nahi hota (these things don’t happen here)”. The Maulvi then asks rhetorically if they are Muslims at all, perhaps implying that singing the national anthem is against the tenets of Islam and a true Muslim wouldn’t sing the national anthem.


It has now been confirmed that the incident happened in Uttar Pradesh’s Maharajganj area, in Kolhui police station’s jurisdiction at a Madarsa called Arbiya Ahle Girls Malangdihawa Badgo. According to initial reports, the police had already arrested on Junaid Ansari and his three accomplices were absconding. According to Jagran, District officer Amarnath Upadhyay had said that the culprits will soon be caught and the strictest action will be initiated against them.

News18 Hindi also reached out to the Maulvis in different Madrasas. When asked to recite the national anthem they said he didn’t know it fully.

The Maharahganj police tweeted a statement this morning stating that their information is that the National Anthem was sung later at the Madarsa in question. However, if the investigation reveals that it wasn’t, then strict action will be taken against the culprits.


The Maharajganj police later tweeted saying that three people in connection with the case have been arrested.


This phenomenon is not new. Even last on Independence Day, may Madrasas had refused to sing the National Anthem. Last year, The students at Manzar-e-Islam which is the biggest madarsa in Bareilly hoisted the Tiranga but did not sing the national anthem.

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