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If AAP Punjab is flirting with Khalistani elements, again, it is all Kejriwal’s fault, again

Sanghamitra
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If AAP Punjab is flirting with Khalistani elements, again, it is all Kejriwal’s fault, again

Today Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh lashed on AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal as he shared an image of the ‘Punjab Referendum’ supported by AAP’s Punjab leader Sukhpal Khaira. Khaira is the leader of opposition in Punjab. The CM condemned the attempts of the Khalistani separatists for propagating the idea of secession from India. The referendum allegedly calls for a separate Khalistan.


AAP’s dancing with Khalistan secessionist elements is long known. Ever since AAP started its political ventures in Punjab, their association with Khalistani elements is being exposed. Earlier this year, AAP leader Gul Panag had revealed on Twitter that the party had indulged in dangerous ‘flirtations’ with Khalistani elements, who, according to her, the party thought carried electoral weight.

AAP had reportedly sought the support of Khalistani outfits prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. AAP leader Jarnail Singh was also under a lot of criticism as his posters appeared in support of a pro-Khalistani rally in London. Captain Amarinder Singh had spoken about AAP’s Khalistani afflictions before, even AAP’s own MP Dharamveer Gandhi has voiced concerns over it. It had supported the protests of radical Sikh groups demanding the release of Khalistani terrorists.

The most pressing issue on all these related events and later developments is that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal neither attempted to stop it nor had he ever disowned or voiced displeasure over his party leaders who may be directly or indirectly supporting a cause that poses a threat to the very sovereignty of the nation. The onus of the responsibility must lie on Kejriwal because he did not stop his party from kindling Khalistani fires before the Punjab elections.

AAP was very vocal about the drug abuse issue in Punjab, the farmer’s issue too. But after losing the state elections, Kejriwal seems to have left the AAP workers and leaders in the state in a limbo. Kejriwal had accused Shiromani Akali Dal’s Bikram Majithia of patronizing a widespread drugs racket in the state. Those accusations fell flat. Earlier this year, Kejriwal had to apologise to Majithia for his remarks.

AAP Punjab is unravelling. And a great part of the blame would go to Kejriwal. As pointed out by many and even claimed by his own party men, Kejriwal just abandoned Punjab. If his partymen in the state are back to flirting Khalistani sentiments, its mainly because they are clueless about their party leadership. Their party chief is busy being a couch potato (quite literally) in Delhi, jumping from one excuse to another while making a mockery of the political and democratic process.

If you go by the history, it is not new for Kejriwal leave things midway. Abandoning causes that he championed for is something the mysterious phenomenon called Kejriwal does quite often. A classic example of Kejriwal’s ‘pick a cause dump a cause’ is his NGO Privartan. Founded by him for addressing people’s development issues and ‘transform’ governance and redressal systems, it now lies in tatters. Sunder Nagri, the area he promised to change is still a maze of choked drains, long queues and as the Outlook Magazine’s report claimed, Sunder Nagri’s situation has become worse.

Old NGOs are not the only thing Kejriwal has abandoned either. He quite conveniently abandoned the very cause that served as his launchpad into the Indian politics. He does not talk about the Lokpal Bill anymore. Neither has he acted on that 370 pages of evidence he had on the Sheila Dikshit government. Interestingly, his government’s FIR on the CWG scam did not even name Sheila Dikshit.

Kejriwal lost Varanasi to PM Modi by a margin of over 3.71 lakh votes. He had thanked the people of Varanasi for giving him more than 2 lakh votes and promised that his association with the city will continue. He did not keep that promise either.

Sadly, old NGOs state party units and lost constituencies are not the only things Kejriwal abandons. Most of all, he seems to have abandoned his principles. From a leader who promised a corruption free, transformative and clean government, he has reduced himself to a puny political drama artist. His pantomimes of baseless allegations and apologies have shattered his party’s credibility. Accountability was something AAP never had anyway. Now after a series of motor mouth allegations and apologies after legal tussles, the sand castle called AAP lies in ruins.

Mayank Gandhi, who was once by Kejriwal’s side in India against Corruption movement and later went on to become AAP’s state unit chief for Maharashtra, had written in an open letter to AAP workers and supporters that the quest for alternate politics is over and they might as well go back to whatever they were doing, rather than continuing to dream about some change through AAP. Every word of his letter seems to be happening like a prophecy in AAP. He wrote in another post that Arvind, the unselfish political leader, is dead.

Since last few days, Arvind Kejriwal has been doing a dharna inside the Delhi LG’s residence. In all the months being in power in Delhi, Kejriwal seems to have done little apart from blaming PM Modi, BJP and the LGs for all his government’s failures. Situations have become such that one has started feeling pity for AAP workers and supporters. In Kejriwal, all they had got is a leader who leads them on, only to abandon halfway and then forgets all about them. A selfish, self-obsessed and weak leader can ruin a party. Arvind Kejriwal’s theatrics have ruined AAP well and proper, but the dangerous affairs with Khalistani elements are not something to be taken lightly. In his quest for power, Kejriwal seems to have unlocked forces that threaten India’s peace and sovereignty.

Congress plans to contest in only 250 seats out of 543, the lowest since independence, say reports

OpIndia Staff
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Congress plans to contest in only 250 seats out of 543, the lowest since independence, say reports

Seems time has come when the grand old party of the Indian sub-continent decides to acknowledge its diminishing status and relevance in Indian polity. The 2019 general elections may prove to be the election when Congress finally accedes to the fact that they do not have a chance to stand against the BJP, even if they lead the opposition coalition.

Reportedly, in order to stop the Modi-led BJP from winning a second term, Congress has decided to contest only in 250 seats out of 543. This is the lowest number of seats that the Congress could contest in since the independence. This is being done to accommodate the other anti-BJP parties to make the proposed “Grand Alliance’’, a reality.

The Congress party is believed to have created a blueprint for seat sharing in the coming 2019 general elections. Congress has already created a committee, headed by former defence minister A K Antony, and has sought a feedback from the district and state committees on Congress with regards to this issue.

The Congress is determined to not share the 44 seats they won in 2014 come what may but they are revising their strategy in other seats. A section in Congress also believes that only clean imaged candidates should be fielded to up their chances in the coming Lok Sabha.

The big states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat send a large number of representatives to the Lok Sabha. That is why Congress is trying to engage people in the booth-level to counter BJP in the coming elections.

In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, The Congress has previously fought with an alliance and are considering consultations with the other parties in those state before coming to a consensual seat-sharing formula in these states.

According to Congress, they will finalize the 2019 plan only after consultations from the party’s district, state and national level office bearers and Rahul Gandhi.

Though, the Congress seems to be strong in their commitment to creating a strong opposition coalition the road ahead does not look easy, as several opposition leaders do not see Rahul Gandhi as a rational leader or leader capable of winning elections. Leaders like Mamata Banerjee, the supremo of Trinamool Congress and Telangana chief Minister KC RAO, feel that there should an alternative to BJP and Congress.

Also, there is much uncertainty about the possible face of such a coalition even if one is created. Rahul Gandhi’s track record as far as winning elections is concerned is abysmal and his habit of remaining absent in times of key political incidents and even election campaigning, as seen in North-East and recently in Karnataka, may prove to be a problem for the coalition.

Shiv Sena’s fresh display of paltriness, politicising the ghastly act of abduction and killing of rifleman Aurangzeb

Jhankar Mohta
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Shiv Sena’s fresh display of paltriness, politicising the ghastly act of abduction and killing of rifleman Aurangzeb

While the nation has been seen mourning the ghoulish act of abduction, torture, and killing of the Indian brave heart, rifleman Aurangzeb, Shiv Sena, in an attempt to oxygenate its ‘Modi Vs All’ agenda, blamed the government for the bloodbath initiated by the terrorists in the month of Ramzan in Kashmir.


Shiv Sena, through their editorial mouthpiece Saamana, attacked the Centre for their decision to halt operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, during the month of Ramzan and accused Pakistan of taking unfair advantage of India’s decision.

Taking a jibe on the report of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assassination plot, the Shiv Sena said just on a basis of a report the security of the former was beefed up, but in the valley where people are losing their lives every day, no strict measures were taken.

Emphatically, Thackeray is not the only one to devalue the seriousness of a death threat and politize the issue, Congressman, Sanjay Nirupam famous for a scandalous past and immoral present, had used this opportunity to be in limelight by stating that the assassination threat on PM Modi is probably a tactic by the PM to address his ‘declining popularity’.

Further terming the United Nations report on the Kashmir Valley as “rubbish”, the editorial asserted it has stained the image of Prime Minister Modi internationally. “Even after visiting so many places, no country is willing to stand by us on the reports of the United Nations. What is the use of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to so many countries,” he said.

The Shiv Sena said the situation of the valley is worst than the time of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress party. It seems Uddhav Thackrey needs to get his facts correct and research a little before playing the blame game.

It seems as if the Shiv Sena chief has made Modi vs All his personal narrative. In his quest to defeat BJP, he has not left any stone unturned in including the government in every predicament encompassing the country. Due to his power crusade and the urge to defeat Modi the Shiv Sena chief, has often looked delirious passing outlandish remarks at the PM.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has often been seen attacking the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a slew of issues, including his foreign visits, cow vigilantism, Hindutva and much more. In his quest to supersede Modi, Shiv Sena chief is all out to make a bizarre alliance of opposition parties if a proposal comes his way. Earlier though, Shiv Sena has announced that it will contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls alone.

Shiv Sena in its pursuit to emerge as an anti-BJP force goes out of its way to humiliate everyone coming its way. Uddhav Thackeray seems to be in high dudgeon, always ready to vent spleen at any given point of time. It seems he has gone through a complete mental breakdown, lashing out at anybody and everybody.

Earlier too, we had reported Uddhav Thackrey passing shots at the Election Commission. The Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut had passed a cutting remark calling the Election Commision a ‘Tawaif'(Mistress) of a political party, amid the ongoing squabble over a glitch in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the bypolls in four Lok Sabha constituencies.

He made a direct allegation, saying that the BJP has tampered with the EVMs and is using it for political gain and went on to say that the Election Commission is not seeing the corruption and is not hearing the complaints.

Union Minister slammed on social media for meeting Archbishop who attempted to communally polarize 2019 General Elections

OpIndia Staff
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Union Minister slammed on social media for meeting Archbishop who attempted to communally polarize 2019 General Elections

As part of the ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ initiative of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Union Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan met with the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Delhi, Anit Couto, the same man who had urged Catholics to observe fasts and penances ahead of the 2019 General Elections for the ‘spiritual renewal of the nation.’


People on Twitter were not very pleased with a Minister of the NDA government meeting with a man who had tried to communalize the internal politics of India.


The Archbishop had received criticism from all quarters for his communally polarizing letter. The Archbishop of Goa has claimed that ‘Constitution is in danger’ as well. It is unclear exactly what the BJP hopes to gain by fraternizing with people who believe their winning elections is a threat to the country and its institutions. But then again, this government has had no qualms with fraternizing with someone who was excited about Prime Minister Modi suffering from swine flu earlier as well.

Read how Indian Express played down Rifleman Aurangzeb’s abduction and brutal killing at the hands of terrorists

Jhankar Mohta
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Read how Indian Express played down Rifleman Aurangzeb’s abduction and brutal killing at the hands of terrorists

Recently the nation was shaken up by the devastating news of how an Indian braveheart, Rifleman Aurangzeb was abducted and tortured to death by the terrorist group Hizbul Mujahideen. The terrorist group audaciously released a video filming the torture concluded on our army man.

While the nation mourns the martyrdom, there are few media houses, like the Indian Express brewing and twisting reports trying to downplay the abduction, torture and subsequent killing of rifleman Aurangzeb. This news house maliciously converted the abduction, torture, and execution of Rifleman Aurangzeb by terrorists into ‘Pulwama firing’.

Indian Express trying to downplay Aurangzeb’s abduction, torture and murder to ‘Pulwama firing’

It’s shocking that Indian Express in its attempt to devaluing and deemphasized the sacrifices made by this gallant soldier, by calling this morbid act of the terrorist as simple as ‘J&K Pulwama firing’, indicating that the army man succumbed to a usual cross-border firing whitewashing the heinous act of brutality.

This is not the first time ‘Indian Express’ has resorted to the ambiguous use of words, downplaying incidents. Way back in 2015, ‘Indian Express,’ while reporting the hanging of the 1993 Mumbai bombings convict Yakub Memon had misrepresented the entire incident by headlining it as ‘And they hanged Yakub Memon,’ indicating as if questioning and blaming the Indian State for the decision.

 

Other Media houses too had misrepresented and misreported, trying to communalize Yakub Memon’s death penalty.

India Express has been caught on wrong foot several times earlier too. In a similar incident of downplaying, the Sports Bureau of the Indian Express last year incurred the wrath of former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag after their tweet mischievously tried to mislead people into believing that Sehwag had criticised the Indian Paramilitary forces.

The Express Sports (sports section of Indian Express) had put out this tweet:

Irked Sehwag, had lashed out at Indian Expresses forcing them to delete their tweet and apologizing to him for the same.

However, because of these such media houses, it will be true to say that: Journalism used to be a profession of keeping the public at large informed with hard facts and cold analysis. It is tragic, however, that with each passing day, journalism is merely becoming an instrument in the hands of liberals using it for false propaganda and to weave stories to prove their own narratives. Journalism today, has sadly morphed into propagandists covertly canvassing for political parties they agree with.

Japan’s SoftBank pledges up to $100 billion for Indian solar projects

OpIndia Staff
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Japan’s SoftBank pledges up to $100 billion for Indian solar projects

In another boost to India’s renewable energy ambition, Japan’s SoftBank group have decided to invest $60 – $100 billion in solar-power generation in India, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

According to Reuters, SoftBank and Indian government will make the official announcement soon after the deal is finalized and an agreement is made. The investment is expected to be made through a Saudi Arabian government fund. The Saudi government is the largest investor in SoftBank’s Vision Fund which raised over $93 billion in the last fiscal year.

Earlier in 2015, SoftBank pledged to invest $ 20 Billion in Indian solar projects as the majority partner in a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan’s Foxconn. The project has set a goal of generating 20 gigawatts of solar energy.

India in accordance with the Paris Agreement has set a target of achieving an operational solar capacity of 100 GW by 2022, which is fivefold than the current capacity. This focus on solar is a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s renewable energy strategy.

In April SoftBank partnered with China’s GCL System Integration Technology Co LTD on a $ 930 million Indian solar energy venture. India has been focusing on renewable energy for some time now. It also signed a MoU with France on Solar and other renewable energy during French President’s last visit.

 

Two Pakistani nationals apprehended by BSF in Samba sector

OpIndia Staff
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Two Pakistani nationals apprehended by BSF in Samba sector

BSF has apprehended two Pakistani nationals in the Samba sector in Jammu and Kashmir. According to reports, the Pakistani nationals were held on the suspicions of helping terrorists infiltrate into the Indian side of the border.


The reports claim that Pakistani army and terror groups regularly employ local people in the region as ‘pathfinders’ since they are familiar with the terrain and could help them find gaps along the security lines and help Pakistan trained terrorists to infiltrate into Indian border.

In recent weeks there have been numerous attacks on the Indian security forces. The central government had declared a suspension of anti-terror operations for the month of Ramzan. The BSF and Indian security forces have foiled many infiltration bids in recent days.

On 26th May, the Indian forces had gunned down 5 terrorists in Tangdhar sector attempting to sneak into India. A large number of weapons and machinery was seized from them. Before that, in another such operation in the Kupwara sector, 4 terrorists were killed while attempting to infiltrate.

Stone pelting and grenade attacks on Indian security personnel have also increased in recent weeks. In Batpora, Shopian, more than a dozen people, including civilians were reportedly injured after a grenade attack by terrorists. CRPF vehicles were being targeted by stone pelting jihadis. There also have been numerous attacks on camps of Rashtriya Rifles.

There were intelligence reports of a massive gathering of about 450 terrorists belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, all trained and aided by ISI and BAT of the Pakistani army, in and around suspected terror launch pads across the PoK side of the line of control. Reports claimed that these terrorists were waiting to infiltrate and launch attacks during the Amarnath yatra.

Prominent Kashmiri journalist Shujaat Bukhari was gunned down on 14th June by suspected LeT terrorists. A Rashtriya Rifles soldier named Aurangzeb was abducted by terrorists on the same day and killed. His bullet-ridden body was found the next day.

 

The Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists released a video, torturing Rifleman Aurangzeb before killing him

OpIndia Staff
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The Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists released a video, torturing Rifleman Aurangzeb before killing him

In a shocking incident, Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, who abducted and killed Indian Army Rifleman Aurangzeb on Thursday, had filmed his gruelling torture in the forests of Jammu & Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The terrorists released the video on Friday.


In the video, the terrorists can be heard saying they have abducted him to avenge the killing of their man Wasim Shah in October 2017. The terrorists are repeatedly heard asking Aurangzeb about his designation, the duration of his posting and the name of his supervising officer. They are also heard enquiring about one Major Shukla, to which Aurangzeb is heard admitting that he did report to Major Rohit Shukla who spearheaded the operation that neutralized terrorist Sameer Tiger.

https://youtu.be/0abLE2W78xY

Aurangzeb was part of several operations led by 44 Rashtriya Rifles, in which Hizbul terrorist Sameer Tiger was killed on April 30, and five more, including ‘commander’ Saddam Paddar, were eliminated.

“Aurangzeb sustained multiple bullet injuries in this dastardly act wherein he was kidnapped and killed by the terrorists in Pulwama en route his home on leave to celebrate Eid with his family,” the official said.

Following his abduction, his mother had appealed to the terrorists to release his son, saying she wanted to celebrate Eid with him.

Aurangzeb’s family has had the history of serving Indian armed forces. While his father retired from the Indian Army, his uncle had died in the line of duty fighting terrorists in 2004. The jawan’s brother is also an Indian Army soldier.

In a solemn ceremony at Badamibagh Cantonment here, Lt Gen AK Bhatt, Chinar Corps Commander and all ranks, paid homage to the martyrs on behalf of a proud nation, the official added.


A tribute was also paid to rifleman Manvendra Singh who lost his life during an operation in Panar forests in Bandipora district in which two terrorists were killed.

Suspected terrorist arrested for Shujaat Bukhari’s murder

OpIndia Staff
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Suspected terrorist arrested for Shujaat Bukhari’s murder

A day after Kashmiri journalist and editor of Rising Kashmir Shujaat Bukhari was gunned down by Islamist jihadis, the Jammu and Kashmir police have arrested a terrorist suspect. According to reports, the person is named Zubair Qadri and he is suspected to be an LeT terrorist.


Yesterday, the police had released the photograph of the person and had requested the public to help identify him. After the incident, the police had also released a CCTV capture of 3 bike-borne assailants who, as per the police were the suspected LeT operatives who attacked Shujaat Bukhari’s vehicle. Republic TV claimed that visuals obtained by them show the arrested terrorist snatched pistols from the injured security personnel after the attack.


Though the 3 terrorists on the bike are yet to be arrested, many Kashmiri journalists claimed that two of them were Lashkar terrorists named Fahad Waza and Mehrajuddin Bangroo. News reports have claimed that top intelligence sources are stating that Pakistan’s ISI has carried out the killing through Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Shujaat Bukhari was gunned down by terrorists while he was leaving from his office at press enclave in Srinagar to attend an iftar party. Two police personnel assigned for his security named AB Ahmed and Mumtaz Ahmed were also gunned down by the terrorists.

Shujaat Bukhari was a renowned Kashmiri journalist who was previously associated with The Hindu. He was the editor of Raising Kashmir and his brother Bashrat Bukhari is a minister in the Jammu and Kashmir government.

CPM leader allegedly commits suicide, accuses leadership of harassment

OpIndia Staff
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CPM leader allegedly commits suicide, accuses leadership of harassment

CPM leader and former panchayat president V K Krishnan allegedly committed suicide by jumping into backwaters from a passenger boat. In a suicide note, which he had reportedly handed over to a co-passenger before jumping off the boat, he has accused the local leadership of CPI(M) of harassing him over the issue of factionalism.

Krishnan, who was the former president of Elamkunnapuzha panchayat, Kerala, had reportedly lost his post after BJP supported the no-confidence motion put forward by Congress on 31st May. However, he said this is not the reason for his suicide. “I am committing the extreme step not because of worry over losing the presidentship. Elamkunnappuzha local committee had been trying to smoke me out,” the letter by Krishnan reads.

He has alleged that the local committee meet tried to oust him. He was in the forefront of the protest by VS faction when factionalism was at its peak in the party.

Krishnan’s body has been handed over to his family members after a post-mortem at the general hospital in Ernakulam, police said.

A member of gram panchayat, T K Babu expressed shock at Krishnan’s extreme step and said that he took part in the discussions and was present in the meeting that took place on Tuesday till evening. He said that he did not appear to be under mental stress. The CPI(M) has rejected the allegation.

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