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Tej Pratap comes up with a strange reason for the ‘rift’ between him and his brother

OpIndia Staff
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Tej Pratap comes up with a strange reason for the ‘rift’ between him and his brother

Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader and the party supremo’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has yet again stirred up a controversy, this time within his own party. Yadav on Saturday morning tweeted insinuating that he would retire from politics but by the evening he reverted back and said he is here to stay.


In his tweet, he drew references to the Hindu epic, “Mahabharat”, stating his consideration of heading to Dwarka after installing Arjun, here Arjun is believed to be his younger brother Tejashwi, as the King. He ended this tweet of his by stating how there are people who will be troubled to see him as a kingmaker.

Tej Pratap Yadav who was the erstwhile health minister before the coalition government in Bihar broke down there has been little mention of his in the media. This alienation of Yadav is said to have escalated ever since the RJD chief and his father Lalu Prasad Yadav was jailed in December on corruption charges. Sice Lalu’s arrest, his younger son Tejashwi Yadav took charge of the party and has been credited with the party’s three by-poll wins.

Tej Pratap Yadav had earlier stirred up a controversy by threatening to ‘skin’ Prime Minister Modi when his father security was downgraded; even Lalu disapproved of his statement. He is also accused of constructing an illegal temple in the premises of his ministerial bungalow, which was allotted to him when he was a minister. He later vacated the bungalow after alleging that the opposition has let ghosts loose after him.

However, Tej Pratap put an end to the speculations by tweeting and clarifying his stand and blaming the RSS for trying to create a rift between two brothers.


Since his tweet, Yadav has vehemently denied any rift with his brother and accused anti-social elements within the party of conspiring to break the party from within. He did express his unhappiness with the party’s work and these ‘antisocial’ elements constant instigation to create an internal rift.

Reflective of the isolation Yadav is facing within the party and outside of it, he stated, “People in the party don’t listen to me. There should be discipline”. He even accused state President RC Purve of ‘ignoring the workers’.

Meanwhile, Tejashwi has also come out in support of his brother, denying the rift. He said that Tej Pratap was speaking of unifying the party for the upcoming elections.

Akhilesh leaving his govt bungalow in ruins is the real vision document of secular alliance

Abhishek Banerjee
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Akhilesh leaving his govt bungalow in ruins is the real vision document of secular alliance

Remember last year when reporters of the Samajwadi Times and other Lutyens outlets descended on Lucknow to cover the dashing young dynast of Uttar Pradesh? The ‘progressive’ Chief Minister had just signed the dotted line on an alliance with India’s great political dynasty, which made him one of the two most ‘acche ladke’ in the country.

The ‘reporters’ who came from Delhi were left swooning over everything. Some of them got to know the family so well that they could tell which member was visiting the palace by looking at the hyper-expensive car that was parked outside. From going on bicycle rides with the young Shehzada to reporting on their family’s favourite foreign vacation spots, the media brought us all the “news” that was worth covering.

Who had the time to cover an old man, a former tea seller, making his way through the state of Uttar Pradesh, through cities and through the countryside, leaving delirious cheering crowds in his wake, whipping up the wave of a generation?

And then it was time for the voter to speak up, leaving the Lutyens brigade red in the face. For a while, the embarrassed media joined forces with defeated politicians to talk about nothing but EVMs. But elections have consequences and eventually, there was a Supreme Court order booting out Akhilesh Yadav (and all former UP CMs) from their government bungalows.

This is how the Achche ladke left the bungalow built at taxpayer expense.

Untitled.png

The tiles, the false ceilings, wiring, expensive fittings … all gone. He even took the taps away. Every single thing that could have been moved was ripped out and taken away. Here is another picture:

Untitled.png

Remember folks, this is one of the pools of PM candidates supported by our intellectual class. When those Lutyens’ types gather for their evening cocktail parties, they pray that one of these guys should become India’s Prime Minister. You must have seen the talking heads on TV, the screeching about intolerance, about how “democracy is unsafe”, etc. THIS is who they are really fighting for.

They don’t care if Akhilesh Yadav comes to power tomorrow, strips our country of every resource and takes it away. Because these people will earn a commission out of the plunder.

In these photographs, there are two clear messages for the people of this nation. See those ruins? That is emblematic of the state of the nation when Modi came to power in 2014. Imagine the pettiness of the people who would rip out taps and wires and tiles before moving out of their government bungalows. Can you imagine what they would have done to the nation and its finances before having to give up power in 2014?

Now you know how the Prime Minister felt when he spoke about the mountain of NPAs that had been left behind by the Sonia Gandhi years. The economy had been left in such shambles by Sonia Gandhi that disclosing the full extent of the damage back in 2014 would have led to all remaining investors and businesses fleeing, deepening the economic gloom.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXirgX9PNR8?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

I am glad that photographs of Akhilesh’s ruined bungalow have already flooded the media, within a day or so of his exit. Or else, 6 months later, you can take for granted that these ruins would have been blamed on poor maintenance by the Yogi Adityanath government.

The second message for the people is that these ruins are the *real* manifesto of the secular/federal/whatever alliance that is taking shape for the 2019 elections. This is their real agenda, to suck up the resources of this nation like a sponge and carry it away with them.

I request you to close your eyes and imagine what would have happened before ‘Achche Ladke’ Akhilesh had to vacate his government bungalow. The young Shehzada and his men searching every nook and corner, searching for things that can be ripped out and carted away. Maybe they did this exercise not once, but over and over again, so that they don’t miss one little tile or wire that could be worth some money.

Was the loot loaded into one of the expensive cars that Samajwadi Times reporters were swooning over? Probably not. It is more likely that they used a truck. How big was the truck? What do you think?

Remember, this is their philosophy of governance. In the event of an inherently unstable khichdi government, the loot will intensify, with each person picking up and running away with whatever they can lay their hands on. Of late, the power of opposition unity has brought major cheer to our secular class. When they smile about their prospects in 2019, remember that this merry looting and pillaging is what they are picturing in their minds.

If Ramzan was a Hindu holy month – how the ‘liberal’ media and celebs would have reacted

THE SKIN DOCTOR
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If Ramzan was a Hindu holy month – how the ‘liberal’ media and celebs would have reacted

The holy month of Ramzan will get over next week. For the entire month, you probably didn’t read any preachy or offensive article about Ramzan in the ‘liberal’ media or witnessed any offensive act by some celebrities, who are otherwise the quickest to come up with such quips during a Hindu festival.

From preaching to save milk during Mahashivratri to saving the water bodies during Ganesh Chaturthi, to caring about pollution on Diwali to talking about saving water on Holi – Hindus have seen it all. In fact, recently Holi was equated with terrorism and fake story about semen filled balloons was propagated. Media and the celebs are pushing the bar higher every year.

The same media and celebrities though spare the festivals of other religions, especially of Muslims. Small mercies. Next week the holy month of Ramzan will end and Eid will be celebrated. We will see articles on how Eid is so relevant and needed in today’s world torn with hate and strife, and all celebrities and ‘comedians’ will be wishing Eid Mubarak without making any sarcastic comments.

But have you wondered how this media and celebrities would have behaved if Ramzan was a Hindu holy month? Just keep everything the same – the reason why Ramzan is celebrated, the way it is celebrated, and the duration for which it is on. Just imagine that instead of Muslims, Hindus are observing it. How ill the ‘liberal’ media and celebrities react?

Here are some images to help you with this question:

Scroll's article on Ramzan (satire)
Where you find a Hindu festival, you find a liberal preaching.
Quint's article on Ramzan (satire)
The Quint here is being considerate by not equating it with terrorism
Anti-Hindu article by The Wire (satire)
Hey Hindus, The Wire wants you to become less bigoted.
The Print's article on Ramzan (satire)
When Hinduism is there, ‘fascism’ has to be thrown in.
Sagarika Ghosh's tweet on Ramzan (satire)
The sharpest mind in journalism has a sharp concern
Rajdeep's tweet on Ramzan (satire)
The moral compass holder will pierce your heart with the compass
Rana Ayyub's tweet on Ramzan (satire)
How Ramzan requires immediate intervention by UN
Vir Das makes a joke on Ramzan (satire)
When the media and journalists jump in, why will comedians keep away?
Kunal Kamra's tweet on Ramzan and Muslims (satire)
Suddenly unfunny ones will show how they are the funniest
Sonam Kapoor speaks on Ramzan (satire)
Bollywood will join the bandwagon
Swara Bhaskar's placard on Ramzan (satire)
You will be asked to be ashamed as a Hindu
Gurmehar Kaur on Ramzan (satire)
When everyone is holding placards, why should Gurmeher Kaur be away?

Disclaimer: I wish Happy Eid to everyone in advance. This article is just to show how the ‘liberal’ crowd is as bigoted as people they brand as bigots, and how their preaching and disdain are reserved for only one community. I wish no ill will to anyone or wish to offend any sensibilities, except the ‘liberal’ kind.

Did Times of India deliberately try to ignore crimes committed by Muslims?

OpIndia Staff
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Did Times of India deliberately try to ignore crimes committed by Muslims?

In a recent incident, the Times of India appears to have edited one of their reports concerned with the recent controversy surrounding the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).


The TOI had earlier reported the AMU controversy mentioning that the Muslim students had distorted Islamic slogans but soon retracted the story. It later presented the same report after editing the content by removing the offensive words related to Islam. This appears to be another cover-up done by the media to ignore the real nature of the incident.

This incident with the Aligarh Muslim University appears to be same. Three Muslim students from Aligarh Muslim University, while celebrating the Iftar party, wrote on the social media “Nara-e-Tak-Beer, Kingfisher-Akbar, Kingfisher Akbar”. It is alleged that they consumed liquor during the month of Ramzan, which is alleged to be against the Islamic principles.

The post shared by one of the alleged Muslim students of AMU

Soon after that, some sections of the AMU filed the complaint against the students for allegedly posting Islamic religious slogans with derogatory remarks. The complaint also said that the post by students has hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. The post was shared by Bhole Vishwakarma, who, according to his Twitter and Facebook profile, is a writer and photographer based in New York.

In the original report, the Times of India mentions the words used by Vishwakarma, but the edited report have clevery removed them.

Times of India original report.
Times of India edited report.

These incidents of media ignoring basic facts while reporting sensitive issues are uncommon these days. Some left-leaning media had earlier carefully omitted and retracted stories related to alleged crimes committed by the members of minority community, while deliberately bringing Hindu religion even to those crimes committed by the Muslims.

The police registered a case against the three students under section 295 of India Penal Code (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs). They were also booked under IT Act. The president of AMU Students Union said the post was “gross”. He also said, “Strict action should be taken against whosoever is responsible for it.”

Aligarh Muslim University has been always controversial since its inception. Recently, the university was caught in the controversy for placing the portrait of the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Threatened with legal action, JNU ‘student leader’ goes from being offensive to ‘sarcastic’

OpIndia Staff
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Threatened with legal action, JNU ‘student leader’ goes from being offensive to ‘sarcastic’

Hostile sarcasm is a sneer weapon of the weak. Following the unravelling of the plot to assassinate Prime Minister Modi, there has been a meltdown of a sort in the journalism and leftist circles who have been at their caustic best. While many rejoiced at the prospect, there were some who were busy floating conspiracy theories. Amongst them, JNU ‘student leader’ who doubles up as a freelance protestor, Shehla Rashid, took to Twitter to theorise that BJP leader Nitin Gadkari and the RSS is planning to assassinate Prime Minister Modi and blame it on the Muslims and communists and then lynch Muslims.


Just before this, she had called the plot to assassinate Modi, whom she referred to as a mass murderer, ‘bullshit’.


Shehla has been a very vocal hater of Prime Minister Modi where she has even once accused Prime Minister Modi of bringing in demonetization to ‘divert’ attention from the ‘missing‘ JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.


Not taking these wild allegations lightly, BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who had earlier slapped a defamation case on Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for unverifiable wild allegations made against him, threatened legal action against those who attributed the plot to assassinate Modi to him.


Threatened by legal action, Shehla immediately shifted goalposts and claimed she was being sarcastic.


By that logic, was her tweet of ‘diverting attention from Najeeb’ also a sarcastic one? And will it be considered sarcastic if I say she and Umar Khalid murdered Najeeb Ahmed to put the blame on Narendra Modi? We may never know!

Congress leader Digvijay Singh shares a fake image to target the Modi government

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader Digvijay Singh shares a fake image to target the Modi government

Congress leader Digvijay Singh is no alien to controversy. He has often indulged in malicious propaganda and furthered blatant lies. While no lie can be greater than him asserting that the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai was an “RSS ki Saazish”, he decided to once again give credence to his reputation.

Today, Digvijay Singh took to Twitter to claim that a photo shared by him that shows a damaged overbridge, is from Subhash Nagar Railways Faatak in Bhopal. He also took a dig saying that a Varanasi type tragedy shouldn’t be repeated in Bhopal.


The picture used by Digvijay to question the development under Modi, however, has been circulating on Social Media for an exceptionally long time.

Adeel Raja, an award-winning investigative journalist from Pakistan had tweeted this picture back in 2016 claiming that it was a picture of Rawalpindi Metro Bus Pillar.


KT Rama Rao, Telangana Minister had also tweeted in 2016 correcting a tweet falsely attributing this picture to ISB Road, Hyderabad. He too had asserted that this picture is from Rawalpindi.


While most evidence points to the fact that this picture is indeed from Pakistan, it has done the rounds on the internet for years. Different people have attributed it to different locales. Some to Delhi, some to Hyderabad, other to Pakistan and now Digvijay to Bhopal.

Expecting Digvijay Singh to check facts before hurling accusations is futile. He had recently slammed Trump after tweeting a fake video. He was also being questioned in a whopping 719 crores scam that took place while he was Madhya Pradesh CM. He had also tweeted a morphed image of Amit Shah and Owaisi in order to target Shah.

With Digvijay Singh finding new depths every time he lies, this won’t be the last time he lies to mislead his readers.

The Defence Minister’s statements on the Cantonment issue only adds insult to injury

rohitagarwal
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The Defence Minister’s statements on the Cantonment issue only adds insult to injury

In a recent post, I had pointed out the confoundment of serving and retired armed forces personnel, many of whom like me are votaries of this government, at the inexplicable decisions adverse to the welfare and morale of armed forces, taken by successive defence ministers in the past four years. Last in the series of such decisions was the arbitrary order passed by the present Defence Minister for the opening of all cantonment roads to the public.

In view of certain inaccurate and misleading remarks made by the Raksha Mantri (RM) during her recent press conference, here’s an examination of this decision and her defence of it in detail. It’s not clear whether it was the positive reaction by a handful of people benefitted by the opening of these roads, lack of accurate advice, or poor judgement which prompted these remarks. But inaccurate they definitely were. The aim is to present facts in case the minister isn’t already fully aware of them. It is also to ensure that this government, which is doing good work in many other spheres, isn’t ‘penny wise pound foolish’ to trip on such issues.

First of these statements is, “a total of 850 roads were closed in various cantonments, out of which 119 were blocked without following laid down procedures and now some 80 of them have been opened while 24 remain closed and rest of the 15 have been partially opened. Of the 39 roads that remain closed despite the order for their re-opening; 14, the highest, is in Secunderabad.”

The inconsistencies in this are as follows:-

The amended Cantonments Act was passed in 2006, as per the Article 258 of which, the GOC-in-C is the competent authority to sanction closure of roads for security reasons. It further states that public notice will be given inviting objections prior to closing such roads.

This act was passed in 2006, and cantonments have been in existence for much before that, governed by the earlier Cantonment Act of 1924. Section 192 of this act applied to the closing of roads, which did not have any provision for giving public notice or inviting objections. The roads were closed much before 2006, as per prevailing rules, obtaining the sanction of the GOC-in-C. The Act of 2006 does not mention anything about giving public notice/seeking objections with respect to roads already closed at the time of its enactment.

In 2014, eight years after the Act of 2006 was passed, Andhra Pradesh High Court ruled on a collection of writ petitions and PILs against the closure of the 14 roads in Secunderabad cantonment mentioned by the Defence Minister. Dismissing all the petitions, the honourable High Court ruled that these closures were valid and within the powers of the GOC. On the other hand, it took cognisance of the fact that petitioners wanted to use these roads “for convenience or because of their better motorability”, a matter that “required immediate attention of the civilian authorities” who should “take expeditious steps to improve the alternate roads so that ordinary people are not subject to any inconvenience.” It further stated that “the army authorities have imposed restrictions in a phased manner and such decision cannot be held as one made in an arbitrary manner.” Since the Cantonment Act of 2006 is cited in above judgement, it is clear that the ruling did not consider any irregularity vis a vis the same. It’s on the strength of this judgement that the 14 roads remain closed despite orders by MoD.

The above judgement quotes rulings by other courts in similar cases from across the country, including one from Supreme Court, in all of which the closure of roads has been upheld. (full text of judgement here)

After the defeat in court, the residents and their elected representatives did not appeal in Supreme Court as they probably knew it would meet the same fate. Instead of pressurising the civic authorities to provide better alternate routes as per the judgement, they took the easier route of trying to put political pressure on the then Defence Minister Mr Parrikar. There were several rounds of meetings in which the army authorities down to the station commanders were summoned to the Minister’s office and given an opportunity to explain the ground realities. Based on this, Mr Parrikar upheld the army’s decision and even offered handing over defence land to construct alternate route as directed by the court.

Instead of using his influence to speed up the construction of the alternate route, the local MP built an alliance of interest with local representatives of areas adjoining the 62 cantonments. This group seems to have started the whole discussion de novo once Ms Sitharaman was appointed the Defence Minister. It’s not clear whether she was aware of Mr Parrikar’s decision and whether she consulted him on the matter before arriving at a decision to go against it, not only in the specific case of Secunderabad, but across all 62 cantonments. Consequently, she ordered the Ministry of Defence to issue the following letter-

Not only do these instructions completely ignore the judgement of 2014 and subsequent deliberations and the decision by Mr Parrrikar, but also subsume the powers of the GOC-in-C to be the final authority for closing any roads as laid down in the Act of 2006. To my mind, this letter is not only in contempt of court (whose order cannot be overruled by a ministry letter), but also implies that the Ministry considers the GOsC-in-C, the senior most rung of field commanders under whom the nation’s army would go to war, incompetent to take prudent decisions on this matter without supervision by it. It is also an insult to the Parliament which vested these powers in the GOC-in-C through the Act of 2006.

Did the Minister consider these aspects before taking the decision and thereafter publicly defending her decision?

The second statement that is inaccurate and misleading is “The order by the ministry of defence addresses traffic related issues. Places where unit lines exist or where families of our servicemen are living, we are cautious about its security”. The Ministry of Defence letter does not distinguish between roads closed to address ‘traffic related issues’ and places which have security implications. On the contrary, the letter calls for an ‘annual review’ of all roads closed. Do they expect the unit lines and family quarters to shift to different locations warranting such annual reviews?

The third misleading statement is “Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and other top brass of the force were consulted before the government decided to allow civilian access to roads in military cantonments across the country”. Misleading, because of the time allocated for such deliberations, as is apparent from the schedule below (Source)

As per this schedule, the issues of road closure was discussed by the Defence Minister with various stakeholders for a total of 485 minutes (8 hours and 5 minutes) between 2nd April and 23rd May before the blanket order dated 28th May was issued. Out of this, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) or any other army representatives were included for 170 minutes (2 hours and 50 minutes) and time allotted to meet with elected representatives was 2 hours. It’s questionable whether the decision to open 119 roads could be adequately deliberated in this time frame.

The Army brass cannot be completely absolved of blame either, as they seem to have been unable to put across the facts and implications of such a decision convincingly enough. On the contrary, when asked to bow, they kneeled. Although the ministry letter talks only about the opening of roads, without mentioning any restriction on checking vehicles that pass by, the following letter issued by the Army Headquarters did away with any security checking as well.

It’s unbelievable that security checks, which are routinely carried out at hotels, malls, airports etc, have been dispensed with for vehicles passing through cantonments. Whether this was because of any instructions in addition to this MoD letter, or due to over-enthusiasm by the army authorities to comply with the order and even go a step further, is unclear.

How much of all this has happened with the full acquiescence of the Defence Minister based on complete knowledge of facts is difficult to say. Whether the inconsistencies in her statements pointed out above are deliberate or due to lack of adequate briefing is hard to guess. But at the end of the day, she’s responsible for this irrational and hasty decision. And heaven forbids if there is a single untoward incident, will she look back and wish she had given more time and thought to the matter?

Doctor says Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh, Raghav Bahl destroyed his life in a ‘fake sting operation’

OpIndia Staff
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Doctor says Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh, Raghav Bahl destroyed his life in a ‘fake sting operation’

A doctor named Ajay Agarwal has accused television journalists Rajdeep Sardesai (currently with India Today group), Ashutosh (currently a politician with Aam Aadmi Party) and Raghav Bahl (currently running The Quint) of ruining his life and reputation by airing a ‘fake sting operation’ in 2006 on news channels IBN7 and CNN-IBN (both channels have now been re-branded as News18 and CNN-News18 respectively, and are currently part of the Reliance owned Network18 group).

Dr. Agarwal has been fighting the battle to regain his life and reputation in these 12 years, but claims that none of these apologised for ruining his life despite subsequent probes finding him not guilty. In the sting operation, he was declared guilty of amputating limbs of healthy people so that they can beg and earn more. He was branded a ‘Shaitan Doctor’ (Devil Doctor) by the news channels that aired the sting operation.

Dr. Agarwal claims that his life was ruined by Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh, and Raghav Bahl so that these people can get good TRPs for their news channels, which were launched the same year. Apart from these three and management of the channels, he also blames a reporter named Jamshed Khan, who allegedly framed him in the sting operation. He had gone to court against all these individuals and cases are ongoing, with some success to Dr. Agarwal.

Speaking to portal Bhadas4media.com, Dr. Agarwal alleges that Jamshed Khan, whom he refers to as a blackmailer, had concocted the fake sting operation and given it to IBN7. He further alleges that the channels IBN7 and CNN-IBN were newly launched and were looking for sensational stories, which is why they continuously aired the program for almost a week in July 2006. This led to an inquiry against Dr. Agarwal. He was working as an orthopedic surgeon at District Hospital, Gautam Budh Nagar at that time.

He recalls how he had his family had to face a lot of embarrassment, as people clustered outside his house to protest for days, some even throwing stones.

Aggrieved by the alleged defamation and hardships he had to face, Agarwal issued a legal notice to all the concerned parties in November 2006. Subsequently, in September 2007, an FIR was registered at Gilani Gate police station in Ghaziabad on a complaint made by the doctor. He also filed a complaint with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which then issued a show-cause notice in November 2007 to IBN7 asking for an explanation for violating the Programme Code. However, no action was taken against the channels.

Dr. Agarwal informs that Allahabad High Court had observed that he was exonerated in many inquiries conducted at various levels, which led to the Inter Ministerial Committee constituted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting asking the news channels to run an apology for three days in January 2008, in form of a scroll at the bottom of the screen. But no apology was run by the news channels, and instead Dr. Agarwal had to fight a long legal battle.

In his interview to Bhadas4media.com, Dr. Agarwal rued that administration or the government did not act against the channels despite him being exonerated in various probes. He claimed that the Ministry was under ‘political pressure’ not to act against likes of Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh or Raghav Bahl. He further claimed that these individuals don’t even appear during court hearings, thus showing a disdainful attitude towards the system.

The cases are still ongoing, and in 2016, The Delhi High Court had again observed in its judgment that the Medical Council had exonerated Dr. Agarwal for the alleged activities shown in the sting operation. It also notes that no witnesses came to depose against Dr. Agarwal or to provide evidences, despite such appeals made by the council through the media.

In February this year it was reported that the Supreme Court had allowed cases to be followed up against Rajdeep Sardesai, Ashutosh, Raghav Bahl and others, which Dr. Agarwal says is another step towards his victory.

Dr. Agarwal recollects getting in touch with other media bigwigs like Barkha Dutt and Rajat Sharma, requesting them to intervene and ask Rajdeep Sardesai and others to tender a simple apology, or at least air the news about him being innocent, but none of them extended any sort of help, he said in a disquieted tone.

The menace of sting operations showing half-truths and damaging someone’s reputation is not new. A year after this sting operation against Dr. Agarwal, i.e. in 2007, another sting operation was found to be fabricated, and in that case, the news channel that aired the sting was banned for a month and the reporter was arrested. Dr. Agarwal has cited this incident as a precedent and has demanded that similar actions should be taken against the channels and the people involved.

However, he repeated that since people involved in this particular case are ‘powerful’ and with ‘connections’, he had to fight such a long battle, which is still ongoing.

Arrested Maoist had close links with with former UPA minister, claims Times Now report

OpIndia Staff
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Arrested Maoist had close links with with former UPA minister, claims Times Now report

A sensational report by Times Now claims that the arrested Maoist, Mahesh Raut, who is under investigation by the Maharashtra Police, had closed links to a former cabinet minister who had served in the UPA government and close to the Gandhi family.


Without naming the former minister, the report claims Raut, who was believed to be a Naxal sympathiser, was also allegedly a courier who would collect funds from the jungle and providing it to advocate Surendra Gadling, who was also recently arrested in connection to the Bhima-Koregaon riots. As per Times Now claims, Raut was arrested because police had enough evidence against him. In a raid undertaken by the investigators on 17th April this year, various incriminating letters were found, including one which talked about a ‘Rajiv Gandhi style incident’ as a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Modi.

Raut, reportedly, is accused of ferrying money and being part of the riots that took place earlier this year. His links with former government minister were already known by the police, claims Times Now. Raut was also former Prime Minister Rural Development fellow, an initiative of the Government of India’s Rural Development Ministry implemented in collaboration with state governments. Raut, reportedly, used this to penetrate inside the jungles.

It is reported that an attempt to apprehend Raut in 2012 by the Police was dropped because a call from the top.

Currently Raut is being questioned regarding money supply between the Maoists and the ‘urban Maoists’ and the former Congress minister’s role is likely to be probed.

Journalists attacked and heckled inside Congress headquarter after being called ‘Modi Bhakt’

OpIndia Staff
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Journalists attacked and heckled inside Congress headquarter after being called ‘Modi Bhakt’

The Congress party and its President Rahul Gandhi has been screeching about how the Press is under attack and journalists are not being allowed to report as they please. While the anti-Modi brigades tirade has continued unabated without any form of censorship, Congress has indulged in stifling the press many times.

One such incident came to light today when a journalist was allegedly attacked inside 24 Akbar Road, Congress’ headquarters, presumably by Congress workers. In a video posted by Aadesh Rawal, a journalist with GoNews shows how the journalist and his cameraman were attacked.


As evidenced from the video, the unidentified Congress worker confronted the journalist, Pradeep for airing “scripted news”. Nobody is sure what the Congress worker meant as he didn’t explain what “unscripted news” could possibly be.

He then proceeds to call the journalist a ‘Modi Bhakt’ and accused him of standing in Congress’ premises and running pro-Modi news. As seen, he then attacks the cameraman and evidently grabs the camera.

The journalist who was being manhandled tells the Congress worker that he doesn’t even know what they are reporting, but the Congress worker in his rage against the Modi couldn’t be bothered about the explanations being provided or about upholding the Press freedom the party’s Shehzaada seems to talk constantly about.

This is not the first time that the Congress party has lashed out at journalists and tried to stifle their right to report. Not too long ago, a journalist Shiv Aroor had claimed that Congress leader Surjewala had called up her superiors to complain about his “political leanings”.  Earlier, another India Today journalist, Gaurav Sawant’s family was targeted by Congress aligned trolls. On another occasion, he too was forced to delete some tweets that did not align with Congress establishment’s views.

The respect Congress has for journalists and women, on the whole, was also evidenced by how a female journalist was groped at one of their rallies. An India Today journalist had once shielded Mani Shankar Aiyar from pressing questions asked by Republic TV reporter as well, and the Congress leader had happily praised the journalist for shielding him. Republic TV reporters have been repeatedly heckled by Congress and sympathetic “liberal” community because of their discomfort with Republic asking uncomfortable questions to their coterie.

Veteran Congress leader had also threatened to sue OpIndia for an investigative report that sought answers about his financial dealings and had exposed his U-turn from the answers he had provided for the same to South African journalists.

The liberal coterie that screams the loudest about Press freedom is yet to condemn this shameful act by Congress worker inside their headquarter.

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