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Former President Pranab Mukherjee remains steadfast in his commitment to visit Nagpur amidst growing criticism from Congress

OpIndia Staff
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Former President Pranab Mukherjee remains steadfast in his commitment to visit Nagpur amidst growing criticism from Congress

Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s decision to visit RSS headquarters in Nagpur has struck a nerve in the Congress leadership. The prevalent notion in the Congress party is that this visit by the former President of India will give legitimacy to the RSS and its beliefs, which according to them is in stark contrast to the idea of India that the Congress believes in.

Several Congress leaders including Jairam Ramesh, Ramesh Chennaithala have written to Mukherjee urging him to reconsider his decision to visit Nagpur, where he is scheduled to deliver a speech on 7th June.

Chennaithala, a prominent leader from Congress has termed RSS as a ‘communal outfit’. He furthered that the idea of Congress’s India is one of secularism and democracy, which is contrasting to RSS’s idea of India where only one section is given priority to.

Jairam Ramesh reportedly said, “Meeting RSS functionaries in Rashtrapati Bhavan or at his residence is one thing. But going into their ‘garbh griha’ (sanctum sanctorum) in Nagpur is another. And it’s a convocation of people who would be ‘pracharaks’ and would go about the RSS job of demolishing the fundamentals of Indian democracy.”

The RSS, on the other hand, cited multiple occasions where leaders like Mukherjee have attended their programmes including Mahatma Gandhi as well as Jaiprakash Narayanan, had attended their functions. The RSS further points to the occasion when even former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, invited RSS’ workers for the Republic Day parade in 1963 after he was impressed by the work and discipline of the Sangh.

Amidst all the criticism, the former president of the Indian republic has maintained that he sees this matter in an ‘apolitical’ sense. Mukherjee believes that he transcended petty political partisanship when he assumed the role of the President of India.

He has refused to comment on these criticisms from his party people and stated that he would respond to whatever needs a response, in his speech in Nagpur. He also said that he has received several phone calls and letters but yet to respond to any.

Pakistan indulges in cross-border firing in Jammu and Kashmir, 2 BSF personnels martyred and 11 civilians injured

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan indulges in cross-border firing in Jammu and Kashmir, 2 BSF personnels martyred and 11 civilians injured

Violating ceasefire in Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan started cross-border firing from 1:15 am on 3rd June, in Akhnoor area, which killed 2 BSF Jawans, injured one and also injured 11 civilians. The residents of the area are obviously scared.


BSF constable Vijay Kumar Pandey and ASI Satya Narayan Yadav, who were injured in the firing, succumbed to their injuries.


According to reports, the Pakistani Rangers targeted a BSF post in the area at around 2 am and the BSF retaliated strongly. This ceasefire violation comes barely a week after the DGMOs of India and Pakistan agreed to implement the 2003 ceasefire agreement on the border in letter and spirit.

Recently, in May, too, Pakistan indulged in unprovoked firing along the international border in Jammu and Kashmir, which was given a befitting reply by the BSF, following which the Pakistani Rangers had to ‘plead’ to request them to stop firing. Before that, tension escalated at the international border in RS Pura and Arnia sectors as Pakistan continued shelling in civilian areas. People living in Samba and Hiranagar areas also migrated to safer areas owing to Pakistani shelling which led to the death of an 8-month-old baby.

Mamata Banerjee to skip NITI Aayog’s meet as it coincides with Eid

OpIndia Staff
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Mamata Banerjee to skip NITI Aayog’s meet as it coincides with Eid

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is harbouring dreams of being the Prime Minister in general elections coming up in 2019, will not be attending the NITI Aayog meeting to discuss country’s development agenda for ‘New India 2022’ which is to be chaired by Prime Minister Modi on 16th June because it is scheduled on Eid-ul-Fitr. The council also plans to chalk out details for the celebration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.

“I am not going to the NITI Aayog meeting. It has been called on the day of Eid-ul-Fitr. I don’t go out of the state during the festival days. There is a national holiday on the occasion of Eid,” quoted the Times of India. She said that all festivals are important for her and she does not leave her people on festivals. However, she did not say anything on whether she is open to changing her plans in case date of Eid changes following the sighting of the moon. She further added that no one will represent her at the meeting either.

This is not the first time Banerjee is skipping the NITI Aayog meet. Earlier in April 2017, Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal had skipped the NITI Aayog’s Governing Council meet. She had stayed away earlier also when NITI Aayog’s Governing Council met to discuss various issues including Land Bill.

Chandrababu Naidu govt which was accused of misusing temple funds, allocates Rs 5 crore for mosque repairs and Iftaar parties

OpIndia Staff
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Chandrababu Naidu govt which was accused of misusing temple funds, allocates Rs 5 crore for mosque repairs and Iftaar parties

The Chandrababu Naidu led Andhra Pradesh government has decided to allocate Rs 5 crore for repairing Mosques in the state, the Hindu has reported. The minority affairs department has also been instructed by the government to deliver Ramzan Tohfa (Ramzan gift) to 12 lakh Muslim families. A New Indian Express report has claimed that the allocated Rs 5 crore would also be used to “organise Iftar” during the ongoing month of Ramzan.

Going by the reports, this announcement was made by Naidu himself during a meeting at Velagapudi on Friday. On the subject of the mosques, as per him the funds can be used for painting and making minor repairs on them.

In total, the Andhra government has allocated Rs 1,100 crore for minority welfare during the current financial budget, along with the assurance that all the outstanding promises would be fulfilled by the end of 2018.

Such a decision to allocate funds on religious lines comes after the Andhra government was famously accused of corruption, impropriety and mishandling of Temple affairs by the now ousted Chief Priest of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) – Ramana Dikshitulu.

Under the accusations, the erstwhile chief priest had directly accused Naidu and the officials appointed by him for the disappearance of jewels donated by devotees. As per a Zee News report, Naidu was also accused of misusing the temple funds.

These allegations also included the claim that there were various financial irregularities within the temple’s management. He was also reported as suspecting that the temple’s funds and jewellery were being misappropriated. One anecdote shared by him recounted that prior to 1996 the priests were the custodians of the Lord’s jewellery and maintained up-to-date records of the inventory.

But since the Andhra government took over no jewellery audit has been done and that only newer jewellery was being allotted for adorning Lord Venkateswara.

Following this intense expose by the chief priest, he was made to retire by the TTD board.

Zee News sends defamation notices to Cobrapost, The Wire and The Quint

OpIndia Staff
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Zee News sends defamation notices to Cobrapost, The Wire and The Quint

Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) has sent legal notices to Cobrapost, The Wire and The Quint for defamation for the alleged sting ‘Operation 136’ which alleged that media outlets were willing to promote Pro-Hindutva content in lieu of monetary favours. In its notice, ZMCL described the sting as ‘nothing but a planned conspiracy and set of self-servicing false, fabricated and baseless piece of writing, which in itself is based on tampered, doctored and edited videos’.

The notice to The Wire says, “The deliberate manner in which you the Noticees have carried out the story in question by publishing the impugned articles makes it abundantly clear that you the Noticees have failed to act as per the principles of journalistic ethics and have only exhibited your biased and prejudiced mindset against our client for ulterior motives”. It further says, “It appears that the impugned articles containing defamatory contents have been electronically published by you the Noticees with the specific knowledge and intention to defame our client, by making totally malicious, false, incorrect and defamatory allegations against our client,” the notice says. “As a neutral media house, you were expected to ponder upon the legitimacy of such alleged sting operations as claimed to be genuine by said Mr Pushp Sharma, who had a tainted track record”.

The notice to The Quint states, “The false and baseless averments, suggestions and imputations are result of incorrect and grossly irresponsible reporting and apparent malafide on part of you Noticees”. The notices to the Left-leaning media outlets demand that they pull down the articles from their websites and offer an unconditional apology failing which civil and criminal defamation cases will be filed against them. We had earlier reported that Zee News had claimed to have exposed the agenda of the main man behind the sting, Pushp Sharma, who in the past was arrested for spreading fake news.

We have reported on numerous occasions on The Wire’s failure to uphold the ethics of Journalism. Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a journalist associated with the media outlet, had once claimed that BJP leader Babul Supriyo had threatened to skin Muslims alive. When corrected, she partially retracted her baseless allegations. They had also published a hit job against Railway Minister in an article titled “Promoter of Company in default of Rs. 650 crore has ties to Piyush Goyal, family” which was busted by us. Not to be denied their moment of glory, they came out with another hit job against the same man alleging that the Prime Minister’s Office was kept in the dark about him selling his shares in a privately held company ‘Flashnet’. On another occasion, a comedian, who was allegedly forbidden from mimicking Prime Minister Modi on a show on Star Plus, had confirmed that The Wire had twisted his words and asserted that he was forbidden from mimicking Rahul Gandhi as well, busting the narrative that there was a climate of censorship in the country nurtured by the BJP. The Wire is currently busy fighting an Rs. 100 crore defamation suit filed against them by Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah, for allegedly publishing defamatory content against him.

The Quint has a similar record as well. It had published an article claiming that RAW sources had confirmed to them that Kulbhushan Jadhav was an Indian spy, a claim that the Indian government and RAW have vehemently denied and a narrative that the Pakistani establishment has been peddling. Our ground report had also busted The Quint narrative that the Yamuna floodplain had allegedly become to toxic to farm due to the World Cultural Festival organized by Sri Sri Ravishankar’s AOL. Farmers had also admitted that The Quint distorted their statements and edited them to portray a completely different picture from what they actually said. We had also reported that a man who wanted Prime Minister Modi assassinated was given a platform by The Quint. A sting by the same media outlet had also led to an Army Jawan being found dead.

Judge OP Saini ‘had not applied his mind’, delivered ‘directionless’ verdict: CBI on 2G scam verdict

K Bhattacharjee
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Judge OP Saini ‘had not applied his mind’, delivered ‘directionless’ verdict: CBI on 2G scam verdict

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has accused Judge O.P. Saini of being directionless while delivering the verdict in the 2G scam case which led to the acquittal of former telecom minister and DMK leader, A Raja, and his party colleague, Kanimozhi. In its appeal before the Delhi High Court, The CBI further asserted that the Judge “had not applied his mind”.

The CBI also said that the Judge had taken the words of the accused as ‘Gospel Truth’ while ignoring all the material evidence against them as well as the statements of reliable witnesses including that of the then Solicitor General G E Vahanvati, former telecom secretary D S Mathur and Asheervatham Achary, former additional private secretary to Raja, among others.

“He (the judge) has found A Raja’s evidence as totally unimpeachable, even when his character is that of an interested person, his answers are evasive and ex facie incorrect and contrary to the written record,” the CBI said. “Special judge has ignored evidence to the effect that there was pressure on DoT officers not to record the oral instructions on files as well as the fact that it would not be possible for a junior officer to record the oral instructions by the minister, conveyed through his private secretary,” the agency added.

The CBI also maintained that the Judge wrongly interpreted the provisions of the PMLA. It also asserted in its petition that the Trial Court failed to appreciate the complaint of the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering offence despite existent independent documentary evidence that clearly showed a wrongful gain made by A Raja while causing loss to the public exchequer.

In his verdict, Judge O.P.Saini had stated that CBI had failed to prove its case while concluding that the charges against the accused were based on “rumour, gossip and speculation”. The acquittal of A Raja, Kanimozhi and others had left many shocked and led them to believe that there was little scope for justice in India.

The murky world of IPL: Arbaaz Khan confesses to IPL betting, bookie’s Dawood connections emerge

Jhankar Mohta
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The murky world of IPL: Arbaaz Khan confesses to IPL betting, bookie’s Dawood connections emerge

As news broke out today, Bollywood actor and film-maker Arbaaz Khan confessed to involvement in betting in the Indian Premier League (IPL), reported ANI. Khan, who appeared before the Thane Police for interrogation today, confessed that he lost Rs 2.75 crore in the same.


The Thane police had sent a letter to Arbaaz Khan to join the probe in pursuit of the arrest of an alleged bookie who was placing bets on the recently-concluded IPL. The IPL betting racket was busted on May 15 by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of Thane Police’s crime branch with the arrest of four people in Mumbai, including Sonu Jalan alias Sonu Malad, who is believed to be one of the top bookies of the country.

Today during the interrogation Arbaaz Khan was brought face to face with Sonu Jalan, and Arbaaz confirmed his ‘connection’ with him. The two are said to have known each other for over five years.

Sonu Jalan allegedly had a diary with details of clients and bookies. The police say he worked for a kingpin of cricket betting who goes by the name of “Junior Kolkata”. Sonu Jalan, according to reports, was first arrested in 2008 for IPL betting. He allegedly has links with Karachi-based terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

It has been reported that Arbaaz was being blackmailed by Sonu over a video since allegedly Arbaaz was not paying back Sonu the money he had lost amounting to Rs 2.80 crore in betting.

The cash-rich IPL has always been encompassed by gambling controversies since it began in 2008. Another film personality, Veeru Dara Singh, accompanied by Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan were arrested in 2013 by Mumbai police for spot-fixing and were later released on bail.

In the same year, in a separate case, the Delhi Police arrested 3 cricketers, Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan, on the charges of spot-fixing. The IPL spot-fixing also engulfed the careers of talented India pacer S Sreesanth, left-arm spinner Ankit Chavan and Ajit Chandila, with all three RR players banned for life by the BCCI.

On 5 June 2013, Rajasthan Royals team co-owner Raj Kundra was questioned by the Delhi Police for alleged involvement in illegal betting. On 6 June 2013, Delhi Police claimed that he had confessed to them of placing bets on his IPL team through a bookie who was his friend. On 7th June 2013, Rajasthan Royals team management said that Raj Kundra would be suspended and all his shares in the team taken back if the charges against him of betting were proved.  Because of this, he was suspended from the IPL by the BCCI on 10 June 2013.

Apart from these incidences which had sent a shock wave amongst all cricket lovers, over the years, there have been many more skeletons which have spilt out of the IPL closet.

The big man himself, Lalit Modi, who was instrumental in launching the Indian Premier League (IPL) was suspended by the BCCI on the basis of 22 charges against him. The charges being, bypassing the governing council while taking decisions, not following proper processes, bid rigging, awarding contracts to his friends, accepting kickbacks on a broadcast deal, selling franchises to members of his family, betting and money laundering. The so-called ‘masiha’ of cricket, who gave a completely new dimension to the sport ripped off the country by over 7000 crores.

It is also alleged that Sunanda Pushkar was going to reveal muddle IPL dealings before she died mysteriously. This was in connection with the IPL scam of the Kochi Tuskers, a Kerala franchise which was accused of money laundering in the name of ownership. The entire scam got exposed within few months and Shashi Tharoor had to resign from his ministerial position.

Dr Subramanian Swamy was, however, alleged the involvement of Robert Vadra too in this case, a member of the Gandhi family. He claimed that it was not just Shashi Tharoor who was involved in the Kochi franchise, but Robert Vadra was also involved in the deal.

Given the murky history of IPL and now with Sonu Jalan’s connections with Dawood also apparent, it is safe to assume that this story is far from over.

Feminist author : ‘Rape not a violent crime’, should be viewed as ‘lazy and bad sex’

OpIndia Staff
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Feminist author : ‘Rape not a violent crime’, should be viewed as ‘lazy and bad sex’

Noted Feminist, Germaine Greer, author of ‘The Female Eunuch’ and ‘Shakespeare’s Wife’ has stirred up a controversy with her insensitive remarks on rape. According to Greer, rape is not a “spectacularly violent crime” and should be viewed as “lazy, careless and insensitive”. She said that a fitting punishment for rapists might be 200 hours of community service and an ‘r’ tattoo on his body.

The feminist said, according to The Guardian, “Most rapes don’t involve any injury whatsoever,” before going on to add, “We are told that it is a sexually violent crime, an expert like Quentin Tarantino will tell us that when you use the word rape you’re talking about violence, a throwing them down… it is one of the most violent crimes in the world. Bullshit Tarantino.”

Greer asserted that rape is not the violent act as it is described to be but something much more mundane. She said it’s more like “bad sex … where there is no communication, no tenderness, no mention of love.” She further said that society wanted women to believe that rape destroyed them. “We haven’t been destroyed, we’ve been bloody annoyed is what we’ve been.”

Feminists in Western countries have been going off the edge a bit too often of late. Recently, the Rhode Island chapter of the Women’s March split off from the national organization after one of its leaders failed to denounce anti-semitic remarks made by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The Women’s March was led by a woman who went on to urge American Muslims to wage Jihad against the Trump administration, although clarifying profusely later on that she meant only peaceful nonviolent dissent. Madonna at the same Women’s March claimed that she has “thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House” clarifying later on that she only meant it as a metaphor. Then there was the case of a man called ‘Hugh Mungus’ who was accused of sexual harassment by a girl after she asked him his name.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzA4dCT4X0I]

Feminists appear to believe a lot of unverified claims and hold some pretty incredulous beliefs. For instance, an overwhelming majority of the feminists believe in the ‘Gender Wage Gap’ and believe that women are paid less than men for the same work and attribute the cause to Patriarchy. However, it is patently untrue as the wage gap is revealed only in the average earnings of all men and women working full time and does not account for critical factors such as differences in occupations, positions, education, job tenure or hours worked per week. Feminists also appear to believe that gender is a social construct, contrary to all scientific evidence, with some even claiming that biological sex does not exist.

Modi govt intensified crackdown, introduces ‘Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme, 2018’

Jhankar Mohta
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Modi govt intensified crackdown, introduces ‘Benami Transactions Informants Reward Scheme, 2018’

The Narendra Modi government today announced a reward scheme to clamp down on benami properties. Under this scheme, the person who passes on any specific information in a prescribed manner to the Joint or Additional Commissioners of Benami Prohibition Units (BPUs) in Investigation Directorates of Income Tax Department about benami transactions and properties, as well as proceeds from such properties, will be eligible for a reward amounting up to Rs 1 crore.

Alongside another scheme was also announced in which information on undisclosed black money stashed abroad could fetch up to Rs 5 crore for the informant.

The government said that it had found many cases where black money was invested in properties in the names of others, even though the benefits were enjoyed by the investor concealing their ownership in their tax returns. “The government had earlier amended Benami Property Transactions Act 1988 by the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016 to make the law stronger.”

Foreigners will also be eligible for this reward and the details of the informant will always be kept confidential.

Benami property is an asset bought by an individual but not in their own name. These transactions are usually made to utilize the undisclosed income of the buyer to evade taxes.

PM Narendra Modi last year had said the Unique Identification Number will work as a “big weapon” in the fight against benami property too. Union Housing Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri had reportedly said that property transactions would be linked to Aadhaar to eliminate black money from the real estate sector and help in addressing the issue of benami property.

The government had then specified, that once the Aadhaar linkage happens, tax authorities can approach the ‘legal owners’ and it can be treated as benami property if the ‘legal owners are unaware or deny knowledge of the ownership’. The main advantage of this strategy would be that the tax authorities will get details about ‘legal owners’ (owner as per property documents) immediately.

In several addresses to the nation, Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeated his plans to root out black money from the system by cracking down on benami properties. Since the beginning of his tenure, Narendra Modi has been extremely vocal about his plans to eliminate black money for our system and has since then taken various measures to ensure that the wrongdoers are penalized.

All you need to know: Air Asia scam is another skeleton that has tumbled out of Congress era’s closet

OpIndia Staff
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All you need to know: Air Asia scam is another skeleton that has tumbled out of Congress era’s closet

Fresh details have emerged in the ongoing Air Asia scam investigations. According to a report in the Economic Times, internal communications between top officials of the company and its stakeholders allegedly reveal that there were discussions on frequent contacts and pressurising government officials for obtaining clearance in 2013.

In the internal conversations which are currently being probed by the CBI, former Finance Secretary and FIPB Chairman Arvind Mayaram and former Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are reportedly frequently mentioned. Former civil aviation minister in the UPA government Ajit Singh has been reported frequently mentioned as well.

As per the ET report, the frequency of the messages allegedly spiked just before the time when the airline was waiting for its No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the government. The certificate was obtained in September 2013 and in July-August, notes were allegedly exchanged between Air Asia India executive R Venkatraman and Air Asia Singapore management on putting pressure on Arvind Mayaram.

Ahluwalia is reportedly mentioned in messages as someone who has been approached for influencing state CMs to support company in their lobbying efforts. The messages also allegedly show that there was a concern among top executives of the company on Ajit Singh siding with a rival airline instead of Air Asia and the possibility of him not relaxing the 5/20 rules to favour Air Asia.

Both Arvind Mayaram and Ahluwalia however, have denied any irregularities and tweaking of rules. As per the ET report, they both have also stated that there was no pressure and things were done as per policy.

The Air Asia scam has come to light a few days ago with reports of CBI registering a case against Air Asia CEO Tony Fernandes, Travel Food owner Sunil Kapoor, Aviation Consultant and corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar, R Venkatraman, Director of SNR Trading Rajendra Dubey and unnamed government officials. It was alleged that rules were violated and undue favouritism was shown while granting an International flying license to the company. As per reports, the 5/20 rule that requires an aviation company to have minimum 5 years experience in the domestic industry and a fleet of minimum 20 aircraft to be eligible to obtain an international flying license was bypassed in the case of Air Asia.

Among the people booked by the CBI, Deepak Talwar is the infamous corporate lobbyist who has reportedly made about 1000 crores between 2008 to 2011 influencing the aviation policies of the then UPA government. He is alleged to have received kickbacks worth millions from different aviation companies for helping them obtain a range of benefits from the government during the UPA rule.

So far it has been revealed that a contract that Air Asia signed with Deepak Talwar had mentioned a promise of removal of the 5/20 rule, obtaining commercially viable slots and even reducing the price of aviation fuel. There was also an alleged ‘success fee’ clause for obtaining regulatory permits. ET has reported that there were covers for bribes to be paid to officials for favours granted to the company. The CBI reportedly believes that these were sham contracts with bogus agreements which were only used to pay bribes and kickbacks to government officials.

Air Asia is also being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in a Money Laundering case under the Foreign Exchange Management Act. While questioning the company’s former CEO Mittu Chandilya, the ED has reportedly learned of an alleged bribe of USD 1 Million being paid at one time to some civil aviation officials. If the ED finds further evidence of such payoffs, it might move ahead to attach the properties of the company and its top management.

The then Civil Aviation ministry and Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) officials are under scanner by CBI and ED for undue favours granted to Air Asia for their operations and expansion in India. CBI had yesterday raided the office premises of R Venkatraman, the Director of Air Asia India, of which Tata Sons is a majority stakeholder. Files, laptops, computer hard drives, iPhones, and sim cards of R Venkatraman were reportedly seized by the CBI.

The case has reportedly stemmed from a PIL filed by Rajya Sabha MP and legal activist Subramanian Swamy.

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