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Enemies, ‘trolls’, or friends? Twitter speculates about the Mamata-Modi equation

OpIndia Staff
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Enemies, ‘trolls’, or friends? Twitter speculates about the Mamata-Modi equation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shared a stage on Friday during the convocation at the Visva Bharti University in the state’s Birbhum district.

Even though the meeting between the political duo came on the heels of reports of massive electoral malpractices supposedly carried out by the TMC during the recently concluded Panchayat polls, the netizens’ focus mainly remained on the political relationship between the duo.

The incident in question which fuelled this speculation involved Mamata Banerjee receiving PM Modi while he landed from his helicopter in Shanti Niketan:


Following the aforementioned video by ANI, the most prominent point noticed by Twitter users involved PM Modi supposedly trolling Mamata by making her walk to the helipad. This gesture by the PM came in the light of Mamata lambasting Karnataka’s DGP after she was made to walk a short distance while attending HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in-ceremony. This episode supposedly led to the transfer of the DGP, a claim which has now been refuted.

Predictably various users had a bit of fun while pointing out how Modi trolled Banerjee:


But interestingly the analysis didn’t end here and some felt that Mamata had disrespected Modi by making him wait after his landing:


Probably the most fascinating of the lot was when a few people wondered whether the jovial interaction between the PM and Mamata meant that the duo had some form of a political understanding, which might lead to a future alliance:


Whatever might be the truth about their political equation, it was worth noting in the video that Mamata took PM Modi’s joke in good spirit even though she is known to be very intolerant about such matters. This might either be owing to the protagonist being the PM of the country or as some are claiming it was Mamata “keeping her cards open” with 2019 looming over the horizon.

Assam : CM Sonowal vows to seal border with Bangladesh completely by December this year

OpIndia Staff
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Assam : CM Sonowal vows to seal border with Bangladesh completely by December this year

The BJP-led government in Assam came to power on the basis of promising deliverance on many issues, one of them was to put an end to the Bangladeshi illegal immigrant infiltration into Assam. Commenting on the government’s commitment, The Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday stated, “the target for completion of stealing of Indo-Bangladesh border is December this year”.

This was in the context of the state governments promise to secure the Assam’s border with Bangladesh in a timely and comprehensive manner. Assam shares a border of 262 kilometres with Bangladesh.

In this 262 KM stretch, there are many areas which cannot be fenced with physical barriers due to the geographical limitations. There are riverine areas along the borders which are to be secured by non-physical barriers and the land boundaries would be secured by deploying smart fencing to deter the illegal immigrants from crossing over to the Indian side.

The issue of illegal immigrants in the state is not a new one. It first started in the immediate aftermath of 1971 war when a huge number of illegal immigrants entered India. This lead to an agitation by the natives of Assam, which then lead to the signing of the Assam Accord. The accord seeks to deport all foreigners who entered the state after 1971. The recent initiative to secure the border is consistent with the commitment made in the accord.

Sonowal furthered that his government has also been cracking down on corruption in addition to taking measures to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants in the State. The chief minister was speaking at an event marking the completion of two years of his government in Assam.

Modi vs All : Shiv Sena ready to ally with erstwhile opponents to defeat Narendra Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Modi vs All : Shiv Sena ready to ally with erstwhile opponents to defeat Narendra Modi

Shiv Sena, one of the members of the National Democratic Alliance, on Thursday said that it is open to joining the grand alliance of opposition parties if a proposal comes. Earlier, Shiv Sena has announced that it will contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls alone.

Shiv Sena leader, Arvind Sawant speaking about the alliance, first said, “If a proposal comes, naturally we’ll think about it and party chief will take a decision on it, Right now, it’s not a question of being a part of a grand alliance. The government failed miserably to deliver acche din which it promised. Therefore, we have to defeat them for which we should come together”. The Shiv Sena leader specifically said that they are open for a grand alliance to defeat the BJP. Uddhav Thackeray had earlier called for all the parties to come together.

Sawant also said that the regional parties’ coming together is desirable. He said the decision about joining any alliance should be taken at the highest level, and they are looking forward to discussing it. When asked about when they should come together, Sawant said that there was a lot of time and they would wait for the right time.

Earlier, the number of opposition parties and regional parties had united to show the strength of the alliance on the occasion of HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in as Karnataka Chief Minister. Congress president Rahul Gandhi, his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were present. Many regional leaders like N Chandrababu Naidu, Pinarayi Vijayan NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, and socialist leader Sharad Yadav were also in attendance. The leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav,  Interestingly, Shiv Sena was invited to the ceremony, but Uddav Thackeray had politely rejected to join the opposition in Bangalore.

After Shashi Tharoor was chargesheeted, now Sunanda suicide case transferred to fast-track court

Jhankar Mohta
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After Shashi Tharoor was chargesheeted, now Sunanda suicide case transferred to fast-track court

The 2014 Sunanda Pushkar suicide case, in which Congress Lok Sabha member and her husband, Shashi Tharoor has been charge-sheeted for abetment to suicide, has been transferred to a special fast-track court.

Following a Supreme court judgment which said that cases against politicians would be heard in a fast-track court, Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmendra Singh transferred the case to the designated court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal. The matter would be taken up on 28th May.

The Dehli police had filed a nearly 3000 page charge sheet against Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor on 14th May, under Sections 306 and 498A of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to abetment to suicide and cruelty to the wife which necessitates a jail term that may extend up to 10 years and claimed of having sufficient evidence against him which could prove him guilty.

The Congress leader had termed the charge sheet “preposterous” and said that he intends to contest it “vigorously”. The court is yet to take cognizance of the charge sheet and summon Shashi Tharoor.

Last year BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had filed a PIL seeking court-monitored SIT probe into the death of Sunanda Pushkar which was later dismissed by the Delhi High Court. Later Swamy moved the Supreme Court against the High court order, which had then asked him to satisfy it on the question of maintainability of his plea. The special investigation team (SIT) on 20th April told the top court that a draft final report has been prepared after conducting “thorough professional and scientific investigations” in the case relating to the death of Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s wife.

Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel room on the night of January 17, 2014, days after she alleged that her husband was having an affair with a Pakistani journalist. 

NDTV’s Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV’s Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory

Journalist Ravish Kumar who works for a news channel which is accused of leaking sensitive information of the Indian air-force seems to be showing further symptoms of paranoia.

We had recently reported how a very paranoid Ravish had cried surveillance when a common citizen had clicked a picture of him violating traffic rules. Ravish in the picture was seen driving his car while wearing earphones, with the photographer even claiming that the journalist was using his phone.

Later when Ravish became aware of the said picture, he claimed that his life was under threat owing to a sustained surveillance. Ironically Ravish who himself was crying ‘surveillance’, allegedly decided to stalk the individual who clicked his photograph and even sent goons to attack him.

Predictably Ravish was lampooned on social media for his behaviour, but doesn’t seem to have helped him rectify his ways since.

On Thursday he again decided to float a conspiracy theory via his official Facebook page, this time about his news channel being a victim of improper transmission:

NDTV's Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory
Ravish Kumar floats conspiracy theory

In the post which also contained a ‘video proof’ of his conspiracy theory, Ravish claimed that his channel’s transmission was freezing during his Prime Time show on a Tata Sky connection in Gwalior, while other channels were working normally. Besides this, he claimed that he gets various complaints from his viewers about either his face or voice disappearing during his show.

He thus insinuated being a victim of some conspiracy by claiming that he wasn’t getting any technical explanation for the same. Following this, he appealed to his followers to send him a video if they to ever experience such a phenomenon.

To further rub his point he added another such video where just his channel’s transmission was being affected:

NDTV's Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory
Ravish Kumar floats a conspiracy theory

While it is natural for human beings to go slightly overboard, it was indeed puzzling to note that Ravish felt that a conspiracy to stifle his voice was so intense that “some forces” would go to the extent of interfering with his channel’s transmission.

Even though most of his fans were seen agreeing with him, there were a few who blasted Ravish for his conspiracy theories:

NDTV's Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory
Man chides Ravish for his conspiracy theories

In the above post one, a user is seen blasting Ravish for not properly consulting with a tech expert before making his claims. He also claimed that the cause for such issue usually lies on the channel’s end.

Another user chided him for his regular moaning on social media:

NDTV's Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory
Man chides Ravish for his conspiracy theories

One individual was seen joking about Ravish’s conspiracies:


Even assuming that Ravish is right about the aforementioned “technical difficulties”, it might be a relief to note that not many people would be inconvenienced by the same owing to Ravish’s channel not even being in the top 5 of Hindi News channels when it comes to BARC ratings:

NDTV's Ravish Kumar shows more symptoms of getting paranoid, shares a new conspiracy theory
NDTV India not in the top 5 of Hindi News channels

Did PM Narendra Modi just troll Mamata Banerjee?

OpIndia Staff
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Did PM Narendra Modi just troll Mamata Banerjee?

It has been just a couple of days since a video surfaced online, showing a visibly angry Mamata Banerjee. It was reported that the West Bengal CM  had to walk a short distance to the Vidhan Soudha for H D Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in which she felt was inappropriate.

The consequence of the above was that the Director General of Police (DGP), Neelamani Raju was transferred allegedly for ‘insulting’ West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee was seen reprimanding the DGP and then going on to complain to JD(S) leaders H D Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy.

Today, PM Modi landed in West Bengal for a series of events. The PM arrived in his chopper and was greeted with a bouquet of flowers by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on his arrival. The short meeting with Banerjee was caught on camera, and it appears, PM Modi might have pulled the West Bengal CM’s leg


There is no audio, but PM Modi can be seen jocularly signalling to the distance Banerjee had to walk to reach the helipad. Was Narendra Modi mocking Didi’s fairly raw wound on the soil of West Bengal? Many on social media felt that Modi was indeed trolling the CM.


Going by past chain of events, some expressed concern for PM Modi’s future


And a parody video with the possible audio is also out:


While Modi may be immune, we must express deep concern over the livelihood of the driver of the CM and also the person responsible for planning this event, since they made the CM walk such a distance.

Tuticorin : Did the Congress government approve expansion plans for controversial Sterlite Project?

OpIndia Staff
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Tuticorin : Did the Congress government approve expansion plans for controversial Sterlite Project?

In a shocking revelation, Republic TV has accessed documents which show that the Congress-led UPA government, on multiple occasions backed the controversial Sterlite project in Tuticorin. In the light of Congress blaming the Narendra Modi led BJP government for Sterlite protests, these documents show how blatantly the Congress is lying about the approvals.

According to Republic TV, six separate documents which serve as recorded endorsements and two press releases provide ample evidence that the UPA government, between 2007 and 2012, spanning over two governments, backed the project despite repeated concerns.

The first approval came in March 2007 when UPA’s Environment Ministry cleared the proposal for setting up 2×60 MW coal-based captive power plant. This was followed by August 2007 for an expansion for Copper Smelter, writing ‘MoEF accords environmental clearance.’ In January 2009, the ministry gave a fresh environmental clearance to Sterlite for an expansion.

When MoS in Environment Ministry, Jairam Ramesh, was asked about pollution in Tuticorin in the Parliament in March 2010, he had said ‘no serious charge has been levelled against Sterlite.’ He followed it up in August 2010 by saying that the expansion permissions were given after following the procedure laid out in Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification when the government was questioned whether the permission was given without undertaking any public hearing. Finally, in July 2012, the government backed the expansion by permitting another construction at the plant.

The Tuticorin region of TamilNadu has been engulfed in violent protests by agitators who are opposing the proposed expansion of smelter Thoothukudi by Sterlite Copper – a subsidiary of Vedanta. This expansion plan would result in the plant’s total output potential to rise to 4.2 lakh tonnes per year.

The violent protests which have seen damage to public property have resulted in the deaths of at least thirteen individuals after the police resorted to firing to try and establish control. In an attempt to exploit the situation, Congress President Rahul Gandhi had even tried to attack PM Modi and RSS for these deaths by claiming that Tamilians were ‘massacred’ for not following RSS’ ideology. RSS even lashed out at Rahul for lying blatantly.

Sessions court rejects Teesta Setalvad and husband’s bail plea in fund embezzlement case

Sanghamitra
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Sessions court rejects Teesta Setalvad and husband’s bail plea in fund embezzlement case

Controversial ‘activist’ Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand have today moved to the Gujrat High Court after the Ahmedabad city sessions court rejected their bail plea. According to reports, Setalvad and Javed Anand have appealed in the HC against the lower court order.

Setalvad and Javed’s appeal is expected to come up for hearing on Monday. The sessions court had yesterday rejected their anticipatory bail plea in the 1.4 crores funds embezzlement case. Earlier last month the Supreme Court had granted them interim relief from arrest till May 31. The SC had asked them to move to a competent court in Gujrat for anticipatory bail. They had appealed for anticipatory bail for an FIR lodged against them on March 30 by a man named Raees Khan. Raees Khan was the former close aide of the couple and worked in their NGO.

Teesta Setalvad’s troubles root from an alleged 1.4 crores funds embezzlement case against her and her husband. She had allegedly collected funds for the 2002 riot victims and instead used it for personal luxury and expenses. The allegations had come to light after one of the residents of the Gulbarg Housing Society filed a complaint against her alleging that she had embezzled funds collected for the 2002 riot victims through her NGOs Sabrang Trust and Citizens for Justice and Peace.

After the complaint, six bank accounts belonging to Teesta, her husband and the two NGOs were frozen by the Gujrat government in 2015. An appeal to unfreeze the bank accounts was rejected by the Gujrat HC in 2015 and by the SC in 2017.

It is alleged that she had used the funds collected in the name of riot victims for liquor, movies, gadgets and personal goods. Further, it was also found that her NGO has violated FCRA norms. The Sabrang Communications and Publishing Pvt Ltd had allegedly received Rs 2.9 lakhs from the Ford Foundation even if it was not registered under FCRA.

Setalvad has had several allegations against her including luring and misguiding a key witness into giving false testimony, FIRs for tweeting objectionable pictures of Hindu Gods and also FIRs for promoting enmity on religious grounds.

16 years after becoming MP, present ‘Maharaja of Gwalior’ wants government bungalow in Bhopal

OpIndia Staff
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16 years after becoming MP, present ‘Maharaja of Gwalior’ wants government bungalow in Bhopal

Four-time Member of Parliament and former Minister of state Jyotiraditya Scindia has asked for a government bungalow in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Acc

According to reports, Scindia, one of the richest politicians of the country, has written a letter to the Government of Madhya Pradesh for a Bungalow to be allocated to him as soon as possible.

courtesy: @nisheethsarsan

Scindia has reportedly mentioned in his letter that he is an MP from Guna in Madhya Pradesh and for developmental work in his constituency he has to travel a lot to the state capital. He has added that as he is a Member of Parliament from the state he is eligible for a government bungalow in the state capital.

It is notable here that Scindia has been an MP from 2002 from the Guna constituency where he fought and won the election after the death of his father Madhavrao Scindia. Jyotiradiya Scindia is also the current heir and Maharaja of the erstwhile Gwalior kingdom.

Scindia is reportedly appointed as the President of the election campaign committee for Congress in Madhya Pradesh for the upcoming assembly elections and it is being speculated that a government bungalow will help him coordinate and control the campaign. According to reports, there are 15 leaders in his campaign committee and the bungalow in Bhopal will be helpful during the campaign process. Congress senior leaders Digvijay Singh and Kamalnath both reportedly have government bungalows in Bhopal.

According to reports, Scindia has written the letter on 23rd May and the state home ministry is yet to decide which bungalow to be allocated to him. Though Scindia has not asked for any specific property to be allocated to him, there are reportedly many senior leaders and officials on the waiting list for government bungalows in the state capital.

Government allocated bungalows have always been perceived as a power statement in Indian politics and hence coveted by politicians. After the BJP government came to power in the centre, many squatters have been asked to vacate the bungalows they had been occupying for decades. It was reported that as many as 1500 squatters have been evicted from government bungalows in Lutyens in Delhi alone. In Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath’s government has ordered many former CMs and political leaders to vacate their government allocated bungalows within 15 days.

Karnataka: ahead of floor test, deputy chief minister says Congress ‘not decided’ on 5 year term for Kumaraswamy

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: ahead of floor test, deputy chief minister says Congress ‘not decided’ on 5 year term for Kumaraswamy

If reports are to be believed, Karnataka Assembly drama does not seem to be ending any time soon. In his first press conference as a deputy chief minister, G Parameshwara said that the party (Congress) has not taken any decision yet to support JDS’ Kumaraswamy as chief minister for full five year term. Adding that their main aim is to first pass the floor test, which will be held later in the day today, and modalities including sharing the CM post are being worked out.

This just adds fuel to the speculation that the cracks in the coalition which everyone could foresee, may appear sooner than later. JDS has 37 MLAs and is dependent on Congress to sustain, had earlier ruled out the possibility of splitting the chief ministership with Congress. But Congress may sit it out till 2019 general elections at least so that it does not have any adverse effect on the general elections.

This is in line with Congress’ ‘give and take‘ formula to uphold constitutional principles and democracy.

A friendly reminder to HD Kumaraswamy, son of HD Deve Gowda: In 1996, where Congress led by P V Narasimha Rao, plagued with scams and scandals, lost decisively but then neither of the other political parties had a majority to form a government. BJP was the single largest party with 161 seats but couldn’t cross the halfway mark. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was invited to form the government and asked to prove his majority within two weeks on the floor of the Parliament. While BJP tried to form a post-poll alliance, it could not reach majority. After trying for 13 days, Vajpayee conceded he could not manage more than 200 seats and resigned rather than face the confidence vote.

The Congress, despite being the second largest party, declined to form the government. Instead, offered external support to small regional parties, which were full of internal conflicts, and in an unexpected move, JDS’ H D Deve Gowda was made the Prime Minister of India. In less than two years, Congress withdrew support and the government collapsed.

History has an uncanny habit of repeating itself.

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