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People shocked after India Today journo shields Mani Shankar Aiyar as he abuses Republic reporter

OpIndia Staff
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People shocked after India Today journo shields Mani Shankar Aiyar as he abuses Republic reporter

In the last few years, Mani Shankar Aiyar may have become one of the more prominent liabilities of the Congress thanks to his snobbish attitude and outspoken demeanour.

In 2014 he had cost the Congress dearly after making an elitist comment against PM Modi’s humble tea selling background. This was widely considered as an anti-poor statement by the senior Congress leader.

Yesterday, Aiyar decided to top it off by calling PM Modi neech – or lowly. Many as a result considered it a casteist and derogatory statement against the Prime Minister. The Congress in a desperate damage control mode decided to suspend Aiyar, but it wasn’t before the damage was done:


Aiyar though wasn’t done and had one controversy left within him before he called it a day.

Soon after his neech comment Aiyar was predictably swarmed by journalists. One such channel among them was Republic TV. As per a clip released by the channel, the Republic TV reporter is heard asking Aiyar whether he would apologise for his statement.

Mani Shankar Aiyar though is seen ignoring the reporter and when the questioning continues, is shockingly seen forcibly yanking the mike off the journalist. He even abused the reporter by yelling “fu*k off” to him.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux2GeXLCTQE]

Sadly there was another darker side to this story. As per a Times Now clip shared by Twitter user @Babu_Bhaiyaa, an India Today journalist is seen shielding and supporting Mani Shankar Aiyar while he misbehaved with the Republic reporter:


Here Aiyar is possibly seen taking a veiled dig against Republic TV by stating that there’s one channel whose questions I am not ready to take. He then outright asked the reporter to leave and when he protested, an India Today journalist shockingly came to Aiyar’s aide by asking the Republic reporter to not peddle his agenda here.

The India Today reporter is then heard saying, let sir talk, we are not going to allow this, inko (Republic TV) bahar bhejiye (Throw them out) and Nahin karne denge humlog (We won’t allow this).

Such an act was unfortunate on many counts. Not only did the India Today journalist not come to her fellow journalist’s aide, she actually decided to side with the aggressor who as per all accounts was the guilty party.

This incident shocked many people, who wondered what goes on in the country in name of “independent journalism”:


The India Today journalist behaving as personal secretary cum bodyguard of abusive Mani Shankar Aiyar was incidentally present on Twitter, where rather than apologising for her conduct, she decided to brazen it out:


After such episodes, one might feel that a section of the Indian media isn’t even pretending to stay neutral and is trying everything to somehow curry favour with the Lutyens elite, who might be out of power right now, but enjoying the reciprocal patronage of a section of mainstream media.

Congress tried to rope in Modi’s wife Jashodaben to contest Gujarat elections, claims report

OpIndia Staff
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Congress tried to rope in Modi’s wife Jashodaben to contest Gujarat elections, claims report

The campaign for the Gujarat assembly elections is heating up and newer controversies are arising by the day.

Just today Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar decided to sink to a new low by hurling elitist slurs bordering on casteist slur against PM Modi by calling him a “neech”. This was seen as Aiyar upsetting Congress’ carefully crafted caste strategy. Only a few days back, he had created another headache for the Congress by making a supposed comparison between the Congress dynasty and the Mughals.

Now it seems that the Congress might be accused of trying to employ below the belt tactics, if this Times of India report is to be believed.

The report quotes Jashodaben’s sister-in-law, who claimed that the Congress party had contacted the family to try and convince Jashodaben to contest the Gujarat elections, but she refused. Had they been successful, it could have created a ripple effect in the state’s political circles and a section of the media too would have wasted no time in building a, “Big blow to Modi” narrative.

The same report says that Jashodaben has projected that BJP would win more than 130 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.

Possibly one of the reasons why Jashodaben declined Congress’ offer might be because she has been a silent supporter of PM Modi. As per media reports, only today Jashodaben lent support to the Beti-Bachao Beti-Padhao campaign of PM Modi at an event in Uttar Pradesh, where “Modi Zindabad” slogans were also raised. This Beti Bachao slogan has been one of the flagship taglines which have been promoted by PM Modi.

Such an effort by the Congress to rope in Jashodaben might cement the assertion that, the Congress has tried to use every trick in the book to somehow try and taste success in Gujarat.

This has included sending their Vice President Rahul Gandhi on a temple hopping spree to possibly try and woo the Hindus. This suffered a blow when social media erupted with reports of Rahul Gandhi’s appeared in the ‘non-Hindu’ register before taking the darshan of the famous Somnath Temple, after which Rahul Gandhi was a “Janeu dhaari Hindu” by the Congress party.

FactCheck: How reliable are reports about Kar Sevaks converting to Islam to atone for Babri demolition

OpIndia Staff
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FactCheck: How reliable are reports about Kar Sevaks converting to Islam to atone for Babri demolition

On 6th December, the nation marked the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid’s demolition. To mark the occasion, DNA published an article titled, “Responsible for razing Babri Masjid, 3 guilt-ridden karsevaks have embraced Islam”. This article was incidentally written by a journalist named Srawan Shukla.

Shukla had attained notoriety in August after he had tried to portray Dr. Kafeel Khan, the doctor on duty when 33 children died due to disruption of oxygen supply in Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College, as some sort of a hero.

Within a few hours of Shukla’s report, it was reported that the “hero” had been sacked from his post. An FIR was lodged under various sections of the  IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Medical Council Act. Meanwhile social media users had also dug up tales of his murky past.

Shukla though didn’t give up and filed a new report on 25th November by declaring the same doctor as “Not a villain”, by claiming that the charges against Khan were dropped. Even though the title tried to make Khan some some sort of a phoenix rising from the ashes, the truth of the matter was that he continued to be charged under the sections for criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust by public servant, which some might say is barely heroic.

DNA too later acknowledged this mistake after we pointed out this chicanery, and changed the title to portray the true nature of events.

When Shukla, who clearly doesn’t seem to regard journalistic ethics too highly, wrote an article about converted Karsevaks, we decided to investigate.

The report focuses on three major characters named, Balbir Singh, Yogendra Pal and Shive Prasad who converted to Islam after demolishing the Babri Masjid. Reporter Shukla proceeds to tell colourful stories about how Balbir Singh a former Shiv Sena leader after demolishing the Masjid, had gone to assassinate a Muslim cleric in Deoband. But after listening to his sermons, rather than killing him, Balbir took refuge in him and converted. After turning into Mohammed Aamir he and his colleague Yogendra Pal (who too converted to Islam), vowed to construct and renovate 100 mosques as a ‘repentance’.

In the same report, reporter Shukla them claims how a Bajrang Dal leader named Shive Prasad had gone into depression and suffered bouts of hallucination for his contribution towards this demolition. As per Shukla, he visited psychiatrists, tantriks and saints but he didn’t find mental piece and finally in 1999 embraced Islam in Sharjah where he had gone to seek employment. He though might still not have been able to find mental peace as according to Shukla, the RSS has threatened to kill him if he ever returns to India.

The way the DNA report was written, it appeared that Shukla had not talked in person to any of these ‘kar sevaks’ and his report could entirely be based on secondary sources.

So what are these “sources”, we tried to dig out.

When it comes to Shive Prasad, only relevant sources that Google throws (apart from the DNA report) are of obscure Islamic websites and a forum called Hindustan.in where one user had posted Shive’s story to enquire about its authenticity (it was met with amused reactions):

google search results for kar sevaks converting
Was an Islamic conversion propaganda picked by DNA?

It might be a bit strange that even after 18 years of his purported conversion, no prominent media outlet has chronicled his story, even though it has the potential to discredit the efforts of the Hindutva groups. Did the DNA reporter just pick up random claims from Islamic websites and his report was published without due diligence by the editorial team? Given Shukla’s past records, DNA editors should have been careful.

Coming to the other two characters namely Yogendra Pal and Balbir Singh. In the case of Yogendra Pal, the search simply threw the links about Balbir Singh, the 3rd guy who seemingly converted:

Google search about kar sevaks converting
Two characters are part of the same story, which is not of atonement.

Only after searching for Balbir Singh did we find some a 2006 report by a semi-mainstream media outlet from called Greater Kashmir — which on occasions has acted as Islamic propaganda website too — which contains a similar account. The report was rehashed and republished on other Islamic websites, and most of them say that the original report has been taken from “internet“. One such “report” claimed that Balbir Singh was a Sikh, not a Hindu.

Apart from such rather unreliable reports, there were a couple of videos [1][2] of this Balbir Singh, now known as Mohammed Aamir explaining how he converted to Islam. Such videos too have been uploaded by Islamic channels and users, and there is no way to ascertain authenticity of the video or the claims.

However, assuming that the person in videos is not any impersonator making up false claims about being an ex-karsevak who converted to Islam, listen to the reasons he (Balbir Singh alias Mohammed Aamir) gives about his conversion (relevant portions have been uploaded in a new video on YouTube by us):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R7suJE8Om8]

In the first video, Balbir is seen talking to an Urdu channel (the screenshot of this video seems to have been used as a featured image in the DNA article). In this video, Balbir is seen claiming that after the demolition he was paranoid with the fear that Muslims won’t spare him for his act. He even claimed that he was so scared that even the cries of his children while playing made him feel as if a Muslim mob has come to attack and kill his family.

The second video also sees him explain his fear about Muslims killing him to take revenge for him taking part in Babri demolition. He claims that he was felicitated publicly after coming back from demolition, and thus people knew about his role. Things became so bad that his family members even proclaimed him as a madman as he was always scared that Muslims will kill him.

He later also claimed that another person in his village named Yogendra Pal Singh (possibly the same Yogendra Pal referred to in the DNA article) had participated in this demolition. He as per Balbir suffered a far worse bout of paranoia, and was later as a last resort was taken to a local Maulvi for treatment.

Most probably the DNA reporter Shukla watched such unverified videos and came up with his report. However, the experience recounted by Balbir in these videos doesn’t match the DNA narrative, which claims that these Karsewaks converted out of an immense feeling of guilt. Going by the videos, Balbir and the rest appear to have converted after convincing themselves that was their only resort to stay safe and not be killed in a revenge attack.

Considering the precariously low and vague information available around this whole affair, one hopes that DNA comes up with a detailed ground report, which will only add credibility to their claims.

As of now, it appears that a reporter with questionable track record has filed yet another questionable news report, which somehow passed the editorial checks of DNA. One just hopes that this reporter Srawan Shukla doesn’t file his next report about MS Dhoni accepting Islam, just because something on “internet” reported so:

Islamic propaganda
Next report by Srawan Shukla in DNA?

Why the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem is a wonderful move

Abhishek Banerjee
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Why the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem is a wonderful move

You must have seen the headlines and read the articles. How President Trump moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will be the end of the peace process, how it will lead to alienation of Muslims and so on. Here’s a sample of the kind of commentary you might expect to see on this issue from “reputed” news organizations.

Untitled

Nonsense! I am here to say that the overt assertion of US power in favor of Israel is the best thing to happen in a long time, both for the free world and for the Muslim world negotiating peace with the Jewish state.

First, let us get the simple legal fact out of the way. The US Congress voted, back in 1995 to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. How come the Embassy was still in Tel Aviv then? Because the US chickened out. Every six months right since 1995, the US President has been signing a “Presidential waiver” to keep the decision to move the Embassy on hold for another six months.

President Trump didn’t “decide” to move the Embassy any more than he “decided” to ban, say drunk driving. He didn’t take a new decision. He merely enforced the law that none of his predecessors dared to.

Now let us get to the heart of why this is an excellent decision. Because, we can never solve the vexed problem in the Middle East as long as we let the bully set the rules of the game.

For a moment, let us ask why “experts” are so worried about moving the Embassy. Simply put, they argue that Muslims in the Middle East would see at as an affront and this would only raise the level of violence.

Explaining why the move is so controversial, CNN put out this graphic showing the number of diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv versus those in Jerusalem.

Untitled.png

Okay, so an Embassy in Jerusalem, that too a United States Embassy, would be an extremely unconventional diplomatic move. We get that.

But let’s look at those numbers closely. Just 86 Embassies in Tel Aviv? Why so few? Take Israel’s neighbor, Turkey. There are no less than 125 Embassies in Ankara, the capital of Turkey.

Why so few in Tel Aviv?

Oh, I know! Because a whole bunch of large nations in the Muslim world completely reject the right of the State of Israel to even exist! Here’s from Wikipedia.

Untitled.png

Such is their hostility to Israel that many of these countries will not only ban all Israeli passport holders, they won’t even let in anybody who has ever received an Israeli visa or stamp in her/his passport!

However, you never see the so-called Middle East experts and peace lovers care about how staggeringly intolerant that is! Apparently, it’s not a problem for the peace process if all these countries in the Muslim world will ban from entry any person who has ever set foot in Israel.

But god forbid the US should move its Embassy a few kilometers from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. THAT would be “kiss of death” for the peace process.

In other words, because the Muslim world is highly intolerant and is very open about expressing its intolerance, they get a free pass! The free world must however walk on eggshells, trying its best not to step on their toes.

This is what I mean by letting the bully set the rules of the game.

It’s pure and simple appeasement. And that never works.

What President Trump has done here is thrown the gauntlet before the Muslim world. If the Muslim world feels that America is taking an extreme position by moving its Embassy, well, the Muslim world must accept that they have been taking an extreme position for decades now by refusing to even recognize Israel. They must answer for their own intolerance first.

Otherwise, the bully just keeps taking and taking and taking till you have nothing left.

I have heard so much noise in the international media about Europe’s treatment of Syrian refugees. I’ve heard criticism of how India has been treating the Rohingya people. Apparently, the free world is not being humanitarian enough.

However, most of Syria’s Arab neighbors refused to take any refugees whatsoever. And we never heard any criticism of that. Ironically, because the Muslim world is very open and very unapologetic in its refusal to perform humanitarian duties, their feet are never held to the fire. They just get a free pass.

This amounts to punishing good behavior. And rewarding bad behavior.

We all like the idea of human kindness and civility. But, ultimately, most relationships and above all, relationships between nations are transactional in nature.

You can’t ask for tolerance if you are supremely intolerant yourself. So far, the free world has been giving far too much ground to the Muslim world. Liberals are supposed to care about the rise of hate movements in democratic countries, but they don’t realize that this fundamentally unbalanced relationship is what drives the so-called “Islamophobia.”

So far, the Muslim world treats non-believers like dirt. Non-Muslims have pretty much no rights in the Muslim world. And when everybody else sees that, naturally there are a whole lot of people in the free world who start asking why the humanitarian concern should be coming from one side only. While this may not represent the absolute best in human nature, this is a substantial part of human nature. When a white Swedish person hears about how non-believers are treated in the Muslim world, s/he may well wonder how Muslim immigrants are going to treat him in his country the day they have the numbers on their side. This is valid fear. Not phobia.

That’s why Trump’s decision is so good for the Muslim World. The Muslim world is being held accountable and being asked to take responsibility for its actions. And treating people like adults, holding them accountable for their choices, is the highest form of respect for any human being.

They should start by recognizing the right of Israel to exist. They should accept that it is unreasonable, hateful and intolerant to permanently ban any person who has even set foot in Israel. Then, we can have a discussion over whether the US is going too far by moving its Embassy a couple of inches here or there.

Mani Shankar Aiyar might have upset Congress strategy of using caste with his ‘neech’ comment

Rahul Roushan
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Mani Shankar Aiyar might have upset Congress strategy of using caste with his ‘neech’ comment

If BJP has Modi-Shah duo working tirelessly to make the party win in elections, Congress has a trinity sweating it out there to help BJP in achieving the same goal. This trinity is of Rahul Gandhi, Digvijaya Singh, and Mani Shankar Aiyar. Rahul Gandhi gives full tosses with his gaffes, Digvijaya Singh makes sure Hindu-Muslim issue is alive, and Mani Shnkar Aiyar aggressively scores self-goals just when BJP needs them.

Digvijaya has been silent of late after he was credited with allowing BJP to form the government in Goa despite not having a clear majority, but Rahul Gandhi compensated for his silence by running around temples and bringing the religious angle in the Gujarat elections. Kapil Sibal too pitched in to make sure the religious angle is alive and Digvijaya Singh’s absence is not felt. But Mani Shankar Aiyar has decided that he would discharge his duties himself and not leave it to Rahul Gandhi or Kapil Sibal.

Barely a couple of days after he issued a statement that was seen as comparing Rahul Gandhi taking over the post of Congress president with Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb taking over Delhi sultanate, Aiyar gave another talking point to BJP when he used the term “neech” – lowly, with casteist slurs – for Prime Minister Narendra Modi:


The moment he said this, people knew Aiyar has scored a spectacular self-goal, and that too just in time for the BJP as the campaign for the first phrase of voting in Gujarat elections comes to an end today.

And Modi acknowledged the wonderful performance of Aiyar:


It should be noted that the Congress party has been playing the caste card in these elections smartly by propping up caste based leaders like Hardik Patel, Alphesh Thakore, and Jignesh Mewani. BJP was finding it challenging to openly play a counter caste card, as it would have defeated the messaging of Hindutva, which aims to unite the castes.

The party must be profusely thanking Mani Shankar Aiyar to have given them this opportunity. What is bonus is Aiyar said it in context of Modi talking about Babasaheb Ambedkar, so a caste context to the comment was too obvious to be missed.

This is not for the first time that Narendra Modi, who incidentally comes from a so-called lower caste, has been termed “neech” by a Congress leader. In the run up to 2014 general elections, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had used the same term, and Modi had responded to the jibe then by linking it to his humble origins:


Mani Shankar Aiyar is widely believed to have helped Modi in his 2014 campaign when he used the term “chaiwala” (tea seller) as an insult for the then BJP Prime Ministerial candidate. Whether or not he has helped him again with this “neech” jibe will be known within a couple of weeks.

UPDATE: Sensing that this might upset Congress’ strategy of using caste to win the upcoming elections, Rahul Gandhi has tried to distance himself and the party from Aiyar’s remarks:


Manmohan Singh’s Rajkot press conference laced with oft repeated lies and laughable assertions

Editorial Desk
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Manmohan Singh’s Rajkot press conference laced with oft repeated lies and laughable assertions

With the Gujarat elections fast approaching, Congress’ desperation seems to have risen substantially. On the last day of campaigns, today former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the Media in Rajkot. His speech was laced with some often repeated lies and some laughable statements aimed at perhaps creating a false image of Narendra Modi.

One such statement which has been repeatedly rebutted was that Narendra Modi had never discussed the Narmada issue with Manmohan Singh.


This issue had also come up early November when Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani had rebutted this claim threadbare with documentary evidence. Vijay Rupani had said that Manmohan Singh was lying. Narendra Modi had not only met and discussed the Narmada issue with Manmohan Singh in 2011 and 2013, but had also written several letters to the then Prime Minister Singh, raising this issue. In Fact, on 8th November 2017, Rupani had shared several letters that were exchanged between the two. As per these latter, Narendra Modi had written to Manmohan Singh urging him for the “construction of spillway piers to its full height and bridge as well as installation of gates (to be kept in raised position) on Sardar Sarovar dam over Narmada”.

Rupani at the time had told the reporter :

“Instead of giving an explanation to the people of Gujarat for delaying the Narmada project, Singh resorted to telling total lies about meeting Modiji. These documents clearly show that Modiji had not only written to Singh several times, but also met him to represent about the stalled work on the dam.”

Rupani also said :

“Modiji made a representation when Singh visited Gujarat in March 2011. It is also on record that Modiji held a meeting with Singh at the PMO in February 2013 and discussed the issue for almost 45 minutes. Despite that, Singh is claiming that Modiji never met him over the issue,”

In fact, Narendra Modi had observed a 51-hour fast in 2006 since the Congress government headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh refused to grant permission to raise the height of the dam citing incomplete rehabilitation work.

While this lie has been decimated with documentary evidence, it is a mystery why Manmohan Singh would feel the need to repeat it.

Dr Manmohan Singh’s next statement was about how Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decisions and foreign policy have had adverse effect on the country.


This statement was exceptionally startling after recent revelations of how the then Congress government had decided against conducting a surgical strike on Pakistan after the dastardly 26th November 2008 terror attack.

Recently Air Vice Marshal Barbora (Retd) had said to TimesNow :

“The strike was supposed to be 100% successful and then after that, we were supposed to put such a defence that Pakistan would not find us on their radar. We had the upper hand on the whole issue. We had to choose a target system which would pass a message to the whole of Pakistan, that don’t mess with us. Unfortunately, we did not get a go ahead.”

He also said :

“We don’t take action without the clearance from the government. We gave the government many options that we could have easily carried out, but we wanted hard intelligence. Gathering information is the job of the intelligence agency of the country, but we got nothing. What we got was mix bag. We wanted correct information.”

While Manmohan Singh attempted to indict the Modi Government on national security issues, Twitter users also reacted to his laughable claims :


However, the most laughable was Manmohan Singh’s statement regarding corruption during the UPA regime.


This statement drew sharp reactions from people. It was hinted to him that the Coal Scam took place while Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and he also had the charge of Coal Ministry at the time.


His next statement was regarding the economy.


One is reminded of Prime Minister Modi’s statement regarding this issue :

“Some people enjoy spreading pessimism, they sleep well at night after that. For those people, a dip in growth for one quarter becomes doom. Is it the first time growth fell to 5.7%?

He also spoke about how in UPA’s regime, growth rate fell below 5.7% 8 times.

Twitterverse too reacted sharply to this statement :


Dr Manmohan Singh’s statements were thought to be in bad taste too.


While the Congress government reaped the benefits of the preceding Atal Bihari Vajpayee government during its first tenure, during its second tenure the GDP growth rates had fallen to abysmal standards of 4.5% and that is the legacy that the Narendra Modi government inherited.

This is however not the first time Manmohan Singh has lied during campaigning. As mentioned, he had lied about the Narmada issue before. Before he started his campaign, Vijay Rupani and Himanta Biswa Sarma had also taken him on about his shoddy policies. With Manmohan Singh finally speaking up, we can only hope that moving forward, he will stick to the truth.

Setback to Congress: Patidar parent bodies reject Congress’ reservation formula, may bat for BJP

Nirwa Mehta
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Setback to Congress: Patidar parent bodies reject Congress’ reservation formula, may bat for BJP

Even as the campaigning for first phase of Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections comes to an end today, the Congress got yet another setback as as many as ten Patidar bodies, including the politically influential Khodaldham Trust rejected Congress’ reservation formula.

Yesterday, ten Patidar religious trust heads had also rejected Hardik Patel and Congress’ reservation formula. Some media reports suggested that they had extended their support to the BJP:


The Patidar community heads had reached out to senior Supreme Court lawyer Harish Salve who advised that the Constitution does not allow more than 50% reservation. In the statement released by the community leaders, they said that reservation is constitutionally not possible and hence it is an attempt to mislead the community by making fake promises. Leaders said that they were not taking any political sides, but were working towards the betterment of the community.

Without naming Hardik Patel, the leaders also said that a self-proclaimed Patidar youth who wants the Patidars to be included in OBC is doing the same for his political gains and warned him not to make statements on behalf of the community. The statement further stated that they do not endorse the thoughts and statements made by these self proclaimed community leaders with ulterior political motives.

Gujarat goes to vote for 89 out of 182 seats in first phase of elections on 9th December, whereas second phase of voting for 93 seats will be held on 14th December. The results of Gujarat elections will be declared along with Himachal Pradesh elections on 18th December.

(with inputs from @dhaval241086)

Is Siddharamaiah trying to be the new Indira Gandhi?

poulasta
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Is Siddharamaiah trying to be the new Indira Gandhi?

The 19th of November of this year witnessed the birth centenary of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Coincidentally the late PM had a special link with the state of Karnataka, as it was from Chickmagalur that she initiated her journey to recapture power after being ousted in 1977.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his government seem to be trying their utmost to make Indira Gandhi’s name a brand in the state. Following the launch of Indira Canteens, the Siddaramaiah government has decided to come up with Indira Schools with the CM claiming :

“The state government wants to name the newly established residential schools after Indira Gandhi”

This article however, is not concerned with the late Prime Minister’s legacy, but if one were to sum it up, it would be appropriate to say that she did a substantial lot to destroy important and fundamental institutions in India.

It is this legacy that the Karnataka Chief Minister seems to be following to the core. His time in power can be seen as the era in which attempts were made to forcibly take over important institutions by the government. In the name of being pro-people, the present state government has behaved more like an arrogant entity nursing an authoritarian fetish. Some recent incidents can highlight this tendency:

1. KPME Amendment Act

The Amended Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act was tabled in the winter session of the Karnataka Assembly in 2017 unilaterally without any discussion with doctors or anybody else from the medical community. As part of the amendment, the government wanted to create a grievance redressal cell where a zilla panchayat chief executive officer was given the powers of a civil judge. Instead of making the Medical Council Redressal Cell more effective, the government chose to empower an official without any medical expertise to monitor the malpractices of doctors. Further if the Grievance Redressal Cell ascertained criminal negligence on the doctor’s part, the accused could be given a prison sentence of six months to three years along with a hefty penalty.

In case the doctors are charged with criminal negligence, they would not even be allowed legal representation. Thus it would seem like the amendments placed doctors even below the level of depraved criminals. The KPME Act also aims to regulate fees in the medical sector which is charged at commercial rates. It seemed strange that the service costs were to be fixed by the government when the burden of running it was on private parties.

It cannot be denied that there is a need to monitor private medical establishments since healthcare is of paramount importance. But what is baffling is the exemption given to government hospitals even though Justice Vikramjit Sen’s report stated that the Act must regulate Government hospitals as well. The deterioration of Government hospitals was displayed in the recent tragedy in the SNR District Hospital in Kolar (incidentally the constituency of the state’s health minister K.R.Ramesh Kumar) which recorded 90 infant deaths since January this year.

Although most of the private medical establishments in the state were trying to help the government bring in much-needed safety measures, the autocratic State Government was hell-bent on persecuting the medical profession.

After the medical professionals rightfully registered their opposition to these despotic amendments, the government finally struck down the stringent parts of the bill. In midst of this confusion, the general public, whom the government claimed to help, suffered due to the absence of doctors.

The following question by the state’s former CM, H.D. Kumaraswamy, is an important one:

“Was it really necessary to cause such a ruckus with this bill?”

2. Karnataka Education (second amendment) Act,2017

Under the Karnataka Education (second amendment) Act, 2017, Section 5(A) was inserted into the Act of 1983. This section asks every school and its employees to take prescribed measures in ensuring safety and security of students which includes protection from sexual offences.

In addition, the new Act includes Section 112(A) which details the penalties for violation of Section 5(A). The amended Act also  prescribes who will decide if any violation has happened and the consequent penalties that should be imposed along with the penalties involved.

The violation and resultant penalties will be decided in an enquiry conducted by the District Education Regulatory Authority. The primary penalty includes imprisonment of the convicted employee for a minimum term of six months and a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.

Any school found violating section 5(A) in the enquiry may have to pay a penalty which may extend to ten lakh rupees. The District Education Regulatory Authority can also recommend to the concerned authority for withdrawal of recognition or affiliation to such schools.

Here, the District Education Regulatory Authority refers to a body constituted under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner (who is head of the revenue department and has nothing to do with the education department) and also includes the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat and the Executive Engineer as its members.

The DERA is also the authority designated for solving complaints related to fees charged by both aided and unaided private schools. The Karnataka Education (Second Amendment) Act, 2017, also seeks to impose a penalty of up to Rs. 10 Lakhs on schools that hike fees. Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait has stated that the amended Act will be notified by the end of November.

In response, the Associated Managements of Government Recognised English Medium Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) along with other petitioners have challenged this Amendment in the Karnataka High Court contending that it overrides the central acts in relation to child safety like Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005 – Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 and The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Like the KPME Act, this amended Act also paves the way for the creation of a kangaroo courts led by those who are neither stakeholders nor shareholders. Interestingly certain Private Schools are run by trusts owned by the state’s influential communities like Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Through this Act the Government will have an opportunity to harass these communities for political gain.

On a side note let’s see the situation of education under the present government (1) (2) (3)

  • District Information System for Education (DISE) report for 2015-16 states that 122 government schools are working from dilapidated buildings and six with no buildings at all. Additionally, 123  do not have girls’ toilets, 563 have no electricity and close to 18,956 schools don’t have playgrounds.
  • The Government Schools Empowerment Committee report in September 2017 states that the number of dilapidated rooms in government schools has increased from 63,415 to 73,129.
  • As per the 2015-16 report of the District Information System for Education (DISE),767 schools in Karnataka have no teachers at all, while 5,503 have only one and 14,667 have just two.
  • Ahead of the 2017–18 academic year, a survey by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) officials identified 8,318 ‘out-of-school’ children across the state.

The Government seems to be under the impression that targeting private schools with a ruthless streak will easily solve their own shortcomings.

The Karnataka Government defended the harsh amendments it suggested in the KPME Act and Karnataka Education Act stating they were done to ensure welfare of the less privileged section of the society.

The CM here seems to have taken note of late Mrs. Gandhi’s campaign of Garibi Hatao Desh Bachao during the 1971 elections. One important step taken by Mrs Gandhi before the ‘Garibi Hatao’ campaign was the Nationalisation of banks in 1969. The ‘Bank Nationalisation’ move has been praised as it multiplied the number of bank branches in India making it accessible to the rural sections also. In the long-run it also paved the way for another kind of problem. In the words of the former Chief Economic Adviser Shankar Acharya:

While bank nationalization undoubtedly accelerated the spread of bank branches in India and curtailed the unhealthy nexus between industrial houses and some erstwhile private banks, it also spawned some of the well-known deficiencies of government banks. These included the rise of a bureaucratic/departmental culture in banking, the proliferation of lending at the behest of political masters, frequent need for recapitalization at taxpayers’ expense and the growth of new and unhealthy kinds of nexuses between politicians, bankers and industrialists. Hardly any independent financial expert would defend the current prominence of public sector banks in India today on the grounds of economic efficiency and financial prudence.

Like in Mrs. Gandhi’s case, will Siddharamaiah’s poorly thought out amendments inflict lasting damage to the state’s development in the long-run? 

3. Weakening the Lokayukta

At one point, Karnataka’s Ombudsman, that is the Lokayukta, was considered a model institution in tackling corruption across the state. Unfortunately, it is gradually fading into oblivion, courtesy of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), formed by the present State Government.

Under the Karnataka Lokayukta Act 1984, the Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta can take up complaints of maladministration against government officials for investigation and then hand them over to the concerned officers. A police wing was assigned to help the Lokayukta with the  investigations. The policemen investigated the cases that were recommended by the Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta.

So what was the need for creating the ACB? As per Karnataka’s iconic anti-corruption crusader and former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde, the ACB’s aim is to “to remove the whole body, that is Lokayukta”, making it obsolete in the process. A look at ACB’s functioning will validate Hegde’s statement-

Unlike the Lokayukta, if the ACB receives any complaint against a government official, it must first seek the permission of the necessary government entity to start even basic procedure. An advisory board, headed by the state chief secretary, will also study the complaint. Then, in what can correctly be called a mockery of institutional autonomy, the Chief Minister himself would monitor the committee’s functioning. In short the ACB will report to the Chief Minister who will then judge the corruption cases involving him or his colleagues.

Not only the opposition leaders, but even senior Congress leaders B. Janardhana Poojary and B.K. Hariprasad have stated that the ACB would weaken the Lokayukta and subvert the fight against corruption. The public sentiment seems to be similar. In a state-wide survey carried out by Asianet Group and C4, about 55% of respondents stated that the Karnataka government was tainted by corruption and  thirty-nine percent of respondents believing that the state government had weakened the Lokayukta.

The Chief Minister’s “dedication” to tackle corruption can be seen in the appointment of former IPS officer M Kempaiah as his advisor. Kempaiah, has the distinct honour of being investigated by the Lokayukta, Directorate of Income Tax, Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement, and even the Anti Corruption Bureau, for various corruption charges.

In case of handling law and order, the late Indira Gandhi had adopted more of an autocratic method. This was seen in her reaction to the Allahabad High Court’s verdict which stated that she won her Parliamentary seat by gross violation of the prevailing election laws and banned her from running for any office for six years. Instead of respecting the law, Indira Gandhi decided to hold democracy at ransom by declaring Emergency which imprisoned all her political rivals and critics, besides suspending fundamental rights. During this time she also filled the Supreme Court with Judges who passed judgements in her favour.

Although the CM has not yet gone to such an extent, the inherent disregard for the written law is similar, and apparent.

4. Distorting School Textbooks

In order to ensure that secularism is properly taught to school children, the famed Hinduphobe, Baraguru Ramachandrappa was appointed by the Siddaramaiah regime to chair the committee that will prescribe the contents of textbooks for children. The committee came out with textbooks filled with multiple factual inaccuracies.

Further, works that spoke about the state’s richness and about national integrity were removed. In their place, a recipe to incite inter-caste violence was provided by making fallacious claims, for example the drought in the state is blamed on yagnas organised by Brahmins in which too many animals were sacrificed and lots of milk and ghee were wasted.

This move reminds one of Indira Gandhi who appointed Nurul Hasan, a history professor with Marxist leanings, as her education minister. The same Nurul Hasan went on to establish the ICHR in 1972 with an aim to ‘direct’ academic works in order for them to fit the Marxist model. Most of those who ran the ICHR were Marxists or pro-Marxists, who further strengthened the Marxist roots of Indian secularism. Evidently, the Karnataka CM wants to surpass his idol by starting the brainwashing process at the school level itself.

5. Insulting Hindu Institutions

After coming to power, this government for some reason, seems to have identified Hindu religious institutions as one of its primary foes. This view is justified by the instances of the state administration’s unsuccessful  attempts to take over revered Hindu sites of worship like the Gokarna Mahabaleshwar Temple, Udupi Shri Krishna Temple, Shri Kshetra Dharamsthala and the Sahasralingeshwara Devasthanam.

If anyone doubted the CM’s contempt for Hindu institutions, it was visible to all in June of this year, when the then President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, visited the Udupi Sri Krishna Temple. The CM broke protocol by not accompanying him. The CM was invited to the temple on four previous occasions, including the ceremony of Sri Vishweshateertha Swamiji of Pejawar Math ascending the Paryaya Sarvajna Peetha, which took place on 18th January 2016, all to no avail.

If the public display of contempt and forced takeover attempts were not enough, this  Government compensated by inflicting physical damage on some temples. For the construction of Indira Canteens, the administration destroyed the wall of the historical Rameshwara temple and illegaly made use of the Banashankari Devi Temple’s properties. In another incident, even the hills housing the sacred Chamundeshwari Temple in Mysore were disfigured.

This list of activities can only be justified by the simple logic that the government was steadfast in its fidelity to ‘secularism’.

“Buddha is smiling”  was a phrase supposedly uttered by D.P Dhar, Indira Gandhi’s principal advisor and close friend, right after the successful nuclear tests in 1974. Under Siddharamaiah’s authoritarian rule, Buddha may no longer be smiling but we can certainly say that “Indira is smiling”.

Meerut girl accuses Muslim man of raping her after faking identity as a Hindu

OpIndia Staff
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Meerut girl accuses Muslim man of raping her after faking identity as a Hindu

A Hindu girl from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh has made rape allegations against a Muslim man, who she claims befriended her by posing as a Hindu.

The girl who is lives in the Hastinapur police station region was supposedly befriended a couple of months back by a man named Amiruddin who introduced himself to her as Amar. Amiruddin is reported to be a resident of Nangla Chand village.

As per an Amar Ujala report, the girl belongs to the Dalit community and does knitting work for a living. The girl has had to face other personal tragedies which includes having to deal with the death of her parents earlier.

Their relationship soon started blossoming and on Tuesday, Amiruddin called up, asking her to meet for one last time, as he was going away to take up a job. They decided to go for a 3:30 PM movie in a local theatre. There Amiruddin was accompanied by his friend Wasim. The duo then allegedly deiced to rape her at a secluded place in the cinema hall and even forcibly took her away on a bike.

While being taken away on the bike, which is being seen as an attempt to kidnap her, the girl tried to grab the attention of bystanders. Some good Samaritans took notice and managed to catch hold of the accused and handed them over to the police. As per the Special Sub-Inspector Bharatlal Shah, a medical test has proven that the girl was raped.

A case was resisted against the two youths based on the girl’s testimony. The accused as a result were presented in the court and later sent to jail. Soon after the incident, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader named Saurabh Sharma too reached the police station along with his supporters.

A Dainik Jagran report has claimed that communal tension has spread in the region considering the sensitive nature of this incident. The Hindu community is claiming that it is a case of Love Jihad, and has demanded that the accused be charged under the National Security Act.

A similarly disturbing case of rape reported from state’s Muzaffarnagar region in September. Here a teenage girl was allegedly kidnapped by four men, Saleem, Aslam, Akram and Ayub, who gang raped her for ten days. It was also reported that the girl was forced to eat meat and given drugs while being raped.

Propagandists soon tried to discredit these accusations as social media rumour mongering, but were caught exposed after the girl herself spoke to the media to assert her accusations.

Left leaning RJ branded ‘Hindutva’ supporter, gets death threats for opposing Muslim fundamentalists

OpIndia Staff
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Left leaning RJ branded ‘Hindutva’ supporter, gets death threats for opposing Muslim fundamentalists

A few days ago three Burkha clad girls had managed to anger Muslim radicals in the state of Kerala, who objected to them performing an innocuous street dance as part of a flash mob. This dance was part of awareness programs which was being carried out by local students of Malappuram on AIDS day.

The Muslim fundamentalists condemned this dance by claiming that it was immoral and against their religious beliefs. One of the users even claimed that the end times are near and people are lucky that there was no Tsunami in Mallappuram.

On the other hand there some who trolled these girls and on the other hand there were many who came out in support of these girls, which even included creating memes mocking these threats. One of the persons who supported these girls was popular Kerala Radio Jockey named RJ Sooraj. He presents a popular program named Doha Junction presenter of popular Radio Malayalam Qatar 98.6 FM.

As per the Newsminute and New Indian Express reports, the RJ identifies with the leftist ideology, though not supporter of any communist party, by professing that “I would only call myself a Communist sympathiser, not even a supporter.”

In the aftermath of the controversy, RJ Sooraj in a Facebook video had taunted the trolls and had even questioned the hypocrisy of those who stood for Hadiya’s freedom. He also took a shot against them by asking, “What is your definition of personal freedom? Is personal freedom a gift you give to people who convert and come to your religion?”. 

This though didn’t please the Muslim hardliners who decided to get back at the RJ by hurling death threats against him. As per reports, some of the threats which the RJ received were, We will burn you in Doha. We will hit you, we will kill you. We will put you in jail. We will make you lose your job. 

Soon after that he cowered under pressure, and issued a video where he is seen profusely apologising for hurting any sentiments, and even claimed that he never meant to disrespect any religion. Possibly in order to further appease the Islamists, he negated the claims of him being painted a RSS supporter and a Hindutva bhakht aiming to insult Islam..

Apart from apologising to the radicals, he is also seen pleading that they don’t involve his radio station in this controversy, otherwise a lot of young Kerala men working there might lose their job.

The BJP though isn’t happy with this apology and its State Secretary K Surendran in a Facebook post, slammed RJ Sooraj for apologising and even claimed that intellectuals were being selective in their response towards intolerance. 

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