Reacting to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) withdrawal of illogical restrictions imposed on Durga Puja, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya in an exclusive statement to OpIndia mentioned that his government will protect the interest of Hindus.
“With a BJP government in the state, the interests of Hindus will be given primacy and they will be protected,” the President of BJP Yuva Morcha said.
Following a hard-hitting letter by the BJP MP and public outrage, BBMP Commissioner Gaurav Gupta on Thursday withdrew the order with immediate effect.
Arbitrary restrictions by BBMP
At the pretext of curbing the spread of Covid-19, BBMP on Wednesday had announced that the height of Durga idols should not exceed 4 feet and had even imposed a ban on the use of drums for the festival among other guidelines. The BBMP in its guidelines also mentioned ‘sanitizing’ the idols before installation which received a strong objection from devotees.
Karnataka | Idol size shall not exceed more than 4 feet; 1 idol should be installed per ward with permission of respective Jt Commissioner of zone. Asscn shall not allow more than 50 people at a time during prayers: Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike guidelines for Durga Puja pic.twitter.com/Yt8xFjb2yc
Calling the restrictions colonial in nature and biased towards the Hindu community, the BJP leader had urged the BBMP commissioner to revisit the guidelines.
I spoke to @BBMPCOMM & asked him to revisit Durga Pooja rules which are discriminatory, arbitrary & illogical.
He assured me that these rules will be reviewed forthwith & sentiments of devotees will be given utmost importance.
Elaborating on the issue, Surya in his statement to OpIndia pointed out, “I don’t understand the logic behind restricting the idol size to 4 feet. The same kind of restrictions was put during the Ganesha Festival. It also laid down that only basic prayers must be offered. This time, they had said Dhol or Dhak must not be drummed in front of the deity.”
Taking objection to bureaucracy dictating terms on how to offer Puja, Surya further said, “How can an administrative body decide as to what kind of rituals must be carried out? This is to be exclusively decided by the devotees.”
“Some feel that it is okay to restrict anything in any manner as long as the Hindus are concerned, thinking we will meekly accept it,” he added further.
‘Celebrate festivals with favor but responsibly’
Thanking the BBMP for quick course correction, the BJP MP urged people to celebrate the festivals with great fervour but responsibly.
“Let’s make sure we don’t forget that the COVID virus is still around us,” concluded the MP.
As the investigation, as well as the propaganda around Lakhimpur Kheri violence, intensifies, a new video of police interrogating an associate of former Congress MP’s nephew has emerged on social media.
In the viral video, a police officer is seen asking the injured man his name, address and other details. The man reveals that he is a resident of Charbagh Lucknow and works with Ankit Das, nephew of Congress leader and former MP Akhilesh Das.
As the propaganda peaked, several Congress-friendly journalists started sharing cropped videos trying to further their propaganda. In the video shared by several journalists including Rohini Singh, the man only speaks about Thar ‘running over’ the crowd and mowing people. The portion where he mentions he was in the Fortuner with the nephew of a Congress leader is cropped out.
NDTV, however, took their propaganda to a whole different level.
Earlier, NDTV posted a report pertaining to the viral video. In its headline, NDTV insinuated that the man suggested the presence of the Union Minister’s son in the violence-affected area.
NDTV in its report assumed that the man is referring to UP Minister’s son Ashish Mishra as ‘bhaiya.’ “The “Bhaiya” is seen (as) a reference to Ashish Mishra, Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son,” reads the report. This despite the man referred to Ankit Das as ‘bhaiya’ in the first half of the viral video.
Interestingly, while this report was shared on Twitter at 11:28 AM on the 6th of October, a couple of hours before that, at 9:26 AM, NDTV posted a video of their news segment where the anchor was talking about the viral video and the video itself was also aired.
In that video, NDTV added an audio disturbance in the video to shield the Congress leader and the nephew who were being named by the man being interrogated by the police.
At the 00:46 second mark, when the man in the video says that the nephew of a Congress leader and ex-MP was driving the Fortuner car, NDTV added audio disturbance so the name is not audible. While the ticker on the video says that the man “claims Fortuner belongs to the nephew of ex-Congress MP, Union Minister”, the sound in the video is beeped out where he names Ankit Das. In the video, NDTV had added audio disturbance to ensure that the name of the Congress leader’s nephew was not audible. This is the same video that had earlier been shared by journalists like Rohini Singh after the name of the Congress leader’s name being cropped from the video.
It is interesting to note that while NDTV mentioned the man taking Congress MP and his nephew’s name in the ticker, they added the audio manipulation so his name was not audible. This could simply be done because most people would be listening to the audio and not reading the fast-moving ticker, and therefore, would miss the reference completely.
NDTV tweet
To be clear, every media organisation has editorial freedom. It is often seen that media organisations decide to not cover a certain incident or cover it from a different angle because their editorial line makes them see an incident differently. However, manipulating media can’t, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered editorial freedom of a media organisation.
In this video, NDTV deliberately beeped out the names being taken by an injured man and an eye-witness. Their motivations could be that they want to help the Congress implicate Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, in order to target the Yogi government ahead of elections. However, the practice to manipulate a media in the manner that NDTV did points towards deeply unethical practice by the media organisation to further a political agenda in an incident that is already volatile with 8 lives lost.
Who is Ankit Das?
Ankit Das is said to be the nephew of former Congress MP Akhilesh Das who was the Minister of Steel from January 2006 till May 2008 in the Manmohan Singh UPA-I government.
He was also the Mayor of Lucknow from May 1993 to November 1996.
UP police on the look out for Ashish Mishra
Uttar Pradesh Police pasted a notice outside the resident of the Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri in UP, asking his son Ashish Mishra to appear before the police. Earlier, the UP police had named Ashish Mishra in the FIR filed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
The notice asks Mishra to appear at the crime branch office at the reserve police lines, Janpad Kheri at 10 am on October 8. The notice states that Ashish Mishra has been booked under sections 147, 148, 149, 279, 338, 304A, 302, 120B of the Indian Penal Code in the case where eight lives were lost. He has been asked to personally appear before the police to produce material, written, oral and electronic evidence in his defence.
What it says about NDTV and the Congress ecosystem
On October 3, a ‘farmer’ mob attacked a BJP convoy with stones and sticks. The windshield of one of the cars broke and the driver seemingly lost control, thereby running over the crowd. Two protestors are believed to have lost their lives. Subsequently, the mob took to violence and beat up the men from the convoy and killed BJP workers. As of now, it is reported about 8 people have lost their lives in the incident.
Ever since then, the Congress ecosystem has been trying to fan further violence by not only reaching Lakhimpur Kheri to completely whitewash the brutal lynching of 4 BJP workers and leaders but also to incite the protestors further to incite violence. The Congress ecosystem had also witnessed strife when Rakesh Tikait was seen in a press conference with the UP police when they were announcing compensation to the victims of violence and talking about an embargo on politicians visiting the spot, in order to maintain peace.
While the UP administration tried to control the violence, the narrative was politicised to the extent that Rakesh Tikait, self-proclaimed farmer leader, went on to say that the BJP leaders who had been lynched to death deserved no compensation since they were barbarians.
With the new video of an injured man naming the nephew of a Congress leader and ex-MP as the owner of the Fortuner (we still don’t know who owned the Thar or was driving it), the entire ecosystem tried to ensure that the name of the Congress leader does not surface in the media and not just that, they cropped the video so they could claim that the man was talking about Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra.
The fact is that in Lakhimpur Kheri, the protestors attacked the convoy and after losing control, the car mowed down 4 protestors. After that, the protestors lynched 4 BJP workers to death. Who was responsible for fanning the violence will only be apparent after a thorough investigation is done. The Congress ecosystem, however, is hell-bent on naming Ashish Mishra as the person driving the car and therefore, starting tweeting a cropped video and NDTV beeped out the name of Ankit Das, nephew of Congress leader.
Clearly, the Congress ecosystem is least interested in finding out who fanned the violence or who were involved in the lynching. They simply want to implicate BJP leader Ajay Mishra and his son Ashish Mishra because it would help them implicate the Yogi government ahead of the UP elections.
Last week, India detained some People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers temporarily after 200 of them intruded into the Indian side and tried to damage unoccupied bunkers, reportedNews18. The incident occurred in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh; a district China claims to be a part of ‘Southern Tibet.’
News 18 reported that the Chinese troops transgressed into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between Yangtse and Bum La border pass. Indian soldiers quickly challenged their aggressive move and detained a few of them. Although both armies have no official comment, News18 reported that the Indian side did not suffer any damages. A source informed, “The matter was subsequently resolved at the local military commanders’ level. The Chinese soldiers were released and the situation was defused.”
The source added that there is no formal demarcation of the India-China border and that both countries view the LAC differently. “Peace and tranquillity in these areas of differing perceptions have been possible by adhering to existing agreements and protocols between the two countries… Whenever patrols of both sides physically meet, the situation is managed according to established protocols and mechanisms agreed by both sides. Physical engagement can last for a few hours prior to disengaging as per mutual understanding,” the source concluded.
The strategic importance of the Tawang region and China’s record at breaching LAC
News 18 reported that both sides would soon hold the 13th round of Commander-level talks in Eastern Ladakh and discuss the disengagement of troops. China had been eyeing the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh since the 1962 India-China war. The region provides strategic access to the plains of Brahmaputra, Guwahati, and the extended Siliguri corridor, thereby making it significant militarily. An official informed, “Bomdilla, Nechiphu and Se La (connecting Tawang to the rest of Arunachal Pradesh) — aid in deployment of defences by India.”
However, this was not the first time the Chinese PLA soldiers breached existing agreements and intruded into the Indian territory. In September this year, the Economic Times reported that the Chinese forces marched aggressively in the Barahoti sector in Uttarakhand near the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Similarly, around 200 Chinese soldiers entered the Indian side of LAC at Yangtse in 2016. Before that, they had tried to climb a 250-metre long wall and damaged it in 2011.
India and China disengage at Gogra in Ladakh
In August 2021, the Indian Army had announced that disengagement was completed at another friction point along the LAC with China. The Indian Army, in its statement, said that both sides restored the landform in Gogra to the pre-standoff period. “As per the agreement reached during Corps Commander talks, India and China have ceased forward deployments in (Patrolling Point) PP-17 (Gogra Post) in a phased, coordinated and verified manner,” the statement released by the Indian Army said. The disengagement process was carried out over 4-5 August 2021.
The Army said that all temporary structures and other infrastructure created by both sides were dismantled and mutually verified. “The agreement ensures that Line of Actual Control in this area will be strictly observed and respected by both sides. Both India, China expressed commitment to take talks forward and resolve remaining issues along LAC in eastern Ladakh,” the statement further added.
Bhartiya Janta Party MP from Bengaluru, Tejasvi Surya had lashed out at Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday for issuing discriminatory and illogical restrictions for the ongoing festival of Durga Puja.
At the pretext of curbing the spread of Covid-19, BBMP had announced that the height of Durga idols should not exceed 4 feet and had even imposed a ban on the use of drums for the festival among other guidelines.
Karnataka | Idol size shall not exceed more than 4 feet; 1 idol should be installed per ward with permission of respective Jt Commissioner of zone. Asscn shall not allow more than 50 people at a time during prayers: Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Pallike guidelines for Durga Puja pic.twitter.com/Yt8xFjb2yc
The BBMP in its guidelines also mentioned ‘sanitizing’ the idols before installation which received a strong objection from devotees.
Taking cognizance of the matter, BJP MP from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya had written a letter to the Chief Commissioner of BBMP to revisit Durga pooja rules.
I spoke to @BBMPCOMM & asked him to revisit Durga Pooja rules which are discriminatory, arbitrary & illogical.
He assured me that these rules will be reviewed forthwith & sentiments of devotees will be given utmost importance.
Following a hard-hitting letter by the BJP MP and public outrage, BBMP Commissioner Gaurav Gupta has withdrawn the order with immediate effect. The decision was taken after Gupta held a meeting with the various Durga puja committees in Bengaluru on Thursday.
“The restriction of 4 feet height of the Durga idol in public places has been lifted,” informed Gupta in an official release.
Further, there will be no further restrictions for ‘Pushpanjali’ and ‘Sandhi’ puja. Traditional instruments like ‘dhol’ have also been allowed to be used for prayer rituals.
‘This is a colonial relic’
BBMP’s restrictions on idol height and ban of musical instruments had sparked a controversy on social media.
Taking a strong objection to the baseless guidelines, Surya had Tweeted, “I spoke to @BBMPCOMM & asked him to revisit Durga Pooja rules which are discriminatory, arbitrary & illogical. He assured me that these rules will be reviewed forthwith & the sentiments of devotees will be given utmost importance. Let’s celebrate with all fervour!”
Surya in his letter had also called out the colonial hangover and general bias exhibited towards Hindu festivals by the bureaucracy time and again. “The restrictions imposed through the order regarding the size of the idol appears to be taken without any logical relevance. It is beyond the understanding of any reasonable person as to how the size of the idol is related to the spread of the Covid-19 virus,” he said in his letter.
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya’s letter to BBMP. Image Source: Twitter
“It is highly regrettable that the administration imposes such harsh and arbitrary rules only during celebrations of the Hindu community and turns a blind eye towards celebrations of other faiths,” the letter said further.
Giving a call to end the colonial hangover, Surya in a follow-up Tweet said, “There is a general tendency in sections of the bureaucracy to think that it’s OK to put any and every kind of restrictions on Hindu festivals. This is a colonial relic. Post-2014, the awakened Hindu resists such attempts.”
There is a general tendency in sections of the bureaucracy to think that it’s OK to put any and every kind of restrictions on Hindu festivals. This is a colonial relic.
Post 2014, the awakened Hindu resists such attempts. This colonialism must end too. https://t.co/BU5YMSbdxH
After the Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh government, it was BBMP that received flak for imposing baseless restrictions on Hindu festivals. Several netizens took to Twitter to register their protest.
“BBMP rules are illogical! What has Murti height got to do with Pandemic? Sanitisation of Murti before installation? Why no restrictions for Friday Prayers and Political rallies?” Tweeted Girish Bharadwaj of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
BBMP rules are illogical! What has Murti height got to do with Pandemic? Sanitisation of Murti before installation? Why no restrictions for Friday Prayers and Political rallies?
It is also imperative to note that the process of idol-making commences a few months prior to the festival. Hence, releasing such arbitrary restrictions a few days prior to the festival only leads to huge losses for the idol makers and disposing of the idols that do not fit the guidelines.
As the Congress party continues its attempt to extract maximum political mileage out of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in UP, a large contingent of Congress leaders and workers led by Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu arrived in the state to visit the place. However, the contingent along with Sidhu had been detained for a few hours at the Saharanpur border in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, September 7 by the UP police. The Congress leader, along with a large group of ministers, legislators, and party workers were on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri district when they were stopped by Uttar Pradesh police at Saharanpur.
The police had said that they won’t allow the Congress team to visit Lakhimpur Kheri, and had asked them to return. But later in the evening, there was a reconciliation between the Congress party and the Saharanpur administration and the administration allowed them to go to Lakhimpur Kheri. According to reports, the Saharanpur administration has allowed all the leaders to go in their own vehicles but decided that the UP police vehicles would escort the delegation to Lakhimpur Kheri.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, MPs, MLAs and other leaders of the Congress party will visit Lakhimpur Kheri tonight itself.
Navjot Singh Sidhu argues with UP police when stopped from visiting the politically sensitive Lakhimpur Kheri district
In a video shared by news agency ANI, Sidhu was seen arguing with the Uttar Pradesh police when he was stopped and asked to return.
#WATCH Stopped from going to UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri at Yamuna Nagar-Saharanpur, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu argues with policemen, “You won’t do anything against the Union minister & his son but stop us from sharing the grief of the victim families.” pic.twitter.com/NeHOASCLSA
“You won’ tell anything to the minister and teach us the law. Mishra has been left free, is it his father rule of law? the Congress leader questioned, adding that “We don’t attack from behind”.
“Beat us up, we will faint, die but won’t move back an inch. If UP police can leave Mos Mishra free even after murder then we can be left free as well,” Sidhu reportedly told the UP police, after which he along with other Congress leaders were detained and taken to Sarsawa Police Station.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had threatened to march towards Lakhimpur Kheri if Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son is not arrested and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is not released from detention.
How Congress using Lakhimpur Kheri tragedy in the run-up to the UP assembly elections
Notably, following the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, many Congress leaders including Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have hurried to the area to earn political mileage out of the incident. The Uttar Pradesh police were forced to detain the Gandhi scion on Monday for defying prohibitory orders to visit Lakhimpur Kheri.
Here it becomes important to understand that whenever a politically sensitive situation as the one in Lakhimpur Kheri arises, it becomes the state administration’s responsibility to ensure the law and order situation is maintained. Therefore, it is understandable why when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra refused to pay heed to the police’s request and stay back from visiting the violence-hit area, and instead threatened the UP police of accusing them of molestation, it left the latter with no option but to detain her.
While members of the Congress party are attempting to exploit their leader’s detention as yet another political gimmick, it is important to remember how Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been milking the situation in the run-up to the UP assembly elections in order to kickstart her political career once again.
Besides being seen sweeping her room with a broom in her hand while in detention, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had also accused the Uttar Pradesh government of ‘monitoring’ her move through drones.
After the Lakhimpur Kheri violence, in which a mob of ‘farmers’ attacked a BJP convoy with stones and sticks leading to the death of 8 people, a similar incident has come to the fore from the Ambala district in Haryana on Thursday. In the incident, BJP MP from Kurukshetra Naib Singh Saini has alleged that the protesting ‘farmers’ attacked him as he was leaving an event at Naraingarh in Ambala.
The BJP MP further claimed that the protestors, who had gathered there in large numbers, also grabbed his driver by his throat and attacked him.
The BJP MP said that his car was left behind in the convoy when the protestors surrounded the car and launched an attack. He added that the protesting ‘farmers’ shouted out that the car belongs to an MP. They then ran and attack the car from behind.
Divulging further details, Naib Singh Saini said that when the protestors launched an attack on his car, his staff got out of the car through its rear window and pushed back the farmers’. He added that no one was injured in the incident.
In contrary to what the BJP MP revealed, the ‘farmers’ have yet again alleged that the BJP convoy carrying BJP MP Nayab Saini had hit them, injuring one of the people in the crowd.
According to reports, the injured farmer was identified as one Bawan Preet. Sources were quoted as saying that the farmer was admitted to a government hospital in Naraingarh and was discharged after primary treatment.
Lakhimpur Kheri incident and how Congress and the leftist ecosystem used the incident to malign BJP
Interestingly, during the Lakhimpur Kheri incident too, the ‘farmer’ mob had attacked a BJP convoy with stones and sticks, leaving 8 people dead. Reports suggested that the protesters went violent and pelted stones at BJP’s convey.
Video had emerged that showed that the protestors had attacked a vehicle after which the driver lost control and ended up running over farmers, after which the protesters not only burnt down two vehicles but also ambushed people. While four farmers had died in the incident, two BJP leaders, a journalist a driver was reportedly beaten to death by the protesters.
However, opposition and the entire left ecosystem had immediately started peddling similar lies, accusing the son of cabinet minister Ajay Mishra of being behind the attack. Journalist Vinod Kapri had shared a cropped image on Twitter to insinuate that the son of a BJP leader was driving the car that ran over farmers.
A video also did the rounds where it is claimed that it shows the son of cabinet minister Ajay Mishra running away from the scene after their car runs over ‘farmer protesters’.
The Congress and their friendly journalists had also shared the video to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
However, an investigation by Navbharat Times had revealed that the person in the video is not Aashish Mishra but BJP leader Sumit Jaiswal.
Sumit Jaiswal had later claimed that the protesters attacked Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra’s convoy and not the other way round.
Uttar Pradesh Police today pasted a notice outside the resident of the Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri in UP, asking his son Ashish Mishra to appear before the police. Earlier, the UP police had named Ashish Mishra in the FIR filed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case.
The notice asks Mishra to appear at the crime branch office at the reserve police lines, Janpad Kheri at 10 am on October 8. The notice states that Ashish Mishra has been booked under sections 147, 148, 149, 279, 338, 304A, 302, 120B of the Indian Penal Code in the case where eight lives were lost. He has been asked to personally appear before the police to produce material, written, oral and electronic evidence in his defense.
Uttar Pradesh Police pastes notice outside the residence of Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra in Lakhimpur Kheri, asking his son Ashish Mishra to appear before it on Oct 8 in connection with the violence pic.twitter.com/HR7sm1b2K7
The notice was pasted after reports that Ashish Mishra is untraceable after the incident, while two persons have been arrested in the case. The two arrested persons have been identified as Luvkush Rana and Ashish Pandey, close aides of Ashish.
The farmers are insisting that Ashish Mishra was present at the spot when the incident happened, and some are even claiming that he was driving the car that hit two farmer protestors killing them. On the other hand, he and his father are saying that he was not even present at the spot on that day, so there is no question of him hitting the people with his car.
Earlier, the FIR registered by the police in the incident that took place on Saturday, had said that Ashish Mishra was sitting in the car that had hit the protesting farmers. The FIR lodged on the complaint of one Jagjit Singh had said that the act was “premeditated”, for which the “conspiracy was hatched” by the minister and his son.
In that Lakhimpur Kheri violence that has become a major political issue taken up by the Congress party, a total of eight persons were killed. Reported, a convoy of BJP workers were first attacked by the protesting farmers, after which a vehicle allegedly lost control and hit two farmers. This angered the protesters, who attacked the vehicle, torched it, and assaulted people in the car. This resulted in the death of two BJP workers, a journalist and the driver. In the violence, two more farmers were reported death.
The family members of Shubham Mishra and Hariom Mishra, who have died in Lakhimpur violence, have spoken against the protesters and opposition leaders who are trying to politicize the case. Pyara Hindustan, an Online News Channel, approached the families of both Shubham and Hariom to talk to them about the incident.
In a video published on October 6, the reporter talked to the family members of Shubham Mishra and locals who had come to pay their condolences. Anoop Mishra, paternal uncle of Shubham Mishra, while talking to the reporter, said that the ‘farmers’ protesting against the three laws were not farmers but terrorists.
He further added that the protesters pelted stones that led to the violent incident. He said that the claims that protesters were attacked by the BJP workers are false. He said, “The BJP workers did not attack anyone. It was the terrorists [protesters] who started pelting stones.”
Another uncle of Shubham said, “My son was going to receive the minister. The protesters pelted stones at their vehicles. The windshield of the vehicle got damaged, and the driver could not control the car that led to the accident in which some people were injured. After that, the protesters turned the vehicle upside down and beaten my son to death.”
He further said, “I haven’t used my mobile or seen any TV channel. Everyone is showing how my son died. I cannot take it anymore.” He further added it could not be farmer protests. He said that the protesters present at the scene were already in the mood to cause riots. “It was a plan to kill the Minister or the representative,” he alleged. “However, they could not succeed as the minister was stopped at the venue and asked not to leave because of the protests. There was some youth wearing black Khalistan-related clothes. They were Khalistanis only,” he said.
Another person present said that the real farmers do not indulge in such protests or acts. These are the terrorists and miscreants who have become a part of these protests and creating a nuisance. He further claimed that the protesters were not local, and people were brought from other states on that day. He questioned leaders like Akhilesh Yadav for showing sympathy for those who came from the outside and caused the incident. He said, “Why these leaders are not talking about our child who lost his life? Why are they showing sympathy for those who came from outside?”
The family has demanded strict action against those who killed Shubham. When Shubham’s uncle was asked if he agreed with the demand of the protesters, he said, “We are also farmers. They formed unions and creating trouble for us. Their protests have no meaning. Their protests have led to the death of our child. These protests should end.”
Hariom’s family members blamed opposition leaders for the violence
Hariom’s cousin Rajnikant Mishra said his brother was pulled out of the vehicle and beaten to death with batons. “My brother can never harm anyone. They must have come in front of my brother’s vehicle. There were injury marks of swords and batons on his body.” His brother further added that Hariom was not in the vehicle that hit the protesters, but he was in another car.
He said, “They did not care to find out if he hit anyone or not. These were not farmers. They were Khalistani terrorists. I saw them in the news today. They still have batons and swords. No one is taking action against them.” He further added that leaders like Akhilesh Yadav would not go to the actual farmers. “We have papers of our land here. We are the real farmers. Those who were protesting were not the real farmers. Akhilesh Yadav would not come to the real farmers but would meet the fake ones,” he said.
Another cousin of Hariom said, “We are also farmers. We never attacked anyone with batons. Everyone in this village is a farmer. No one participated in the protests.” His family members further called Tikait “leader of the terrorists”. “Tikait is responsible for the deaths that happened that day. It is his responsibility. Action should be taken against him. He is leading the protests. Because of him, my brother died. I do not know why the government is not taking any action against him. If no action is taken, more like my brother will die,” said Rajnikant.
Hariom’s uncle, Chandrabhan Mishra, said, “The incident where they disrespected the National Flag and now this incident where people died, the government has not taken any action. If they let the protests keep happening like this, it will be very difficult in the future.” He further said, “Trust me, not even a single farmer went for the protests. Not even a single farmer went from the nearby villages as well.” He said those who killed Hariom were trained murders. “I don’t think everyone coming to the protests is a trained killer, but there are some who have been trained to attack.”
Chandrabhan said, “I went to see the body. His head was brutally smashed. There was nothing left on the backside of the head. If you have seen the videos, there were only 3-4 people who were beating him to the point where no life was left. There were sword injuries as well.”
A local present at Hariom’s house said, “It is the opposition parties that are behind these protests and violence. Our child has lost his life. No farmer keeps swords. They had swords and batons. They were not farmers.” He added, “The opposition parties are trying to defame the government. Rakesh Tikait is the leader. Opposition parties are funding his protests.”
In the end, Chandrabhan said, “I would like to ask Rakesh Tikait to visit the villages alone. He would understand how many farmers are with him. Just ask him to visit once alone.”
What happened in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3?
On October 3, eight people lost their lives, including three BJP members in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, after protesting ‘farmers’ turned violent. BJP worker Shubham Mishra and his driver Hariom Mishra were also lynched to death at the site by the so-called ‘farmers’. Shubham’s father said in his complaint that Shubham’s gold chain, mobile and wallet were stolen by the protesters who had killed him. He also named Tajinder Singh Virk of Samajwadi Party and Kisan Union leader one of the foremost perpetrators. The government has announced 45 lakh compensation and a government job to the kin of all who had died in the incident.
The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad, probing the mass conversion racket, on Thursday arrested Sarfaraz Ali Zafri, a close aide of Islamic scholar Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui. The accused was arrested from the state’s Amroha district. According to reports, Zafri had been working very closely with Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, accused of running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’, and had been pushing several people into conversion since 2016.
The arrest was made after Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who is one of the biggest clerics from western UP, was arrested on charges of religious conversions by the state’s anti-terrorist squad last month.
IG, ATS, GK Goswamy revealed that they had received information about Sarfaraz Ali Zafri while interrogating Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui.
“Zafri used to work at Global Peace centre of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, who was arrested earlier. He was also member of Revert, Rehab, and Dawa WhatsApp Group through which his gang members spread religious hatred, induced people to adopt Islam by giving various kinds of inducements,” Goswamy said.
According to the ATS, Zafri is a Jamia Nagar resident who allegedly directed the activities of Kaleem’s Global Peace Centre, which was involved in religious conversion. According to the ATS, he also ran the Humanity for All organisation in New Delhi, which engaged in unlawful conversion under the pretext of social service.
Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui funded arrested Sarfaraz Ali Zafri, said Uttar Pradesh ATS
He lured potential converts by promising to assist them to find work, according to the report, which also stated that Kaleem used to fund Zafri. According to the police, he was also allegedly involved in obtaining foreign financing for unlawful conversion, as evidenced by data found from his cellphone.
Officials say those arrested so far have been charged under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2020, and the Indian Penal Code.
UP ATS conducts raids at premises of recently arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui in Delhi
Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh ATS had conducted massive raids at the premises of Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui who has been accused of running India’s ‘biggest religious conversion syndicate’.
Two residential and two commercial properties of prime accused Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui and his associates were searched in connection with the probe.
As per a press note issued by the ATS, incriminating evidence from desktops, tablets and documents has been seized from the raids conducted at several locations across the national capital.
Siddiqui’s residence as well as his organizations Global Peace Center and World Peace Organization located in Shaheen Bagh area of New Delhi were raided along with the residence of one Abdul Rahman.
Crores received through hawala
The UP ATS had initiated a massive investigative operation in June this year after the arrest of one Umar Gautam and his aide accused of mass conversions.
The duo ran an organization named Islamic Dawah Centre (IDC), along with their other associates, to mass convert people into Islam through inducements such as marriage, job, money and mental pressure.
They have also been accused of targeting differently-abled children to convert and use them as human bombs. Moreover, the investigation has also revealed the illegal foreign funding received by Gautam and his accomplices.
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference spokesperson and Kashmiri writer Ifra Jan in a series of tweets on the recent cold-blooded murder of civilians blamed the ‘low IQ right-wing social media influencers’ for the killings. Two teachers have been murdered by Islamic terrorists in Kashmir. According to reports, the terrorists separated the teachers of the school on religious lines, presumably sparing the Muslim teachers and killing 1 Hindu and 1 Sikh teacher.
Ifra in a Tweet said, “When Article 370 was abrogated, a group of usual low IQ, high decibel RW social media influencers went overboard to argue for forced demographic change, without realising what the repercussions of this alarm”. “The blood is on their hands as well,” Ifra concluded.
Ifran Jan’s Tweet
Ifra’s tweet was in context to the multiple barbaric killings of locals in Srinagar in a span of just three days by the Islamic terrorist.
While Makhan Lal Bindroo was shot dead at his pharmacy at Iqbal Park in Srinagar on Wednesday, Satinder Kaur and Deepak Chand were gunned down for being non-Muslims on Thursday.
Despite Pakistan’s new terror outfit ‘The Resistance Front’ (TRF) taking full responsibility for the attacks, the apologists of Islamic terrorism have been finding ways to pin the blame of recent attacks on the right-wing.
Why blaming ‘RW’ is flawed?
Not just Ifra, but every supporter of Article 370 has found reasons to criticize the abrogation of this unfair special status granted to the state.
It is imperative to note that Article 370 and 35A were discriminatory in nature with laws such as the Right to Education, Prevention of Child Marriage, Untouchability Act and many others inapplicable to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
Marginalised Hindu communities were denied citizenship, perhaps because the Kashmiri leadership feared “demographic shift” in the Muslim-dominated state.
However, one must not forget that the forced ‘demographic shift’ is not a thing of now but took place with the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. With the abrogation of Article 370, attempts are being made to ‘re-settle’ the natives who had to abandon their homes and families in the early 1990s.
Moreover, Bindroo who was killed by the Islamist terrorists on Wednesday was one among few Kashmiri Pandit who had refused to leave the valley during the height of militancy in Jammu & Kashmir.
Bindroo was not an ‘outsider’ who was sent by the right-wing government to forcefully change the demographics as claimed by the likes of Ifra but a resident of Kashmir who had stayed back despite the militancy and grew his business.
Similarly, school principal Supinder Kaur and teacher Deepak Chand who were shot dead at point-blank were residents of Budgam in Kashmir and Patoli Mangotrian in Jammu respectively.
Names of the two victims killed today in the senseless barbaric Islamist terror attack in Kashmir are Supinder Kour and Deepak Chand. Supinder is from Budgam in Kashmir while Deepak is from Patoli Mangotrian in Jammu.
Issuing a clarification, Ifra in a note said, “It has come to my notice that some people have taken objection to the older Tweet. Even though it was a part of a proper series of Tweet-on WHO set the alarm bells- the Kashmiri Muslim intellectuals or the ones cheering Abrogation. Since yesterday there is a spate of tweets blaming common Kashmiris for generating fear, without looking inwards.”
“I however withdrew it because it has hurt feelings of those who it has been presented to very selectively….As far as killings are concerned, the blood is on the hands of those who killed innocent people. Not common Kashmiris who are as horrified as all of you at this barbaric violence. Nothing, I repeat nothing justifies this madness,” the note read further.
Ironic, as Ifra in her previous tweet tried to justify the killings by accusing right-wing social media influencers of the same. The standalone tweet, irrespective of context or support of other tweets, clearly holds the ones cheering the abrogation responsible for the murder of one of their own by the Islamic terrorists.
Ifra for now is busy retweeting her clarification note.
