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The selective outrage of the left and right over free speech, and how it hurts everyone

Kushal Mehra
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The selective outrage of the left and right over free speech, and how it hurts everyone

The assault on free speech in India is now a consistent phenomenon. We have had two attacks on freedom of expression in a matter of few days. In the 1st case, we have a 17-year-old student in Baduria, Bengal who has been arrested and jailed for some “objectionable” comments he made on Facebook. Not only was the boy imprisoned, but post that we have had reports of violence from mobs belonging to the Muslim community in some areas of Bengal.

As if this was not enough, we saw a news report where it is stated that the Mumbai Police has registered an FIR (50/2017) against a comedy group called AIB at the cyber police station in regards to an apparently “offensive” meme shared on Twitter, where they made fun of the Prime Minister of India.

And the reactions to both these cases have been predictable. The left wing has completely ignored the miseries of the 17-year-old boy being arrested in Bengal. If you go through the twitter timeline of a left winger, occasionally concerned about even a kid in Syria, there are no words for concern for this teenager. It is like it never happened or he doesn’t exist. Don’t be surprised that if you question a left winger about this, you might have reactions like “which Facebook post”, ” what 17 years old boy”, ” I don’t trust you Sanghis”.

But, the same left wingers will go on a constant diatribe about how Narendra Modi and BJP have destroyed the fabric of Indian democracy because of the FIR filed against AIB. They are all over Twitter posing as dogs since last evening, saving India from Modi. But the reality is that the Prime Minister or the BJP have nothing to do with this FIR. But, in the world of a left winger, whenever something bad happens, it is always BJP and Modi’s fault.

In Fact, the left has mastered the art of negationism/denialism. Some of you might wonder what the hell does negationism/denialism mean? In words of Koenraad Elst:

“Negationism means the denial of historical crimes against humanity. It is not a reinterpretation of known facts, but the denial of known facts. The term negationism has gained currency as the name of a movement to deny a specific crime against humanity, the Nazi genocide of the Jews in 1941-45, also known as the holocaust (Greek: fire sacrifice) or the Shoah (Hebrew: disaster). Negationism is mostly identified with the effort at re-writing history in such a way that the fact of the Holocaust is omitted.”

The Indian left has practised their unique form of negationism/denialism by completely ignoring the consistent Islamist and Marxist violence in India both, historical, and of the present times.

But the Indian left doesn’t understand one simple thing. Their consistent negationism is pushing a huge chunk of Right Wing (RW) or whom they call Internet Hindus, into a mental state of “reactionary survivalism”. The more leftist progressives practice negationism, the more Hindus go into reactionary survivalism.

When the RW Hindu enters the mode of reactionary survivalism, they start practising their form of soft negationism. The right wing has consistently been outraging about the arrest of the 17-year-old in Bengal. But, when it comes to the question of the FIR against AIB the replies one gets are fascinating. I am quoting a couple of the answers that I received on my Facebook wall verbatim over here

Answer No.1: “Well well u do that in China / PAKISTAN / Russia …Intel guys eliminate u & ur body will not be even found ..thank God they r in INDIA …its PM OF INDIA NOT SOME PETTY JOKER ….not Kejriwal or Pappu EITHER.”

Answer No. 2: “One must stay within limits. At least have respect for the high posts some people hold whether you like it or not. This poking fun at dignitaries is uncalled for and should be dealt with accordingly.”

I have to concede that some prominent RW voices on Twitter condemned the Mumbai Police’s FIR against AIB, but the RW will also have to concede that the general mood is not really of unequivocal support to AIB.

Both the sides have locked themselves up in this ideological rabbit hole and the arguments presented are more about convenience and less about principles. I believe I am seeing a trend now. Both sides are practising a form of negationism/denialism, and neither are willing to recognise that.

The blame of this cancerous atmosphere lies primarily with the Left. They started this selective outrage game. But, now we have reached a stage where everyone is outraging selectively. The left will completely ignore the excessive bullying by the Muslims and blow the violence on the Hindu side out of proportion. e.g. How the violence committed by cow thugs has been blown up as Hindu terror, which is not the case. The RW, on the other hand, will completely ignore the bullying from some Hindu groups. And I am not saying both the sides are equally guilty. There is no false equivalence here. The right has still not reached (or fallen) to the levels of the left, but the process has begun.

And, in all of this, what we have is a situation of chaos in the country. Nobody wants to talk about the real issue in India. And this is what the political class wants. They want a society that is constantly angry. Because if you are at your primary innate tribal level, you will always fight with the so called “other”.

We have a massive law and order problem in India. The reality is that we don’t have enough cops. Just read this article, and you will understand the level of the shortage we have in India. We are a highly under policed society.

We have some ridiculous laws. This is the 21st century, but, we have blasphemy laws like 295A in India. The funny part is that we are a country in which around 75% of the population follows a type of a belief system that does not even have the concept of blasphemy. But for some odd reason, we have this ancient Abrahamic relic. We are indeed a weird country. We will cling on to everything ancient. It does not matter how silly or UnHindu it is, we will keep it and then start using it and shout “garv se kaho hum hindu hai”.

I want to disclose one fact; I am one of those few people who used 295A on the Hindu side (used it again AAP supporter Vishal Dadlani for his tweets on Jain muni), but I wanted to start a movement against it by showcasing how ridiculous that law is. But it appears I showed a way to get even. The right has found that they can use the tools that were used to silence them till now, and so instead of any demand for scrapping this law, there appears more interest in using these to teach lessons to the other side.

What is going on in India is frustrating. What is AIB’S crime? Or, for that matter what is so outrageous about what that kid from Bengal did? One made a silly Twitter meme and the other made a stupid Facebook post. Now I am not a fan of what both of them did. I don’t watch the shows of AIB, and whenever I discuss/criticise Islam, I do it respectfully. My criticism does not have abuses in it. But I don’t support this kind of bullying that is happening to both of them. AIB fortunately got widespread support and they are safe, but the kid is still in jail.

I stand for their right to make fun of any idea/religion/politician. And if you don’t stand up because this time it’s about a leader/religion/idea, you like then you are part of the problem. Always remember, the party of your choice or liking won’t be in power forever. And the day the other one comes they will go after you if you hurt them. Because that is the inherent nature of the political system in India.

So if you want freedom, learn to outrage on every assault on freedom of expression. Don’t be intentionally selective in this because it is for your good. The reality today is that there is no free speech in India. And as far as I am concerned, I support everyone’s right to make fun and hurt sentiments of others unless they don’t make a direct call to violence.

The problem in India is bad policing and bad laws. But no one fixes that. Everyone keeps outraging selectively as they practice this weird form of negationism/denialism and going on with their lives as long as they are not affected personally.

Christian man arrested for desecrating Holy Crosses in Goa

OpIndia Staff
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Christian man arrested for desecrating Holy Crosses in Goa

In the last fortnight, 12 crosses were were found desecrated in South Goa. These incidents which began on 1st July, had led the Church of Goa to speculate that the desecration could have been carried out by vested interests, to sow communal discord in the region.

Crosses weren’t the only structures which were being desecrated. 50 gravestones were also found damaged on 9th July in the South Goan town of Curchorem. We had also reported that apart from crosses, a temple was also desecrated in the same region.

Now it seems the police has managed a breakthrough in this case by arresting a person named Francis Pereira. He was arrested on the intervening night of 14th and 15th while he was in the process of desecrating a cross.

Francis is believed to be a member of a sect which is a sub class between Catholics. He is reportedly a bachelor and lives in Kudchade.

The interrogation of Francis brought out surprising facts regarding the incident. He after confessing to the 12 cases of desecration stated that he had done so ‘casually’ and wanted to promote no enmity. Francis also claimed that he didn’t plan his endeavours and whenever he saw a cross he used to hit it.

Local reports further elaborated that point. According to one report, he used to break religious shrines in order to ‘release the souls trapped in them’. He, according to the police, believed that souls if remained trapped in shrines, graves and statues, end up becoming devils and help the politicians. He has now been sent to a 3 day police custody.

The police hopes that after Francis’s arrest, they would be able to crack over 150 cases of similar desecration which have been reported in the last 15 years. Francis might be responsible for at least some of them, as reports indicate that he has been breaking shrines for 14 years.

Even though Francis has been arrested and has also reportedly confessed his crime, it has failed to assuage various political and religious organisations in the state. The organisations are reportedly refusing to believe that it was a one man job and want the cops to find out who is the ‘mastermind’ behind the whole exercise.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar who had discussed the matter with the Curchorem police in person, had reportedly notified the media that the police are probing whether there was any guiding hand behind Francis.

Meanwhile the BJP MLA from Curchorem, Nilesh Cabral has given a political spin to the whole incident by claiming that Francis was an active AAP supporter. He has also generously decided to award the police team Rs 50,000 for cracking the case.

As Francis turned out to be a christian, it has prompted the Hindu group, Sanatan Sanstha to demand a public apology from those who blamed them for the desecration.

Pakistan to receive US defense aid only if it shows sufficient progress in fighting terrorism

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Pakistan to receive US defense aid only if it shows sufficient progress in fighting terrorism

In a case of the USA tightening the screws on Pakistan, the US house of Representatives has voted in amendments to make their defence funding to Pakistan, conditional.

The three amendments which the US legislative body has voted, would make it tougher for Pakistan to get its share of the defence fund which the US doles out. Pakistan has been sanctioned a total of $400 million in form of the defense fund for the October 2017-December 2018 fiscal.

In order to receive the funding, Pakistan would have to show sufficient progress in fighting terrorism, a tall ask considering Pakistan still continues to provide a VIP treatment to various designated terrorists including Syed Salahuddin. The conditions put forth by America are related to Pakistan’s support of terror organisation and terrorists about which US lawmakers have continually expressed concerns.

These legislative amendments were made to the $651 billion National Defense Authorization Act which is used to authorize America’s defense expenses. Before Pakistan is released this aid, the secretary of defense needs to certify that Pakistan is:

  • Maintaining security along the ground lines of communication throughout the country
  • Taking demonstrable steps in support of counter-terrorism, foiling cross border attacks and is countering the threats of improvised explosive devices
  • Committed in preventing the Haqqani network from using the North Waziristan province as a safe haven
  • Coordinating with the Afghani government in restricting the movement of terrorists along the Pak-Afghan border
  • Not using the funds, equipment provided to persecute minority groups asking for political and religious freedom

And the most significant one:

  • The funding would be withheld if the defense secretary cannot certify that Pakistan is not “providing military, financial, or logistical support to any individuals designated by the US as a terrorist operating in Pakistan or Afghanistan”. 

This isn’t the only time, the US has tried to reign in the aid provided to Pakistan. Recently we had reported how US President Donald Trump had proposed that the US grant to Pakistan for purchase of military hardware, into a loan. Pakistan was somewhat singled out in this regard as the aid would continue normally for countries like Egypt and Israel.

Why are crime reports turning into ‘communal’ headlines after a few days?

Editorial Desk
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Why are crime reports turning into ‘communal’ headlines after a few days?

On Wednesday, a shocking case of robbery was reported near Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. According to initial reports [1][2] dacoits decided to attack the Shikohabad passenger train and cornered a family travelling in the train. They proceeded to assault the family and stole all the jewelry and cash which the family was carrying and even misbehaved with the women members of the family. The family was reportedly returning from a wedding ceremony.

According to the GRP of Farrukhabad, a group of young men (the suspected dacoits) as well as the victim family had boarded the train at the Bhongaon station. The family got into altercation with this group after elbow of one of the guys reportedly brushed a woman member of the family. The guys then used their mobile phones to call up their ‘friends’ and over a dozen goons arrived, who collectively proceeded to rob the family. All the criminals then proceeded to disembark and flee from the train by pulling the chain near Nibkarori station.

Eight members of the family were injured in this robbery and assault, and were admitted to a hospital for treatment after the train stopped at Farrukhabad station. The injured included Mohammad Shakir, his wife Ashia Begum, their two kids and other members of their extended family. Following the ordeal, Shakir filing a police complaint about the robbery and assault.

As one could check by clicking the news articles linked back till now, they are all reported as regular crime story by the vernacular media. There is no mention of any religious angle or this being a hate crime. But this incident was then picked up by various ‘national’ media outlets, and the headlines appeared with a ‘communal’ angle:

Muslim family attacked with iron rods, robbed by 30-35 men on a train in UP [Times Now]

Muslim family attacked on train [The Hindu]

UP: Muslim family attacked on running train, assaulted using rods, jewels robbed, 9 injured [Aaj Tak]

To be fair, the Times Now and Aaj Tak reports claimed that communal slurs were also hurled at the family. The Hindu report claims that the family was ‘singled out’ due to women wearing veils (burqa). 

However, that leads us to the question that why were such claims of communal slurs being hurled by the criminals, or the communal angle not reported in initial news articles?

In fact, there are conflicting reports over what the victim family has claimed regarding the communal slurs or motives of the criminals. As per a journalist named Haider Naqvi working for Hindustan Times, the family considers it primarily a case of robbery, thus it might not be a case of targeted attack against Muslims:


Giving the benefit of doubt to the media that it has not invented quotes of the victim family, even though there are conflicting reports, maybe it could be similar to the Junaid murder case (incidentally crimes committed in trains in both the cases), where the fight had started primarily over sharing of seats, but later communal slurs were also thrown by the assailants.

However, in Junaid’s case, if you remember, some in media had claimed that the fight had started over suspicion of Junaid and his brother ‘carrying beef’ – even though neither the complainant in the written complaint nor the accused, who has confessed to his crime, talked about that being the trigger of the fatal fight.

Now that there appears to be a similar case, though fortunately no one died this time, we at OpIndia.com would like to share an email we had received earlier this week from someone claiming to have access to the work-desk at a news channel. This “whistleblower” claimed that the beef part in Junaid’s case was added by a journalist sitting in Delhi, even though the local reporter had not mentioned it in his original draft:

screenshot of the meail received
The ‘whistleblower’ claimed that once this ‘beef’ angle was inserted by this man working in a popular Hindi news channel, every other media outlet repeated the same claim

We have some reasons to believe that the claims made in the above mail could be true, because apart from police refuting this ‘fight started over suspicion of carrying beef’ theory, even Junaid’s father had refuted this theory as per an Amar Ujala report (though he did claim that communal slurs were used in a fight that started over seat sharing):

Screenshot of the report (still live on the website) that quotes Junaid's father denying any 'beef' angle
Screenshot of the report (still live on the website) that quotes Junaid’s father denying any ‘beef’ angle

One of the accused did admit that ‘beef taunts’ were made (and nobody is denying that communal slurs were thrown), but the media reports claiming that the fight had started over suspicion of Junaid carrying beef have turned out to be entirely unsubstantiated. Remember, this is how the media had reported:

tweet screenshot
Screenshot of original headline tweeted by Hindustan Times. The headline was later changed to “Muslim boy stabbed to death on train after argument turns into religious slurs”.

Media appears to be playing a very dangerous game. The same people who accuse others of communalizing an incident, appear to do so in a very determined and devious way. Not just they can twist facts, it appears that they can also invent facts by “tutoring” the victims.

Here is a journalist named Nikhil Wagle revealing that victims or survivors can be “tutored” to push a communal agenda i.e. a media person can ask a victim to claim religious or communal angle even though there was none:

Allegation or confession of media interviews being ‘tutored‘?

Wagle had made the above revelation while reacting to the news reports about local Kashmiris laughing at the plight of Hindu victims of Amarnath attack. Wagle dismissed the newspaper report and insinuated that the newspaper had “tutored” the Hindu victim to claim that Kashmiris (assumed Muslims) were laughing. If Wagle believes that Hindus can be “tutored” to claim a communal angle, why can’t Muslims be tutored to do the same?

Why should we rule out a journalist telling a Muslim victim of petty fight to claim communal angle, so that it makes spicy headlines (and possible speedy investigation of the case)? This is a possibility a senior journalist like Wagle has revealed, not something we at OpIndia.com are claiming out of nowhere.

And could these be the reasons why incidents, which are initially reported as normal crime stories, suddenly take communal angles?

The media could very well have been given the benefit of the doubt in this case, had it not been a habitual offender in this regard. They are either complicit in it by deliberately twisting facts such as in the case of a woman allegedly being beaten up to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’, or careless to make headlines based on unsubstantiated claims as had happened in the case of a man who claimed attack by gau-rakshaks in Mumbai.

UPDATE (17 April 2018): High Court has observed that there indeed was no primary communal motive in murder of Junaid. It corroborate the fact that media inserted this communal angle to peddle its own agenda.

Despite all online buzz, this is why BJP may not do well electorally in Bengal

goonereol
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Despite all online buzz, this is why BJP may not do well electorally in Bengal

While I appreciate that BJP of late is trying to highlight the plight of Hindus under the mercy of Jihadi mobs in West Bengal, let me be blunt and say that the Bengal can not be won with Twitter friendly slogans like #SaveBengal, especially when you shout these slogans from the streets of Delhi or for that matter even in Kolkata.

Bengal can not be won with launch of online campaigns, which will be attacked by the cheerleaders of secular-liberal establishment and thus shifting the debate to a ‘representative image’ shared by a BJP guy from the riots that happened after an image was shared by a 17 years old boy, for which he is still in jail.

Bengal can not be won when you try to remain politically correct and do monkey-balancing to appear secular (we will get to this later in this article). It can not be won with Amit Shah visiting the state once in a while for inspection.

To win Bengal you need to get your hands dirty.

To win Bengal, you need a fiery ‘khati’ (core) Bangali, who is a robust fighter, an unapologetic character, and one who is not afraid to speak his/her mind out. It needs a local saviour around which the campaign to save Bengal can be launched and mobilised, not in Delhi or just in Kolkata, but in entire Bengal.

“An appeaser is the one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”

“No man survives when freedom fails, the best men rot in filthy jails. And those who cry ‘appease, appease’ are hanged by those they tried to please.”

The above two quotes describe the conditions of modern India due to systematic appeasement by the elite liberal and certain section of the political class. But it particularly applies to the Bengal under Mamata Banerjee’s jaamati rule.

But is she so ignorant? Does she not know that she is feeding the crocodiles that will only get more hungry and will bite her one day? She is playing with fire and already Bengal has seen peace go up in flames multiple times. When will she realise?

I think she knows it very well. She knows that her disastrous appeasement policies will have a serious national impact. But she doesn’t care a bit. She is too intoxicated by power she is enjoying and the questions that are never asked to her as she is seen someone who is a challenger to Modi. To keep this power and status intact, she seeks the blessings of that particular community, which is around 30% of Bengal population.

In my previous articles ‘Making of a ‘New Bengal’ by Mamata in Modi’s New India‘ and ‘Steps for De-Radicalising Bengal‘, I had tried to highlight the sinister designs of ruling TMC govt, and how it gets support of the media to keep the flawed and preposterous ‘secularism’ intact. I had also stated how the central govt needs to counter it and prevent the rise Islamic fundamentalism in Bengal. This can be achieved if the BJP grows strong in the state.

But coming to BJP’s chances in the electoral politics of Bengal, I am not optimistic about it. There are various reasons for it:

  • BJP appears to ride on the anti-incumbency factor as Mamata Banerjee is in her second term. That isn’t going to happen. Bengal is historically different. Bongs are patient and willing to give chance. They let the communists rule for 34 long years and they could have ruled for another 10 years, if not for Nandigram and Singur. Rest of the people might believe that Politicians are a lot like diapers, which should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons. But bhadraloks don’t appear to think that way.
  • Lack of rural base: BJP has virtually no rural base. Large parts of rural Bengal are not aware of the existence of BJP. Yes, that’s the harsh reality. RSS is trying get a foothold, but is finding it difficult due to government control over its activities as well as populist schemes of Mamata government, such as Kanyasree which is a massive hit in the rural belt.
  • Trying too hard to remain ‘secular’. Recently in one of the debates on an English news channel regarding Basirhat riots, Rajya Sabha MP and a prominent face of Bengal BJP Roopa Ganguly’s opening remarks were about how she was secular and had many friends from the minority community and blah blah. This is the condition of entire state unit of the party. They are not bold enough to say what must be said. The political correctness will not help.
  • Lack of enthusiasm to take the initiative. One classic example of the state unit’s failure was during Amit Shah’s visit in May. Shah started his Bengal campaign from the infamous Naxalbari. He held rallies, visited homes, and had lunch at house of Raju and Geeta Mahali, a Dalit couple who ‘were’ supporters of Modi. It was a part of the Dalit outreach, which forms a considerable chunk particularly in South 24 parganas. A few days after Amit Shah left, the Mahali couple joined TMC. Yes certainly there could have been pressure on the poor couple, but wasn’t it the duty of the state unit to look after them? Such a massive PR failure hints at lack of alertness and enthusiasm in taking an initiative forward.
  • And most important factor. Absence of a strong local Bengali leader. No, not even Amit Shah’s crafty organisational skills can fill that void. As I had said in the beginning it requires a local saviour. It requires a leader who makes the Bengalis rally celebrate their lost pride and forgotten heritage and rally them like a captain in a battle. Much like Bal Thackeray and Shiv Sena revived Marathi asmita. The character of Bengal is changing fast under Islamist and Jamaati politics, and this needs to be conveyed.

There is one person who is trying that. Mamata Banerjee went to the extent of threatening to ban his organisation. It is ex-RSS man Tapan Ghosh and his organisation Hindu Samhiti. His Twitter profile says “Uncompromising Hindu activist of Bengal. Determined to fight against Islamic aggression & expansion.”

As blunt as it gets.

It is his organisation that relentlessly talked about Malda and Dhulagarh riots, which were, as usual denied by the Mamata government and its news suppressed by the mainstream media. Tapan Ghosh was also the one to highlight the issues in Tehatta where Islamist mobs had laid siege over a school and Saraswati Puja was not allowed.

Few months ago, he organised a massive rally in Kolkata, which really shook the TMC cadre. They had thought that the rally will be a flop.

As mentioned earlier, in the same debate in which Roopa Ganguly took part and started with listing her secular credentials, Tapan Ghosh minced no words. He went on to say, and I am quoting him, “When thousands from the Muslim community take part in violent activities, entire community has to come forward. If they are quiet, it means they are supporter of violence.”

BJP needs to indulge in such plain speak. It needs that firebrand leader who doesn’t care about what tags the media uses about him or her. It needs someone who cares about what is happening on the ground.

The party needs to realise that talking about ‘Sarada’ & ‘Narada’ scam will not dent Mamata’s popularity nor it can uproot her from the throne of Bengal. To snatch Bengal from Didi, it needs an uncompromising fighter, much like she had been when communists ruled.

As said before: you need to get your hands dirty.

Indian astronomers in Pune discover a supercluster of Galaxies, now named Saraswati

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Indian astronomers in Pune discover a supercluster of Galaxies, now named Saraswati

Astronomers associated with the India’s Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) – institutes in Pune – have discovered a supercluster of galaxies in the direction of Pisces constellation.

This discovery made by scientists named Joydeep Bagchi, Shishir Sankhyayan, Prakash Sarkar, Somak Raychaudhury, Joe Jacob, Pratik Dabhade was submitted to the Cornell University as a concise report on 10th July. The scientists have fondly named the discovered supercluster as Saraswati after the Hindu goddess of leaning.

Supercluster of Galaxies are basically a collection of comparatively smaller galaxy clusters which are structures which contain hundred to thousand of galaxies, all of which are bound together by gravity. The Virgo supercluster is made up of about 100 galaxy clusters.

Our Milky Way falls under the Laniakea Supercluster, which was catalogued in 2014. The sheer scale of the superclusters which are millions in number, make them one of the largest structures in our cosmos. Also superclusters are not the final product of the galaxy clusters, the superclusters are also collectively identified as supercluster complexes.

Scientists believe that the Saraswati supercluster, which forms a wall like structure, has a span of about 200 megaparsec. A parsec is a unit of distance which roughly translates into 3.3 light years and when you take a million of those parsecs, it becomes a megaparsec.

Hence the Saraswati supercluster’s span turns out to be roughly about 660 million light years long. To put things into further perspective, it takes about 95,000 years just to cover one light year if you decided to travel on NASA’s Mach 9.68 X-43A hypersonic scramjet which is one of the fastest spacecrafts in the world.

This Saraswati supercluster is believed to contain about 43 massive galaxy clusters. This supercluster was observed when the universe was about 10 billion years old. The universe is currently about 13.82 billion years old, so the difference of 3.82 billion is the time light took to travel from the supercluster to the earth.

This discovery is also important as it also sheds light on the roles which the initial conditions of the cosmos and dark energy played in the supercluster formation. Dark energy is the force which is primarily responsible for the expansion of the universe.

Plus as stated in the report, discovery of such a supercluster challenges the classical cold dark matter model of Universe’s evolution.  This model states that, small structures of galaxies further congregate into larger structures like galaxy clusters and then superclusters. But the problem is, if that indeed happened, such large formations like superclusters won’t be possible within the current age of the universe.

The detailed account of this whole discovery would be published in the Astrophysical Journal which is the flagship journal of the American Astronomical Society. Interestingly this isn’t the only time one of the scientists associated with the group has made such discovery. Somak Raychaudhury, who is the director of IUCAA had discovered another such supercluster named the Shapley Concentration in 1989, while he was doing his PhD from Cambridge.

Supreme Court modifies its order to stop demolition of mosque earlier seen as encroachment

OpIndia Staff
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Supreme Court modifies its order to stop demolition of mosque earlier seen as encroachment

In April, there were reports of the Supreme Court directing the trust of Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai to demolish all the encroachments in or around the Dargah. The court had explicitly asked the trust to remove all the said encroachments by 8th May. The court had made it clear that only the main structure would remain protected and the rest of the area would have to be cleared of squatters.

The action against the illegal encroachments around Haji Ali was first taken by the Bombay High Court, which had ordered the formation of a task force comprising of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the Collector to remove encroachments on the road leading to the Haji Ali Dargah. The order also stated that any petition regarding the encroachments would have to be made in the Supreme court only.

The Haji Ali trust though later expressed its inability to do the job by 8th may and this somewhat angered the apex body. In a 3rd July order the court gave an ultimatum to the Maharashtra government to comply with its order within 2 weeks. The Supreme Court bench reportedly gave a stern warning to the deputy collector of Colaba zone by stating that strict action would be taken if they failed to carry out the demolition drive.

One of the structures which would have had to be either or demolished or shifted as a result, was the Kinara mosque, which is situated on the corner of the Mumbai mainland from where the road leading to the Haji Ali Dargah begins.

On 11th July, the Maharashtra government had petitioned the Supreme Court, asking it to save the Kinara Mosque from demolition. According to the government’s counsel, the ‘situation could turn bad’ if the mosque was demolished. But then the Supreme Court had flatly refused any such concession and had also slammed the Maharashtra government for making such a request.

On Thursday, in order to start complying with the Supreme Court order, the Collector’s office had removed 25 illegal stalls which were present on the approach road of the Dargah. On the same day the Haji Ali trust petitioned the Supreme Court asking it to clarify on its 11th July order to raze the Kinara mosque.

According to the trust, the mosque was not illegal as it was a pre-2009 religious structure and a part of it which was built on reclaimed or encroached land, could be regularised by the government.

Now it is reported the Supreme Court has gone back on its 11th July order and has decided to protect the Kinara Mosque, a part of which is reportedly built on encroached land.

According to reports, the Court modified its earlier order to protect the mosque from demolition. The court also asked the Maharashtra government to come to a decision within a week regarding the plea to regularise the mosque.

The court has then stated that if the state government rejects the regularisation plea, nobody would oppose the demolition of the disputed part of the mosque. The demolition though is unlikely as the Maharashtra government itself had petitioned the court to save the mosque, so it most likely would order the regularisation of the structure, because a refusal to do so could result in law and order problems.

It takes 5 minutes to walk out of Maha Gathbandhan: JD-U

OpIndia Staff
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It takes 5 minutes to walk out of Maha Gathbandhan: JD-U

A day after Bhai Virendra – a senior RJD MLA – said that being the “largest constituent” of the Maha Gathbandhan whatever decision the party makes must be acceptable to other alliance partners, JD-U has hit back saying it would take just five minutes to walk out of the Maha Gathbandhan and quit the power.

“Nitish Kumar is the leader of the Maha Gathbandhan, no one else. Those who are threatening of having 80 MLAs with them should not be in any kind of confusion. It won’t take us even 5 minutes to quit government, power. Power is least important for us,” JD-U spokesperson Ajay Alok told India Today.

Yesterday, RJD MLA Bhai Virendra said, “Lalu Prasad is our leader and we have 80 MLAs. What we want will happen.”

Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Prasad’s heir apparent and Deputy chief minister of Bihar, along with his mother Rabri Devi, is among those named in the CBI FIR in connection to irregularities in awarding tenders for maintenance of hotels in Ranchi and Puri during Lalu Prasad’s tenure as the Railway Minister. Other members of Lalu Prasad’s family are also facing similar corruption charges for illegally acquiring properties and lands in different parts of the country.

In the wake of his deputy Tejashwi Yadav named in the CBI FIR, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said that those facing corruption charges should come clean by giving fact-wise reply to public.

Kumar is learnt to have given a four-day ultimatum to Tejashwi and the deadline ends on Saturday. But it seems that the RJD, which maintains that the deputy chief minister has been framed by the BJP, is no mood to mollify Nitish Kumar.

The JD-U, however, has said that Nitish Kumar will never compromise his stance of zero tolerance on corruption. “Nitish Kumar is leading the coalition government and JD-U’s stand on corruption is clear. The party expects Tejashwi to give a clear-cut explanation (on charges of corruption). Nitish will take an appropriate decision (on Tejashwi) at the right time,” JD-U general secretary Sanjay Jha was quoted as saying.

“In his public meeting in Madhubani after demonetisation was announced, Nitishji had publicly said demonetisation was not enough and war against benami properties will be more effective. How can Nitishji sit with a person next to him until he comes clean?” he added.

Reports also indicate that Nitish Kumar is considering all options and readying a plan-B in case the Maha Gathbandhan breaks.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Deputy chief minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi has sent fillers to Nitish Kumar saying that the JD-U president was always “comfortable” in the company of the BJP.

“Nitish Kumar was always comfortable in the company of BJP and he was most comfortable when he was the Railway Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 2001-2004. That was the golden period of his political career,” Modi said while speaking at The Indian Express Idea Exchange programme.

Al-Qaeda growing stronger in the Indian subcontinent: Counter terrorism experts

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Al-Qaeda growing stronger in the Indian subcontinent: Counter terrorism experts

Terror group Al Qaeda seems to be making significant inroads into the Indian Subcontinent, if reports are to be believed. According to counter terrorism experts, the Al Qaeda now has hundreds of members under its belt. Most of the cells of the terror outfit are believed to be in Afghanistan, though the group appears to be flourishing in Bangladesh.

Reports claim that Al Qaeda currently has cells in Afghanistan’s Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika, Ghazni, and Nuristan province, and its presence was more expansive than it was 5 to 10 years ago. This expansion might have been prompted by the fact that Taliban was making advances in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda had a relationship with their operatives.

But interestingly, it were the operatives from Bangladesh who were most active and were carrying out regular attacks. The group also appears to be indulging in regular propaganda via its media house As-Sahab. But even though the group had carried out attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it still currently remains irrelevant in the broader Taliban led insurgency.

The security agencies though seem to have been largely successful in countering the possibly growing threat of the Al Qaeda, which was evident by the fact that over hundred operatives linked to the Al-Qaeda were killed in October 2015 after US and Afghan forces targeted their training camp.

This news about the terror group gaining strength and indulging in propaganda, comes days after it was reported how the terror group had released a document titled Code of conduct for Mujahideen in the subcontinent. Here it detailed its objectives and targets and also laid out general guidelines for its members to follow.

Incidentally, even though this group has been mostly active in Afghanistan, it seems to have started to view Kashmir as a possible future breeding ground. This was evident by the fact that the Al Qaeda’s document threatened how it wanted to carry out attacks against the Indian military in order to establish Sharia in the Kashmir valley.

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