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Rajdeep and India Today issue a wrong corrigendum for a lie he spread, people seek apology

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep and India Today issue a wrong corrigendum for a lie he spread, people seek apology

On the day Yogi Adityanath was announced as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister by the BJP, some politicians and mediapersons had ganged up to spread a blatant lie about Yogi Adityanath delivering a hate speech about calling for the rape of dead Muslim women.

One of those who took part in this slanderous exercise was eminent Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai who spread the lie on national television via the India Today news channel:


The truth of the matter was that the alleged video speech was delivered not by Yogi Adityanath but by one of his supporters when Yogi was just sitting on the stage (as seen in an undated video clip). Speculations were also raised about malicious editing being a possible tool in creating that particular video clip.

After the lies of Rajdeep on India Today were exposed, the channel was forced to issue a corrigendum for the same. Incredibly, the corrigendum that was issued also had a mistake in it:

Screengrab of the Corrigendum issued by India Today

India Today in the very first line got the date of Rajdeep’s lie wrong. To top it off, it was Rajdeep himself who unflinchingly read out the wrong corrigendum:


After the fact about the error sunk in, the people were unhappy with India Today just issuing a casual corrigendum for a statement, which was defamatory to say the least.


A BJP leader and former state minister IP Singh too asked for an apology for Rajdeep’s unfounded and shameful (sic) statement, failing which he would initiate legal action against him:


It is the second time this month that Rajdeep Sardesai has goofed up while attempting to somehow discredit the BJP in UP. On 3rd March he had helped spread a lie about the Vice Chancellor of BHU attending PM Modi’s rally in Varanasi. After doing so, he raised questions over BHU’s autonomy and impartiality.

This lie was busted by the VC himself, who pointed out that he was sitting in his office during the rally, forcing Rajdeep to tweet out his ‘mistake’ with a promise of an apology:

Police officer suspended for administering oath of cleanliness while chewing paan masala

OpIndia Staff
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Police officer suspended for administering oath of cleanliness while chewing paan masala

Apart from launching campaign to clean Uttar Pradesh of illegal slaughterhouses, illegal buses, and eve-teasers, the new Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also announced cleanliness campaign in literal sense, especially in the government offices where he asked officials to keep the premises clean and had banned paan-gutkha-tobacco products in government offices and establishments.



As part of the same campaign, government and police officers were administered oath of cleanliness, where they were asked to pledge 100 hours per year to contribute towards cleanliness. To push the campaign further, a state minister Upendra Tiwari had picked up broom himself and cleaned his office.

However, in Lucknow, a police officer took this lightly. Nagesh Mishra, a police inspector Madiaon police station in the state capital, was not only found chewing paan masala, but he was chewing it while administering oath of cleanliness to policemen.

Police officer suspended for indiscipline
Nagesh Mishra in civil clothes chewing paan masala (Dainik Jagran photo)

If this was not bad enough, Mishra was not wearing the uniform while administering the oath. Mishra is reported to have been found careless even in a case of sexual exploitation against a local politician Ayyub Khan.

After his photo of administering oath of cleanliness in civil clothes while chewing paan masala was published by the local media, the Chief Minister’s Office is reported to have taken note and the state DIG investigated the issue.

Nagesh Mishra has now been suspended and sent to police line for disciplinary action.

Pakistan sheltering the mastermind behind Indian train sabotage which left over 150 dead?

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Pakistan sheltering the mastermind behind Indian train sabotage which left over 150 dead?

In the early hours of November 20th last year, train number 19321 going from Indore to Patna had derailed near Kanpur, but the cause remained unclear. The railway authorities first suspected a possible rail fracture behind the accident, which took lives of around 150 people.

But in an alarming twist, the Bihar police on 17th January this year claimed that the accident was a result of a sabotage attempt by the Pakistan’s ISI.

In the days to come, the ISI angle gained more credence and Shafi Sheikh, a known ISI agent and a kingpin of Pakistan’s fake Indian currency notes (FICN) operation emerged as the mastermind of the whole affair. Sheikh allegedly hatched the conspiracy after the ISI’s fake note business was dealt a severe blow due to demonetization. He reportedly took the help of an ISI agent Shamshul Hoda, who in turn contacted Nepali criminal Brij Kishore Giri for targeting Indian railways by placing explosives on the tracks.

Shamshul Hoda was recently arrested in Nepal, but Shafi Sheikh, the main piece in the puzzle, was still beyond the reach of the authorities. As it turns out, Sheikh all these days was based in Dubai, but before the Indian authorities could request extradition to UAE, he had fled to Pakistan.

It was also reported that Sheikh had hatched the whole sabotage conspiracy while sitting in Karachi, as was revealed by the arrested Shamshul Hoda. Hoda claimed that he had visited Karachi months back before the incident on Sheikh’s invitation, stayed there for a couple of days, met 3 other people and was asked to tap into his Indian contacts to create trouble in the country.

This is just the latest instance of Pakistan harboring persons accused of terror and criminal activities in India. The most famous example being Dawood Ibrahim who has reportedly been enjoying the hospitality of the Pakistani establishment by continuing to live in Karachi unabated.

I’m a woman and a kebab lover, and this is what I think about Yogi’s decisions

jogakhichudi
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I’m a woman and a kebab lover, and this is what I think about Yogi’s decisions

I’m a woman and a kebab lover, born and raised in Uttar Pradesh and one who’s recently voted in the state’s election. My gender and my dietary choices become very important in what I’m about to share in the form of views on a couple of recent steps taken by the current Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath – closure of illegal slaughterhouses and the formation of the ‘anti-romeo’ squads for women’s safety.

The Lutyen’s media has turned its “The Eye of Sauron” on UP and like a well oiled ‘Orc’ machinery has started churning outrage after outrage demanding – freedom to run ILLEGAL businesses and freedom to HARASS women!

So first let me address this as a woman and share one story of mine as a young girl from UP. I was about 20, used to ride a TVS Superchamp and fairly independent thanks to my working parents and no available ‘bhai’ bodyguards cum chaperones to go about the daily routines of life.

On my way back from college one day I saw a guy on a bike tailing me (a very usual activity of men) and immediately I was on alert. He kept stalking me and I kept trying to speed away, unfortunately my TVS was hardly a match for his bike. Suddenly, before the turn towards VIP road he slowed down, came up right next to me. Stretched his left hand and squeezed my breast and rode away.

I’m shaking while typing this, had to take a break before starting again. It’s been more than a decade to that incident and I still feel as angry and as helpless…

That day I froze on my bike, I simply could not speed up and chase after him not that I’d have caught him. Forget a chase I couldn’t even scream because I was so shocked! Some guy just rode up to me, violated me and snatched away my freedom of space and dignity with impunity.

As you can see how vividly I remember the incident, you can tell how deeply it affected my psyche. I couldn’t share this horror and pain with my parents, what could they except for fearing even more for their young daughter’s safety when out on the roads?

This is just one story of one woman from UP, I’ve many many more such personal stories and thankfully I’ve been able to give it back plenty of times, but trust me there were and still are women who can’t. They just keep getting harassed and bear it or lock themselves up.

So as a victim of sexual predators in public spaces, I’m elated and welcome this step of Yogiji to create these Police safety squads to help women reclaim their right to public spaces. I don’t want to be stalked, followed, groped, pinched, dirty-talked, teased, stared at when I’m out there in the open – this is my basic human right.

I want to feel safe and at the same time I want those men out there to realize that I’m not an object for their perverse pleasures, and for that message to hit home a bit of strictness is required, so be it! The Lutyen’s media has got its knickers in a twist shouting “moral policing”.

Well, first mostly the mainstream media is a crazy sham, and second yes, there’s a chance that this move can be exploited. But hell, which law does not have a loophole? IPC – 498a? But if any, such exploitation can be checked and corrected. As a woman from UP, if I have to choose between a sexual assault free life vs chances of restrictions on teenage romancing… I’ll choose the former now and forever!

One of the better aspects of being an UPite is food. Gorgeous food! So yes, grew up on delectable chats, kachoris and kebabs. Have been eating at Tunday, Idris, Anand, Dastarkhan etc. before Barkha discovered them as her pet stops for bigoted journalism.

The entire Lutyen’s media is in a state of gastronomic shock hearing about the crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses; suddenly they’re all acting like those starving African kids on NGO posters being denied their share of daily meat… wait, they’re not even based in UP! So far all the news headlines I’ve come across, none of them specify that only illegal entities are getting sealed.

So as a UP wali meat eater Tunday lover what do I feel about this move? One word – brilliant. The reason is, like so many things I was completely unaware of the irregularities and illegalities in the state’s meat industry. Yes have always heard about those as once in awhile news and rumours about cattle theft and such but nothing on the scale of facts like – out of 126 slaughterhouses in the state, only 1 is legal!

Only Azam Khan’s stolen buffaloes ever made to the national media and parliament to be honest. This level of illegality is mind boggling, and as a consumer I’ve been contributing to this industry unknowingly for the longest time, but I don’t want to anymore. Yes I’ll miss my favourite food, but it’s better to be deprived of meat than be financing an illegal industry, and most normal people would share my opinion is what I strongly believe.

The other gut churning aspect of anything illegal especially food related is how unhygenically it must be done, because no checks or safety regulations in place. After knowing this aspect, do I really want to continue consuming such meat? Hell no.

I’m apalled that the mainstream media is still busy stoking fear and paranoia around these much needed steps of the new CM, and not already asking relevant questions on why and how these gross irregularities on both women’s safety and illegal businesses have been neglected by the previous governments.

But then as John Swinton so famously stated about the mainstream journalists – “We are intellectual prostitutes” and look how passionately they’re playing out that role.

The dangers of letting illegal slaughterhouses operate

Hemant Bijapurkar
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The dangers of letting illegal slaughterhouses operate

Yogi Adityanath led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has started shutting down illegal slaughterhouses in the state after assuming power. This decision, which was one of the key poll promises of the party, has now got embroiled in controversy, thanks some malicious rumour mongering and some well meaning concerns over how the decision seems to do more harm than good.

The harms of closing down these slaughterhouses are mainly about loss of jobs and negative impact on associated industries such as food and leather. One may tend to believe that a few rules can be relaxed and these slaughterhouses should be legalised for ‘greater good’.

But before that, we have to realise that illegal slaughterhouses are not just about not possessing some required government documents (assumed bureaucracy). Often it is about not following required rules related to hygiene, security, and animal welfare.

Let us look at issues involved:

Rules that are ignored: The slaughterhouse industry in India is regulated and all legal slaughterhouses need to comply with Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules [pdf]. For example, before slaughtering the animal one needs to ensure that it isn’t pregnant or doesn’t have an offspring less than three months old, or is under the age of three months. Plus the animal needs to be checked by a veterinary doctor.

Depending on the region where the slaughterhouse is situated, the municipality determines a possible demand and stipulates the number of animals which the house can slaughter. Further, there are 8 rules about the animal’s resting area, 5 rules about lairages, 14 rules about how to slaughter the animals, 26 rules about how the slaughterhouse building should be maintained, 3 rules about engagement, and 2 rules about inspection.

Almost all of these rules are required to ensure that a slaughterhouse is safely and optimally functioning. These rules not only are related to operations, but also about animal welfare and stopping spread of diseases due to contaminated meat.

Cattle smuggling: If one allows illegal or unregulated slaughterhouses, there is no way to ascertain the conditions in which the animals are kept and the source from which the animals are procured. In the absence of the same, possibility of illegal slaughterhouses being complicit in cattle smuggling arises. Cattle is often the only asset or one of the main assets for rural or semi-urban families. Imagine losing an important asset like your house to a financial fraud; for these families, losing the cattle could mean something similar. This is why we often hear news about skirmishes and even bloody violence related to cattle smuggling from the hinterland.

Loss of revenue to the government: While there are speculations of revenue loss due to negative impact on meat industry (with assumptions of all slaughterhouses being closed), there is another aspect to it. Government is already losing a lot of revenue due to functioning of illegal slaughterhouses as they are not disclosing all the details about their operations. Some reports suggest there was only 1 legal slaughterhouse in the state out of a total 126 surveyed. So factoring in the whole of UP, there is substantial loss of revenue to the government exchequer already.

Environmental hazards: Maintaining a slaughterhouse invariably leads to environmental hazards. Alive animals produce solid and liquid waste, which is rarely treated and properly disposed off in illegal slaughterhouses. After their death, the blood mixed water and animal carcass, if not properly disposed off, causes further health and environmental hazards. Any slaughtering activity leaves behind large quantities of by-products like bones, lungs spleen, oesophagus etc. which won’t pose a hazard if they are processed and suitably utilised, but unregulated and illegal slaughterhouses could dump them carelessly causing further environmental and health hazards.

Hazardous work conditions: Not just animals, but the employees too are impacted in illegal slaughterhouses. Considering a general case, a report about US slaughterhouses talked about the slaughterhouses hiring undocumented workers who themselves were subjected to injuries due to a lack of safety equipment. The Prevention of Cruelty against Animals act specifies how the handler needs to be at least 18 years of age and not be suffering from any communicable diseases. Plus the handlers need to have a license before they can work in a slaughterhouse. An illegal slaughterhouse will hardly care to follow these rules.

Being legal doesn’t mean all’s well: Even if a licensed slaughterhouse is being operated in an area, its by no means necessary that it is ascribing to the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals act. At one legal slaughterhouse in Delhi, authorities on an inspection found loads of violations by the slaughterhouse authorities, which included electrocuting animals instead of stunning and having dismal hygiene. If such is the case in a legal and licensed slaughterhouse, one can only wonder about what goes on in the illegal and unregulated ones.

Can SM Krishna help BJP in Karnataka?

Ullas
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Can SM Krishna help BJP in Karnataka?

After months of speculation, former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna joined the BJP on Wednesday. Party President Amit Shah along with other state bigwigs Ananthkumar, Sadananda Gowda, C T Ravi, R Ashok welcomed the veteran politician in the party headquarters in Delhi.

Those following the developments in Karnataka in the last few months would recollect that SM Krishna quit Congress in January this year. Various reasons were attributed to his departure. Some even wondered, why is he quitting Congress at a ripe age of 84? What else can he expect to achieve?

Some even suggested that his greed was insatiable. After all, he was a chief minister of a state, governor and external affairs minister. Only other position that eluded could be that of Prime Minister and that of the President – which all of us can agree he would never get with Congress. It is even more of a certainty that he will not get these positions with BJP.

So, why did he move? And what are the political repercussions of this?

To understand his move, one must know the background of his politics. SM Krishna has a substantial influence in the “Old Mysore” region of Karnataka. This includes the districts of Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Mysuru, Bengaluru, Kolara and Chikkaballapura (roughly all the districts in green, in the image below).

Karnataka map

Coincidentally, these districts are considered the home-turf of JD(S) of HD Deve Gowda. Also, the current CM Siddaramaiah wields his influence in this region. Historically, only Congress and JDS have fought for the top spot in this region.

SM Krishna may not be the dynamic vote catcher of the 90s, but he did groom many politicians during the time. Also, he was instrumental in following up with various IT industry related initiatives that Karnataka continues to enjoy. Hence, people in the area of Bengaluru have a special regard for his contribution.

Of late, it is said that Siddaramaiah was not seeking advice from SM Krishna – which apparently hurt him. In political terms, seeking advice doesn’t mean discussions on policies – but placing people who are supportive of one leader in government positions (example: in co-operative banks and so on). Hence, many of SM Krishna’s protegés were left in the cold. So SM Krishna brings with him these members who can be expected to add incremental votes to the BJP.

One of the well-known SM Krishna loyalist is actress Ramya (Divya Spandana). Don’t be surprised if she joins BJP before the next elections.

As our political analysis is almost entirely based on caste parameters, let us consider that too. SM Krishna comes from the Vokkaliga community and wields his influence with them. BJP has historically been not as successful to woo this community, compared to the Lingayats and the Brahmins (and the dalits in 2014 elections).

JD(S) too considers Vokkaligas as their base. Another key politician from this community is D K Shivakumar of Congress. However, he is mired in controversies and considered notorious. Also, Siddaramaiah removed actor Ambarish from the ministry – which has irked some. Hence, we can expect considerable flux within this community.

By joining BJP, SM Krishna is expected to achieve the following. Dent Siddaramaiah’s vote share in the old Mysore region and ensure Congress’ defeat in 2018. Ensure his loyalists a new political base for them to grow. As far as his personal moves, the only possibility looks like a governorship in some state – but will BJP give him that when he has joined to get votes.

From SM Krishna’s point of view, the move could backfire. However for BJP, he is a prize catch in the longterm. If SM Krishna remains active for few more years and “introduces” his followers to the BJP brand, it must be considered a good investment. Given that Krishna has maintained a clean image, his joining BJP will send a message that BJP rewards clean leaders and that Congress in the state is corrupt. His value may be limited for 2018, but the inroads he can generate within a hard-to-break region within Karnataka will be priceless.

Twitter suspends ABVP accounts, reinstates after heavy protest

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter suspends ABVP accounts, reinstates after heavy protest

Twitter India which has long been accused of suspending accounts of users who had either regularly criticized AAP or were openly Right Wing (RW) when it came to their ideology.

Till today, Twitter only looked like suspending lone accounts which it reportedly felt were violating its terms and conditions. Almost never had Twitter acted against a whole bunch of accounts belonging to a particular group or ideology.

All changed on Thursday night when various prominent ABVP (RSS affiliated student organisation) handles, including their official handle, were suspended by Twitter.

As pointed out by Varada Marathe, an ABVP activist, Twitter suspended a whopping 7 accounts associated with ABVP:

  • ABVP’s official handle
  • ABVP Delhi’s account
  • ABVP’s National Convener Saket Bahuguna’s account
  • ABVP’s central office secretary Rahul Sharma’s account
  • ABVP’s DUSU account
  • Ex-JNUSU joint secretary and ABVP activist Saurabh Sharma’s account
  • Dikshaa Verma the ABVP member who raised her voice against molestation in DU by leftist element’s account

Many considered it a blatant stifling of freedom of speech by Twitter India and lodged a strong protest:


Such a targeted suspension of accounts of ABVP spurred BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya into action. He raised the issue with Twitter India and the accounts were later reinstated:


As stated by Amit, all the accounts were indeed restored by Twitter India. This raises the question as to was this suspension exercise part of some mischief by certain elements in Twitter India?

If not then what were the supposed terms of conditions which these 7 Twitter accounts were violating which warranted a mass suspension exercise? By the time this report was published, there was no official word by Twitter India explaining why the decision was taken.

This has spurred spokesperson of Delhi unit of BJP, Tajinder Bagga to address them a letter seeking clarification for the same:


Apparently, only ABVP accounts weren’t the ones that were on the suspension radar of Twitter India. Another prominent pro-RW user was also at the receiving end of Twitter India’s perplexing policy:


Brother of Ravish Kumar, accused in Bihar sex scandal, reportedly hiding in Delhi

OpIndia Staff
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Brother of Ravish Kumar, accused in Bihar sex scandal, reportedly hiding in Delhi

While the main accused of Bihar sex scandal Nikhil Priyadarshi and some of his accomplices have been arrested, police is still not able to arrest Brajesh Kumar Pandey – the former Vice President of Bihar Congress and brother of NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar – who has also been accused by the complainant girl.

The complainant, who was minor (underage) when she was allegedly sexually exploited by Nikhil and Brajesh, belongs to the dalit community and is daughter of a Congress leader. Nikhil and his accomplices are also accused of running a sex racket, which may involve many high-profile personalities from state politics and administration.

Nikhil and his father were arrested on 14th March in Uttarakhand and are currently under police custody. Police is investigating them and trying to get more details about the case.

Earlier it was reported that Nikhil had threatened to spill the beans about many influential people if he was troubled in this case. He claimed to possess objectionable videos of many politicians according a to a report in Jansatta.

Latest reports suggest that Nikhil has not yet “exposed” anyone. He is currently denying the charges and claiming that his relationship with the complainant girl was consensual. However, Nikhil accepted that he and Brajesh Kumar Pandey were friends.

Nikhil is further reported to be bragging about his “contributions” to Bihar and claimed that even he wanted to be a politician like Brajesh Kumar Pandey.

According to a report published in Hindustan, Nikhil revealed that he and Brajesh Kumar Pandey were hiding at a politician’s residence in Delhi while both of them were absconding. Nikhil is then speculated to have traveled to places like Kanpur, Lucknow, Shimla, and in Uttarakhand where he was finally arrested. But Brajesh Kumar Pandey is still absconding.

It is now suspected that Brajesh Kumar is still hiding in Delhi. The report in Hindustan claims that even Nikhil has told the police that Brajesh Kumar is in Delhi.

Earlier, opposition leaders like BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi had claimed that the Bihar police was deliberately going slow on Brajesh Kumar. Some reports too had suggested that there was pressure on police to go slow on Brajesh Kumar, because he was the brother of Ravish Kumar, an influential journalist on the national scale.

6 times supporting the abnormal became normal in Modi’s India

Divya
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6 times supporting the abnormal became normal in Modi’s India

On 11thMarch, as Uttar Pradesh assembly election results started pouring in, there was a complete rout of the left-liberal narrative related to the elections. Every analysis and every projection was flung and tossed around with an impunity rarely seen before.

As if that was not bad enough for the secular jamaat, 18th March saw huge amounts of salt being rubbed on to their still sore wounds. Yogi Adityanath was declared as the next Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. This was the classic case of adding insult to injury.

Every Media personality had his or her take on the “alarming” situation. Some rediscovered the ground beneath their feet quickly, while some others are still grappling with this unforeseen tragedy.

It was during that time that Vikram Chandra from NDTV tweeted about how around the world, ABNORMAL is now becoming the new NORMAL:


How does one qualify this situation as abnormal? Yogi Adityanath is a 5-time MP with an excellent constituency and Parliamentary record. Normal enough to be elected. What makes the situation “abnormal” is that he wears saffron clothes and has doggedly opposed minority pandering in Gorakhpur. In all fairness, these are subjective views which can be coloured by ones cultural, religious or political leanings. So, I would grant the media their right to be paranoid.

Now coming to the amusing bit. In the past three odd years, we have seen actual situations where the left-liberals have supported or opposed ideas in a manner which could not be deemed NORMAL by any rational, right thinking mind.  Here is an attempt to list some of those:

1. Support for Yakub Memon

The country witnessed intellectuals knocking at the doors of the Supreme Court in a midnight rendezvous to save Mr Memon, someone who was judicially implicated for the death of hundreds of victims of the 1993 Mumbai blasts. To make matters worse, we saw publications like The Indian Express say “and THEY hanged Yakub”, in a clear attempt to portray the State as an aggressor. And that was only because it was the BJP government in the Centre.

But that was NORMAL.

2. Bharat Tere Tukde Honge

That some students in a renowned University chant about secession of states from India and our “respectable” intellectuals advocate their Freedom of Expression, remains one of the most shameful episodes of post 2014 times (or as they say, in Modi’s India). If that was not bad enough, there were youthful politicians like Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal who went there to express solidarity with the ones desirous of Breaking India. One still has not been able to digest the fact that secessionist forces were encouraged in TV studios and editorials. And that was only because it was the BJP government in the Centre.

But that was NORMAL.

3. Open Defecation

The PM launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014 with a lot of hope and fanfare. While execution and results can be debated, no one with their hearts in the right place can question the motives of wanting to have a clean India. Building toilets and reducing open defecation was an integral part of the mission. Now who could have ever had a problem with that? But where there is hate, there is a way. Thus, we saw website run by the former editor of The Hindu come out with an article on supporting, believe it or not, the right to open defecation! And that was only because it was a BJP government led initiative with the stamp of a certain Mr Modi.

But that was NORMAL.

4. Opposition to International Yoga Day

In 2015, The Prime Minister announced June 21st to be celebrated as International Yoga Day. It was an attempt to celebrate our treasured legacy, which has come to be much recognised internationally as well. The mere announcement led to haters tying themselves in knots to denounce the programme. This is a sample among many others of how their personal prejudices were articulated into Yoga hate. To the sane mind, what could possibly be wrong with the universally acknowledged practice of Yoga? Except that it was being highlighted by Mr Modi.

But that was NORMAL.

5. Child Marriage

India is a country where there is a law against child marriage. Despite this, minority pandering has led political parties in Kerala to offer tacit support to the law breakers in this regard. The issue assumes religious overtones as it contravenes the Muslim Personal Law. The then ruling coalition, United Democratic Front was forced by the Indian Union Muslim League to register marriages as legal, even if both the parties were under age.

Now the Left has historically boasted of challenging Patriarchy and has always claimed to espouse Women’s Empowerment. One of the leading luminaries of the Leftist thought process in media, Malini Parthasarthy, then the Editor at The Hindu, had this to say about illegal underage marriages:


This was symptomatic of blatant minority pandering while turning a complete blind eye to Indian laws by a vaunted media person. Who in their right mind would stand for an illegal practice that is steeped in patriarchy and backwardness?

But this was NORMAL.

6. Batting for Illegal Slaughterhouses

Yogi Adityanath has hit the ground running to fulfil the promises made in the BJP’s manifesto for UP. One of the promises in the manifesto was the shutting down of ILLEGAL slaughter houses. This predictably has led to a huge hue and cry among the bleeding-heart liberals. The very same people bemoan general Indian antipathy to law and regulations.

Sadly, people who praise the rule of law in developed countries are the first to mock the law when an attempt is made here, citing loss of “public liberties”. The same set of people cry rivers for Jallikattu but encourage inhuman slaughter of animals. They question the impact of Diwali crackers on the environment while turning a deaf ear to the ecological impact of these illegal slaughter houses. Fighting for rule of the land is undermined only because it is being enforced by a BJP government.

But that is NORMAL.

***

Sadly, this is not a comprehensive list. It is purely an anecdotal representation of how far the liberal narrative has moved from anything remotely NORMAL.

There have been jokes about how liberals would stop breathing if Mr Modi were to talk of the benefits of Oxygen. Though that hopefully does seem a bit far-fetched, it may not be too long before we see some of them extol the benefits of Gutka.


After being exposed, Scroll changes headline & body of article on UP’s Kabab shop

OpIndia Staff
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After being exposed, Scroll changes headline & body of article on UP’s Kabab shop

Yesterday, we had exposed how Scroll, the leftist propaganda blog had helped in spreading a rumour that led people to believe that a popular Kabab shop in Lucknow – Tunday Kababi – had gone out of business because the new Uttar Pradesh government was ‘cracking down on meat’.

The truth was that the shop was closed temporarily on Wednesday due to shortage of meat supply, and that shortage happened not due to any ‘crackdown on meat’ but due to crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses by the state government.

In fact, this chicanery of crafting a misleading headline was exposed by a closer look at that article itself:



Now it appears that since our exposé, Scroll has surreptitiously modified their entire article along with the headline, which means that they too now concede that their headline was dishonest and an enabler in spreading the lie about the shop shutting down for good.

Luckily, we have screenshots to show how the same story has been changed. Look at how the Scroll first spread a rumour and then quietly changed the article to appear “factual”:

From the above comparison, where we have put the original post side-by-side with the edited post, one can clearly see the mischief. The story which originally said a shop had ‘downed its shutters’ now has taken a complete u-turn and claims that the same store has “re-opened”.

There was no mention of “illegal” slaughterhouses in the summary below the headline earlier, which has now been changed to a quote by a representative of the Kabab shop.

It is to be noted that the URL for both the stories remains the same, which reflects the old story’s title:

The tag of being “updated” clearly reveals that the story has indeed been modified (just in case you wondered they were two different reports). Only, that in this case, the story has been turned on its head.

Further down the comparison, we see the nuance playing out, which was so evidently missing in the original story:

So the Tunday Kababi at Akbari gate in Lucknow, had shut shop temporarily on Wednesday, after its supply of beef (buffalo meat) had halted probably because its suppliers were illegal slaughterhouses, because even the Scroll article notes that illegal slaughterhouses are being closed down. Meanwhile, another outlet, which runs by the same name at Aminabad in Lucknow, had remained open on both the days, and this fact was brought out only in the revised article.

Leaving aside the technicalities, it is amusing to see how the same story can be presented in 2 completely different fashions by the same “news” site. Also, it shows that how the headline – the most important part of the story in an era where people prefer all news in 140 characters – can become a vehicle to spread lies, even if the main body of the article (unwillingly) tries to present some “facts”.

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