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Dadri to Ramjas – Dissecting the anatomy of secular-liberal campaigns

Subhash
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Dadri to Ramjas – Dissecting the anatomy of secular-liberal campaigns

The secular-liberal brigade comprising of various political organisations and media-academia lobbies is proficient at running ideological campaigns. The latest episode of Gurmehar Kaur’s stardom just reinforces this. Although various ideological campaigns from their stables appear disparate, there is a broad pattern which showcases the relentless focus of their ideological war as well as methodical messaging.

Let us dissect the broad contours of secular-liberal ideological campaigns by going through their anatomical parts which make the whole, one by one.

Dadri Lynching

Faultline: Religion

Spin and distraction: Disgusting as the Dadri Lynching was, it was a case of suspected theft and killing of a calf, and subsequent murder – a law and order issue that should have been laid at the door of the Samajwadi Party run government in Uttar Pradesh. But the media-academia’s love for exploiting social faultlines for furthering their own interests took it directly to Modi’s doorstep.

They claimed that there was a complete breakdown of the syncretic culture and secular social fabric of the nation, and laid the blame for it directly at the election of Narendra Modi, which they said emboldened extremist elements. As if Uttar Pradesh had never seen criminal or communal incidents before May 2014.

Then they also brought their spinning abilities to somehow indict social media users – their pet topic of ‘trolls’ – as an indication of the degeneration of discourse. Wherever something starts, it has to eventually end at Modi and his social media supporters, especially the latter since the media-academia complex now feels stifled by the lack of monopoly on public discourse.

In this case, the ‘trolls’ had committed the grave crime of asking data to back their claim of increased communal incidents. ‘Trolls’ wanted objective data and reporting, secular-liberal brigade wanted emotional story telling about maahaul (state of affairs).

‘Church Attacks’

Faultline: Religion

Spin and distraction: The ‘Church Attacks’ narrative was one of unabashed falsehoods. Events such as drunken vandalism, nuisance, burglary, theft and even an electrical short circuits, which at best were localized petty crimes, had national significance foisted upon them and presented as if some genocide was taking place in India.

Modi’s election as Prime Minister was supposed to have caused these genocide, which were burglaries and short circuits in what we now know as the post-truth world. They even tried to blame reconversion of Christians into Hinduism – Ghar Wapsi – and its subsequent social ramifications as a cause for this.

This took an especially sinister turn when the media pitch was deliberately raised so as to affect Modi’s international standing when the visit of the then U.S. President Barack Obama was right around the corner. It only got worse when a seemingly innocuous, motherhood-apple pie statement of Barack Obama on how India would progress if it does not splinter on religious lines was spun as a direct indictment of the Narendra Modi government.

Rising Intolerance

Faultline: Ideological

Spin and distraction: The murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M M Kalburgi witnessed the semantic brilliance of the secular-liberal camp. These were often referred to as ‘assassinations’ and not murders. An assassination often has a socio-political angle to it while a murder may not.

Even before the police of the respective states where these events occurred had any clue, the media-academia complex along with their political fronts had already declared these ‘assassinations’ as connected despite Dabholkar’s murder having happened in 2013 and the other murders in 2015. ‘Right-wing extremist groups’ were behind them, they declared.

The ‘Rising Intolerance’ campaign took off in full gusto where awards were returned by numerous eminences connected to the secular-liberal complex. Any person of any public standing including international delegates were goaded towards ‘Rising Intolerance’ campaign. Needless to say, many celebrities and were happy to oblige, wittingly or unwittingly.

Rohith Vemula

Faultline: Caste

Spin and distraction: Rohith Vemula’s suicide is a poignant episode. A heady mix of student politics and campus one-upmanship that led to his disillusionment from life itself must have been a case to debate the place of politics on a campus, the pressures it bore on young and sensitive minds, and the lack of support systems. His suicide note was an indictment of leftist politics and in general of campus politics, but his death was reduced to his caste.

Instead, with even his Dalit status not yet sure, the media-academia complex spun it into it a case of anti-Dalit bias by the HRD Ministry and Modi’s government as a whole. It was quite appalling to see the Communists own the discourse on his death while he had been a fervent critic of their casteism that refused to let Dalits rise in their organisations.

Rohith lamented in his suicide note that people had been reduced to their immediate identity, and cruelly enough that is exactly what the media did to him even after his death. Paradoxical to Vemula’s own supposed spirit of questioning everything, any valid questions on the situation surrounding Vemula’s death or the facts of his life and times including his political affiliations were all dubbed anti-Dalit.

JNU Fracas 2016 and the recent Gurmehar Kaur episode

Faultline: Ideological

Spin and distraction: When the JNU’s pro-Afzal Guru protests of early 2016 generated much outrage, the first fig leaf used was that dissent should not be stifled. There’s a fairly clear line between dissent and sedition which outright illegal. They made it an issue of freedom of speech. Ironically enough these media-academia themselves have a blood-stained record on free speech where they’ve often initiated or cheered restrictions and legal action against those whose opinions they do not like. As for academic freedom in India’s elite institutions, the lesser said the better.

In the Gurmehar Kaur episode, first the media-academia lobby provided a completely one-sided view of the matter. Shamefully enough one newspaper even showed the picture of an SFI member hitting someone else as an ABVP member assaulting someone. Then they mainstreamed Gurmehar Kaur’s rather naïve opinions on war and ABVP with almost nobody questioning the strength of her opinion but providing her an astro-turfed ground to play.

Further the focus shifted to alleged rape threats that the girl received. Even genuine criticism or mocking of Gurmehar’s naivete was painted as endorsement of rape threats and they tried to browbeat even celebrities.

The Grand Narrative

The intention in most of these instances was to precipitate social unrest in the nation, which could also then be pinned on Modi’s government. Often these campaigns were orchestrated when elections were looming large so that the atmosphere could be vitiated.

For instance, there was widespread consensus that Modi received a good amount of electoral backing from Dalits in his 2014 election. This unsettled the secular-liberal complex. Some journalist even tweeted enthusiastically that the Vemula issue ended the electoral support Modi received from Dalits:

Tweet celebrating death
A senior journalist virtually celebrating the death of Rohith Vemula, because it could hurt Narendra Modi electorally.

The ‘Church Attacks’ campaign was clearly designed to scare Indian Christians and dent Modi’s image internationally since he had just begun his tenure as PM and many international trips were in the offing. Some sections of the media went to the shameless level of even asking international delegates embarrassing questions around the matter.

These campaigns also seemed like signals from the secular-liberal stables in India to their international pressure groups that freedom of speech was under renewed threat under Modi’s government and dissenters were being ‘assassinated’ or muzzled.

There are also consistent attempts to bring down morale of the Armed Forces which they earlier tried to whip up with OROP by infiltrating political activists into the OROP movement.

Another target is Modi’s social media supporters. They’re being consistently targeted and branded as ‘trolls’ and pressure is being brought on Modi to disown them so that he loses their support.

Who are the beneficiaries?

In all these cases, it is amply clear the secular-liberal media-academia lobby was providing intellectual and ideological firepower to the assorted opposition parties that couldn’t tackle Narendra Modi electorally in 2014 elections.

AAP, Congress and other parties inevitably jumped onto the bandwagon instantaneously. Akhilesh Yadav showered largesse on the Akhlaq family in the name of compensation and milked the issue politically, apart from Modi’s political opponents like Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal lining up at the Akhlaq family’s doorstep. Same happened in Rohith Vemula case.

The Church Attacks campaign was clearly milked by the AAP during Delhi Assembly polls, so much so that Christian leaders were openly declaring support for AAP. Even in Gurmehar’s case, it is clear that she was an AAP supporter since long. She had also been highlighted by NDTV in a show in May-2016. Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi and assorted opposition politicians have once again jumped on her bandwagon.

These were clearly orchestrated such that the discourse can be moved away from developmental issues to divisive ones because the Opposition thinks it cannot match Modi on developmental issues, anti-corruption plank or economic progress. The Modi Wave was largely built on a developmental and aspirational pitch and the only way to break it is to keep making Modi spend political capital on social flame-baits rather than issues of economic progress.

Girl who complained against Ravish Kumar’s brother being harassed: public prosecutor

OpIndia Staff
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Girl who complained against Ravish Kumar’s brother being harassed: public prosecutor

After media reports suggested that there was political pressure to go slow on Brajesh Kumar Pandey – Bihar Congress leader and brother of NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar – now the public prosecutor handling the case has claimed that the minor Dalit girl, who had accused Brajesh Kumar of molesting her, was being harassed by the police through frequent questioning.

Special public prosecutor in the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court, Suresh Chandra Prasad made this startling allegation after a CID officer claimed that the victim girl was not being consistent in her statements.

“The police, instead of harassing her by questioning time and again, should go behind Pandey and other accused against whom there are enough evidence showing their involvement in the case,” the public prosecutor is quoted as saying by the Times of India.

It should be noted that the victim was a minor when she was molested and sexually exploited in January last year. Even though the victim is daughter of a former state minister, she had claimed that she had to face difficulties in getting the FIR filed against the accused as they were well-connected.

“My FIR was not lodged for three-four days despite approaching the police. It was later registered at the SC/ST police station (on December 22 last year),” the victim had earlier revealed.

Now it appears that the same police, which was reluctant to register an FIR, is now questioning the victim repeatedly and claiming that her various statements are not consistent. Activists and experts have often claimed that repeated and suggestive questions are used as a ploy to elicit inconsistent responses.

The public prosecutor also feels that instead of investing further time in repeated questioning of the victim, police should focus on evidences and try to nail the accused – Brajesh Kumar and Nikhil Priyadarshi, a well-connected businessman – both are accused of running a sex racket that has ruined lives of many women, including minor girls.

Brajesh Kumar has been maintaining that he was innocent and his only crime was knowing Nikhil Priyadarshi, while the victim girl claims that Brajesh was actively involved in the crime and in running the sex-racket. She claims that she was molested by Ravish Kumar’s brother after she was given sedatives in a drink at Nikhil’s place.

After Brajesh Kumar accused the victim of implicating him at the behest of BJP, the victim had released photographs that show her with Nikhil and Brajesh, disputing Brajesh’s claim that he didn’t know her. Some reports claim that mobile phone location data confirm that all three – the victim, Brajesh Kumar, and Nikhil Priyadarshi – were at the same place many times.

However, instead of acting further on such evidences and information to nail the culprits, the police is repeatedly questioning the victim, the public prosecutor claims. This has led people to wonder if the political pressure to spare Ravish Kumar’s brother has started to show impact.

As per latest reports, the bail application of Nikhil Priyadarshi has been rejected but he remains absconding. Reports say that he has been changing phone numbers and locations and was thought to be in Shimla last, where a political leader is reported to have met him. The aforementioned report doesn’t identify the leader.

Netizens concerned as Gurmehar Kaur issue threatens to take communal shape

OpIndia Staff
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Netizens concerned as Gurmehar Kaur issue threatens to take communal shape

The Gurmehar Kaur episode started with her opposing ABVP which she alleged to have indulged in violence at the Delhi University. This soon morphed into a debate over nationalism with the fact of her being a Martyr’s daughter and a supposed pacifist being used by the Left to validate her arguments and attack the Right.

Now this whole movement is threatening to take a dangerous turn by snowballing into a communal and even separatist matter. Twitter users were shocked to see such kind of statements being issued in support of Gurmehar:


This handle, purportedly of pro-Khalistan leader Simranjit Singh Mann, has been tweeting pro-Khalistan and pro-Afzal statements (incidentally the same group that gets support from leftist unions) even before this controversy broke out:


This was picked up by various individuals who were concerned about the direction Gurmehar’s movement was heading:



Apart from such individuals at the fringes, Gurmehar Kaur is also receiving support from various mainstream Sikh groups around the country. Various Punjab leaders, especially from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Sikh organisations like Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC), Dal Khalsa, Istri Jagriti Manch Punjab and Sikh Sewak Society International have spoken out in support of Gurmehar.

Even the head of Akal Takht Gyani Gurbachan Singh has thrown his weight behind her by claiming that the entire Sikh community stands behind her. Referring to her as a Sikh girl, he asked the AAP government of Delhi to take strict measures against the people allegedly threatening her, failing which he warned that the Sikh community won’t be mute spectators. Not just in Punjab and Delhi, but various Sikh organisations in cities like Lucknow and elsewhere are rallying behind Gurmehar.

Though such organisations have the democratic and constitutional right to support her, the issue has now unwittingly taken a communal colour. Furthermore, by reducing it to Gurmehar’s religious identity, which was never in question by those who disagreed with her, her supporter are promoting a sectarian view of looking at things.

How media and ‘liberals’ turned a blind eye when trolls abused Phogat sisters

Sharanya Shetty
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How media and ‘liberals’ turned a blind eye when trolls abused Phogat sisters

What started with a joke by Sehwag, has now unfurled into a full-blown war on social media. Sehwag was hounded in the initial rounds, and along with him, Randeep Hooda too faced attacks because he supported Sehwag. That was round one of the war. Round two saw even more celebrities facing the onslaught of sexist and elitist attacks.

In one of the attacks, since Haryana and girls of Haryana (who have brought laurels to this country) were dragged, the proud daughters of Haryana, Geeta and Babita Phogat spoke out. The same Phogats, whom entire India celebrated though the movie Dangal just a few weeks back.

To my horror, they too were ridiculed. And that too by the same group who were till now asking Sehwag & Hooda to pick on “someone of their own size”. Rajya Sabha MP & lyricist Javed Akhtar called them uneducated, unworthy people:


Self-proclaimed film critique KRK joined in, made some nasty personal comments:


This guy, who has in his Twitter header image a photo with RK Pachauri, a person accused of sexually harassing women, had the galling hypocrisy to call Geeta Phogat as belonging to gutter and accusing her of sending abuses while she was battling abuse from likes of him:


Among other notable attacks was this, by a senior journalist, who referred to female athletes as “Ms Phokat” (Miss Free). Imagine the outrage if such a comment was made on the character of a left leaning celebrity by a right-winger:


Phogat sisters were called “trolls” because they defended Haryana and opposed “Bharat tere tukde honge” gang:


Apart from Phogat Sisters, Even Sehwag’s wife was not spared, who was attacked by AAP supporters with obscene messages:



These are just a few among thousands of other abusive messages they are receiving. And all this while, the same group that furiously defended Gurmehar Kaur and hounded anyone who commented on her or jokes about her, maintained strategic silence, emboldening further attacks on the sisters by random trolls.

Suddenly the “She is just 20 years old, don’t attack her” argument became invalid as the 20-odd year old Phogats are on the other side. These girls deserve abuse, contempt, ridicule because they say “Bharat mata ki Jai” and not “Bharat tere tukde honge”. All they did was to speak up against branding entire Haryana as anti-woman and talked about defending India’s interests. No country for Nationalists?

Why are they not being given the same treatment and headlines as Gurmehar? Phogat sisters have earned their respect, their place in society by sheer hard-work and if we fail them we are failing our generation of independent women. They are guilty of a lack of compassion as those they’re accusing till yesterday. Hounding people with contrary views when it is convenient doesn’t help.

This is where we lose out the battle of feminism in true essence. The secular-liberals are choosing to maintain stoic silence when middle-aged “educated” men with no achievements, question women who have achieved a lot, far beyond their age & what was provided to them. And this silence is only to protect their own 20-year-old face, who made headlines.

There in inherent elitism and class war in what is going on. Rooted desi girls who are not fluent in English versus the typical city girls who are preferred by the English language media protectors. Do we hate the fact that these “desi girls” are actual robust modern women who don’t bog down, who speak from their heart, sometimes enunciating even those views, which are now not palatable to the Lutyens sophisticated media?

Are we saying that while one 20-year-old has all the rights to Freedom of Expression, the Phogat sisters have none? The hypocrisy of our liberals is mind numbing. Their silence on incessant trolling, including by some “verified” handles, shows complete bias. Their famed feminism while defending one Gurmehar, and the lack of it when ignoring the other Phogat sisters stands exposed.

Wake up Delhi media, they are not “allegedly” trolled or insulted. The proof is right there for you to see just that you have chosen not to. If the girls are not playing victim, it doesn’t mean that they are not victim.

And it is much more than it looks. It is not just about Gurmehar vs Phogat sisters or ABVP vs AISA or any individual or group or democracy. It is much more than that. Try to see the message we are conveying to coming generations. Who do we want to be their idols? Is this how we are going to raise strong independent women? By insulting them for taking a stand?

Sorry Geeta and Babita, we have failed you.

The partisan activism and misplaced idealism of Gurmehar Kaur

Sambit Nayak
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The partisan activism and misplaced idealism of Gurmehar Kaur

Over the past few days, a young woman named Gurmehar Kaur has become a media celebrity and her views have become important for the nation. So much so, that right now if you disagree with her, you will be branded a rapist.

However, I’m taking this risk and writing this article to disagree with her. I can’t surrender my freedom of speech to such bullies. I can not live under the fear of branded a rapist just because I hold a different view.

For those who might not be aware, all this started with media promoting her as “Kargil martyr’s daughter”, in all probability to give validation to her arguments.

Her initial argument was rather political. She claimed that she stood for free speech (no disagreement there), but blamed only ABVP for being against it. Anyone with basic knowledge of politics, or even college politics, will know that this was blatantly partisan.

Leftist students are the most intolerant bunch on campuses. From bloody violence in West Bengal and Kerala, to intolerant behavior at JNU right in Delhi, there is no example of intolerance that student groups like SFI or AISA have not displayed. If leftists student bodies are for peace and free speech, ISIS is for human rights and democracy.

Yet, for some reason, Gurmehar decided to blame only ABVP and paint them as the only party being against free speech. It was in line with the leftist propaganda where they butcher people and yet claim to be victims. Left-leaning media tried to turn that into a gospel truth by tagging her as “Martyr’s daughter” – basically it was an appeal to emotion because facts and arguments were not strong enough.

To give further credence to this partisan propaganda, left-leaning media tried to hide the violence by leftists and things became heated. Gurmehar became central to all this as more and more people joined the debate.

In the meantime, out of somewhere, a picture of her holding a placard appeared. “Pakistan did not kill my dad, War killed him” read the placard.

In isolation, that statement sounds stupid, and thus people started making memes on social media, especially on Twitter, where anything and everything is turned into a joke. Funny memes like “Bhai did not kill black buck, bullet killed it” and all were being posted.

Hell break loose when cricketer Virender Sehwag too posted a similar meme. And that was it. It was termed as “bullying” Gurmehar. Gurmehar too claimed she was being bullied, claimed even to have received rape threats, and then announced that she was “withdrawing” from the campaign.

What started as an appeal to emotion ended with appeal to emotion. “Oh look, poor girl is being threatened with rape” became the central point of discussion. This became another excuse to validate Gurmehar’s thoughts and arguments.

And this is why I am writing this. Because these appeals to emotion should not be allowed to overrun appeals to reason. Rational thoughts and arguments should be the only tool to validate someone’s statements, not some emotional story.

Since her position of blaming only the ABVP for curbing free speech doesn’t even merit discussion as it’s blatantly partisan and a lie, I will focus only on the message on the placard.

To be fair to her, that one line about “Pakistan did not kill my dad” was taken out of context and overplayed. It was part of a larger video message, which in entirely reads as follows:

Gurmehar Kaur's video message
The full video message by Gurmehar Kaur

Sounds so great, no? Again, it is appeal to emotion. Let us turn to reason and analyse it point by point. Here are the broad points:

    • I am appealing for peace to both nations: The biggest problem with this statement is the false equivalence of India and Pakistan, as if both the nations are equally guilty of tensions between them. 1948, 1965, 1971, or Kargil of 1999 – every time, it was a war initiated by Pakistan, and we had to defend our borders and interests. Every sovereign country is entitled to protect its interests. Is she saying that in the interest of peace, we must drop weapons and meekly surrender to such attacks? If someone should really be appealed to give peace a chance, it is Pakistan and Pakistan only. By the way, note that while she chooses to blame only ABVP for campus violence, she indirectly blames both India with Pakistan for violence on borders. If her pacifist idealism thinks both parties are guilty, why did she not appeal to both ABVP and Leftists for peace on campus? She is willing to give Pakistan the benefit of doubt but not ABVP?
    • Germany and Britain can be friends after World War II: This is so simplistic and naive that only a school going kid should come up with it. Gurmehar is an adult and one expects better. Consider this: Britain colonised and brutalised Indians for 200 years. Still we are friends with Britain today. So we aren’t exactly a hostile country that is stuck on history. Then why this strained relationship with Pakistan? It stems from the fact that Pakistan was created out of hatred and mistrust. Pakistan’s textbooks teach its citizens that Hindus are enemies of Islam and Hindus and Muslims can’t co-exist. It is the two-nation theory, which is alive and kicking in minds of Pakistanis and Kashmiri separatists, whom she finds a common cause with. What she did was yet another example of false equivalence. India is not refusing to be friends. Even BJP governments have taken peace efforts, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Narendra Modi visiting Pakistan with an olive branch. Who is refusing the friendship? Those who want Bharat ke tudke, those who want Azaadi.
    • Majority of regular Indians and Pakistanis want peace and not war: One of the most clichéd propaganda being played since time immemorial by the “Aman ki Asha” brigade. Remember, however dysfunctional it is, Pakistan is still a democracy. What the government does represent the collective will of the people. And remember again, the attacks on India are state sponsored by Pakistan government. Let there be a political party in Pakistan which promises peace with India. Let Pakistani people vote it to power and we will believe that common people of Pakistan want peace. Till then, their government represents the people and it is waging a war against India. And as I said earlier, majority of regular Pakistanis grew up reading textbooks that paint every Indian, especially every Hindu, as an enemy with whom peace is not possible. Does Gurmehar think that majority of Pakistanis don’t believe in what they grew up reading in schools and Madarsas? Let us not fool ourselves!
    • Enough of state sponsored terrorism, enough of state sponsored spies: I hope she is appealing to Pakistan here. State sponsored terrorism is an official stance of Pakistan. Death through thousand cuts. As far as spies are concerned, well, if a nation is waging a guerrilla war against you, you are not supposed to sit and wait for their next attack. You need to gather intelligence.
    • Talk to each other, and get the job done: That’s what we have been doing! It is tiring actually. People want action, not talks anymore. Still, I respect her strong belief in “talks”. But strangely this belief goes for a toss when it comes to talking to fellow Indians. If she believes in talks so much, why did she not start a campaign to talk to ABVP? Why paint them as villains? She has all the patience to talk to a country that attacked India and due to which her father died, but she can’t talk to ABVP?  ABVP filed a police complaint and demanded arrest of those who allegedly issued rape threats to her, but I did not even see Ms. Kaur condemning the incident where a woman member of ABVP was molested by the leftist goons. At least she could talk to that young woman? Yet again, she can give Pakistan a chance, but not ABVP!

There is so much more I want to say. About her association with Aam Aadmi Party and her controversial posts, some of which are covered in this article. But I don’t want to make it about her, as that’s what the leftists and media want. They want to keep focus on her, and then base the entire debate on appeal to emotions.

But when it comes to logic and reason, her activism as well as her pacifism sounds hollow at best and pernicious at worst. We can not and should not ever accept this false equivalence of India and Pakistan. That’s a defeatist and dangerous approach to solving issues between the two countries.

The left ecosystem has succeeded in forcing people like Virender Sehwag and Randeep Hooda to go into silence and now they are trying to insult and intimidate wrestlers from Haryana. Ironically, they claim they are for free speech, when all they are doing is silencing views that dare to go against Gurmehar Kaur.

In such a scenario, it becomes even more important that we speak up. We should not be forced to retreat and we should fearlessly tell the truth – that Gurmehar is even more hollow icon than Kanhaiya.

How Indian Express fooled all of us including Modi on Rahul’s ‘coconut juice’ comment

OpIndia Staff
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How Indian Express fooled all of us including Modi on Rahul’s ‘coconut juice’ comment

Rahul Gandhi’s gaffes are well-known now. In his early years, one might have reacted with disbelief on seeing that the Gandhi scion had made a blunder in a speech, but now, the tables have turned. One almost expects Rahul to falter at some place or the other in his speeches. Thus, thanks to his reputation, it doesn’t surprise anyone that Rahul Gandhi has made a faux pas.

Yesterday, it was reported that Rahul Gandhi had added to his list of bloopers. The Indian Express, tweeted from its official handle that Rahul Gandhi had said the following in one of his rallies:


This was shortly after his remark of “Made in UP” mangoes. Social media users found the “coconut juice” part hilarious and as usual Rahul Gandhi became the butt of jokes:


Today, Prime Minister Modi also picked up this statement in the media, and mocked Rahul without naming him:


But wait. There is a twist. Apparently, Rahul Gandhi never said “coconut juice” in his speech. In an example of fantastic journalism, The Indian Express fact-checked PM Modi, and showed a video, which clearly showed that Rahul had in fact referred to “Pineapple juice”. His exact statement was:

“Here (in Manipur) you grow nimbu, narangi (oranges), pineapple… I hope that such a day comes that when someone in London drinks pineapple juice, they look at the box and see ‘Made in Manipur’.”

But wait. There is another twist. Scroll back up and check which media house had reported that Rahul Gandhi had referred to “Coconut juice” in his speech. YES! It was the Indian Express, the same Indian Express which now bravely fact-checked the PM.

This is probably the best strategy ever: Start a lie yourself, wait till your enemy falls for it, and then attack your enemy saying they are propagating a lie! Truly, journalism of courage this!

Thanks to @ssudhirkumar for pointing this out:

Political pressure to bail out Ravish Kumar’s brother accused in sex-scandal, reports say

OpIndia Staff
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Political pressure to bail out Ravish Kumar’s brother accused in sex-scandal, reports say

Due to the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections and drama created by the leftist goons in Delhi University, the news of a sex-scandal in Bihar has not got the coverage it should have got.

Local newspapers are already comparing this sex-scandal to another sex-scandal that rocked Bihar politics in 1980s. in 1982, a girl named Bobby was found dead under mysterious circumstances. It was alleged that she was sexually exploited by many powerful people, including high profile leaders of the Congress party, which ruled Bihar and India back then.

The investigations related to Bobby sex-scandal were suppressed under political pressure, and now reports are coming out about attempts being made to suppress investigations in the latest sex-scandal too, where Congress leader and brother of NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar, Brajesh Kumar Pandey is a co-accused.

According to a report published in Jansatta, the Investigation Officer (IO) got a phone call from the “right hand” man of “saaheb” on the day Brajesh Kumar was forced to resign from his post of Bihar Congress Vice President. Brajesh had to resign after the victim went public with her charges last week. She had earlier filed a case in December last year.

The Jansatta report claims that the IO was told to go slow on the case as “Pandey ji” (Brajesh Kumar) was brother of an influential journalist (Ravish Kumar).

“Even a daayan spares 5 homes,” the caller is reported to have told the IO, which is a local proverb suggesting that even the most ruthless person (say, an uncompromising police officer) should spare a few candidates. It was a clear hint to spare the brother of Ravish Kumar.

A report published in News18 also claims that there is a pressure to go slow on the Congress leader as he is also the brother of an influential journalist. Another report quotes a former Congress MLA arguing that it is in the “interests of democracy” that the current scandal involving brother of Ravish Kumar is buried the way Bobby sex-scandal was buried!

Brajesh Kumar and Nikhil Priyadarshi, who is another accused and is a well-connected businessman, have not been arrested yet. While Nikhil is absconding, Brajesh has applied for anticipatory bail, which will be taken up for hearing on 2nd March. Brajesh is reported to be in touch with Nikhil all this while, even though he claims that he is innocent.

Victim is the daughter of a former state minister and belongs to the dalit community. She was a minor when she had to undergo the sexual exploitation and thus apart from sexual assaults, charges have been framed under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) and (Prevention of Atrocities against) SC/ST act. Recently, the victim met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Yadav seeking justice, because Congress is a partner in the ruling alliance.

Investigations reveal that not only this dalit minor girl, many other women are also victim of the sex-racket run by Brajesh Kumar and Nikhil Priyadarshi. These include actresses working in Bhojpuri and South Indian films and members of high profile families. Daughter of an IAS officer is reported to have committed suicide due to being dragged into this sex racket.

Supporters of Ravish Kumar have often claimed that the NDTV journalist should not be held accountable or asked to respond over criminal charges against his brother, but these reports of political pressure change the equations.

It should be noted that media always questions a politician if his or her kin is caught in some illegal act. Media’s argument in those cases is that the relative could have been using the political connections to carry out illegal activities. Now with reports of pressure to go slow against Brajesh Kumar, it has thrown up a similar situation. The journalistic clout and connections are being used to put pressure, and one can argue that similar connections could have been used by Brajesh Kumar to carry out his other activities.

Two tier free speech : the magical hypocrisy of Javed Akhtar

Abhishek Banerjee
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Two tier free speech : the magical hypocrisy of Javed Akhtar

The day was August 11, 2012. The place was Azad Maidan in Mumbai and certain peaceful folks had assembled there to express their dissent. Here is the Amar Jawan Jyoti getting a taste of the delicious culture of dissent in our dear democracy:

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Apparently not content with  ransacking, arson and showing off their expert dance moves, the rioters proceeded to molest policewomen on duty at the spot.

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It should be noted here that the Mumbai Police had received instructions from the highest levels not to interfere with the activities of the rampaging mob. Believe it or not, the Mumbai Police actually received praise from the elite Indian Express for giving the rioters a free run.

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Who knew that giving a free run to rioters is the moral duty of the police and something that “heals wounds” and opens “a new chapter”? No wonder that the authors of this article are Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, two of the most infamous history-sheeters of secularism.

One policewoman who was there at Azad Maidan that August day in 2012 felt outraged. Really really outraged. Her name is Sujata Patil and  she came home and poured her angst into a poem.

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The secular establishment hit her like a ton of bricks, with even a writ petition! Listen to what the man of melodies had to say about Sujata Patil’s right to pen down a poem:

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See how smoothly the liberal establishment operates? Giving a free hand to rioters heals wounds, but a woman police officer who writes a poem expressing her outrage about “izzat lut rahi thi” has to be sacked! In case you are wondering, Sujata Patil did manage to save her job, but only just. She had to tender a grovelling apology.

It is not clear whether Sujata Patil thought of starting a hashtag to put forth her view on the Azad Maidan riots.

Those were different times then. The correct people were in power and freedom of speech didn’t matter as much. Or as Ravish Kumar would have put it, “बागों में बहार थी ” | 

How things change! Freedom of speech matters now. Only selectively of course:

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Except, the people he refers are not trying to perform heart surgery. They are just exercising their right to express themselves in this democratic system we live in. To exercise the right to free speech, you need no special qualification. You don’t have to be born a certain way, have a certain education, or make a certain amount of money. You just have to be a person. That’s the whole point of free speech. It’s universal. You don’t have to be somebody to exercise it.

Evidently, those who are already “somebody”, or those who think of themselves as “qualified somebodies” don’t like this arrangement one bit.

Evidently, that’s not what the magical Javed saab wants. Let’s not be hesitant to unpack what he is really saying. What he is advocating is a two tier system of  speech. The upper tier will consist of people who, in his view, have a certificate to exercise free speech. You know, like a surgeon. The other, lower tier shall consist of persons who he deems “hardly literate” and should not have free speech rights.

We in the right wing always suspected this. But we owe Javed saab a token of appreciation for laying it out so clearly.

Delhi Police indicts Umar Khalid for sedition, asks court to decide Kanhaiya’s fate

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Police indicts Umar Khalid for sedition, asks court to decide Kanhaiya’s fate

The Delhi Police is all set to file a chargesheet indicting JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for the protest held against the hanging of Afzal Guru on 9th February 2016.

Unidentified protesters had shouted anti-national slogans like ‘Bharart tere tukde honge, inshaallah-inshaallah’, ‘Bharat ki barbaadi tak, jung rahegi-jung rahegi’ and others. The Delhi police in its chargesheet claims that Umar Khalid got anti-India posters made for the event to show solidarity with Afzal Guru.

The chargesheet also mentions forensic reports of about 40 video clips, which prove that anti-national slogans were indeed raised at that protest. Nine non-JNU people (now identified), all hailing from Kashmir, were also part of that protest where anti-India slogans were raised.

The chargesheet would be filed under the section 121 A (sedition) and criminal conspiracy. The section 121 A states that:

Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.

Regarding Kanhaiya Kumar the police has dropped the ball in the Judiciary’s court and asked it to decide whether charges should be framed against him. The chargesheet says that he did nothing to stop the event but fails to explicitly mention that he himself raised anti-national slogans.

This indictment closely follows a clean chit given to Umar Khalid (referred to as ‘KU’ below) by poet and literacy enthusiast Javed Akhtar:


Even the media folk were quick to draw a conclusion that the case against Kanhaiya Kumar had collapsed though the fact remains that it would be decided by the Judiciary


Umar Khalid has hardly been quiet after the whole JNU incident and had openly praised terrorist Burhan Wani and was all set to speak at Ramjas college in DU, which has now become a drama of accusations and counter accusations.

The findings and chargesheet by the police does however raise the question as to why some people are hellbent upon promoting Umar Khalid – son of a SIMI terrorist and someone who wanted Burhan Wani’s gun to be picked up for keeping the war on – and presenting him as some “nationalist” and “pacifist” figure.

GDP not impacted by demonetisation: Read what ‘experts’ had predicted

OpIndia Staff
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GDP not impacted by demonetisation: Read what ‘experts’ had predicted

Finally, India’s GDP data for the quarter ended December 2016 is out. October to December 2016 was the quarter which included the demonetisation period, from 9th November 2016 to 31st December 2016. Various “experts” had given dooms day views regarding the demonetisation move:

Some termed it as “bad economics“. Some called it a “large shock to the Indian economy“. Some called it an example of “bad policy” Some suggested that India will face “dire consequences“. Some proclaimed that “The Deep Shock of Demonetisation May Devastate the Economy“. Some said that demonetisation would incur “high economic costs“. Some said “Demonetisation has turned India into world’s fastest slowing economy“. Some said “demonetisation may spell doom for the economy“.

The commentary was overwhelmingly negative, except for a few bright spots here and there. But most of the above commentary was in the form of abstract, immeasurable comments. To really objectively analyse this commentary, we need measurable predictions. And we did get them. Everybody who knew how to speak in English, began commenting on India’s GDP prediction. Here is what various people and agencies said:

The “economist” former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh had spoken after a long time, to claim that demonetisation could shave off 2% from the GDP rate.

Ambit Capital, predicted “a distinct possibility of GDP growth contracting in Q3FY17″ and said that the annual GDP growth rate could fall to 5.8 % year-on-year (from 7.3 percent).

An HSBC report predicted that India’s GDP for the December quarter could fall down to 5%. For reference, India’s GDP rate was 7.4% for the earlier quarter, and was 6.9% for the same quarter last year.

Another HSBC report quoted by media suggested that GDP would fall by 1%.

Estimates of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India pointed to a contraction of 2.5 % of the GDP

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 6.4% growth rate in the quarter to December.

Various other GDP predictions can be read here.

To cut things short, the GDP predictions ranged from a low of 5% to a maximum of 6.4%. But the final data which came out yesterday proved to be egg on the face of all of the above. India’s economy grew at a healthy 7% in the fiscal third quarter. It was also higher than China’s 6.8 percent growth for the last three months of 2016. India’s GDP rate was also higher than BRICS nations:



One of the few who got the forecast almost bang-on was economist and columnist Rupa Subramanya, who had predicted a minor 0.4-0.5% correction:


Now that the hard numbers have slapped some analysts on the face, the first reaction is pure disbelief. Even GDP numbers are being doubted now, and more such “doubts” will emerge, since the data doesn’t match their predictions.

“I am totally surprised and stunned to see this number. Perhaps this data is not capturing the impact of demonetisation,” said Aneesh Srivastava, chief investment officer, IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co. Reuters, whose poll got the prediction wrong, went on to doubt the credibility of the data. Excuses are being bandied about that the Government will have to eventually revise the data. Congress on its part has even begun trending a hashtag “#ModiFudgedGDP”.

Next, one may expect media hit jobs on the GDP data as well. For example, last year, media reports claimed that India had admitted “errors” in its GDP data. The fact remained though that economic illiteracy had led to this foolish claim, which we had destroyed here.

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