On Sunday (October 30), news outlet Lallantop courted controversy after it falsely attributed the Morbi bridge collapse to overcrowding caused by Chhath Puja celebrations.
An article written by one Uday Bhatnagar and published by Lallantop claimed, “There were about 500 people on the bridge at the time of the incident. They were gathered there to celebrate Chhath Puja.”
Screengrab of the news report by Lallantop
The misinformation was further amplified by AAP MLA Naresh Balyan. In a tweet, he claimed, “In Gujarat, due to the collapse of a bridge, 500 people fell into the river. All of them were celebrating Chhath. Who is responsible for such a big accident?”
This is how smartly AAP and The Lallantop has spread misinformation and later The Lallantop has changed headline.
This gutter-mouth AAP MLA has still that tweet in which he has spread misinformation that people were there for Chhat Puja! pic.twitter.com/PXZThdjpsu
Lallantop, which was the purveyor of the fake news, later quietly tweaked the headline of the article and removed all references to Chhath Puja.
“Gujarat: Over 90 people dead in the Morbi bridge collapse, army and Air Force personnel are involved in rescuing civilians,” the new headline read. In the body of the article, the word ‘Chhath’ was also removed.
“They were gathered there to celebrate Chhath Puja,” the contentious line was eliminated without the publication apologizing for evoking a Hindu festival in a tragedy.
Screengrab of the news report by Lallantop
Despite retraction by Lallatop and flagging by netizens, AAP MLA Naresh Balyan did not bother to cite an apology. At the time of writing, the AAP leader had not deleted his tweet. The archived version of his tweet can be accessed here.
गुजरात में जिस पुल के गिरने से 500 लोग नदी में गिरे हैं, वो सभी छठ मना रहे थे। इतने बड़े हादसे का कौन जिम्मेदार है? पूर्वांचलियों के जान की कीमत BJP के लिए कुछ भी नही है। दिल्ली में एक सांसद यमुना घूम रहा था, अब इस घटना को सुनकर मुंह छुपा कर भाग निकलेगा। https://t.co/M2F7VAGyD1
Morbi Bridge Collapse: The Background of the Incident
On Sunday (October 30), a century-old suspension bridge (also called jhoolta pool) collapsed in the Morbi district of Guajarat, leading to the loss of over 135 lives.
As per reports, the bridge on Machhu dam was closed for operational use about 7 months ago. A private company by the name of Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited) was given the contract in March of this year to renovate and maintain the said bridge.
The said bridgewas reopened on the occasion of Gujarati New Year’s Day on October 26 this year. This was, however, done without obtaining a fitness certificate from the local Municipality, as per reports.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Gujarat government appointed a 5-member committee to investigate the incident. At the same time, a criminal case has been registered against the contractor under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 114, 304 (culpable homicide), and 308 (attempt to culpable homicide).
Over 180 persons were successfully rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams. Three teams of NDRF were dispatched to Morbi from Gandhinagar and Vadodara to undertake rescue operations.
At the same time, a review meeting was held by State CM Bhupendra Patel at the Collector’s office in Morbi district along with MPs, MLAs, police, and health service officials. He had earlier visited the site of the accident on Sunday (October 30) evening.
On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested an accused Christian pastor named Vijay Masih for illegally converting a group of Hindus to Christianity in the Fatehpur district of the state. The accused was absconding after he was booked in another case of illegal mass conversion of Hindus to Christianity two and a half months ago. The Police arrested him on Sunday after they got a tip against the accused who was secretively carrying out another mass conversion in Hariharganj Church of the city.
According to the reports, the incident is said to have happened on Sunday (October 30) in Hariharganj Church of Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh. The accused pastor in the name of prayers was giving lessons about Christianity to Hindus and was trying to forcefully change their religion. The Police arrived at the spot after they were informed about the illegal conversion and arrested the pastor for luring the Hindus. The Police have also recovered several Aadhaar Cards with different identities from the accused.
The accused pastor during the investigation confessed that he was illegally converting a group of Hindus to Christianity in the Hariharganj Church of the city. He said that the Aadhaar Cards recovered by the Police belonged to those Hindus who have been converted and that their identities have been updated after they have been given lessons about Christianity and converted to a new religion.
Notably, the accused was already booked in another case of illegal mass conversion to Christianity and was absconding since then. CO City Vir Singh confirmed the development and said that the accused was wanted in a case that was booked two and a half months ago. He was booked for targeting economically struggling Hindus converting them to Christianity through bribes and allurement. “The accused now has been arrested and sent to jail. More people are involved in this racket of conversion. The Police are investigating the matter and collecting evidence based on which the other accused will be identified and sent to jail soon”, he added.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that a case of illegal mass conversion of Hindus to Christianity has been reported from the city of Fatehpur. Earlier, in April this year, the Fatehpur Police had arrested 26 people including the pastor in a case of mass conversion of Hindus to Christianity in the ECI Church building in Uttar Pradesh. Police had also booked 55 people in total in the case, including 10 women. The names of the accused included Vijay Kumar Samson, Reshma Samson, Ratna Daud, Sharon, Jyoti Monalisa, Geeta Masih, and more.
The matter had come to light after the members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal surrounded the ECI Church building in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, and staged protests against the pastor who was allegedly converting more than 50 Hindus inside the Church. Around 100 people had gathered inside the Church on April 14 of which more than 50 were Hindus. The VHP members had also gathered outside the Church and alleged that the pastor in the name of prayers was giving lessons of Christianity to Hindus and was trying to forcefully change their religion.
Later, the accused after being released on bail continued to convert poor Hindus under the guise of a healing assembly. On receiving the complaint two and a half months ago, the police registered a case against Masih and the other persons involved. While they arrested many other accused involved in the case, they could not nab pastor Vijay Masih who went absconding from the spot. However, the accused pastor was arrested by the Police on Sunday while he was secretively luring, brainwashing innocent and poor Hindus and forcing them to convert to Christianity. Further investigations into the case are underway.
On October 30, Pratapgarh Police registered a case against a man identified as Matapher Singh of Jethwara Police Station area, district Pratapgarh for allegedly arguing that Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar was not a great man in rustic language. A video clip of the man went viral on social media, after which the police initiated a probe into the matter.
संबंधित प्रकरण में थाना जेठवारा पर सुसंगत धाराओं में अभियोग पंजीकृत कर अग्रिम विधिक कार्यवाही की जा रही है ।
In the 55-second video, the man said, “That person who wrote the constitution, Bhimrao Ambedkar, who made him an officer? A Hindu King. He was a king from Gujarat. A Kshatriya.” Someone in the background argued that Ambedkar was a barrister. To which the man replied, “Was he a barrister from the beginning? Do you know his history? He was never a barrister.” Someone added from the background that he had a degree, to which the man said, “No, he did not have any degree. The Kshatriya King from Gujarat sent him abroad and sponsored his education. He came back, and the first thing he did was cut their [Kshtriyas’] tail.”
Targeting the reservation system, he said, “[Because of] All that Arakshan Mandal etc., they are getting [everything], and our children are failing even after getting 80% – 90% marks. What kind of constitution is this?” The man talked in the rustic rural dialect where words like ‘Sasura’ and ‘Saala’ are commonly used during conversation.
The members of the Dalit community strongly criticised the video on social media, and they demanded action against the man. Following multiple tweets in this regard on social media, the police filed an FIR and initiated a probe.
Speaking to OpIndia, an officer at Jethwara police station confirmed that an FIR was registered in the case, and the probe is underway. More details awaited in the case.
A day after the British era suspension bridge collapsed in the Morbi district of Gujarat, it has come to light that the private contract, which was tasked with renovation work, opened the bridge for public use without fitness certification.
As per reports, the bridge on Machhu dam was closed for operational use about 7 months ago. A private company by the name of Oreva Group (Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited) was given the contract in March this year to renovate and maintain the said bridge.
The suspension bridge, which is also known as jhoolta pool, was reopened on the occasion of Gujarati New Year Day on October 26 this year. This was, however, done without obtaining a fitness certificate from the local Municipality.
Bridge reopened for public use without fitness certificate, contractor blames tragedy on overcrowding
According to the Chief Officer of Morbi Municipality, Sandeepsinh Zala, the bridge was handed over to the contractor to smoothly operate and maintain it for a span of 15 years.
“However, the private firm threw the bridge open to visitors without notifying us and therefore, we couldn’t get a safety audit of the bridge conducted…It was opened to the public after the completion of the renovation work. But the local municipality had not yet issued any fitness certificate,” he said.
“While we are waiting for more information, prima facie, the bridge collapsed as too many people in the mid-section of the bridge were trying to sway it from one way to the other,” Oreva group’s official told The Indian Express.
Gujarat govt forms committee to probe disaster, criminal case to be lodged against the contractor
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Gujarat government acted swiftly and appointed a 5-member committee to investigate the incident. The State Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi informed that the committee would include Sandeep Vasava, IAS Rajkumar Beniwal, IGP Subhash Trivedi, KM Patel and Dr Gopal Tank.
મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી @Bhupendrapbjp જી એ મોરબી સસ્પેન્શન બ્રિજની ઘટનાની તપાસ માટે 5 સભ્યોની સમિતિની રચના કરી છે:
1. શ્રી સંદીપ વસાવા (સેક્રેટરી આર એન્ડ બી) 2. શ્રી રાજકુમાર બેનીવાલ, IAS 3. શ્રી સુભાષ ત્રિવેદી, IPS 4. શ્રી કે એમ પટેલ (મુખ્ય ઈજનેર) 5. શ્રી ડૉ. ગોપાલ ટાંક
At the same time, a criminal case has been registered against the contractor under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 114, 304 (culpable homicide) and 308 (attempt to culpable homicide).
criminal case has been registered under section 304,308,114 against the collapse of Hanging Bridge #machhu river in Morbi town.
As per reports, the death toll in the Morbi bridge disaster has risen to 135 from 60 by Monday (October 31) morning. A total of 180 were successfully rescued by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams.
Three teams of NDRF have been dispatched to Morbi from Gandhinagar and Vadodara. According to the Director General of NDRF, Atul Karwal, each team consists of 30 rescuers and 4 boats. He added that the 4th NDRF team will reach the site of the accident from Rajkot.
While speaking to the media, Harsh Sanghavi informed, “Everyone worked all through the night. Navy, NDRF, Air Force and Army reached quickly. More than 200 persons have worked the entire night (for search and rescue operations).”
Everyone worked all through the night. Navy, NDRF, Air Force and Army reached quickly. More than 200 persons have worked the entire night (for search and rescue operations): Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi briefs on #MorbiBridgeCollapsepic.twitter.com/r6eHX8TPvn
At the same time, a review meeting was held by State CM Bhupendra Patel at the Collector’s office in Morbi district along with MPs, MLAs, police and health service officials. He had earlier visited the site of the accident on Sunday (October 30) evening.
મોરબીમાં આજે વહેલી સવારથી કલેક્ટર ઓફિસ પહોંચીને સર્ચ ઓપરેશન, રાહત-બચાવ કામગીરી, ઇજાગ્રસ્તોની સારવાર સહિતની તમામ બાબતોની વર્તમાન સ્થિતિનો તાગ મેળવ્યો હતો અને તંત્રને જરૂરી સૂચનાઓ આપી હતી. pic.twitter.com/yq1elhOK00
According to Rushikesh Patel, the Health Minister of Gujarat, the injured victims are now being treated at hospitals and will be discharged only after the completion of their treatment.
The Global Left is living its worst nightmare. They have suddenly been ushered into a dystopian reality where they probably are about to lose their grip on the absolute monopoly they had on which opinions should or should not be aired. They are, perhaps for the first time, being faced with a situation where a major platform that was meant to facilitate the democratisation of speech is poised to do just that – let opposing voices prevail – or that is what it seems like. Recently, the $44 Billion deal reached its fruition, making Elon Musk the owner of social media giant Twitter.
In the run-up to the deal, the global Left had a meltdown. From the United States of America, several videos emerged where those who despite opposing voices, vowed to leave the platform if Elon Musk takes over. The media was relentless and still is, talking about how democracy would die in darkness if Elon Musk took over the platform. One of the first steps that Musk took, post the takeover, was to fire the top executives of Twitter – CEO Parag Agrawal, legal head and censorship chief Vijaya Gadde and the CFO, Ned Segal.
Musk also took to Twitter to say that the content moderation policy of Twitter had not changed yet, however, he was contemplating forming a diverse committee to review content before the suspension.
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
What perhaps upsets the Left the most about Musk, is that he has, rather openly, refused to toe their line. Recently, Musk shared a news link that claim that the husband of Nancy Pelosi was attacked in his home by a male prostitute who was a close friend of his. Given that Pelosi is an integral part of the Left’s delusion, the outrage against Musk was substantial. The New York Times even published an article claiming that Musk had shared a link to target the Pelosis from a website that regularly shares fake news. It is claimed that the news was a fake conspiracy theory and that there was confirmation that the attack on House Speaker’s husband was not by a male prostitute that he was allegedly with. It was also confirmed that Mr Pelosi did not know his attacker personally.
Elon Musk had tweeted directly to Hillary Clinton, the candidate who fought against Trump and lost, giving rise to a torrent of fake campaigns that was directed at Donald Trump. The USA was also thrown into crisis after it was alleged by the Left that Trump had manipulated votes and “stolen” the election.
Musk later deleted his tweet – resulting in the New York Times article that is now in question.
News article by The New York Times
Responding to the article by The New York Times, Elon Musk tweeted, “This is fake – I did *not* tweet out a link to The New York Times!”.
This is an objective truth that the Left has failed to acknowledge and in fact, subverted so they can pretend to be credible while being woefully ideologically and politically driven. The media has long been monopolised by those who use to cloak of ‘neutrality’ to further their own political bias. Here is an example that is often pushed under the rug – while the Left media is more than happy to brand those who don’t agree with their politics as “fake news”, they have long spread fake news themselves and get funding from dubious sources as well.
As per reports that emerged in July 2021, Time Magazine received $700,000, $371,577 was paid to the Financial Times, $291,000 to Foreign Policy Magazine, $272,000 to Los Angeles Times and over $1 million to other such prominent media publications. To add to it, as per the Justice Department, China Daily has also been paying these publications for advertising. This includes paying The New York Times $50,000, Foreign Policy $240,000, The Des Moines Register $34,600 and CQ-Roll Call $76,000.
It spent a total of $11,002,628 on advertising in US newspapers, and another $265,822 on advertising with Twitter despite the microblogging site being banned in China itself.
Some more publications that reflected as China Daily’s clients include The Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle and The Boston Globe.
The revelations were made after the China Daily submitted its first detailed breakdown of payments to American news outlets in its recent 2021 June 01 filings. The Justice Department had allegedly for years required China Daily to disclose its activities semi-annually under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The outlet disclosed the expenditures incurred for the period between November 2016 and April 2020. The Daily Caller in a report also revealed that the China Daily paid more than $4.6 million to The Washington Post and nearly $6 million to The Wall Street Journal since November 2016. Both these publications reportedly carried paid supplements that China Daily produces called “China Watch.”
Besides, all major “neutral” paragons of journalism are owned by those who have a declared political position. The Guardian has links to Omidyar, George Soros, the Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation and more and The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos. In India, Congress owns large chunks of the media, a fact that is hardly spoken about and “neutral” journalists display blatant bias while some have familial connections to political parties and openly bat against opposing ideologies.
Noam Chomsky explained the mass media rather perfectly, except for one pesky point. He essentially said that the mass media applies ‘filters’ to ensure that the information flow toes the line of the establishment. The news ‘filters’ include what information is allowed to be given by those who control mass media, and the wealth/profit thereof, what information would sit well with advertisers, the reliance on ‘experts’ funded and approved by those who control the media and the most important, ‘flak’. If any media platform chooses to go against the establishment and the information that mass media has deemed fit for consumption, that platform is vilified, tarnished, discredited and deemed unfit by the mass media.
Chomsky says that “The raw material of news must pass through successive filters, leaving only the cleansed residue fit to print”.
Of course, Chomsky also talks about “anticommunism’ as a national religion and control mechanism”, but one can fairly conclude that the world over, the flow of information and the ‘filters’ to news is applied far more with the prism of what the Left deems fit to print.
With world media getting funding from those with political biases, the information that finally reaches the masses is bound to be coloured with the ideological prism of the money bags and the journalists themselves. So far, anyone who has dared to go against the stream has received “flak” from the corporate, established media.
In that sense, Elon Musk is absolutely right – all news has a bias, some more than others. The Left media has a bias towards what they believe to be the ideologically moral position, as does the media, mostly alternate, that believes that the Left’s position is immoral and untenable. The difference mostly is the fact that so far, the non-Left hardly controlled the flow of information enough to affect substantial change and democratise speech to the extent that the Left loses its hegemony.
With the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, one might see Left principles not being shoved down the throats of those who don’t agree with some of their delusions. For example, today, if someone “misgenders” an individual, they can be thrown off the platform. Gender politics is purely a product of the global left. They want to force the entire world to believe that biological men “can give birth” simply because they one day wake up and claim that they are women. They want the world to concede to the delusion that if a 6 feet tall man with a penis and testicles “believes” that he is a “woman”, he should be able to compete in women’s sports and use the same space made only for women.
This couple involves a biological female, Ahanu, who claims to be the father of the child and a biological male, Petrona, who claims to be the mother. The picture, a still from a video, capture Petrona attempting to breastfeed the baby but failing at it because he cannot lactate. The couple uses supplements to complement the nutrient requirements of the baby.
“The baby has been able to latch, but I’ve not been able to produce any milk,” Petrona says. “Being able to even be a part of a process where I’m trying to create milk and my body, it makes me feel very excited. I’m this baby’s mother, so by doing this it’s helping me feel really connected to the pregnancy,” he says while confirming that he receives medication to stimulate male lactation. Ahanu is the biological mother of the baby.
Now, if you were to call the biological man a man and say that the man can’t breastfeed (and whatever this is, is bordering on child abuse), you will get thrown off Twitter and your speech will be considered hate speech. “Misgendering” is a legitimate reason that can be used to report “hate speech” and “abuse” on Twitter.
Essentially, the Left has legitimised a delusion and if you, as a sane, thinking, rational individual, question this collective delusion, your speech is “hate speech” and you deserve to be de-platformed.
With Elon Musk taking over Twitter, this arm-twisting could potentially come to an end. If Elon Musk believes that all news has a bias, the platform now may not be allowed to censor stories – like the Hunter Biden story – that are inconvenient to the Left, which also means that alternate media and voices that don’t yield to the Left narrative may be able to air their views without being silenced. This also means that the Left might not be able to use Twitter to force people to partake in whatever new delusion they choose to endorse and thrust down people’s throats.
This is a reality that the Left will take some time to get used to. While pretending to be the harbingers of free speech, absolute free speech for those who challenge their worldview is precisely what they fear the most. Their faith in free speech is limited to a specific kind of speech that they endorse. Any attempt to democratise speech where opposing voices are given an equal footing will be opposed tooth and nail, as can be seen in the case of Twitter and Elon Musk now.
I will look into this. Twitter should be even-handed, favoring neither side.
Nobody knows yet if Elon Musk would succeed in making Twitter ‘even handed’, but the mere possibility that he could, has sent the Left into a tizzy. Free speech is the Left’s kryptonite and if Elon Musk succeeds, Twitter may prove to be the end of the Left’s hegemony world over.
On October 29, The Wire filed a complaint at the Economic Offence Wing of the Delhi Police against its former employee and so-called ‘researcher’ Devesh Kumar, claiming he provided forged documents with “an intent to malign The Wire’s reputation”. Furthermore, it was noted by The Wire in its complaint that Devesh named Philip Chua, APAC Head of Public Policy at Instagram as the person who provided him with a ‘Post Incident Review Report’ that had pointed fingers at Bharatiya Janata Party’s Amit Malviya as the person responsible for the post takedown.
Devesh seemed ‘highly disturbed mentally’, claims The Wire.
The Wire claimed in its complaint that following the internal investigation and review of the material sent by Devesh by ‘reputed’ outside sources when they tried to contact Devesh, he did not revert. However, he called The Wire’s Product and Business Head Mithun Kidambi on October 27 and “confessed to fabricating all the material” that The Wire used in its Meta stories. “The impression Kidambi gathered was that Devesh Kumar seemed highly disturbed mentally,” claimed The Wire.
The complaint was sent to the Special Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravinder Singh Yadav on Saturday (October 29). The Print quoted Yadav saying that he received the complaint and the Police were “looking into the matter”. Police were yet to send a confirmation of the receipt of the complaint to The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan.
Details of the complaint
As per The Print’s report, The Wire has accused Kumar of “fabricating and supplying documents, emails, and video with a view to damage The Wire’s reputation”. It was further noted that from April 2021 to July 2022, Kumar worked at The Wire as a consultant on a month-to-month remuneration basis.
The Wire added that though Devesh had nothing to do with the story on the Instagram post takedown that was published on October 6, he contacted the reporter (possibly Jahnavi Sen) and informed that he got additional information from his friend from Instagram.
The complaint read, “On October 6, 2022, The Wire published a story about an abrupt takedown of a post on Instagram based on an email we received from the concerned account holder, which is a matter of record. Thereafter, Devesh Kumar, who had nothing to do with that story, got in touch with our reporter and told us that he had received information from a personal friend of his who is a senior executive at Instagram’s office in Singapore named Philip Chua.”
Devesh “forwarded” the email that he claimed came from Chua using a messaging app with the username ‘Antadweep’ to Sen (username ‘Jeeva’). The suggested email and the ‘Post Incident Review Report’ attached to it claimed Amit Malviya was behind the takedown. The complaint read, “There was no basis at that time to suspect it was fraudulent, nor indeed the ‘Post Incident Review Report’, which the email had alluded to. Believing the said email and the ‘Post Incident Review Report’ document Devesh Kumar sent us to be correct, The Wire published a story based on this material on October 10.”
The complaint further stated that Devesh claimed to have received the email on his Protonmail account, and it was shared on the messaging app. However, later he deleted the attachment from the messaging app and shared the email with Varadarajan over the Signal app. “Two further stories on 15 and 17 October were also all based on electronic documentation including emails and videos provided by Devesh Kumar, purportedly from Instagram and Meta and two independent experts,” the complaint added.
In its complaint, The Wire claimed they got the review done with the help of “reputed outside experts” who informed them that the documents and material provided by Devesh were fabricated. The fabricated material included “the documents and emails and videos from Instagram and Meta, as well as the emails by two reputed experts purportedly vetting the Andy Stone email,” the complaint suggested.
FIR lodged against The Wire
On October 29, BJP’s Amit Malviya filed a complaint with Delhi Police against The Wire, its editors, and reporters and said they published a series of stories with the intent to tarnish his reputation. Based on his complaint, an FIR was registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery with the purpose of cheating), 469 (forgery for harming reputation), 471 (using forged document), 500 (defamation), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR was lodged after The Wire took down Meta stories that claimed Malviya was able to take down Instagram posts critical to the government, no questions asked.
Is the Wire trying to shun responsibility by blaming it all on Devesh Kumar?
It is noteworthy that The Wire has thrown Devesh Kumar under the bus despite the fact that The Wire’s Founding Editor Siddharth Varadarajan categorically said in an interview with Platformer that he was “hands-on involved in the story”. In the interview, he had said, “I don’t think we should make this about Devesh, frankly. This should be equally about me; I was hands-on involved in the story. The point is that, yes, there were some questions raised by some aspects of Tek Fog, but a lot of it actually was validated.”
The story on Meta had bylines by Wire’s Siddharth Varadarajan and Jahnavi Sen. The now-retracted story titled “Exclusive: ‘How the Hell Did Document Leak?’ – Meta Internal Mail Belies ‘Fabricated’ Charge Against The Wire”, added Devesh Kumar’s name later, only for the artwork used.
Notably, Devesh did get byline with Jahnavi and Siddharth in a follow-up report dated October 15 titled “Meta Said Damaging Internal Email is ‘Fake’, URL ‘Not in Use’, Here’s Evidence They’re Wrong”. It should be kept in mind both Jahnavi and Siddharth were co-authors of this story as well.
Devesh Kumar was not named by Amit Malaviya in his FIR.
On Sunday, October 30, 2022, a suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in Morbi, Gujarat, collapsed, claiming at least 60 lives and injuring numerous persons. The bridge, which was about a century old, had just been reopened following renovations. Reportedly, around 400 people were on the bridge when the incident happened, as the ancient bridge could not bear the weight.
Shocking!!
Bridge collapsed in #Gujarat and around 400 people fell into water.
Gujarat Panchayat Minister Brijesh Merja informed that more than 60 people have died in the incident so far. Merja is present at the incident spot.
Morbi cable bridge collapse incident | "More than 60 people have died," says Gujarat Panchayat Minister Brijesh Merja, who is present at the incident spot pic.twitter.com/Nc6x7mjazv
Bhupendra Patel, the chief minister of Gujarat, offered his sympathies over the catastrophe and announced compensation for the families of the victims. CM Bhupendra Patel tweeted, “I express my condolences to the families of the citizens who lost their lives in the tragedy of Morbi. The state government will provide Rs 4 lakh to the family of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured.”
મોરબીની દુર્ઘટનામાં જીવ ગુમાવનાર નાગરિકોના પરિવારજનો પ્રત્યે સંવેદના વ્યક્ત કરું છું. રાજ્ય સરકાર પ્રત્યેક મૃતકના પરિવારજનને ચાર લાખ રૂપિયા અને ઇજાગ્રસ્તોને ૫૦,૦૦૦ રૂપિયાની સહાય આપશે.
He further tweeted, “I am leaving for Morbi after canceling all my previous programs today. I will reach the spot to monitor the situation directly and make necessary coordination with the system.”
મારા આગળના આજના તમામ કાર્યક્રમો હાલ રદ કરીને મોરબી જવા રવાના થઈ રહ્યો છું. સ્થળ પર રૂબરૂ પહોંચીને પરિસ્થિતિનું સીધુ મોનિટરિંગ તથા તંત્ર સાથે જરૂરી સંકલન સાધીશ.
The weight of the people standing on the bridge caused it to collapse. The pre-Independence cable-stayed bridge, known as the Julto Pool, was regarded as a marvel of British engineering and one of Morbi’s top tourist destinations. The bridge was reopened after renovations during Diwali, and there were a lot of people visiting it. On Sunday, so many people arrived on the bridge that the structure could not bear the weight and it collapsed into the river below.
The state government has formed a 5-member committee to probe the fatal accident.
Local MLA and state minister Brijesh Merja said, “Due to the bridge collapse, several people fell into the river. A rescue operation is underway. There are reports that several people have suffered injuries. They are being rushed to hospitals.”
Prime Minister’s office tweeted about the incident, “PM Narendra Modi spoke to Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel and other officials regarding the mishap in Morbi. He has sought urgent mobilization of teams for rescue ops. He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and extend all possible help to those affected.”
PM @narendramodi spoke to Gujarat CM @Bhupendrapbjp and other officials regarding the mishap in Morbi. He has sought urgent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops. He has asked that the situation be closely and continuously monitored, and extend all possible help to those affected.
After the bridge crumbled on Sunday, a number of individuals fell into the river. Rescue efforts are currently in progress. People who plunged into the river when the bridge collapsed are being rescued by the government with the assistance of the villagers.
While Covid-19 related restrictions are gone from most of the world, restrictions remain in China. The Chinese Government has recently reintroduced strict lockdowns in several places with the aim to achieve zero Covid. As a result of such renewed lockdown, workers of the largest iPhone-making plant in the country are fleeing to avoid being locked in.
According to reports, workers of a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou city are leaving the site to avoid the reintroduced Covid-19 curbs, and are walking hundreds of kilometres for days to reach their homes. The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou in Henan province is the largest plant in China that assembles products for Apple, including the latest iPhone 14.
Zhengzhou is known as iPhone city, due to the Foxconn plant that makes Apple iPhones.
The workers of the plant decided to leave after reports emerged that the Foxconn administration had put a number of workers under quarantine after a Covid-19 outbreak in the plant. The company reported also imposed a ‘closed-loop’ system under which the movements of workers were restricted to their residence and the plant.
Foxconn workers also complained of poor food quality and a lack of medical care for those who tested positive for Covid-19. There were also growing concerns among the workers that the infection could be spreading.
It is notable that Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant is a massive facility which can accommodate 3,50,000 workers. Reportedly, the plant had around 2,00,000 workers when the fresh lockdown was announced. At present, it is not known how many of them are infected, how many have left and how many remain at the site.
The government of the capital Henan province has announced severe lockdown measures, including severe quarantine norms. The city government has imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19, asking residents to stay at home in some areas. The administration also ordered to close all non-essential businesses, and allowed only few whitelisted companies to continue operating.
To escape such strict measures, workers of the Foxconn plant have now left the plant. It is not clear whether the employees have escaped or they were allowed to leave, but in some videos, they were seen scaling fences to leave the site, instead of walking out of the gates.
Workers have broken out of #Apple’s largest assembly site, escaping the Zero #Covid lockdown at Foxconn in #Zhengzhou. After sneaking out, they’re walking to home towns more than 100 kilometres away to beat the Covid app measures designed to control people and stop this. #Chinapic.twitter.com/NHjOjclAyU
Several videos showing the Foxconn workers leaving the site have emerged on social media. In the videos, the workers can be seen scaling the boundary walls and fences of the facility, and walking on the road carrying their luggage. BBC’s China correspondent Stephen McDonell, who posted several such videos, said that the workers are walking to their home towns more than 100 km away after sneaking out of the plant site.
So they may think Zero #Covid is going great but here are more of the Foxconn workers who’ve broken out of Apple’s largest assembly site in #Zhengzhou to escape a Zero #Covid lockdown and walk to hometowns some more than 100 kilometres away to beat #China’s phone app restrictions pic.twitter.com/wTzCR2lest
Residents of nearby villages arranged food and drinks for the Foxconn workers on foot. AP news quoted a volunteer who said that his village prepared supplies for the workers who were passing by the road in the village. He said that workers will have to take that road if they leave the Foxconn facility.
However, after videos of the workers returning home on foot emerged on the Chinese short-video sharing platform Douyin, the local government and Foxconn management arranged buses. Foxconn also issued a statement addressed to its workers, ensuring safety, legitimate rights and income for those willing to stay.
Cites to where the workers are returning have urged them to inform about their return so that appropriate isolation measures could be arranged. The local administrations of several such cities have said that the workers will be sent to mandatory isolation after they arrive from Zhengzhou. These cities also have arranged buses to ferry workers returning from the iPhone plant.
Coimbatore, a highly industrialised city in the State of Tamil Nadu, was rocked by a blast on October 23. Known as the ‘Manchester of South India’, the city with a history of terror attacks is again up on its feet.
The anicent city, which is known for its textile mills, and automobile industry, has been under the spotlight recently over an explosion that took place in the vicinity of Kottai Easwaran Temple. Here is a timeline of the incident:
October 22, 2022:
An engineering graduate named Jamesha Mubin was caught on CCTV, loading a large object (LPG cylinder) wrapped in white bag onto his Maruti 800 car. It was around 11:25 pm. Mubin was accompanied by 3 other men, namely, Mohammad Riyaz, Feroz Ismail, and Mohammad Navaz Ismail.
The car carrying Jamesha Mubin exploded mid-journey in the Ukkadam area of Coimbatore. It was 4 am in the morning. The incident took place adjacent to the Kottai Easwaran Temple.
When the matter came to light, a contingent of police and forensic experts was dispatched to the site of the explosion. A total of 6 teams were formed, as part of the probe. ADGP P Thamarai Kannan reviewed the situation at ground zero.
Preliminary investigation revealed that one of the two commercial cylinders onboard the car had exploded while the other remained intact. As per reports, the remains of Mubin’s body were unrecognisable.
Initially, it was believed to be a simple accident, that the LPG cylinder exploded due to some reason. But many people didn’t believe this, including BJP leader K Annamalai. Later police confirmed that it was part of a terror act and it was not a regular accident.
October 24, 2022:
A total of 5 people, namely, Mohammad Thalka, Mohammad Azarudheen, Riyaz, Nawaz and Feroz were arrested in connection to the case. The five accused were charged under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 3A of the Explosive Substances Act by the Ukkadam police.
All of them are residents of Coimbatore. Meanwhile, the police raided the house of Mubin and recovered 75kg of chemical materials, including charocial, potassium nitrate, suplhur and and aluminium powder.
The five accused arrested by the Tamil Nadu police, image via The News Minute
It also came to light that Mubin was interrogated by the NIA in 2019 in connection to the Easter bomb blasts. “He was one among the five people we had to examine in 2019 since he had been attending Bayan classes at a Coimbatore mosque of the Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamath (TNTJ),” a source told The Indian Express.
“These classes were closely related to Mohammed Azarudeen, who had direct contact with Zahran Hashim, the mastermind and the leader of the suicide bombers in Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka,” the source further added.
October 25, 2022:
Coimbatore City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan informed that charges against the accused were altered to Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), and 153 A (promoting enmity between two different groups).
Besides, the 5 men were also booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. They were also remanded to judicial custody till Novemebr 8, 2022.
October 26, 2022:
A meeting took place between senior officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Tamil Nadu police. CM Stalin also held a meeting with top officials of the Tamil Nadu government to review the law and order situation in Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, BJP announced that a day-long strike (bandh) would be observed on October 31, 2022 to protests against the ‘lethargic attitude’ of the ruling DMK government in the Coimbatore blast probe.
October 27, 2022:
The Coimbatore police arrested the 6th accused in connection to the blast. Identified as Afsar Khan, he played a crucial role in helping Jamesha Mubin procure explosive subtances from e-commerce platforms.
Khan is also said to be the cousin brother of Mubin. He was arrested after being interrogated by the police for 5 years. His house was also raided and a laptop was recovered, which was then sent for forensic analysis.
Accused Afsar Khan, image via The News Minute
Moreover, the case was transferred to the NIA by the Centre, following the recommendation of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. An official said, “The Union home ministry decided to hand over the Coimbatore blast case to the NIA.”
October 28, 2022:
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi criticised the Tamil Nadu government for delay in engaging the services of the NIA.
“Coimbatore is a known place for hatching terror modules. Within hours of the attack, it was clear that it was a terror attack. The materials used indicated a larger conspiracy. I credit the Tamil Nadu Police,” he remarked.
“Here, the law enforcement agency should be given a free hand. We cannot go soft on terrorism. Those who try to sabotage the progress of the country will not succeed. So, my appeal is not to go soft on them. We must be one, clear-headed, decisive, and tough in our words and actions (against terrorism),” he concluded.
October 29, 2022:
The Coimbatore unit of the BJP called off their day-long strike, following requests by local business community about the possible economic losses of such a protest.
It has now come to light that Jamesha Mubin was motivated by the Islamic State and engaged in preparing for jihad. Reportedly, he was on a suicide mission to destroy a large area including a Hindu temple using his car bomb.
However, the sinister plan failed and it ended up killing him. Initially thought to be a regular accident, it has now emerged that the Coimbatore cylinder blast was a jihadi terror attack gone wrong. Police believe that Mubin learnt about explosives from the Internet and he had no training in making bombs, which resulted in the failure of the mission.
The handwritten entries (in Tamil), recovered from his residence, involved references to Muslims as “second-class citizens,” the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the hijab dispute in Karnataka, and a flow diagram with the names of Gods from various religions.
“Incidents such as CAA, the hijab row, restrictions on food, and killings over beef were mentioned as problems faced by Indian Muslims, who, he wrote, were becoming second-class citizens. He also wondered how these problems could be overcome,” a source toldThe Indian Express.
The Coimbatore serial blasts of 1998
A series of devastating bomb blasts rocked Coimbatore on 14 February 1998 which killed around 60 people and nearly killed LK Advani, the then BJP president whose scheduled arrival was delayed as his flight was delayed by over 90 minutes.
The bombs were concealed in cars, motorcycles, bicycles, side boxes of two-wheeler, denim and rexine bags, and fruit carts. Reports mention that the bombings were apparently in retaliation to the 1997 Coimbatore riots that happened during November and December in the year 1997.
Mayhem caused during 1998 serial blasts in Coimbatore (Wire)
The terror plot was named ‘Operation Allahu Akbar’ and intended to kill Advani who was supposed to address an election meeting in the city that day. Seven human bombers with immediate package explosives fastened to their waists were ready to attack Advani.
However, their preparations failed since they were unable to penetrate the police barrier and approach him. But the other explosives put across the city, in vehicles, motorcycles, tea cans, unsecured bags, and so on, were detonated, causing extensive mayhem and loss of life throughout Coimbatore.
Mayhem caused during 1998 serial blasts in Coimbatore (National Herald)
The investigation later revealed that an Islamists terrorist organisation named Al-Ummah and it’s chief Syed Ahmed Basha were responsible for the attack. Basha had planned the attack in retaliation to the 1997 riots.
Basha, the first accused and the founder-president of Al-Ummah, was then sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 120-B (conspiracy) of the IPC read with additional IPC offences, including murder, in 2003, and three years of hard imprisonment under Section 153 A (1) of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion).
Basha’s brother, Nawab Khan, was also sentenced to life in jail and 27 years in prison too. Now, Khan’s son identified as Muhammed Thalka has been arrested for his involvement in the recent cylinder blasts that happened in the city on October 23.
The ICC World T20 Cricket Championship going on in Australia is unfolding with every exciting twist and turn it can. One such incident came in the course of the series when on October 30, Pakistanis were found cheering for team India to win its match against South Africa so that Pakistan’s chances of survival in the limited-overs world cup remain alive.
On October 30, three matches were scheduled in the super 12 league of the World Cup. Three Asian countries Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India were scheduled to play their matches against Zimbabwe, Netherlands, and South Africa respectively. For Pakistan to survive in the tournament, it was necessary for Pakistan to win against the Netherlands. Not only this, Pakistan’s fate is dependent on the results of the other two matches. Pakistan cannot advance in the World Cup unless Bangladesh defeats Zimbabwe and India win against South Africa. Therefore, Pakistani fans cheered for the teams of India and Bangladesh along with their country team. Twitter was flooded with posts regarding the same.
In two matches of the day that have already concluded, Pakistan defeated Netherlands, and Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe. However, the India – South Africa match is still going on and is headed for a nail-biting finish.
Former Pakistani Hindu cricketer Danish Kaneria tweeted, “Jai Shree Ram! Hum Ram Bharosay Pakistan India Bharosay to stay alive in World Cup.” It means ‘Jai Shree Ram! We rely on Ram and Pakistan relies on India to stay alive in World Cup.’
Jai Shree Ram !Hum Ram Bharosay Pakistan India Bharosay to stay alive in World Cup click the link https://t.co/5fIatQxOrg
It is notable that Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe and Pakistan defeated the Netherlands in their matches. As the top-order Indian batting lineup collapsed against South Africa, the number of tweets supporting India drastically increased. Tweeples also suspected that India is underperforming in this match to keep Pakistan out of the next phases of the series. Janzaib tweeted, “as a Pakistani IND vs SA match is FIXED”.
Umair Mehboob posted, “From 7 am to 11 am…I prayed for Bangladesh to win. From 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm I prayed for Pakistan to win. And now, I’m praying for India to win against South Africa as a Pakistani. Quite a day indeed!”
From 7 am to 11 am…I prayed for Bangladesh to win. #BANvsSA From 12:00 pm to 3:00pm..I prayed for Pakistan to win. #Pakvsnetherlands And now, I’m praying for India to win against South Africa as a Pakistani ..quite a day indeed! #INDvSApic.twitter.com/woMnCGrJUs
A fan even made a combined flag of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh as Pakistanis had to support all three teams in a day. He wrote, “As a Pakistani” I appreciate this adorable flag because it represents love, peace, harmony, and respect for each other.”
India scored 133 runs in 20 overs losing 9 wickets. At the time of publishing this report, South Africa scored 56 runs at the cost of 3 wickets in 11 overs.
