The day Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge takes oath as Congress party president, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said that till the very last minute, all efforts were on to make Rahul Gandhi the party president.
Delhi | Till the last minute, efforts were made to make Rahul Gandhi the party president as only he can challenge Modi and govt. Today is a new beginning. We congratulate Mallikarjun Kharge Ji and will work to strengthen the party: Rajasthan CM and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot pic.twitter.com/Yz4V0ONfQC
Gehlot was also one of the contenders for the post of party chief but he did not want to give up on bring Rajasthan Chief Minister. Gehlot, while speaking to mediapersons ahead of oath taking ceremony by Kharge, said that only Rahul Gandhi could challenge PM Modi and current government and hence till last minute efforts were made to make him the party president. Rahul Gandhi was made the party President in December 2017, soon after Gujarat state assembly elections ahead of the 2019 general elections.
However, after the party’s disastrous performance in 2019 general elections, Rahul Gandhi stepped down and his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who was the party president before him since 1998, again became the party ‘interim’ President. Since then, many senior Congress leaders had expressed that the party needs a change in top leadership. However, Gandhi family loyalists continued to oppose any such proposal stating only Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi are fit and capable to lead the party.
Finally, the party decided to hold elections earlier this month and after many names that were floated, Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor were zeroed in on. Many had said that the Gandhi family was backing Kharge and that was quite evident from the almost one-sided elections.
Today, Gehlot’s statement that the party leaders still have more faith in Rahul Gandhi than they have in their newly elected party president says quite a lot. Netizens wondered if this statement of Gehlot meant they don’t consider Kharge, a tall Dalit leader from Karnataka, worthy of being the party president.
Some also pulled up senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s quote where he had said whoever becomes party president, he would still be working under the Gandhis. Singh was also one of the runners for the post of party president.
When senior party members themselves don't have or exude confidence, how will the Party revive itself by propping up someone whose report card is in the negative? Or do these senior members want a level playing field to continue their own agenda?
On Tuesday (October 25), the Competitions Commission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on Google for exploiting its dominant position in the market with regard to its Play Store policies. The Commission also ordered Google to alter its conduct within a specific time window.
Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposes a penalty of Rs 936.44 cr on Google for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies, apart from issuing a cease-and-desist order. CCI also directed Google to modify its conduct within a defined timeline: CCI pic.twitter.com/5WwKTciXnG
App stores have become a vital means for app developers to distribute their applications to end users, and the availability of app store(s) is directly reliant on the Operating System (OS) installed on a smart device. An analysis of the market dynamics in India for licensable mobile operating systems reveals that Google’s Android OS has successfully reaped the indirect network benefits, as per reports. Google’s Play Store is the primary avenue for app developers in the Android mobile ecosystem. This allows Google to capitalize on the applications brought to the market.
According to the findings of the CCI, Google is dominant in the market for licensable OS for smart mobile devices and app stores for Android smart mobile OS in India.
In-app digital goods sales are a significant method for app developers to commercialize their creations or innovations. However, in order for in-app digital goods to be provided to purchasing users, developers must configure their apps so that Google’s payment system processes all digital goods purchases.
Notably, Google’s Play Store policies require App developers to use Google Play’s Billing System (GPBS) not only for receiving payments for Apps (and other digital products such as audio, video, and games) distributed/sold through the Google Play Store but also for certain in-app purchases, which are purchases made by App users after they have downloaded/purchased the App from the Play Store. Google has also been found to be favoring Google Pay over other competing apps through its control over the Play Store and the Android Operating System which leads to disadvantages for both the apps facilitating payment through UPI and the users.
Furthermore, app developers may not provide users with a direct link to a webpage featuring an alternative payment option within an app, nor may they use language that urges a user to purchase the digital item from outside of the app as per the anti-steering provisions.
The CCI has also investigated complaints that competitor UPI apps were excluded from being viable payment options on the Play Store. Google Pay was found to be linked with intent flow methodology, whilst other UPI apps can be utilized with collect flow methodology. It was observed that intent flow technology is superior and more user-friendly than collect flow technology, with intent flow providing major benefits to both customers and merchants, and the success rate with the intent flow methodology is higher due to lower latency. Google has recently revised its rules and now allows competing UPI apps to be integrated with the intent flow, according to the CCI.
“In the light of the analysis of the various evidence, the DG concluded that Google has made the use of GPBS mandatory and exclusive for processing of payments for apps and in-app purchases for the apps downloaded from the Google Play Store. Moreover, the DG found that Google is following discriminatory practices by not using GPBS for its own application, YouTube. Therefore, Google imposes unfair and discriminatory conditions in violation of the provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act. 27,” the CCI order stated.
In terms of penalty computation, the CCI found significant errors and extensive disclaimers in Google’s presentation of key revenue data elements. However, in the interest of justice and to ensure that required market corrections take place promptly, the CCI quantified the interim monetary penalty based on the data given by Google. As a result, the CCI issued a preliminary penalty of 7% of Google’s average relevant turnover, amounting to Rs. 936.44 crores, for violating Section 4 of the Act. Google has been given 30 days to furnish the necessary financial information and supporting documents.
It is worth noting that The CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337.76 crore on the tech behemoth for abusing its market dominance in certain segments of the Indian ecosystem for Android-based mobile devices. Google was told to quit using unethical business tactics by the fair trade regulator on October 20.
The HuffPost, which has been at the helm of disinformation campaigns during the 2020 Delhi anti-Hindu riots, is back to demonising the Hindu community by lending credence to dubious historians and radical Islamist outfits. On Saturday (October 22), the American ‘liberal’ news blog published an article titled, ‘Far-right Hindu nationalism is gaining ground in the US.’ The propaganda piece, authored by its national reporter Rowaida Abdelaziz, tried to create hysteria about the supposed rise of Hindu fanaticism in the country.
At the very onset, she alleged that the Hinduphobic historian Audrey Truschke has been at the receiving end of ‘death threats’, ‘vicious vitriol’ and ‘hate emails’ for challenging the ‘predominant perception’ about Islamic tyrants by Hindu nationalists.
“The publication of her first book, in 2016, challenging the predominant perception of 16th- and 17th-century Mughal kings — Muslim rulers who are widely vilified by Hindu nationalists — put a target on her back,” the article read.
Screengrab of the propaganda piece in HuffPost by Rowaida Abdelaziz
Opindia had reported how Audrey Truschke went to great lengths to whitewash the tyranny of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and later tried to downplay the barbaric Portuguese inquisition in Goa.
The Hindu students of Rutgers University (Newark), where Truschke is employed as a Professor, were forced to write a letter to the varsity over her attempts to sell Hinduphobic fiction in the name of ‘history.
They were “aghast at the bigotry being peddled against Hindus” via continued derision of their religion, deities, and sacred texts. The students also pointed out how her anti-Hindu propaganda had the potential of resulting in targeted attacks, bullying, and backlash.
Rutgers University, instead of addressing the concerns of Hindu students, had backed Audrey Truschke and whitewashed her vile and bigoted anti-Hindu remarks as ‘academic freedom’. She also received overwhelming support from other anti-Hindu faculty members of the university.
Rowaida Abdelaziz uses the trope of ‘Hindutva vs Hinduism’
The HuffPost reporter then went on a diatribe against Hindutva, going as far as to label it as ‘far-right Hindu nationalism’. She claimed, “(It) is a political and extremist ideology that advocates for Hindu supremacy and seeks to transform a secular and diverse India into an ethnoreligious Hindu state.”
Rowaida Abdelaziz further claimed, “Hinduism, the faith, is not Hindutva the far-right movement. But the label Hindu can be categorized as a religious, political or racial identifier depending on who is using it, explained Manan Ahmed, a professor and historian of South Asia at Columbia University.”
For years now, Islamists have been meticulously trying to draw a difference between Hinduism and Hindutva—a clever ploy to confuse ordinary Hindus into believing that these are two mutually exclusive ideologies and that attacking Hindutva is not akin to trashing Hinduism.
In reality, they don’t differentiate between Hinduism and Hinduphobia. Because of this semantical jugglery, ordinary Hindus come to believe that the Islamist outrage is against Hindutva and not against Hinduism.
But they fail to discern that the two are one and the same and the distinction is an artificial creation that the Islamists have presided over for the express purpose of undermining the consolidation of Hindus.
Reliance on anti-Hindu organisations
Rowaida Abdelaziz then relied on anti-Hindu organisations to further cement her misleading narrative of ‘Hindu extremism’ and ‘Muslim victimhood.’ One such organisation is ironically named Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR).
According to Stop Hindu Hate Advocacy Network (SHHAN), HfHR has never raised a word for the rights of Hindus. “…It makes one wonder if they have decided that Hindus are not Human,” wrote the advocacy group.
Interestingly, ‘Hindus for Human Rights’ do not believe in the concept of Hinduphobia as much as it believes in Islamophobia. For this organisation, Hinduphobia is in fact a ‘Nazi hate speech construct.’
It is our submission that Hinduphobia should recognised for what it is – *a Nazi Hate Speech Construct*
It thus makes sense why the HuffPost reporter chose to interview its Deputy Executive Director, Nikhil Mandalaparthy. Rowaida Abdelaziz provided a platform for Mandalaparthy to set the narrative in her favour and he did not disappoint.
He claimed, “We see Hindu nationalism as an ideology which seeks to transform India from a pluralistic secular democracy to a Hindu state in which non-Hindus are seen at best as second-class citizens and at worst targets for extermination and disenfranchisement of all sorts.”
Ironically, Nikhil Mandalaparthy also made a bizarre assertion that Hindu nationalists (brown race) in the United States are aligning themselves with white supremacists (who, by the way, believe in the existence of only the white race).
“It’s dangerous to contribute to this narrative of rising anti-Hindu sentiments because the people who are using this language the most are then turning back on members of our own communities and those who speak out against Hindu nationalism or caste or Islamophobia,” he claimed.
The anti-Hindu antecedents of HfHR is not surprising, given their open allegiance to a radical Islamist outfit’ Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).’
“IAMC is our close partner and we trust them and stand with them. They are neither anti-Hindu nor pro-terrorist. These are preposterous claims. IAMC is a human rights organisation fighting for justice for all, ” it said in a tweet (archive) in February last year.
@IAMCouncil is our close partner and we trust them and stand with them. They are neither anti-Hindu nor pro-terrorist. These are preposterous claims. IAMC is a human rights orgs fighting for justice for all. https://t.co/raa277GYhr
In reality, IAMC is a Jamat-e-Islami-backed lobbyist organisation claiming to be a rights advocacy group. In the past, it had reportedly collaborated with and had even paid money to various groups in the USA to get India blacklisted by the USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom).
IAMC has been caught spreading fake news and misinformation to further the Islamist cause in India. It was also slapped with UAPA in 2021. The Islamist outfit also awarded cash prizes to journalists from ‘The Wire’, ‘Newslaundry’ and Scroll to further their anti-India agenda.
As such, the HuffPost reporter did not miss out on the opportunity to interview one 48-year-old Minhaj Khan, who along with IAMC President Mohammed Jawad led a vicious campaign against the display of bulldozers during the annual ‘India Day parade’ in Edison township of New Jersey.
Today, the Hindu right-wing in Edison, New Jersey marched with bulldozers, which have become a weapon in the hands of the BJP government to destroy Muslim homes and livelihoods. pic.twitter.com/3M3GKj8kcq
— Indian American Muslim Council (@IAMCouncil) August 15, 2022
The Indian American Muslim council had also been seeking the revocation of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s US visa for being the Grand Marshal at the said parade. In utmost desperation, the Islamist outfit even begged the New Jersey lawmakers to take action against the Indian citizen.
Nonetheless, HuffPost provided ample opportunity for Minhaj Khan to play the usual victim card. He expressed fear about Hindu extremism in the USA while his co-religionists openly endorse ‘Sarr Tann see Juda’ (beheadings) for blasphemy in India.
“It pains us to witness the current regime in India trying to take away the most beautiful aspect of the land (US) — its richness, diversity and inclusivity — and now export it even to America,” Khan was quoted as saying.
HuffPost reporter reiterates debunked lies and half-truths
Rowaida Abdelaziz then repeated the usual lies about India, despite them being debunked from time to time. For instance, she made two references to the use of bulldozers, with the false claim that they are being exclusively used to demolish Muslim-owned buildings.
“In April, bulldozers razed houses in majority-Muslim neighbourhoods under dubious pretences,” she wrote in one instance.
In another paragraph, she pointed out, “In New Jersey in August, organizers of the local India Day parade came under fire for bringing bulldozers — symbolic of the bulldozers that have targeted Muslims in India — adorned with the faces of Modi and the hard-line Hindutva BJP minister Yogi Adityanath.”
The BJP government has been razing illegal structures, irrespective of the faith or political affiliations of the accused. The names include non-Muslims like Vikas Dubey, Yogesh Bhadora, Ramesh Pradhan, Badan Singh, Sundar Bhati, Vijay Mishra and many others.
Recently, the Uttarkhand government demolished the resort owned by the son of ex-BJP minister Pulkit Arya in connection to the murder of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari. Pulkit Arya is neither a Muslim student nor an activist but that did not stop the government from taking swift action against him.
Rowaida Abdelaziz tried to deceptively claim that action has been unilaterally taken place against Muslims. “Schools have banned Muslim students from wearing a hijab”, she then raked up the Karnataka Hijab row by explaining the full context to her readers.
When it comes to the question of personal liberty, it is very much protected in India. Women can choose to wear or remove headscarves in public, at their own will. In either case, the State apparatus will not tread into the sphere of one’s personal liberty.
The issue that arose in Karnataka was that of the uniform dress code. In secular institutions, the school administration has the right to determine whether religious clothing can be permitted within its premises.
In March this year, the Karnataka High Court observed that the Hijab is not an essential practice in Islam (and more of a choice) and uniform (for all) is a reasonable restriction on the Right to Freedom of Religion.
The same girls, who wish to wear hijabs, can freely do so in public. They are restricted only within the confines of educational institutes, where the concept of uniform exists. This also applies to students belonging to other religions (provided that the practice is not essential in their Faith).
We are of the opinion that Government has power to issue GO, we are of the the opinion no case is made out to initiate disciplinary enquiry against college authorities. All writ petitions are dismissed #HijabRow#KarnatakaHijabRow
The HuffPost reporter relied on the claims made by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2022 report, which has been dubbed as ‘biased and inaccurate’ by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
She accused the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) of fortifying the ‘core belief in a Hindu State’ and Hindu nationalists of propagating ‘a revisionist history’, without providing any evidence. Rowaida Abdelaziz lamented how 50000 people turned out for the ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Houston (Texas) in 2019.
She also reiterated the fake claim, peddled by Qatar-based Al Jazeera and amplified by Audrey Truschke that “five American organizations with ties to Hindu nationalist groups receive (US) federal funding.”
in April 2021, Truschke listed the names of the 5 groups mentioned in the article and alleged that they are connected to the RSS. The controversial historian had alleged that one of the organisations, namely, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), had been involved in a coordinated attack against her.
You @AudreyTruschke have mocked Hindu texts, claimed Lord Rama was a misogynistic pig, that rape & “rape culture” were endemic to Hinduism, portrayed Hindus as bizarre “cow piss” drinkers, taught students that Hinduism is inherently oppressive, racist, and violent. (2/3)
Rajiv Pandit, a Dallas-based surgeon and a member of the Board of Directors of the Hindu American Foundation, slammed Audrey Truschke for her defamatory and baseless allegations against the HAF.
In a tweet, he emphasised, “No, Audrey Truschke, as a board member of HAF, I can confirm that your name was never discussed as part of a coordinated attack, nor ever been brought up at the board level. Any such accusations are defamatory.”
While exposing her Hindu hatred and bigotry, Rajiv Pandit added, “It’s actually you who has been involved in targeted harassment. You, Audrey Truschke, have mocked Hindu texts, claimed Lord Rama was a misogynistic pig, that rape & “rape culture” were endemic to Hinduism, portrayed Hindus as bizarre “cow piss” drinkers, taught students that Hinduism is inherently oppressive, racist, and violent.”
Rowaida Abdelaziz – Jihad sympathiser and a rabid Hinudphobe
According to her author bio, Rowaida Abdelaziz is a New York City-based reporter forthe American liberal news blog, HuffPost. Her area of expertise includes issues pertaining to social justice, immigration, and of course Islamophobia.
A closer analysis of her tweets and articles exposes her blatant Hinduphobia and attempts to downplay Islamic terrorism. In a tweet (archived) in 2017, the HuffPost reporter was seen admonishing Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan for sporting a bindi while making reference to the Islamic prophet.
“Girl, I know you are going through a lot & like exploring Islam. But quoting Prophet Muhammad with a picture of you wearing a Hindu bindi isn’t a good look,” she brazened out her disdain for Hindu symbolism. The tweet has now been deleted.
Screengrab of the tweet by Rowaida Abdelaziz
In another tweet (archive), Rowaida Abdelaziz asserted that Hindus commit mob violence and lamented how their co-religionists are not even asked to apologise for it.
“Muslims constantly condemn terrorism over & over again so if you don’t know that it means you’re not looking. Also, no one asks other groups of people (Christians after mass shootings or Hindus after mob violence) for condemnation so the ask for Muslims to do so is already unfair,” she said.
Screengrab of the tweet by Rowaida Abdelaziz
The HuffPost reporter also resorted to fear-mongering and falsely claimed that the Indian Prime Minister was not just stripping Muslims of their citizenship but building concentration camps for them. The archive of the tweet can be accessed here.
The Gates foundation is honoring Indian Prime Minister Modi with an award — all while inside India, Modi continues to strip Muslims from their citizenship, associate himself with Hindu nationalists and build concentration camps inside the country. https://t.co/Wb8zScPzCS
In 2017, Rowaida Abdelaziz tried to whitewash concepts of ‘Jihad‘ or ‘Taqiyya‘.
“Basic searches for words like “Muslim” and “Islam” return reasonable results with links to reputable sites. But more specific terms, like “sharia,” “jihad” or “taqiyya” ― often co-opted by white supremacists ― return links to Islamophobic sites filled with misinformation,” she came out in defence.
Screengrab of the propaganda piece in HuffPost by Rowaida Abdelaziz
“After Indian authorities linked nearly a thousand cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to a fringe Muslim missionary group that refused calls to stay home and held its annual conference, politicians were quick to blame the Muslim population at large for the virus’s spread,” she claimed.
Screengrab of the propaganda piece in HuffPost by Rowaida Abdelaziz
Following backlash over her recent propaganda piece against the Hindu community, Rowaida Abdelaziz cried foul and blamed her critics as ‘Islamophobes’ and ‘misogynists.’ she alleged, “My mentions is currently a black hole of Islamophobia and misogyny.”
My mentions is currently a black hole of Islamophobia and misogyny
As per reports, a Dalit youth was thrashed and made to lick spit because he was in a love affair with a Muslim girl. The incident was reported in the Samastipur district of Bihar. The video of the incident has gone viral all over the internet.
The incident reportedly happened on Wednesday, October 19. It has been reported that locals in the region spotted the Dalit youth with the Muslim girl and carried out the act of thrashing and humiliating the youth. In the viral video, it can be seen how a Maulana forced the youth to first spit and then lick it 5 times using his tongue.
According to media reports, the Dalit youth is a resident of Mahesari village in the Ujiyarpur Police Station area. He was having an affair with a Muslim girl from Chakhabib village, which is under the jurisdiction of the Vibhutipur police station. On the day of the incident, he had taken his bike to her village to drop her off. Eventually, the crowd apprehended him. The youngster is said to have been severely thrashed before being made to spit and lick 5 times on the orders of one Maulana.
After this incident, the youth was released and allowed to go. According to Sandeep Pal, the in charge of the police station, he has received the video, based on which the accused have been identified and action will be taken.
Ram Sevak Shah, the head of Gram Panchayat Raj Chakhabib, told OpIndia that the youngster who was spat on was Paswan (Dalit). He said that the girl he went to her village to drop him off is a Muslim. The village head declined to identify the accused. OpIndia attempted to contact Police Station Vibhutipur for information on the actions taken in this case. However, the phone was switched off. Furthermore, the SP of Samastipur denied any knowledge of the occurrence. He stated that the police will only be able to provide information after seeing the footage.
Pop sensation Katy Perry had her fans concerned after a video of her eye malfunctioning on stage during one of her performances at the Las Vegas Resorts World show recently went viral on the internet.
In the viral video, the singer can be seen blinking with one eye, while the other one remains closed. She tries to fix it by touching the side of her face, attempting it twice before she could open both eyes properly.
Perry appeared a bit shocked for a moment before shrewdly asking the audience on her microphone to make more noise for her band.
Her show at the Las Vegas Resorts World, titled Play, is themed around the pop star being a toy, in which Katy Perry plays a doll living in a big toy box. During the performance, Katy Perry dressed in a silver dress made out of crushed soda cans for the effect.
The video of her eye malfunctioning was shared by a TikTok user called Katy Perry TV and has had over 17 million views in over 24 hours. In the clip, the singer finishes her song and sashays on the stage while placing her hands on her hips. However, at that very moment, her eye begins to strangely malfunction.
One of her eyes is shut while the other is flickering open and closed in the clip shared on TikTok. Then, the singer touches her a few times and her eyes return to normal.
Fans express concern for Katy Perry eye malfunctioning
Soon after the video went viral on the internet, her fans take to social media platforms to express concern for the singer. One of the first comments on the TikTok video worryingly asks, “Is she ok?” Another one said, “Is this for real? Really worried for her.”
On Twitter too, the video was shared by her fans and concerns poured in immediately as fans inquired if the pop singer was suffering from any illness for having difficulty blinking her eyes.
While fans were worried for Katy Perry, many speculated that the cause for her eye malfunctioning could be her false eyelash glue stick that stuck her eye shut. Still, others thought her eyes were dry, and she may have had a migraine or she could have had an eye spasm due to stress or fatigue.
But many social media users also ascribed the current eye malfunction to the ‘wonk’s eye‘ that the singer suffers from. Last year, Katy Perry revealed on American Idol that she had wonk’s eye.
However, the singer is yet to respond to the raging controversy and has not issued a clarification on the matter
Devesh Kumar, the so-called technological specialist for the communist propaganda website ‘The Wire’, which claims to be the torchbearer of ‘unbiased journalism,’ has finally stepped into oblivion by deactivating all his online accounts, including the email address with the domain of The Wire. This follows after The Wire pulled all of the Tek Fog and Meta saga stories.
Twitter, Instagram, Reddit and email accounts of Devesh are permanently deleted from all the platforms. Devesh’s Reddit posts revealed a lot about his reservations and ideological affiliations. As reported by OpIndia, Devesh spent more than Rs 4 lakhs in just two months manipulating Twitter polls with Twitter bots to show that people did not support CAA and NRC in 2019.
The Reddit account of Devesh Kumar was deleted.
On 16th October 2022, the Twitter account of the ‘tech expert’ of the leftist propaganda website The Wire was allegedly hacked. The information was shared by Siddharth Varadarajan through a tweet. Siddharth Varadarajan is the founding editor of The Wire. The same Twitter account now stands deleted.
Devesh Kumar’s Twitter account does not exist
The same day, Siddharth Varadarajan claimed that Devesh’s email account was also hacked. Now, the same email account, with the mail ID [email protected] stands deleted. OpIndia verified it using a test mail which failed to get delivered to the inbox of the said mail ID.
The dialogue box shows that the email address was not found.
The website of Devesh Kumar, onosmosis.com, also stands deleted, making it impossible to read the posts made by him to be found there.
The website of Devesh.
Not only this, but the Instagram account of the ‘tech expert’ also stands deleted.
The Instagram account of Devesh.
The only account of Devesh that exists now is his Medium blog, which seems to be inactive since 2020 as the last post on the site was made on April 11, 2020. This site was active at the time this report was written.
Devesh Kumar’s Medium account
Earlier this month, the supposed ‘tech expert’ had deactivated his Twitter account, hours after The Wire withdrew all its reports on the Meta story. However, shortly thereafter, he came back on Twitter and claimed that he had deactivated his Twitter account as he did not want notifications while eating ‘golgappas’.
Bizzare claims by The Wire’s ‘tech expert’
After writing the TekFog story on The Wire which claimed that BJP has developed this app with superpowers to manipulate major social media platforms, Devesh Kumar made some bizarre claims about his career in July of this year. He claimed in a series of tweets in a thread that his servers were being attacked, which he kept shifting to save his ‘archival data.’ He claimed that he moved his servers from AWS to Azure to Digital Ocean in the previous six months, and all those servers on the web platforms run by the world’s top IT companies were hacked to target his servers. He had also claimed that he tried to run the servers from his home but was hampered by electricity ad connectivity issues.
After that, he had a shocking claim, saying that he has been using government servers to run his anti-BJP propaganda. He claimed that after his attempts to host his servers on web platforms and home computers failed, he moved them to the IT infrastructure of NITs and IITs.
Devesh also claimed that he was being spied on and that he had to ‘format’ his gadgets two to three times a day to keep them safe. He added that he discovered that his microphone was operating in the background and that MacOS failed to identify this. To combat this, Devesh, funnily, formatted his devices instead of disabling or disconnecting the microphones. He said the mic on both, his computer and his phone, were being remotely used.
It is surprising to know that a ‘tech expert’ like Devesh Kumar does not know that the microphone on a computer can be easily disabled. And if he is over-paranoid and does not believe in disabling it from device settings, he can physically remove the hardware. But no, instead he formats the PC ‘2-3 times a day.’ While disabling the mic on a phone is not easy, a ‘tech expert’ should be able to do it, or should be able to get it done. Actually, it will be easier to physically damage the mic by poking with a pin instead of formatting the phone 2-3 times a day, as he claims he was anyway using a separate phone for this work.
The Wire retracted Meta and Tek Fog stories
Days after The Wire withheld its series of reports claiming that BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya had some superpowers to remove posts from Meta-owned Instagram, the ultra-leftist news portal permanently retracted the stories. The Wire was forced to withhold the stories and had decided to do an ‘internal review’ after the reports were found to be completely fake, based on fabricated evidence. Similarly, on October 23, The Wire suspended its fake Tek Fog story from January 2022, which Ayushman Kaul and Devesh Kumar co-authored.
The formal retraction of the stories by The Wire means it now admits that it has no evidence to prove the outlandish and bizarre claims made by it and therefore admits that all the stories were fake.
On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak became the UK’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister after King Charles III invited him to form a cabinet. Sunak went to visit the King at Buckingham Palace after the latter accepted Liz Truss’ resignation. The newly inducted British Prime Minister Sunak said on October 25 that he was hired in part to correct the mistakes done by his predecessor, Liz Truss and that the country may have to adopt tough decisions to overcome a deep economic crisis.
The 42-year-old investment banker, now a politician hails from a Punjabi Khatri family, and his paternal ancestor left Gujranwala for Africa before India achieved independence. Gujranwala is currently part of Pakistan’s Punjab province. Sunak’s father afterwards relocated to the United Kingdom. Sunak was appointed as Prime Minister by default after his competitors, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt, stepped away.
UK’s King Charles III appoints the first non white Indian origin PM Rishi Sunak during the meet at Buckingham Palace in London. pic.twitter.com/dS8Z3VtlKt
Sunak remarked in his first statement as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom outside 10 Downing Street that mending mistakes must begin immediately. Britain’s prime minister reiterated that his predecessor made mistakes, and he promises to prioritize economic stability and confidence at the heart of his agenda.
Meanwhile, he also vowed that he would unify his country and gain the faith of its population. “Trust is earned and I will earn yours… I will bring compassion to challenges the country faces,” Sunak said, adding that tough decisions would be made.
Notably, Former UK PM Boris Johnson congratulated Rishi Sunak and extended wholehearted support. “Congratulations to Rishi Sunak on this historic day, this is the moment for every Conservative to give our new PM their full and wholehearted support”, he tweeted. Also, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sunak and said he looks forward to working together with him to transform the India-UK ties into a modern partnership.
Congratulations to @RishiSunak on this historic day, this is the moment for every Conservative to give our new PM their full and wholehearted support.
Warmest congratulations @RishiSunak! As you become UK PM, I look forward to working closely together on global issues, and implementing Roadmap 2030. Special Diwali wishes to the ‘living bridge’ of UK Indians, as we transform our historic ties into a modern partnership.
Meanwhile, Britain’s outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss claimed that her administration had responded swiftly and firmly to assist hardworking people and thousands of companies in their efforts to avoid bankruptcy. In her farewell speech, she said it was a huge honour to be prime minister and to lead the nation in mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II and welcoming the accession of King Charles III.
Rishi Sunak yesterday succeeded Liz Truss as the new Prime Minister of the UK. This move comes days after Truss announced her resignation as a result of several policy reversals, Cabinet reshuffles, and an open revolt against her. Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had amassed huge support for himself and set the stage for his huge comeback to power, months after his abrupt resignation.
However, Sunak is now the Prime Minister of the UK, the first person of colour to hold the post. He also is the first person of Indian origin and a first Hindu person to do so.
In Uttar Pradesh’s Kannuaj, humanity died a painful death after cries of help by a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly raped and dumped at a spot turned on deaf ears as bystanders surrounding her busied themselves, filming her on their smartphones.
The incident came to light after a 25-second video of the girl begging for help in front of a group of men filming her on their phones went viral on social media. In the video, the young girl, severely wounded and with bloodstains on her arms, pleads for help to a group of men surrounding her as they turn a blind eye to her predicament and film her cries on their mobile phones.
The death of society. A badly injured 12-year-old girl pleads for help as a group of men stand around and film her in UP’s Kannauj. Their faces are clear in this video. Disgusting, bloodless monsters. https://t.co/KLbbB2vmeppic.twitter.com/MhK5G3zPxd
The video shows many men shooting the girl from different angles even as she pleads with them for help. One of the bystanders in the crowd asks if the police had been informed about the incident. The other one asks if someone knows the Muslim chief’s number. But the filming continues unabated with no signs of helping the injured girl.
The girl, who was dumped at the back of Dak Bangla guest house in Kannauj, receives help only after a senior police officer arrived at the spot and picked her up in his arms. Another video shows the police officer running in the traffic carrying the girl in his arms.
The police is said to have boarded an auto rickshaw to reach the district hospital where she was admitted for treatment. The police is yet to ascertain if the victim was sexually assaulted or not.
“The minor girl was found injured and the local police rushed her to the hospital for treatment,” Superintendent of Police Kunwar Anupam Singh said. “A case has been registered under the relevant sections based on a complaint by the girl’s family. It is not clear if the girl was sexually assaulted. No arrests have been made in the case yet.”
The victim’s family said that the girl had gone out to buy a piggy bank in the afternoon. However, when she did not return home till the evening, her parents started looking out for her, reports say.
The girl was reportedly referred from Kannauj District hospital to Kanpur by doctors after accounting for her critical condition. The local residents have said that the girl was gang-raped and dumped there.
However, the police have denied the claims. Manoj Pandey, the station in charge of Gursahaiganj police station, said that it was too early to arrive at any conclusion and the police were waiting for the victim’s statement.
Rishi Sunak, an Indian-origin British lawmaker is now the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Sunak is the country’s first leader of colour after he was chosen to lead the Conservative Party on Monday evening. He took charge after meeting King Charles III who invited him to form the government. However, even before he takes charge as the PM of the UK, a raging debate, albeit is moronic one, has erupted in India, spearheaded by the very Leftists and Liberals who were days ago deriding Sunak’s Hindu credentials.
At the very outset, it becomes important to place on the record that one does not know if Indian-origin Rishi Sunak would eventually be India’s friend or foe. It would take an incredibly naive person to believe that just because Sunak is a proud Hindu and a leader of Indian origin, he is going to take decisions that are beneficial to India. Sunak is a UK-born British citizen and as the Prime Minister of his nation, he will take decisions that benefit his people, his politics and his party – India would be a diplomatic ally at best, which was true even before Sunak was set to become the Prime Minister.
However, regardless of whether Sunak turns out to be an ally of India or not, every section of the political spectrum in India is using the elevation of Rishi Sunak to talk about the issues they hold dear. The Hindus are, at this point, just celebratory because someone who has asserted his Hindu faith proudly in the past by doing Gau Puja etc, is becoming the leader of a Western Nation. Given the global attacks against Hindus, this jubilation is understandable. It is important to remember that only a few days ago, Hindus came under attack by Islamists in Leicester. The trope that was used to justify the attacks against Hindus and even blame them for their own victimisation was that they “believed in Hindutva” which they branded as a supremacist ideology. It is not true. Hindutva is not supremacist and far more complex than the Guardian or BBC is equipped to understand. However, after the constant vilification, a proud Hindu becoming the leader of the UK is indeed significant for Hindus as far as the global narrative is concerned.
The Leftists and Liberals in India are, however, singing a strange tune that makes very little sense. Apart from the fact that they started by mocking his Gau Puja and claiming that he was “Too Hindu” to saying he was not Hindu at all by spreading fake news about him being a beef-eater, the usual suspects have started talking about the lesson of tolerance that India needs to learn from the UK. An entire article was written about this by The Wire, which has recently been under fire globally for a fabricated story that aimed to turn BJP IT Cell head, Amit Malviya, into some sort of a Transformer who has sweeping power in META. The details can be read here.
Article by The Wire
The premise of the entire article in essence was that intolerant Hindus need to learn from tolerance Britishers, who are today accepting of a Hindu man in their polity. The same trope was furthered by others as well. The veteran propaganda peddler, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, also a product of the TheWire cluster and a self-professed messiah of Muslims asked when “we” will be ready to accept and elect a Muslim PM in India.
So when will we be ready to accept ( and elect ) a Muslim Prime Minister of India ? #RishiSunakPM
First of all, we know what Arfa meant when she hid her hate by using the word “we”. If asked, I am certain she would say that she was talking about “Indians”, however, it is evident that she was talking specifically about Hindus, because Muslims, as logic dictates, would not have a problem with a Muslim PM per Arfa’s worldview. Secondly, it is interesting how any conversation around a religious minority in any country, in this case, Hindus, turns into a victimhood Olympic event for Muslim ideologues.
Be that as it may, it is important to dissect this trope that is being furthered not just by The Wire and Arfa, but by several other of her co-religionists and co-ideologists.
Firstly, it is important to clarify that Rishi Sunak was not ‘elected’ per se. He was chosen by Tory MPs to lead the party and therefore become the PM of the UK. Therefore, the trope about how Hindus need to ‘elect’ a Muslim PM like the UK elected a Hindu PM is patently false. Further, several Muslims have served in high offices in India – APJ Abdul Kalam being one of the foremost examples of a Muslim leader who was adored by Indians beyond his religious identity. Other examples are the Kerala governor, Arif Mohammad Khan, who is also respected by Indians across religious lines. Interestingly, the Muslim leaders who are revered beyond their religious identity are also the ones who are vilified by the Muslim community as a whole.
Let us take the example of APJ Abdul Kalam – the man who is large credited with India’s Nuclear program, a veteran scientist and the President of India.
Right after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam became the 11th President of India, there were several opinion pieces that derided him for not being Muslim enough, most of these op-eds, written by Muslim intellectuals and some, by their sympathisers.
One such article was written by Dr Rafiq Zakaria, an Indian politician and Islamic cleric who passed away in 2005. Known for his propagation and advocacy of conservative Islam, Zakaria was closely associated with Indian National Congress (INC) during the freedom struggle as well.
In his article, Zakaria essentially says that APJ Abdul Kalam, while a great asset to India is just not Muslim enough.
Zakaria, while praising Dr Kalam for being a great patriot, writes, “He was born a Muslim and bears a Muslim name, he should not be put in the same category as the two former Muslim Presidents, Dr Zakir Husain and Mr Fakruddin Ali Ahmed. Both of them were as great a patriot and Indian to the core as Dr Kalam. But they were also Muslims in the real sense of the word; they believed in the tenets of the Quran and faithfully followed the traditions of the Prophet”.
Essentially, Zakaria takes a strong exception to the respect being accorded to Dr Kalam because per the Islamic intellectual, Kalam was a mere ‘Muslim in name’. Despite the honey-dripping that Zakaria tries to further by calling Kalam a great patriot and scientist, his disdain for someone who doesn’t follow the strict tenets of Islam as outlined in the Quran is rather evident.
Zakaria had written back then, “Dr Kalam feels much more at home with the Hindus. His Hindu friends, with whom he has spent a good deal of his life, have testified to the fact that he is far more attracted to Hinduism than Islam; I find nothing wrong with it. But for God’s sake, don’t describe him as a Muslim President and take credit for having obliged the Muslims for giving them this great honour… Dr Kalam never reads the Quran but every morning he goes through the Gita and is enchanted by it. He is sincerely devoted to Krishna. He recites the Hindu mantras on every occasion. Namaz does not appeal him nor has he ever fasted in the month of Ramzan. He is a strict vegetarian and a life-long Brahmachari. His roots are really in Hinduism and he enjoys all the sacred Hindu scriptures. Hence the credit for his elevation, in communal terms, should go to the Hindus; to give it to the Muslims would be wrong. In fact, Dr Kalam himself would be happy if he is not described as a Muslim President and his name is not linked with Dr Zakir Husain and Mr Fakruddin Ali Ahmad”.
In fact, the very Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who is today wondering when Hindus would accept a Muslim as their leader, had derided Dr Kalam earlier.
She had asked on social media why Dr APJ Abdul Kalam is eulogised and Hamid Ansari is ‘demonised’. She even trivialised her comment stating what kind of Muslim will be ‘acceptable’ to the right wing. Sherwani had earlier stated that Dr Kalam is eulogised because, according to her, he had embraced the Hindu way of life, and insinuated that Hamid Ansari is ‘demonised’ because he did not do that.
2019 tweet by Arfa
To answer Arfa’s question, India and Hindus would accept a Muslim leader like Dr Kalam because he never imposed his own religious views on India and Hindus at large, had respect for Hindus and their way of life and was patriotic enough to put his national duties above religious constraints. It is evident from these comments that the “kind of Muslim” that many such Muslims want Hindus to accept is someone like Hamid Ansari, who attended events by now banned terrorist outfit PFI – an organisation that wanted to turn India into an Islamic nation and dreamed about the genocide of Hindus. They, in their vision 2047 document had spoken extensively about unleashing violence against Hindus, murdering Hindu leaders and establishing an Islamic constitution – turning Dar-ul-Harb into Dar-ul-Islam.
These Muslim intellectuals, therefore, want Hindus to embrace their own annihilation and the desecration of everything they hold sacred in the name of syncretic culture while deriding the Muslims who truly work for the interest of the nation and respect the Hindu foundation of India and its people. A good Muslim who must be acceptable to Hindus must be an Islamist and Hindus, to prove they are tolerant, must embrace their own demise – is what people like Arfa would have us believe.
Beyond the “kind of Muslim” that the Islamists want Hindus to accept, the trope comparing the elevation of Rishi Sunak to Hindus choosing a Muslim leader is itself flawed. Firstly, let us be clear – the UK is accepting of an Indian-origin man as their leader. Indians have never subjugated the Brits – in fact, it was the other way around. Therefore comparing it to Hindus choosing a Muslim as their leader is incomparable to the situation in the UK. Historically, Hindus have been victims of violence at the hands of the Muslim community, violence that continues to date. India herself was partitioned on religious lines with Muslims at the time claiming that Muslims were a nation unto themselves and are incapable of sharing their national identity with Kafirs. The two situations are not comparable. There are historical nuances that must be evaluated honestly if we assume a mistrust exists – a premise that people like Arfa want us to believe, even though Hindus have, despite their own subjugation, been accepting of Muslim leaders who have given them respect and worked for the nation.
Another important premise that this argument draws on is, of course, equating Hinduism and Islam as religions and their followers as religious communities. This is an extension of the forced idea that “all religions are the same” that took root with the teachings of MK Gandhi. All religions are certainly not the same and the conduct of the community as a whole is not the same either.
The notion that all religions are the same stems from the concept of religious pluralism that assumes that not only do all religions claim that their truth is the ‘only truth’ that exists, but that all religions are based on the principles of Universal Truths and thus, these are the two tenets that need to be dealt with if religions are to co-exist peacefully.
Religious Pluralism essentially says that firstly, all religions must acknowledge that certain truths exist in other religions as well, thereby declaring that it is not only their own religion that is the ‘only truth’. Further, it says that all religions must acknowledge that every religion teaches basic universal truths that have been taught since before the advent of religion itself.
When one talks about religious pluralism, Islam is not inherently plural because it would never acknowledge that other religions have at least some amount of truth to them and that the only Universal Truth is “Their truth”. For example, Islam rejects idol worship summarily, which is the very foundation of Hinduism. Islam also claims that those who do not submit to Islam must be converted even if violence needs to be used – if they refuse to convert – they can be murdered mercilessly. Islam is an absolutist faith and therefore, it is not the “same” as Hinduism which inherently acknowledges that all religions are based on some truths to begin with.
Couple the theological absolutism with the violence that the Muslim community has unleashed on not just Hindus, but all non-Muslim communities and one does not have to wonder why Muslim leaders perhaps don’t inspire as much faith as Hindu leaders may. Let us simply draw a comparison between Sadiq Khan (London Mayor) and Rishi Sunak. Rishi Sunak has been chosen by Tory MPs, who are, mostly religious Christian conservatives. Sadiq Khan on the other hand has been slammed several times by the Conservatives – on several occasions.
It is also an empirical truth that Hindus as a group behave differently from Muslims as a group. This is not to say that every Muslim is violent, however, we have to acknowledge the reality that the Muslim community as a group does indulge in violence against non-Muslims. They also start demanding Islamic laws in non-Islamic nations after they flee the persecution that they faced in Islamic nations. It is a fact that Hindus come under attack by Islamists on a regular basis. It is a fact that terrorist attacks across the world are carried out by pious Muslims who believe they are serving their God by attacking non-Muslims and their countries. It is a fact that the UK saw millions of girls raped by Muslim grooming gangs. All of this, and more, are facts that can be whitewashed but cannot be denied when one looks at data. It is also a fact that not all Muslims are terrorists and not all Muslims unleash violence against non-Muslims, however, the collective behaviour of the Muslim community would never let the better voices gain prominence and if they do, they will be summarily put down by the Muslim community itself – Dr Kalam is a shining example of this phenomenon.
It is therefore imperative that Muslims introspect as to why they are not as trusted as Hindus (according to their own assertions), who tend to go about their lives peacefully and assimilate, respect and accept cultural and religious differences. It is also imperative that the Islamists realise that guilt-tripping Hindus into accepting “their kind of Muslim” as their leader would not work, not anymore, at least. The onus that this question – Can India elect a Muslim PM – places the onus squarely on Hindus while Hindus have proven that they are willing to accept Muslims as their leaders as long as the Muslim works for the nation and accords them with the respect they deserve. The question the Muslim community needs to ask itself is whether they want Hindus to accept their own subjugation simply because we want to be called tolerant and if the Hindus do choose a tolerant, plural Muslim as their leader, would the Muslim community treat him exactly the way they treated Dr Kalam.
On October 25, Deputy Commissioner, Golpara, Assam, sealed the house of Mohar Ali s/o Somesh Ali of Village Dapkarbhita. It was a Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojna house. It was the same house where a private ‘Miya Museum’ was inaugurated on October 23.
A day prior to the action taken by the administration, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, questioned the funding of the museum. News Agency quoted CM Sarma saying, “What’s new in it [Miya Museum]? Tools and equipment kept there belong to Assamese people except for ‘Lungi’. They must prove to govt that ‘Nangol'(plough) is used only by Miya people and not others, otherwise the case will be registered.”
Assam | The intellectuals of the state must think about it. They called me communal when I raised my voice against Miya poetry. Now Miya poetry, Miya school, Miya Museum are here…The govt will take action on the matter after the office opens: CM Himanta Biswa Sharma pic.twitter.com/XvXbRLpXFC
He further added, “The intellectuals of the state must think about it. They called me communal when I raised my voice against Miya’s poetry. Now Miya poetry, Miya school, and Miya Museum are here…The govt will take action on the matter after the office opens.”
Sarma has stated that the funding for the so-called museum will be investigated.
BJP leaders sought action
Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in the state had sought action against those who opened the museum that claimed to showcase the “culture of migrant Muslims” in the district.
BJP MLA Prasanta Phukan of Dibrugarh was among the first to raise his voice against the museum. He said, “I request the State government to bring down this museum.” Firmer BJP MLA Shiladitya Dev also sought strict action against those who set up the museum.
As per reports, the term ‘Miya’ is used for the Muslims who migrated from Bengal and settled in Assam in the late 1890s. The British had bought them allegedly for commercial farming. There have been attempts by community academics, professionals and writers to reclaim the word as a synonym of ‘sir’ or ‘gentleman’.
CM Sarma rejected a proposal for a Miya museum in 2020
Notably, in 2020, Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed proposed for a Miya Museum to be set up in Guwahati’s Srimanta Sankaradeva Kalakshetra. At that time, CM Sarma had rejected the proposal.
