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Maharashtra: NCP and Congress continue to bleed as Harshvardhan Patil join BJP, Ganesh Naik to join too

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: NCP and Congress continue to bleed as Harshvardhan Patil join BJP, Ganesh Naik to join too

As the assembly elections in Maharashtra draw closer, a fresh group of opposition leaders from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) left their respective political parties to join the BJP. Navi Mumbai NCP strongman Ganesh Naik and former state minister and Congress leader Harshvardhan Patil’s inclusion in the saffron party is considered as a major shot in the arm for the BJP.


Patil’s desertion is considered as a major blow to the Congress party, which is already struggling to keep its flock together as senior leaders continue to leave their party to join the BJP-Shivsena. Patil has been an MLA four times from the Indapur assembly seat in Pune District. Patil also holds a record of serving as a minister in all state governments from 1995 to 2014.

Another leader who is set to join the BJP on Wednesday is Mumbai strongman Ganesh Naik. His son and Airoli MLA Sandeep already joined the saffron party last month. Ganesh had been a cabinet minister for 15 years. The Naik family enjoys considerable clout in Navi Mumbai. Ganesh’s other son Sanjeev was elected as an MP from Thane in 2009. Along with Naik, 55 corporators from NCP will also join the BJP, bringing the municipal corporation of Navi Mumbai under BJP.

Ever since the Modi tsunami swept the entire country in the 2019 General elections, many ardent opposition leaders have relinquished their political battles with the BJP and instead joined the saffron party and its allies.

In July this year, Shiv Sena was able to lure in its fold, Sachin Ahir, the then Mumbai city chief of NCP. Ahir was considered as a close aide of the NCP chief Sharad Pawar, yet Shiv Sena was successful in poaching him away from the NCP. The BJP, on the other hand, managed to get the former Leader of Opposition-Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and his son Sujoy Patil from Congress.

Pakistan toes the Indian opposition line by equating PM Modi to Hitler, lies about UNHRC

Shashank Bharadwaj
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Pakistan toes the Indian opposition line by equating PM Modi to Hitler, lies about UNHRC

The terrorist state of Pakistan, which represents the epitome of shamelessness, seems to have no intentions to stop their third-rated propaganda against India despite being at the received end of the global shame and isolation.

It yet another display of ignominy, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has now compared to PM Modi to Adolf Hitler in response to the recent humiliation faced by Pakistan in the UNHRC.


The Indian government had nailed Pakistan on the issue of terrorism and had also highlighted forced conversion and persecution of Ahmadis, Sikhs, Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan. The government had clearly explained India’s position on the issue of Kashmir in the UNHRC.

As Pakistan’s lies on Kashmir were exposed by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in the UNHRC, a desperate Pakistan has now resorted to personal abuse against PM Modi.

The parody country Pakistan, whose national sport seems to be ‘begging’, has no shame in pointing fingers at India despite the fact the Pakistani state being one of the most failed states in the modern era. With no respect for virtues such as democracy, justice, human rights, equality and liberty, Pakistan and its military establishment has shown its dictatorial attributes more than any other state in recent times.

It is rather laughable that Pakistan, which has a history of butchering their own Bengalis in East Pakistan, the native Baloch in Baluchistan and Pashtun tribe in their Northern frontiers, is now attempting to teach democracy, human rights to India.

Interestingly, Pakistan’s ruling party PTI has decided to sing the same tune just as Indian opposition parties who often resorts to such tirade against PM Modi by comparing him with Hitler. Similar propaganda is often peddled by the Indian ‘liberals’ and opposition parties, who often foul-mouth Prime Minister Modi by comparing him to Adolf Hitler.

In April, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, former Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana was caught sharing a digitally edited image of the German dictator ‘posing’ like he is pulling a child’s ears to compare him with Prime Minister Modi. Various Congress friendly ‘celebrities’ including disgraced former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt who regularly indulges in peddling fake news had also shared the same images in an attempt to compare Hitler with Modi just like Imran Khan’s PTI.

Fake image tweeted by Congress IT cell head Divya Spandana

Raj Thackery, who is best known for his party’s in vandalism of Maharashtra’s public property, had also compared Narendra Modi with Adolf Hitler. During a public meeting in Mumbai, Maharashtra in April, Raj Thackeray said, “PM Narendra Modi is another Adolf Hitler.”

National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah in the past had also compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Adolf Hitler whereas Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee even gone a step further and had termed the PM as “Hitler’s uncle”.

The Indian liberals, opposition parties often share traits of the Pakistani establishment by making anti-Indian, anti-Hindu comments. Not only that the opposition parties often parrot the lines of Pakistan by not only questioning the Indian state but also giving legitimacy to Pro-Pakistan voices within India. These similarities were also manifested during both Uri, Balakot airstrikes when some of the ‘liberal-secular’ media, opposition parties demanded proof of the strikes just like the Pakistani establishment.

Zero civilian deaths, schools opened and all telephone exchanges functional: DGP Singh on restoring normalcy in J and K

OpIndia Staff
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Zero civilian deaths, schools opened and all telephone exchanges functional: DGP Singh on restoring normalcy in J and K

Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh addressing a press conference here on Wednesday said that the region is very close to restoring complete normalcy.

“We are very close to normalcy. If you take the entire region into account, All 10 districts of Jammu have become entirely normal, all school, colleges, and offices are open. Leh and Kargil are also normal, there is no restriction of any kind there,” he said.

“In this region, we have tried to ease out the restriction, of whichever kind, that was imposed. More than 90 per cent areas are free of restrictions, 100% telephone exchanges are working now. You have got two districts where the cellphones are also working now”, he added.

The DGP confirmed that civilian casualties have been nil due to minimal use of force by security personnel barring the incident where a stone pelter was injured in down-town and he subsequently succumbed to his injuries.

“On the contrary, we have had incidents where stone-pelters caused injuries to the civilians and also caused civilian death in Bhijbhera,” he said referring to the truck driver being killed by stone- pelters.

DGP mentioned that during this period, terrorists killed three people while two terrorists have been killed by security forces.

Talking about the incident where a 30-month-old baby in Sopore was injured and the killing of two Gujjar brothers in Pulwama by terrorists, Singh stressed that the terrorists want to create an atmosphere of fear in the valley.

However, talking about the encounter of Asif Maqbool Bhatt, the LeT terrorist who was responsible for injuring the baby in Sopore, he said: “With his killing, I believe the area will heave a sigh of relief and the terror which he was creating there would be taken care of to some extent. We also know two of his other associates. We are after them and we will see that in the near future, we take care of them also.”

The DGP said terrorists have been going around in South Kashmir and threatening people by putting up posters. He hoped that they will be able to neutralise the threats in South Kashmir region.

Yesterday DGP had confirmed that Pakistan sponsored terrorist organisations have been forcing the residents to not follow their daily chores. Singh had said that terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen have been coercing the people by forcing them to shut down shops and petrol pumps. “But pumps are open and we have ensured that shops are open wherever people want to open them,” he added.

Moreover, speaking about the restrictions imposed in the state in the aftermath of revoking Article 370, Singh today said that since people have been very-very cooperative, J&K police are considering some more relaxations in the Valley. He said that though they realise that such restrictions cause inconvenience to the people it has only been done to prevent Pakistan sponsored terrorist to resort to fake propaganda which they have been resorting to through various social media platforms.

As per the latest reports in Jammu and Kashmir, all telephone exchanges have been activated and all landline connections have been restored. In Kupwara district, post-paid mobiles networks have all been activated. All mobile numbers of government officials providing essential services have been activated too.


NSA Ajit Doval had also recently confirmed that Jammu and Kashmir is gradually moving back to normalcy. But had urged that people should refrain from taking one or two incidents as public opinion and stay away from false news and propaganda which is being peddled by Pakistan to carry its agenda.

Science as patriotism: ‘Liberals’ are ignoring history of space race

Abhishek Banerjee
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Science as patriotism: ‘Liberals’ are ignoring history of space race

The narrative is now set. Liberals are treating ISRO’s failure to soft-land a rover on the moon as a chance to go after PM Modi.

Here is senior patrakar Urmilesh in his segment on the Wire, saying that media played politics over Chandrayaan – 2. Among his other claims, that there was a Hindi news channel (see from 6:26) that ran with the headline: “Chaand Modi ki mutthi mein.”  He was possibly referring to this viral image, which has now been exposed as fake and photoshopped.

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But you get the idea. This fake headline has also found mention in other places :

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Most of all, liberals seem to be unhappy that some news channels used this moment of excitement to take broadsides against Pakistan.

Who does not remember the morning after the landing failure, when excited liberals yelled all sorts of insults at Modi in their glee? And one alleged science journalist actually yelled at the scientists who had been working on the Chandrayaan mission. ‘All topic experts’ in the liberal intelligentsia actually welcomed this, praising him for asking questions to those in power. As the scale of the PR disaster for liberals became clear, they backtracked a little on this one issue. An apology arrived.  Although soon after, the big boss of liberal news went out to remind everyone that liberal journalists have apparently contributed big to Indian science.

As I said, the narrative is set. In their derangement, liberals see even the Chandrayaan mission and ISRO as a stand-in for the man they hate so much.

The worst of all are the ones who can only be described as concern trolls. The ones who are pretending to give sage advice about how this is not the way to do science, how science isn’t about chest-thumping and making others look bad and so on ….

That sounds sort of nice in theory (like Communism). But it ignores both human nature (like Communism) and also the course of history (like Communism).

This is especially pertinent when it comes to space technology. In 1961, President Kennedy proposed that it should be a national goal for the United States to “commit itself to achieve the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon…”

The United States achieved it by 1969. The extreme urgency of this mission was driven almost entirely by Cold War sentiments. After the Soviets launched the Sputnik in 1957, the Americans went into a tizzy. The US State Department openly acknowledges this today on its official website.  In fact, the fears rose to such a fever pitch that a month after the Sputnik launch, President Eisenhower went on television to address the American people on “science and national security.” It’s available publicly from the National Archives of the United States.

“Science as patriotism” is nothing new. And it has been remarkably successful. In the United States, the Sputnik generation was driven to study science and tech out of a love for their country and their free way of life. It did a lot of good things for the world.

And by the way, the earliest rockets that flew into space were all directly descended from ballistic missiles.

Indian liberals flinch at the very mention of patriotism today. They didn’t complain all these years when Indian children were paraded to celebrate the Dear Leader’s birthday as “Children’s Day.” But now they complain. Because India no longer submits to them.

Now they complain that children might get the wrong impression about science, end up mixing politics and patriotism with it. It is hard to see this as anything other than concern trolling.

The Chandrayaan mission and the excited media coverage around it have done tremendous good. It has brought the Indian public to cheer science, inspired kids to look to scientists as heroes. A lot of great scientific and technological achievements had an undercurrent of national pride and patriotism running through them. So it doesn’t matter if sentiments of Pakistan got a little hurt in the process. Or for that matter, many more of Indian liberal sentiments.

Opposition attacks Prime Minister over his ‘Om and cow phobia’ remarks, Left accuses PM of demonising ‘liberals’

OpIndia Staff
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Opposition attacks Prime Minister over his ‘Om and cow phobia’ remarks, Left accuses PM of demonising ‘liberals’

At the launch of Livestock Vaccination Drive today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked that references of Hindu terms such as ‘Om’ and ‘Gau’ greatly appals a section of people who think the country goes back to the 16th century when these words are used. He added that such ideas are used by people who want to destroy our nation, and they have left nothing in destroying the nation.


The comment made by PM Modi left the opposition and the left leaders fuming as they proceeded to attack PM Modi for his statements.


The Congress party slammed PM Modi for his comments saying that PM Modi is not a Pope but a Prime Minister of the country and he should desist from making such comments.

Alongside Congress, even Left leaders appeared rattled after PM Modi stated that there is a phobia amongst some about Hindu words such as ‘Om’ and ‘Gau’. The left leaders accused the Prime Minister of demonising the left-liberals and destroying the communal harmony while deflecting the nation’s attention from more pressing issues such as the shrinking economy.


Even AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi was stung by PM Modi’s assertions. He quipped that words like ‘Om’ and ‘Gau’ may cause goosebumps for some but the constitution of India guarantees right to life and equality to humans and PM Modi should keep this in mind, he said.

Earlier in the day, PM said, “Some people get irritated when they hear the word Om, some get irritated when they hear the word gau (cow). These people imagine that we are back in the 16th Century. These people don’t understand what cattle-rearing means and how greatly it contributes to the economy of the country and its farmers.”

NPR’s silence over their producer’s bigotry shows that Radical Islam is the dominant partner in the Left-Radical Islam alliance

K Bhattacharjee
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NPR’s silence over their producer’s bigotry shows that Radical Islam is the dominant partner in the Left-Radical Islam alliance

Producer at National Public Radio (NPR), Furkhan Khan, sparked an outrage on Twitter on Tuesday after she made deeply Hinduphobic comments on the social media platform. She claimed that Indians will be much better off without Hinduism. Moving away from Hinduism will solve most of our problems such as ‘piss drinking’ and ‘dung worshipping’.

Now deleted tweet by Furhan Khan

In addition to that, she has made a series of deeply offensive posts which have no place in civil company. Despite the noxious bigotry, NPR is yet to issue a statement on the matter. Although people have been clamouring for her to be sacked, it seems unlikely that NPR will practice what they preach. NPR has been indulging in propaganda against India for a while now and unless Khan is sacked for her bigoted tweets, we can safely assume that NPR endorses such Hinduphobia given their track record.

The events that have transpired since yesterday is further evidence of the fact the Western Left is in an unholy alliance with Islam. Although Hindus are in a minority in the West as well, for some reason, they don’t receive even half the support that Radical Islamists do. It’s quite obvious from the manner in which Democratic Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard was treated by supporters of her own party.

While the American Left supports rabid Islamists like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib with great fervour, Tulsi Gabbard has often been attacked due to her Hindu religious faith. While the Western Left maintains a resolute silence over the million crimes of Radical Islam, Hinduism is attacked viciously even for its harmless beliefs. Under such circumstances, it is worth pondering why this is so.

One wise man once said, “In many ways nonsense is a more effective organizing tool than the truth. Anyone can believe in the truth. To believe in nonsense is an unforgeable demonstration of loyalty. It serves as a political uniform. And if you have a uniform, you have an army.”

There is a great element of truth in his words. It is this very principle that applies in the Left’s support for Radical Islam. It is very easy to take a stand against Islamists. However, maintaining a silence over their crimes and deflecting attention elsewhere is a demonstration of loyalty to the Leftist cause. Indeed, it is one of the tests of purity for admission into the ranks of Leftists. The more crimes Jihadists commit, the more must they scream ‘Nothing to do with Islam!’

There are other more fundamental reasons as well. For instance, Western elites have successfully engineered over time the myth of Islamophobia. The term, as expected, was coined by Leftists to paint all Muslims as victims despite the fact that most Muslims are not so. In the world of the Left, Muslims are oppressed victims of the White Supremacist order. Therefore, the Left must ally with them at all costs, even at the cost of their own values.

The reason why Hindus don’t receive the same treatment is simple. For one, Hinduism is not perceived as a threat by the average American. The average American can see that Hindus are not blowing themselves up in the middle of the street or flying airplanes into skyscrapers. As a consequence, the Left doesn’t believe Hindus are in need of their support.

The Left’s lack of support also has a lot to do with the nature of Hindus and Muslims in the Leftist world themselves. While Leftists from a Hindu background generally hate their identity and work hard to shy away from it, Muslims tend to be fundamentalist identitarians. While Leftists from Hindu backgrounds even in the West are more concerned with Brahminism and Narendra Modi’s ‘fascism’, Muslims concern themselves more with normalizing Hijab, which is a tool of oppression, and defending their own faith.

Leftists from a Hindu background often hate their religion while Muslims have joined the Left to further the cause of their own. And that makes all the difference. Muslims have painted a rosy picture of Islam which the Left has bought into hook, line and sinker while those from a Hindu background have demonized it at every step along the way. As a consequence, Leftists have a far better opinion about Islam than they do about Hinduism.

Part of the blame must also go to Leftists in our own country. The Lutyens cabal that has shaped the narrative in our country for decades has also shaped how the Leftist elites in the West perceives Hinduism. Thus, it has to come to pass that the Western Left, too, considers Hinduism as a primitive way of living which is representative of the dark ages.

Muslims, on the other hand, do not tolerate Leftists or Liberals in their midst. Even in the West, when a Liberal criticizes Islam or even an ex-Muslim does so, they are not only ostracised from the community, they are also accused of spreading Islamophobia. They are blamed for the ‘rising tide of hate’ against Islam and minority Muslim community. The Left, due to their predisposition, immediately comes to their aid and helps silence dissenting voices.

Ultimately, the reason why Muslims have been successful in hijacking the Left is because of their single-minded support for their own religion. There are numerous factors involved but these three that have been mentioned can be considered to be the primary ones. It is also a remarkable development that in the alliance between the Left and Radical Islam, it is the latter which is the dominant partner. The former lives to serve the latter’s objectives.

After ‘standing for Kashmir’ saw zero effect, Imran Khan now plans ‘Big Jalsa’ in PoK’s Muzaffarabad on Friday

OpIndia Staff
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After ‘standing for Kashmir’ saw zero effect, Imran Khan now plans ‘Big Jalsa’ in PoK’s Muzaffarabad on Friday

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan is not willing to abstain from obsessing over the Kashmir issue any time soon. After a failed attempt to organise ‘solidarity hour’ for Kashmiri’s, this time again ‘Taliban Khan’ has taken to Twitter to announce a ‘Big Jalsa’ on PoK’s Muzaffarabad on September 13.


Pakistan’s PM took to Twitter to write that he “is going to do a ‘Big Jalsa’ in Muzaffarabad on Friday 13 Sept, to send a message to the world about the continuing ‘siege of IOJK by Indian Occupation forces’ & to show the Kashmiris that Pakistan stands resolutely with them”.

Imran Khan has been completely psyched out ever since India has gone ahead to abrogate Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. He has been making all possible attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue but in vain. He has been called out for his cheap rhetoric against India several times in the recent past but Imran Khan refuses to concede.

Interestingly, Imran Khan has chosen PoK for organising the ‘Big Jalsa’ despite the fact that PoK itself has seen clashes over Human Rights violations and Pakistan Army’s atrocities.

Local residents belonging to various regions of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) had recently raised slogans in protest against the illegal occupation and atrocities meted out by the Pakistani Army and Pakistani government near the Line of Control (LoC) with India. The protests were aimed at claiming independence for the region.

The protestors were heard sloganeering: “Pakistani fauj chod do Kashmir ko” and “yeh jo dehshatgardi hai, iske peeche wardi hai”, roughly translated as “Pakistan Army, leave Kashmir alone” and “army is behind the atrocities here”.

Earlier also, media reports had mentioned the police breaking up several pro-independence marches in the Hajira region of PoK.

Moreover, Pakistan’s much-hyped ‘Kashmir Solidarity Hour’ failed to garner much attention among the Pakistanis. Pakistani PM Imran Khan had resorted to a bizarre diktat and called upon the citizens to leave their respective works and come out on streets and stand for 30 mins on August 30 in solidarity with Kashmiris and to register their protest against India’s move to abrogate Article 370.

However, this stunt failed spectacularly as people of Pakistan exhibited little interest in following their Prime Minister’s command. Many videos had emerged where angry Pakistanis were seen being irked over traffic halts and forced roadblocks.

Pakistan’s attempts at getting other nations involved in the Kashmir issue has also got zero attention from global powers.

It was reported recently that cash strapped Pakistan was using belly dancers to woo investors at a business summit in Azerbaijan. Though it is not clear what kind of ‘Jalsa’ Imran Khan plans for his PoK visit, one has to wonder, whether there will be any belly dancers involved.

BJP worker shot by TMC goons, widow accuses West Bengal police of ‘stealing his body’

OpIndia Staff
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BJP worker shot by TMC goons, widow accuses West Bengal police of ‘stealing his body’

The widow of a BJP worker who was allegedly shot by TMC goons last Friday has accused West Bengal police of ‘stealing’ the deceased’s body to prevent her from taking it to the party’s headquarters in deference to his last wish.

The BJP cadre was allegedly shot by West Bengal’s ruling party supporters in Birbhum district on September 6 (Friday). Swarup Gorai succumbed to his injuries on September 8 (Sunday) night. His body was later taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata for post mortem.


On September 10 (Tuesday), his widow China Gorai lodged complaints against hospital authorities and West Bengal police for taking the body to Birbhum while keeping her in the dark.

BJP state leaders also decided to move court on Wednesday, alleging the police took the body only to prevent them from taking it to the state BJP office.

The day after Swarup Gorai passed away, his wife wanted to take the deceased’s body from the hospital to the BJP office before proceeding to their village. However, the WB police were so apprehensive about the law and order situation that they insisted that the body be taken directly to Birbhum. With neither China nor the BJP agreeing to the suggestion, the police allegedly asked them to collect the body in the morning.

After Gorai’s family members and BJP leaders left the hospital, the police allegedly took the body to Birbhum district that night. They kept it at Bolpur sub-divisional hospital and informed the deceased’s family members to take possession of it.

The police apparently stuck an appeal on the BJP worker’s house in Birbhum urging the family member’s to take the body for cremation. However, after Gorai’s family members tore up the paper the police pasted the appeal at several prominent spots in the area including the local bus stand.

On Tuesday morning when Gorai’s wife along with few BJP worker’s reached NRS hospital to take possession of the body, the hospital authorities informed them that the body was taken to Birbhum district the previous night.

China Gorai and BJP worker’s then lodged a complaint with the hospital’s deputy superintendent Dwaipayan Biswas who acknowledged the complaint.

“I was supposed to take the body at 7 am. They told me last evening that I should come to take it this morning. But when I came here I was told that the body has been taken to Nanoor. But I was not informed. How was the body handed over to the police without my consent? They (the police) stole my husband’s body,” said China Gorai.

Meanwhile, the head of BJP Yuva Morcha in the state, Debjit Sarkar said: “The wife of the deceased has said that her husband’s body would be handed over at 7 am on Tuesday. But when she came here, the body was not there.”

From the hospital, the deceased’s wife along with BJP workers namely, former Lok Sabha MP Anupam Hazra, state unit vice-president Biswapriya Roy Chowdhury and BJP Yuva Morcha chief Debjit Sarkar went to Entally police station to lodge a police complaint.

The BJP workers claimed that the police were initially reluctant to lodge a complaint but eventually agreed after being pressurized by their lawyers. “Initially the police were reluctant to accept the complaint but when insisted by our lawyers present there, they accepted it. We will move Calcutta High Court on Wednesday or Thursday against the role of the police,” said Roy Chowdhury.

“How could the hospital authorities hand over the body to the police? The police actually stole the body,” said Roy Chowdhury.

Political violence continues to rock West Bengal with BJP cadres facing the ire of the ruling party under the behest of party chief Mamata Banerjee. BJP has claimed that with Swarup Gorai, being the latest target, the total number of BJP workers in the state who have buckled under Mamata’s pressure has gone up to 78.

NGOs and assorted ‘liberals’ protesting against Mumbai Metro are wrong: Here are the facts of Aarey Colony Metro Shed

Dhaval Patel
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NGOs and assorted ‘liberals’ protesting against Mumbai Metro are wrong: Here are the facts of Aarey Colony Metro Shed

We are a country where we get astonished if a project is completed on schedule. We all have read and heard and even experienced multiple projects around us that are delayed beyond reasonable time limit and due to utter callousness of the agencies. There was a tremendous change in this attitude post-2014 where fresh energy and enthusiasm was injected into the system by the then-new Narendra Modi government followed by the Maharashtra state government led by Devendra Fadnavis.

A wave of transparency and accountability seems to have crept in. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that, today the people expect the government to perform and deliver. They are holding them accountable at every step. There is no chance for the state government to falter and they are on their toes to deliver on their promises. Yet we see a lot of projects getting stuck for some or the other reason. This time though it’s not the attitude of the authorities or the politicians but the age-old NGO/Civil Society/Activist network which are rushing to the courts to obtain stay orders. One such case is the Mumbai Aarey Colony Metro Shed.

Quick and Verifiable Facts Regarding Mumbai Metro 3

Mumbai Metro is an ambitious infrastructure project which attempts to connect every nook and corner of the city. A city clogged with traffic and people this comes as a mode of quick, safe and cheap transit. The state government aided by the Central government has undertaken this ambitious project as if they are in a war. The war is for providing a better lifestyle to the hardworking Mumbaikars. Facts mention that at least 10 commuters die daily on the railway tracks having fallen off the local trains. Mumbai locals are working on thrice their actual capacity and are massively clogged as of now. This city deserves a better infrastructure. Mumbai Metro solves this problem. By reducing vehicular traffic the metro de-clogs the roads and an independent UNFCC study points to the fact that it shall reduce CO2emission by 2.6 lakh metric tons every year.

Extremely important to note that Sanjay Gandhi Nation Park is spread over 11,687 Hectare whereas Aarey Colony in 1287 Hectare. Out of the 1287 hectare, the metro car shed will be only built on 30 Hectare of Aarey land and even within that 5 Hectare has been kept intact for greenery. So in a nutshell, only 2% area of the entire Aarey Colony will be utilized for the proposed metro car shed.

Not just that this metro line 3 shall reduce 6.65 lakh vehicular trips per day and an overall reduction in fuel consumption by 3.54 lakh litres per day! The current status of the project is pretty impressive too. While 61% of tunnelling being already completed the station work has achieved 40% of completion status. The Government has already incurred 11,198 cr of expenditure on this project while awarding 10 contracts to specialised systems agencies.

Present Protests and their background

The current agitation being led by Bollywood actors, activists, NGO’s and few citizens is primarily with the shed being constructed under the Metro 3 project. I am convinced that a lot of protesters are not aware of the actual facts and are being misled by the NGO brigade with half trusts and complete lies and this article is to share the reality with them. I would like to address them because while engaging in debates some of the people have mentioned that they are not “opposed” to the idea of Mumbai metro but only to the construction of the metro shed 3 at the “Aarey Forest” which are the “lungs” of Mumbai etc.

The Protestors argue that the present government is killing the lungs of the city and destroying forests and that the move is anti-environment. So let me break it to you, this same government has planted 33 crore trees in the last 5 years and that should make one question why would they be so hell-bent on “destroying” a forest but why should one let facts come between a good emotional story?

The amusing part is that “Aarey” is not even a forest, it is grazing land. I am not saying this the Bombay High Court has passed a judgment to that effect. Further, the notification with regards to reservation of the car shed area in Aarey Milk Colony is also legally tenable and well settled at the HC. Protesters first need to refer to the judgment passed by the Hon’ble HC in a petition filed by Amrita Bhattacharjee & others in Writ Petition no. 2766 of 2017.

So this kind of blatant misinformation campaign needs a point by point rebuttal.

The Truth V/s Hype

Hype No. 1:

Adivasis & Leopards will be displaced. Car shed is located on the catchment area of mithai river and concentration of this area will increase flooding in this area. It will affect the water table as car shed area won’t allowing soaking of the rainwater which it does now.

Truth:

There are no leopards in this Car shed area. There are absolutely no adivasis in this area. I don’t know where these people are able to spot leopards in an area which has 3 arterial roads surrounding it which carry 1 lakh vehicles per day. This is so amusing. The depot site is unpaved in 75% of its area I.e. 22.5 hectares which won’t stop the rainwater to directly seep into the ground. All waterways are channelised within the depot towards the Mithi river and the same is as per the approved plans. people are being made to believe that 7.5HA of the paved area will lead to flooding. If this isn’t classic fear-mongering then what is?

Hype No. 2:

The expert committee which recommended this site for car shed was provided with fake data on the alternate sites

Truth:

The idea of having an alternate site was decided by none other than the Supreme Court in IA No. 33819 of 2019 and SLP No. 31178 of 2018. Do these protesters now not even trust the highest courts in the country? Should the people trust these people holding placards and not constitutional bodies?

Land at Kanjurmarg is owned by private landowners and have obtained stay since 1996. So this was land was never available for the proposed Car Shed. Furthermore, it is 10 Kms away from SEEPZ which makes alignment 45kms. There were other sites like Backbay, MPT, Sariput Nagar were considered but these land pieces were not at either end of alignment also there were lots of technical and environmental issues.

Hype No. 3:

The Metro Car shed requires only 9 to 12 Ha land and not 30 Ha. This can be made available anywhere across the City.

Truth:

An 8 coach line given its frequency and capacity requirement needs about 21 Ha of land. It cannot be fitted into 9 to 12 Ha of land as is being claimed by the activists. Have they come up with their own design to substantiate their claims? The government has hired independent third parties to get these designs made which are not only utilitarian but also specially optimised. The government has retained 5 Ha of extra land for the green cover buffer and 4 Ha. Of land will be used for the mainline function and train station.

Hype No. 4:

Mumbai Metro Line 1 has not had any impact on congestion and traffic and nowhere across the country has a metro help reduce car traffic.

Truth:

4 lakh people travel by Mumbai Metro Line 1 daily. Does this count as a reduction in the number of vehicles on the road? Shouldn’t the activist’s ask the people travelling between Andheri and Ghatkopar if their travel time and car usage has reduced or not? I feel opposition needs little weight in their arguments at least. This line reduces travel time to 17 minutes for a journey that takes 70 minutes by car. Now imagine the impact when the entire city gets connected.

Hype No. 5:

We don’t oppose the metro but the car shed must not come up at Aarey

Truth:

Metro is not just about pillars railways and metro cars and stations. There is a whole lot of other infrastructure that goes into it. A metro line cannot function without a car shed. In fact this car shed must be built in advance so that the bare shell cars can be worked upon and they can be fitted with required electrical and electronics to make them functional. The cars then are then tested at the car shed and then introduced into the mainline for usage. As the project is an integrated one any delay in the car shed work delays the project and also any opposition to this particular infrastructure is nothing but opposition to the very idea of the metro.

Conclusion

There are 3691 trees in Metro 3 depot land out of which 461 trees are to be transplanted and 2185 trees are to be cut and 13110 trees will be planted. It is important to note that these 3691 trees occupy approximately 17% of the total land that the Metro 3 project will be built upon(30 Ha.).

Per day of protests by these people is causing us

  • 685 metric tonnes of vehicular CO2 emissions per day
  • INR 4.2 cr increase in cost per day
  • loss of 2 lakh project man-hours
  • 5 lakh worth vehicle road space loss
  • 5 lakh hours of time loss for the citizens which means 30 minutes of extra travel per commuter.

Whereas the Metro will achieve

  • 197 trips of the metro will compensate for the rise of 63,953 kg/yr rise in CO2 due to loss of impacted trees. This is equivalent to 4 days of peak hour trips in a year.
  • Lifetime CO2 increase due to impacted trees will be compensated by 3948 metro trips in about 80 days!

It is now a fight between the New India and the old cabal, its truth v/s hype, its facts v/s fiction and its ultimately between the dreams and aspirations of the Mumbaikars and fight for status quo by the old establishment. The choice is yours.

Andhra Pradesh: TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu tries to defy house arrest, police locks main gate of residence

OpIndia Staff
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Andhra Pradesh: TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu tries to defy house arrest, police locks main gate of residence

The Andhra Pradesh police have locked the main gates of TDP chief and former CM Chandrababu Naidu’s residence at Undavalli in capital Amaravati after he tried to thwart the house arrest he has been put under by Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government. Naidu was attempting to leave for Atmakur to participate in the party’s ‘Chalo Atmakur’ rally despite being put under preventive custody by the police.

As Naidu’s car proceeded towards the main exit, the police secured the main gate using ropes.


Clarifying that the preventive custody was not because Naidu opposed the ruling government the Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police Damodar Goutam Sawang said: “Opposition leader of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu is being taken into preventive custody as his actions are increasing tensions and creating disturbance to law and order in the Palnadu region of Guntur district.”

Chandrababu Naidu on not being allowed to move out of his residence lashed out on the ruling government in Andhra Pradesh. He said: “This government is violating human rights & fundamental rights. I am warning the government. I am warning the police also. You cannot play this type of politics. You cannot control us by arresting. Whenever they allow me, I’ll continue ‘Chalo Atmakur'”.


Naidu’s son too attacked the government calling the house arrest unprecedented. He accused the police of being hand in glove with the YSR Congress Party. Lokesh claimed, “This is a dictatorship, we are being stopped in an undemocratic way. TDP leaders and workers are being harassed. YSRCP MLAs are openly threatening us, saying police is with them,” he said

Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh have been placed under house arrest after the party called for a protest march. TDP is protesting against increasing attacks on its workers allegedly at the behest of the ruling YSR Congress Party.

Section 144 has been imposed in Narasaraopeta, Sattenapalle, Palnadu and Gurajala. With the TDP cadre not being allowed to protest, Naidu has called for a 12-hour hunger strike across the state.

Tension prevails around Naidu’s house as TDP leaders coming to meet him were being prevented from entering the house.

From withdrawing security cover to demolition orders, the Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy has gone full throttle against his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu since he has taken AP’s reigns in his hands.

Responding to TDP’s claims of attacks on its workers, YSRCP has called it propaganda and stated that they will now divulge the ‘terror tales’ from the time of TDP reign where thousands of political opponents were attacked and threatened.

The police have stated that no rallies or meetings can be allowed in Palnadu region as section 144 of CRPC and section 30 of the Police Act are in place.

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