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One year old video of Hima Das winning a 400 meter race shared as the yesterday’s race where she won 5th gold in 3 weeks

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One year old video of Hima Das winning a 400 meter race shared as the yesterday’s race where she won 5th gold in 3 weeks

Sprinting sensation from Assam Hima Das has made sporting history yesterday by winning 5 gold medals in just three weeks. On July 20, she won her 5th Gold in a 400 meter run in the Czech Republic, after 4 golds in 200-meter events in this month in various events in Europe. Praises have been pouring for the 19-year-old youth icon from every quarter, with the President of India also congratulating her and hoping for an Olympics gold in a tweet posted in Assamese.

While praising Hima Das, many people posted a video of a 400-meter event won by Hima Das, implying this is the event where she won the latest gold medal. The video has been posted by journalists, politicians and several ordinary social media users.


Although Hima is seeing winning the race in the video, it is not the race that took place in the Czech Republic on 20th July. The 400-meter race that Hima Das completed in 51.46 seconds was the first gold medal won by any Indian at the IAAF World under-20 Athletics Championships that took place in Finland in July last year. In the video, we can clearly hear the commentator saying that before this India has never won any track event. Hima Das had changed that dismal record of India on 12 July last year.

On the other hand, her 400-meter race yesterday was a bit slower which was completed in 52.09 seconds.


The race in the Czech Republic that took place yesterday can be seen embedded in the above tweet.

Radical Christian organisations threaten Hindu Ashram in Russia, organisation reaches out to PM Modi for help

OpIndia Staff
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Radical Christian organisations threaten Hindu Ashram in Russia, organisation reaches out to PM Modi for help

A Hindu Ashram in Russia, ‘Shri Prakash Dham’, is under threat from radical Christian organisations, claims Prasun Prakash, Director, Public Affairs, Centre for Conservation of Indian Culture, Shri Prakash Dham. Shri Prakash Dham has presence in Russia, Eurasia, Europe and the UK.

According to Prakash, radical Christian organisation not only gave them threats, but also carried out physical attacks. Prasun, who was born in Moscow, Russia, originally hails from Patna, Bihar. He has masters in international relations specialising in Russian administrative services from Moscow State University.

Prakash said, “About four years back, my family and our organisation was under attack from the nationalist orthodox Christian goons. It all began with slander on the internet, TV and radio and even included physical attacks on me personally.”

Alexander Dvorkin, an anti-cult activist in Russia and member of a group that harasses any religion that competes with Russia’s orthodox Church, reportedly started a campaign against the spiritual guru. As per the reports, the Guru has been living in Russia since 1990. He had reached Russia to study medicine, but eventually became a spiritual leader.

According to Guru Prakash, people pretending to be journalists were first sent to his house. The ones who opposed them came pretending to be their supporters and devotees. These fake journalists would then take images and videos of the ashram and spread fake propaganda.

He alleged that the radical Christian groups refer to yoga and meditation as ‘hypnosis’ and claim that the devotees of Shri Prakash are under the influence of hypnosis and straying from Christianity.

“Our first lawyer was a very renowned pro-Putin hard liner who got pressurised by the hooligans in the Russian FSB (the modern short form of KGB). As the matter progressed we saw great support from the Russian communist party and Islam. We even spoke about this matter in the walls of the UN and the Russian Parliament,” said Prasun Prakash.

He added that currently the situation is under control as they recently won a case against the radical outfit. “Our new lawyer, who is a famous muslim personality in Russia and my very good friend also played an important role in this victory. I met him through our common Muslim friends who are like brothers to me,” he added.

Prasun Prakash says that Russian President Putin and Prime Minister Modi are also aware of their situation. He said that some time back he had met the then minister of state of external affairs, General V K Singh, had visited Russia and raised the issue. Prasun Prakash added that he is hopeful the government of India will intervene and take action against the threats they are receiving.

Kumaraswamy plans to admit himself in a hospital to delay trust vote allege 2 independent MLAs, approach SC

OpIndia Staff
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Kumaraswamy plans to admit himself in a hospital to delay trust vote allege 2 independent MLAs, approach SC

Two independent MLAs Shankar and Nagesh have approached the Supreme Court alleging that Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy may admit himself in a hospital for further delay the trust vote which is to take place tomorrow. As per reports, Kumaraswamy’s astrologer has suggested that he delay the trust vote till Tuesday since auspicious time begins for him then.

Earlier today, Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party’s MLA, who had extended support to the Congress-JDS government in Karnataka had said that he will not attend the Assembly during the trust vote on directions of Mayawati. BSP MLA N Mahesh will abstain from supporting the Congress-JDS led coalition government in the floor test tomorrow in Karnataka Assembly.

As many as 15 MLAs, 12 from Congress and three from JDS have resigned, while independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn support to the coalition government, putting the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka on edge.

If this position continues and Congress and JDS fails in wooing the dissidents back, the government will be reduced to a strength of 100 members including Speaker in the 225-member Assembly. The BJP has 105 members and the support of two Independents, which will be enough to form a government and prove majority in the house. One of the independents R Shankar may also abstain from the voting on Monday.

No, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur did not insult menial cleaning jobs, this is what she meant

OpIndia Staff
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No, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur did not insult menial cleaning jobs, this is what she meant

On Sunday, news agency ANI posted a video of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur talking about cleaning drains and toilets which created outrage on social media. While talking to some people in Sehore, she was heard saying Hum naali saaf karwane ke liye nahi bane hain. Hum aapka shauchalaya saaf karne ke liye bilkul nahi banaye gaye hain.


Her this comment was quickly misinterpreted by many people and they started attacking the MP, alleging that she is insulting the job of cleaning. Robert Vadra’s brother-in-law Tehseen Poonawalla even brought in RSS in this subject, he tweeted saying that this shows that RSS supremacy.


But if one gives attention to her comment, it can be seen that there is nothing outrageous in her comment. The literal translation of her comment would be, “I have not been made (MP) for getting drains cleaned, I was definitely not made (MP) for cleaning your toilets”.

The Bhopal MP was essentially emphasising different job responsibilities of different organs of the government, and was not talking about the manual job of cleaners, like many people are assuming. Pragya Thakur also added that she will that job with full honesty for which she was elected, as a member of parliament. It is noteworthy that her comment was applauded by people present in that location.

Although it is true that Modi government has given topmost priority to cleanliness through the Swachh Bharat initiative, and everyone is supposed to promote it, it does not mean job of one department can be done by another. The job of cleaning drains rests with local governance bodies like municipalities and town committees. MPs can work towards specific programs in this regard, and can fund construction of drains etc from their MPLAD fund, but day to day maintenance of sewerage is the responsibility of the local bodies, and neither MPs nor MLAs have much say in this regard. Almost all of local bodies in India suffer from inefficiencies and also face severe fund crisis, therefore they can’t perform their basic duties of keeping their area clean.

The video posted by ANI contains only the comment of Pragya Thakur, it does not give us any context about the situation which prompted her to make that comment. Probably someone was complaining about specific sanitation issues in their area, or maybe it was a general comment emphasising on the role of a MP. Whatever may be the trigger, but it is certain that Pragya Thakur was not talking about the job of cleaners, she was talking about her responsibilities as an MP.

Former EAM Sushma Swaraj shuts down a troll, Irfan Khan, who wishes death upon her

OpIndia Staff
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Former EAM Sushma Swaraj shuts down a troll, Irfan Khan, who wishes death upon her

Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Twitter shut down troll for wishing death upon her. The troll, Irfan Khan, had replied to a tweet of the former Union Minister. Sushma Swaraj had earlier posted a message condoling the death of Mange Ram Garg, former Delhi BJP President.


Sushma Swaraj wrote about how Mange Ram Garg was loyal and devoted to the party. She also praised him for contributing to society even after his death. Garg had pledged his organs to the ‘Dadhichi Deh Dan Samiti’.

In response to this, Irfan Khan had wished death upon the former Union Minister. He tweeted to Sushma Swaraj that someday she too would be remembered in the same manner.


Sushma Swaraj shut him down by thanking him for his kind thought.

Sushma Swaraj’s sassiness

The former External Affairs Minister is known for her quick witter replies and humour on social media. She gave a sassy reply to a user who had questioned her for taking part in the ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ campaign started by PM Modi.

Similarly, in another incident, a Twitter user Karan Saini had tweeted to Sushma Swaraj saying he was stuck on mars and the food sent via Mangalyaan is running out. He asked when Mangalyaan-II would be sent. Sushma Swaraj had replied to this tongue-in-cheek tweet with some wit, saying “Even if you are stuck on the Mars, Indian Embassy there will help you.”

Saudi Crown Prince facilitated Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s meeting with Donald Trump

OpIndia Staff
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Saudi Crown Prince facilitated Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s meeting with Donald Trump

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Washington on Saturday and is set to have a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Monday. Reports now suggest that the meeting between the two was arranged by the direct assistance of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

According to the report, two officials said on Saturday that, Crown Prince Salman had played an “instrumental role” in paving the way for the Khan-Trump meeting.

As reported by The Express Tribune, Prince Salman used his personal contact with Jared Kushner to arrange the invitation for the Pakistan Prime Minister. Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law and also his senior advisor.

Efforts were on to arrange the meeting in December last year after Trump wrote a letter to Imran Khan. He sought Pakistan’s assistance in enabling the Afghanistan peace process. According to an official Imran Khan wanted to have face-to-face interaction with the President to dispel any misconceived notions he might have had about Pakistan.

But the strained relationship between the two countries proved to be a stumbling block. Pakistan then decided to bypass the US bureaucracy by contacting Trump directly using Jared Kushner.

Knowing the personal relationship between Kushner and Prince Salman, Imran Khan had arranged several meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince. Sources say that the Prince used his ‘good offices’ to convince Trump for the meeting.

The report also says that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham must also be credited for the meeting between the two. Graham after his visit to Pakistan in January said that he was impressed with the vision of Prime Minister Imran for Afghanistan and the region. Sources say that the Pakistan Foreign Minister had kept in touch with Graham, who made personnel request to Trump for extending an invitation to the prime minister.

Currently, Pakistan is undergoing a severe economic crisis. Last month its military had to trim down its defence budget. Pakistan is also on the verge of getting blacklisted by the FATF, terror finance watchdog, for failing to act against terror groups.

In November last year, at the direction of President Trump, the US had suspended $1.66 billion in security assistance aid to Pakistan. The decision had come days after Trump statements slamming Pakistan of not doing ‘a damn thing’ for the US, alleging that its government had helped Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden hide near its garrison city of Abbottabad.

Pakistan hopes that the meeting with Trump would help in boosting ties and bringing investments into the country. However, a US Congressional report has said that the security assistance to Pakistan would remain suspended pending “decisive and irreversible” action against terrorist groups.

It is interesting to note that while Pakistan is eagerly waiting for the meeting, Pakistan PM was humiliated by the US as Imran Khan was welcomed by low-key officials at the airport. Also, there were no limousines waiting at the tarmac to ferry the visiting dignitary which is common for such visits by heads of foreign governments. Imran Khan had to take an airport bus to move from the aircraft to the terminal. Besides this, he flew on a commercial flight operated by Qatar Airways instead of the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines.

India’s tour of West Indies: Pandya rested, Saha makes to Test side, no split captaincy as Kohli to lead India in all formats

OpIndia Staff
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India’s tour of West Indies: Pandya rested, Saha makes to Test side, no split captaincy as Kohli to lead India in all formats

The rumour of split captaincy for Tests and limited over cricket has been put to rest by the Indian selectors — Virat Kohli to lead India in all formats against West Indies.

Wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha has made a comeback after a year into the Test squad, he is there in the test squad with Rishabh Pant and would be interesting to see who plays for India in Tests.

There is still no place for Prithvi Shaw in Tests while middle-order batsmen Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey, and left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed, have been recalled to the ODI squad.

Dhawan who missed most of India’s World Cup campaign due to broken thumb has also been recalled as he is fully fit now.

Wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Kartik has missed the bus for West Indies tour while Bumrah and Pandya have been rested for white-ball cricket. Pandya has been even rested for Tests.

Dhoni already made himself unavailable for West Indies Tour, will serve the paramilitary regiment.

On Dhoni’s retirement the chief selector MSK Prasad said, “Retirement is purely individual. A legendary cricketer like MS Dhoni knows when to retire, I don’t think we need to discuss anything on it, because first of all he’s not available. Second, we have already started grooming some youngsters.”

India’s tour of the West Indies will begin on August 3 with 3 T20Is, followed by three ODIs and two Test matches between August 8-30. The two Test matches will be part of the inaugural edition of the ICC World Test Championship.

Test squad: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav

ODI squad: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Navdeep Saini

T20I squad Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini

Karnataka Political Crisis: Mayawati snubs Congress-JDS coalition, asks lone BSP MLA to abstain from trust vote tomorrow

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka Political Crisis: Mayawati snubs Congress-JDS coalition, asks lone BSP MLA to abstain from trust vote tomorrow

In a move which could have larger political implications, N Mahesh, the lone MLA from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Karnataka, who was earlier a minister in the HD Kumaraswamy government, announced on Sunday that he will not attend the floor test due on Monday. This will further reduce one vote for the ruling alliance which is alerady staring at certain defeat on the floor of the house.


Talking to media, BSP MLA N Mahesh will abstain from supporting the Congress-JDS led coalition government in the floor test tomorrow in Karnataka Assembly. N Mahesh informed that he decided to do so as per the direction of BSP supremo Mayawati. He said, “my high command has told me to abstain from voting on trust motion so I won’t attend the session on Monday and Tuesday. I’ll be in my constituency”.


BSP MLA Mahesh was one of the 20 members who had missed the Karnataka Assembly session on Thursday and Friday along with the 15 rebels MLAs, two independents, and Congress MLAs Srimant Patil and B Nagendra.

There are reports that Mahesh, the Kollegal MLA, is all set to join the BJP after the trust vote citing lack of funds for his constituency’s development in the present Congress-JDS government. He had resigned in October 2018 as the Primary and Secondary Education Minister, after disagreements had erupted between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress concerning seat-sharing for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.

With Mayawati deciding not to support Congress-JDS in the Karnataka politics, the stage is set for further disagreements in the state of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan as BSP has two and six MLAs respectively in these two states. The Madhya Pradesh government which is just marginally ahead of majority mark will face a tremendous amount of pressure if BSP decides to withdraw its support to the Kamal Nath government and in turn supports opposition BJP.

As many as 15 MLAs, 12 from Congress and three from JDS have resigned, while independent MLAs R Shankar and H Nagesh have withdrawn support to the coalition government, putting the Congress-JDS coalition government in Karnataka on edge.

If this position continues and Congress and JDS fails in wooing the dissidents back, the government will be reduced to a strength of 100 members including Speaker in the 225-member Assembly. The BJP has 105 members and the support of two Independents, which will be enough to form a government and prove majority in the house. One of the independents R Shankar may also abstain from the voting on Monday.

Omar Abdullah comes in support of Imran Khan who was not given official welcome on arrival in US

OpIndia Staff
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Omar Abdullah comes in support of Imran Khan who was not given official welcome on arrival in US

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister has come out in support of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan who was snubbed by the US on his maiden visit to the country as the head of the state.


Instead of flying a Pakistan International Airlines or the official aircraft, Khan flew commercial on Qatar Airways. On his arrival to the US, he was received by Pakistani officials and other low-key US officials. He even took a people-mover from the aircraft to the terminal.

Interestingly, Imran Khan was escorted out of the aircraft in a people mover instead of official vehicles. As per reports, Khan was not accorded the official welcome protocol when he reached America.

However, Khan’s humiliation seems to have affected former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah who sprung to his defence and said that this treatment of Khan reflects poorly on US. He even said how Khan flying commercial airline to reach the US saved money for his country which it didn’t need to spend. Abdullah also lauded Khan for not having an ego like ‘most “leaders”‘.


But Omar Abdullah’s argument of ‘cost saving’ was quickly punctured when it was seen that Imran Khan travelled from the airport in a large cavalcade of cars. This means only one thing, the cars were not allowed to go inside the airport. The cars were already there at the airport, therefore no cost was saved by taking the bus from the plane to the terminal.

Twitterati were quick to point out to Abdullah it is less about personal ego but about diplomatic relations two countries share.


This is not the first time Khan has been humiliated. In October 2012, the cricketer-turned-politician who was on his way to the US via Toronto was asked to deboard where the authorities had interrogated him for an hour on his views on drones. Earlier this month, Pakistan had claimed that Khan has been invited to Russia for Eastern Economic Forum. However, Russia denied having invited him.

Irony: Mamata Banerjee observes Shahid Dibas for 1993 police firing, while the then Home Secretary is now a TMC MP

OpIndia Staff
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Irony: Mamata Banerjee observes Shahid Dibas for 1993 police firing, while the then Home Secretary is now a TMC MP

Today, the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to celebrate the annual Shahid Dibas to commemorate the killing of 13 youth Congress workers. They were killed in a police firing in Kolkata on 21 July 1993 under the Left Front government.


Mamata Banerjee has for long always held Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister, and his cabinet responsible for the firing. However, she has refrained from blaming the then home secretary Manish Gupta for the firing. In fact, Gupta is now a member of TMC and serving as an MP in the Rajya Sabha.

Last year, both the Congress and the BJP termed the TMC’s “Shahid Dibas” as a farce. The BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh had accused the TMC of holding the rally for political gains. “None of the martyrs (those killed in 1993 firing) have got justice. The person who shot them was an officer then and today he is a minister in the TMC. He is governing the country,” Ghosh said.

The Congress had also called out Mamata’s hypocrisy. They claimed that “many of the people who were directly or indirectly responsible for the firing are holding positions in the state government”.

In 1993, July 21 Mamata Banerjee, who was then a Youth Congress leader, led a rally to the Writer’s Building. They demanded photo voter id card to be made mandatory. On their way to the building, the police had intervened and opened fire at them.

21 year later after Mamata became the Chief Minister, she had set up a commission to find out who had ordered the police to open fire. Mamata had blamed Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister, and his cabinet responsible.

The commission in its report has said that that the control room officers were “vicariously responsible” and “overacted to please their political bosses”. The report also says that the incident was worse than Jallianawala Bagh massacre.

Manish Gupta had also testified before the commission. He said that he didn’t support the firing. The commission said that ‘history would answer’ why the firing was ordered when the then home secretary did not support it.

The report came out in 2014 and the Mamata Banerjee government has not taken any action against those responsible. Many including the likes of Manish Gupta continue to hold positions of power within the TMC.

From her tweet today Mamata Banerjee could be clearly seen using the “Shahid Dibas” for political gains. She has once again retorted to the old demand for discontinuing the usage of EVMs.


Despite being proven wrong many times, the TMC continues to blame the EVMs for the losses the party faced during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Last month, Mamata read an Urdu sher and blamed the EVMs to take on the BJP. Other TMC MPs had also staged a protest in front of the Parliament demanding to bring back paper ballot in future elections.

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