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‘Parties allied with BJP on condition that Parrikar leads govt’: Congress writes to Governor hours after the CM’s demise

OpIndia Staff
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‘Parties allied with BJP on condition that Parrikar leads govt’: Congress writes to Governor hours after the CM’s demise

With the unfortunate demise of BJP stalwart, the Goa Chief Minister and former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, the state of Goa has been thrown into political turmoil. Hours after Parrikar’s demise, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee wrote to the Governor staking claim to form the government.

Letter from Congress to the Governor

The Goa Congress Pradesh Committee in their letter to the Governor first write about how deeply they mourn the demise of CM Manohar Parrikar and then say that this ‘development’ calls for the immediate and smooth transfer of power to Congress.

They go on to write that the coalition partners of the Parrikar led government had allied with the BJP on the condition that the government would be led by Manohar Parrikar. With his death, the Congress said that the BJP has no allies as of now.

Listing the MLA strength of every party, Congress said that as the single largest party, it should be invited to form the government at the earliest.

Manohar Parrikar, the veteran leader passed away last night after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. While the unfortunate demise had the country mourning, several “liberal” vultures had celebrated his death on Social Media. 

India Today uses the photo of a Hindu girl to highlight the high rate of child marriage among Muslims in Kerala

OpIndia Staff
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India Today uses the photo of a Hindu girl to highlight the high rate of child marriage among Muslims in Kerala

The Hinduphobia of the mainstream media once again stood exposed when in a report highlighting the alarmingly high rate of child marriages prevalent among the Muslims in the state of Kerala, India Today used the image of a Hindu girl in what appeared as an attempt to mislead the readers.


The report published by India Today quoted a report of the State’s Economics and Statistics Department which provided the maternity data of the year 2017. The report claimed that the State has a large number of mothers, 22,552 precisely, below the age of 19 years. Out of these 22,552 mothers 17,082 were Muslims, 4,734 were Hindus and 702 were Christians. It is sufficiently clear from the data provided in the report that the problem of child marriage largely existed among the Muslim community as compared to the Hindu community. In fact, the number of underage mothers among Hindus was nowhere close to the numbers belonging to the Muslim community.

Yet India Today chose to use the image of a Hindu girl while reporting on a problem which existed on a much higher level among the Muslims. This act of apparent Hinduphobia angered the people on social media who called out India Today for misleading the people. Here are some of the Twitter reactions:

Some people shamed India Today for using a misleading image.


Some questioned India Today for using the image of a Hindu girl while the numbers speak otherwise.


People accused the media of defaming Hindu religion and not stating the truth.


It is often seen that certain section of the mainstream media does not miss an opportunity to demean Hindus by selectively reporting on the issues existing among Hindus while the same section of media conveniently ignores the ‘truth’ when it concerns the Muslim community.

Anti-BJP accounts on social media, including Huffpost, Scroll journalist, celebrate death of Manohar Parrikar

OpIndia Staff
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Anti-BJP accounts on social media, including Huffpost, Scroll journalist, celebrate death of Manohar Parrikar

As the sad news of passing away of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar came in, social media was filled with condolence messages from people in every spectre of life, from politicians to celebrities to ordinary netizens, irrespective of their political affiliation. Manohar Parrikar was known for his simplicity and no-nonsense attitude, and most people expressed their genuine grief to the tragic news.

But that was not true for all people, as many people on Social media seemed to celebrate the death of BJP leader. And obviously, these comments came from such people who oppose the political ideology of BJP.

As can be seen in such messages shared on Social Media, many people reacted to the sad news with celebratory Emoticons, indicating they are happy with the news.


Some people chose to use the occasion to insult Indian culture, and mocked Parrikar for seeking treatment in “Christian West” instead of taking help of Hindutva.

It is not that only ordinary people were celebrating the death of Parrikar, even some journalists also joined the celebrations. For example, the above tweets are from Lindsay Pereira, who is a journalist and writes for left-liberal portals line Huffington Post, Scroll etc.


Some people openly declared that anyone who joins BJP is ‘Hindutva Thug’, and actually slammed others for condolence messages reacting to the sad news.

Such insensitive people also used the occasion to repeat the lie of Rahul Gandhi that Manohar Parrikar had files of the Rafale deal in his bedroom.


In an attempt to stall the Rafale deal, Rahul Gandhi didn’t even spare an ailing Manohar Parrikar, and had claimed that Parrikar told him that he had Rafale files in his bedroom when Rahul Gandhi went to meet him. Congress had even published one fake audio claiming that one Goa minister had told a journalist that Parrikar had claimed to have the files, which was refuted by the minister and the Congress party had refused to authenticate the tapes. Despite not being able to authenticate the audio, Rahul Gandhi continues to drag Manohar Parrikar’s name in his baseless allegations against the Rafale deal.

People can be opposed to other people on the basis of political ideologies, but exposing their hate on the occasion of the death of a political leader show how low the political discourse can go, which is definitely a worrying sign for the society.

Nations pledge to significantly reduce the use of single-use plastic at the United Nations Environment Assembly

OpIndia Staff
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Nations pledge to significantly reduce the use of single-use plastic at the United Nations Environment Assembly

Pledging to address the issue of disastrous effects of single-use plastic on the environment, nations at the United Nations agreed on Friday to significantly reduce single-use plastic by 2030. Around 170 countries of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) signed an agreement to curb the usage of single-use plastic. The agreement which was steered by India, will seek to reduce the use of disposable plastic products like bags, cups, cutlery and drinking straws.

The move by the member countries was welcomed by the President of the UNEA Siim Kiisler. “It’s hard to find one solution for all member states,” said Siim Kiisler, UN assembly president. The environment is at a turning point. We don’t need verbose documents, we need concrete commitments,” said Kisler.

“We have decided to do things differently. From reducing our dependence on single-use plastics to placing sustainability at the heart of all future development, we will transform the way we live. We have the innovative solutions we need. Now we must adopt the policies that allow us to implement them”, Kisler added.

According to Global Environment Outlook report, periodic assessment of the health of our planet, released by the UN this week said that a quarter of all premature death and disease is caused by man-made pollution, environmental damage and a lack of access to clean sanitation.

The final Ministerial statement issued at the assembly said that the countries “address the damage to our ecosystems caused by the unsustainable use and disposal of plastic products, including by significantly reducing single-use plastic products by 2030.” Some countries including Saudi Arabia and Cuba, led by the US diluted the text of the resolution.

Several other measures were adopted during the five-day assembly which ended on Friday. A resolution on sustainable nitrogen management was also presented by Indian representatives.

Goa Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Manohar Parrikar passes away

OpIndia Staff
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Goa Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Manohar Parrikar passes away

Battling a long fight with pancreatic cancer, Goa Chief Minister and former defence minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar passed away this evening. President of India Ram Nath Kovind shared the sad news on Twitter.


The Goa government had announced about his disease in October last year, and he had undergone treatment in the US and India, including AIIMS in Delhi. Despite the continued medical care, his condition did not improve much, and he was seen with a tube in his nose during his public appearances in recent times. Although physically ill, his spirit remained high throughout this period.

Manohar Parrikar’s health condition had worsened yesterday, and the deputy speaker of Goa assembly and BJP MLA Michael Lobo had said that doctors were not saying that he will recover. His condition remained extremely critical today, as informed by the Chief Minister’s Office of Goa.

Manohar Parrikar was born on 13th December 1955 in Goa, and was a graduate in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He was the first IIT alumnus to serve as MLA of an Indian state. He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a young age, and became a sanghchalak at the age of 26. RSS had deputed him to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the objective of fighting the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party in Goa.

Manohar Parrikar became an MLA of Goa legislative assembly from BJP in 1994. On 24th October 2000 he became the Chief Minister of Goa for the first time, but his term ended in 2002. In that year, he was re-elected as Chief Minister in the elections. His govt fell in 2005 after few BJP MLAs defected to Congress. BJP lost the elections in 2007, but came back to power in 2012 as Parrikar as CM. When BJP won the Lok Sabha election in 2014, Manohar Parrikar was chosen as Defence Minister of the country, and he became a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh. After assembly election in 2017, he went back to Goa and took charge as Chief Minister.

On 14th February this year, BJP MLA and Deputy CM Francis D’Souza had passed away, this means BJP has lost two MLAs in the 40-member house where it does not have a clear majority. Congress party had already claimed majority after the demise of Deputy CM.

Akhilesh Yadav threatens officers of taking action against them for making him vacate his bungalow

OpIndia Staff
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Akhilesh Yadav threatens officers of taking action against them for making him vacate his bungalow

Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, who has a habit of threatening journalists and bureaucrats for not toeing his line, has yet again issued threats to bureaucrats, who had asked him to vacate his government bungalow following Supreme Court order.

Speaking at ABP News Conclave ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh Yadav went on to warn the Uttar Pradesh bureaucrats by indicating that he will make officers subservient to him in the future as they had followed orders of the Supreme Court asking former Chief Ministers of the state to vacate their government bungalow.

“Jin Adhikariyone mere ghar se Tonti nikalwayi, Unhi Adhikariyonse Chilum Nikhalvaunga, (The officers who had removed taps from my home will be made to prepare Chilum for me),” said former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in a show of his power.

In North India, the term “Chilum Nikhalvaunga” is a term expressed to display their elitism and aristocratic mindset against people who they think are inferior to them and make them do menial jobs at their houses. With Akhilesh Yadav using such deplorable words, he has directly threatened bureaucrats for simply following orders.

Akhilesh Yadav also implied that officials had removed taps from his chief ministerial bungalow, but the fact is that he himself is accused by removing valuable items after he was forced to vacate the bungalow after losing power in assembly elections. Photographs of the bungalow that had appeared in media after he left the bungalow showed that ACs, tiles, bathroom and kitchen fittings, gym equipment. electrical fittings etc were missing from the house. He had denied the charges, saying that babus who used to pick up cups and plates were levelling false allegations against him.

The Samajwadi Party leaders, including Akhilesh Yadav, have always sought a feudal relationship with the bureaucracy of the state. In the past, during the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav as Chief Minister of the Uttar Pradesh, there were instances when senior police officers were made to sit at the feet of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav during events. Inspector General Ashutosh Pande was caught up in a controversy when he was seen sitting at the feet of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav during an event at Saifai.

In a similar incident, an IPS officer Ajay Mohan Sharma was publicly seen touching the feet of Samajwadi Party, general secretary, Ram Gopal Yadav indicating that how Samajwadi Party had maintained a “Master-Servant” relationship even with the senior IPS officers in the state.

This is not the first time that Akhilesh Yadav is threatening somebody for carrying out their jobs. At an interview with controversial scribe Ravish Kumar, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had admitted that how he once regretted of not killing a journalist who had criticized him.

“I had invited a senior journalist from Delhi to Lucknow. I told him for this much money you compared me with Aurangzeb? I am ready to give you twice the amount, had you told me that you need money. I left him also”. Then he said, “this is the mistake I made, I should have drawn a sword like Aurangzeb and I should have killed that person at that moment,” Akhilesh Yadav had said.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had once appealed to the journalists and offered Rs. 11 lakh to the one who gives the names of the journalists who had taken pictures and videos of his government bungalow.

The Samajwadi Party, which is facing tremendous pressure ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, has tied up with the Mayawati led Bahujan Samajwadi Party to take on the incumbent NDA coalition, which had won 73 seats out of 80 seats from the state.

The man who concocted a bomb blast for secularism claims the Balakot air strikes were done on his suggestion

OpIndia Staff
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The man who concocted a bomb blast for secularism claims the Balakot air strikes were done on his suggestion

While the opposition politicians have not shied away from discrediting the Balakot air strikes, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, in a public meeting held in Chakan in Maharashtra, made an outrageous claim about the recent air strikes on the terror camps conducted by the Indian Air Force. Pawar claimed that the IAF carried out those air strikes on his directions.

According to Sharad Pawar, in the aftermath of the dastardly attack in Pulwama, which claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel, a top-level meeting was held in which he was asked about his response if he were the defence minister. Pawar contends that he advised striking the terror hideouts responsible for the attacks. He further added that PM Modi and defence minister N Sitharaman were not present in the meeting. PM Modi was in Maharashtra during the meeting, he says. Ridiculing Modi, Pawar insinuated that his suggestion was heeded by the Air Force without due deliberation from the Prime Minister or Defence Minister and Balakot terror camps were destroyed based on his advise. It appears that Modi’s declaration to provide complete freedom to the Armed Forces to avenge the Pulwama attack has lost on Sharad Pawar

However, a few days back, Sharad Pawar had accused PM Modi of politicising the Balakot air strikes. Now, with the elections approaching, Pawar thought it wise to garner votes by trying to taking credit for the Balakot air strikes. He further attacked Modi claiming that he did not visit the funeral of a soldier in a nearby village despite being in Yavatmal. Pawar also contended that the agrarian distress in the country is because of unfavourable policies implemented by the Modi government.

As the reports are now trickling in, about 263 terrorists were killed in the Balakot air strikes. Sharad Pawar’s allies have long been questioning the veracity of the precise air strikes. Pawar perhaps might do well to rein in them, considering they are questioning an operation that was supposedly suggested by him. In the interest of the Nation, Pawar should continue to stay in the opposition from where he can perhaps keep proffering suggestions to the Armed forces.

It is also notable to mention that Sharad Pawar had conjured up an extra bomb blast in the 1993 Mumbai terror attack ‘to promote Hindu-Muslim harmony’. After 22 years, he brazened out his lie in an event during the 89th Marathi Literary Meet near Pune. With such decorated past instances of lying, it is difficult to take Sharad Pawar’s current utterances on face value.

A testament of Arvind Kejriwal’s incompetence: His failed promise of revamping Delhi’s education system

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A testament of Arvind Kejriwal’s incompetence: His failed promise of revamping Delhi’s education system

Ever since Arvind Kejriwal became the Chief Minister of Delhi, he has consistently tried to claim that his government has revamped Delhi’s education system. I had my reservations ever since he staked such a claim, but the pass percentage camouflaged the reality hid the fragility of their model.

It must be stated that the Chief Minister holds no portfolio and had requested the Congress for an alliance- yes, the same Congress that it fought against and claimed to be the most corrupt party. In fact, Kejriwal had claimed that he had hundreds of pages of proof against former Chief Minister Mrs Sheela Dixit, yet he sought an alliance with them for upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Given his consistent U-turns, I realized that that one must objectively evaluate whether there has been any change in Delhi’s education system.

The fact remains that his government has done more damage to Delhi’s education system so beneath all his marketing, there is a sad reality that he’s trying to hide to jack up the pass percentage of students of Delhi Government’s pass percentage. According to a Times of India report, “Sixty-six per cent of students in classes IX to XII of Delhi government schools who failed in 2017-18 have now gone out of the formal schooling system. Out of a total of 1,55,436 students who failed, only 52,582 were readmitted in the same class, official documents reveal.”

Based upon my interaction with a significant number of parents of students in several Delhi government schools, I realized that there has been an informal convention on the restriction of stream selection in 11th standard as students are not allowed to take science or maths. Most students in government schools fail in science and maths in 12th board exams and by restricting the choice albeit informally, the government is playing with the career path of its students only to rake up their results.

While the Delhi Government has constructed only 25 schools, the fact remains that not even a single degree college has been constructed since the AAP government was formed in Delhi. It must be stated that they promised construction of 500 schools and 20 colleges so clearly, they’ve failed to deliver on what they promised. In fact, they made tall claims about ensuring that guest teachers are made permanent and fill all teacher posts that were vacant. While thousands of posts continue to be vacant, those that have been filled comprise around 17,000 guest teachers.

So, while they claim that they’ve developed infrastructure, the key component of school for learning is the availability of teachers and that situation has only worsened under the AAP. In fact, Delhi Government schools have witnessed a continuous decline in quality of education and the government does not care about education or any reforms in this area as it is busy in publicising a model that is based on compromising the future of the children of Delhi.

The vulnerability of their model is evident from the fact that the last year average pass percentage of students of class 10th decreased to the lowest in the last 10 year to 68.90% in (2017-18). While there has been not much improvement registered for class 12th average pass percentage. It is interesting that the Delhi government claims to have spent a historically high amount of funds for the education and it is important that we ask Mr Kejriwal and Mr Sisodia regarding the discrepancy in the spending and its impact on education outcomes. Another important question worth asking is where is the money actually going if it is not being spent in providing teachers and other necessary resources to schools? Perhaps, it’s because the AAP’s faulty education model is being advertised in newspapers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. God forbid but if SpaceX would have settled a human colony on Mars (I am certain it will happen sometime in the foreseeable future), then Mr Kejriwal may have advertised the faulty education model there too.

But beyond the satire, the fact remains that out of the budgeted Rs. 15,133 crores for 2018-19, they’ve spent just Rs. 11,201 crores and this clearly shows their commitment towards education. It is unfair to the students of Delhi Government that it is playing with their future just to showcase and window dress the performance of its schools. Rather than actually improving the quality of education, it is busy in demonstrating improvement and advertising it and this focus has resulted in a denial of choice to the students of Delhi.

The AAP government has exploited the vulnerability of the poor students of Delhi just as Mr Kejriwal exploited the vulnerable people of Delhi and their anti-corruption sentiment to storm into power. For all that’s worth, while he advertises his model outside Delhi, back in the city, everyone is aware of his mis-governance, U-turns and politics of opportunism. The people of Delhi may reject him just as they did during the 2017 MCD elections but what is saddening is that students have had to pay the price because of his incompetence and lack of willingness to improve the city’s public education system.

More than 70 vessels including INS Vikramaditya, nuclear submarines, battleships were deployed near Pakistan after Pulwama Attack: Indian Navy

OpIndia Staff
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More than 70 vessels including INS Vikramaditya, nuclear submarines, battleships were deployed near Pakistan after Pulwama Attack: Indian Navy

When the tension between India and Pakistan was in its peak after the Pulwama terror, all the attention was on Indian Air Force, which had shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet, and also lost a MiG-21 jet in the process. Indian Army was also in high alert mode and had engaged in several rounds of exchange of artillery shelling with their Pakistani counterpart. Now it has been disclosed that Indian Navy was also fully deployed along the western coast of the country, and acted as a major deterrent against any aggression from Pakistan.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Defence, rapid deployment of Indian Navy was done for operations in North Arabian sea after the Pulwama Attack.

Indian Navy was already participating in the TROPEX 2019 (Theatre Level Readiness and Operational Exercise) at that time, which is an inter-service military exercise of Indian Army, Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. Due to this exercise, Indian Navy assets were present in the Arabian Sea. After the Pulwama attack, the TROPEX 2019 exercise was put on a pause, but now the Navy has revealed that major combat units of the Navy were swiftly transited from exercise to operational deployment mode as the tension between India and Pakistan escalated. This included the Carrier Battle Group led by INS Vikramaditya, nuclear submarines and scores of other battleships, submarines and aircraft of Indian armed forces. The deployment was done in the North Arabian Sea, close to Pakistani coast.

The press release says, “about 60 ships of the Indian Navy, 12 ships of the Indian Coast Guard and 60 aircraft were part of TROPEX 19. Amongst the key attributes of Naval forces are the ‘Versatility’ to change roles, ‘Mobility’ and ‘Poise’. Availability of such a large number of combat ready assets in the theatre of operations for TROPEX 19 allowed the Indian Navy to expeditiously respond to the developing situation in synergy with the three services. The overwhelming superiority of Indian Navy in all three dimensions forced the Pakistan Navy to remain deployed close to the Makran coast and not venture out in the open ocean.”

TROPEX 19 started on January 7 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This was followed by the largest Coastal Defence Exercise code-named SEA VIGIL’ on 22 Jan and 23 Jan 19 with the participation of all 13 Coastal States and Union Territories along with all maritime stakeholders. On February 26, it was reported that the exercise was put on a ‘tactical pause’, when Indian Air Force bombed terror camps in Pakistan.

Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff will be in Kochi on 18th March to preside over the debriefing of the TROPEX 19 exercise.

NDA seat sharing in Bihar: BJP and JDU to fight on 17 seats each, remaining 6 to be contested by LJP

OpIndia Staff
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NDA seat sharing in Bihar: BJP and JDU to fight on 17 seats each, remaining 6 to be contested by LJP

For the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019, seat-sharing in Bihar among the NDA constituent parties have been finalised. Janata Dal United (JDU) leader Vasishtha Narayan Singh has officially announced the sharing of seats in the NDA. Out of the total 40 seats, BJP and JDU will be fighting on 17 seats each and the remaining 6 seats will be contested by Lok Janaskati Party (LJP).

JDU will contest the majority of seats in Simanchal which include Kishanganj and Bhagalpur. Ram Vilas Paswan’s National Lokjanashakti Party (LJP) got six seats out of the total of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar this time, BJP and JDU have agreed to share 17-17 seats each. BJP will be contesting from Patna Sahib, Aurangabad and Sasaram.

LJP, which has been granted 6 seats in the alliance will be contesting from Hajipur, Vaishali, Samastipur and Navada. It is worth noting that BJP’s Giriraj Singh is the incumbent MP from Navada seat that has gone to LJP while BJP’s Shahnawaz Hussain’s Bhagalpur seat has been offered to JDU. The BJP got seats like Vatsal, Sasaram, Aurangabad, Western Champaran, Eastern, Madhubani, Araria, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Maharajganj, Udhiyarpur, Begusarai, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra and Sasaram. The other alliance partner, Janata Dal United (JDU) has got Balmiki Nagar, Sitamarhi, Jhansarpur, Supaul, Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, Madhepura, Gopalganj, Sivan, Bhagalpur, Banka, Nalanda, Karakat, Jehanabad and Gaya seats.

The NDA in Bihar is going to compete with the Mahagathbandhan coalition, which includes  Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Hindustani Awami Morcha, and the National Lok Samata Party. Congress is slated to fight on 11 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

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