Friday, November 15, 2024
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ICJ hearing: Indian diplomats refuse to shake hands, Salve exposes the farce of Pakistan’s military courts

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has begun hearing India’s plea over the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian who has been sentenced to death by a military court in Pakistan on charges of espionage.

Harish Salve, ex-solicitor general oF India, who is representing India at the Hague, argued before the ICJ yesterday that as a foreign detainee, Jadhav has a right to life, right to fair trial, and a right to an impartial judiciary. He pointed out that the military courts in Pakistan have sentenced over 161 civilians to death in opaque proceedings in the last two years.

As per reports, Salve argued that international standards demand that military courts, like all courts, should be impartial, competent and must adhere to the minimum standards of fairness. However, Salve added, the military courts in Pakistan are far from independent. “Judges in the military courts are military officers who are an executive branch of the government itself and do not enjoy independence from the government hierarchy.”

Salve further added that in Pakistan, it is not mandatory for the judges of the military court to have a judicial or legal training or even a law degree. There are no security tenures either which are a prerequisite to ensure judicial competence and independence.

Salve added further that Jadhav’s trial by a military court hopelessly fails to satisfy even the minimum standards of due process and should be declared unlawful. He asserted that Pakistan actively uses its military courts to try civilians and it has been done by amending their constitution.

Salve also argued before the court that by holding Jadhav’s trial in a military court, Pakistan has willfully and brazenly violated article 36 of the Vienna convention.

It is notable here that Pakistan’s military courts were first set up in 2015 for two years to ensure speedy trials after the Peshawar Army school attack. In 2017, the tenure of the courts was extended for another two years.

In the four years of their existence, the courts have convicted 617 people for terrorism-related offenses. 346 people have been given death sentences and 271 have received prison sentences. 56 people have already been hanged.

However, due to the obscurity that the Pakistan government maintains over the proceedings of the court, no one knows who the convicts are, what are the exact charges being brought against them or what are the defenses the accused have been allowed to present against the charges.

In another development, Deepak Mittal, the joint secretary of MEA and Venu Rajamony, India’s ambassador for the Netherlands refused to shake hands with Anwar Mansoor Khan, the attorney general of Pakistan. Both Mittal and Rajamony offered a customary ‘Namaskar’ to the Pakistani AG.


Mittal and Rajamony’s humble refusal to shake the outstretched hand of the Pakistani AG soon grabbed nationwide attention and was hailed by many on social media as a silent and polite message of disapproval from the diplomats to the enemy nation.


Kubhushan Jadhav, an Indian national and ex-Navy officer, employed at the Chabahar port in Iran, was abducted at the behest of the Pakistani military in 2016. Pakistan had claimed that they had arrested Jadhav from Balochistan. A Pakistani military court had sentenced Jadhav to death on April 2017. On May 2017, the ICJ had ordered a stay over the death sentence after hearing India’s appeal.

Pulwama attack: Bikaner District Magistrate issues orders to Pakistani citizens to leave the district within 48 hours

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Bikaner District Magistrate has ordered Pakistani citizens to leave the district within 48 hours.


The order, effective immediately under section 144 of the CrPC was issued in light of the Pulwama terror attack in which 44 soldiers were martyred. The order also prohibits hotels in Bikaner border areas from allowing Pakistani citizens.

The order states that in wake of the Pulwama terror attack, people are angry at Pakistan. Since Bikaner shares its border with Pakistan, Pakistani nationals living in the border area could pose a threat to internal security of India as well as threat to the lives of these Pakistani nationals. The order states that as per an internal security meeting held on 18th February, entry of foreigners from the western borders is prohibited. This includes towns in Bikaner district such as Loonkaransar, Kolayat, Khajuwala, Pugal and Chhattargarh.

As per the order, the District Magistrate has ordered Pakistani nationals to leave Bikaner within 48 hours and prohibited any Pakistani national to stay in any of the hotels in the district. The order also prohibits Indian citizens to continue any direct or indirect trade with Pakistani nationals. Bikaner residents are also prohibited from employing Pakistani citizens as well as using any mobile SIM registered in Pakistan.

Tamil Nadu: 38-year-old trans-woman priest beheaded over temple land, body found inside sanctum

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In a horrific incident in Tamil Nadu, a 38-year old trans-woman priest and Bharatanatyam artist was brutally murdered in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu. The mutilated body of Rajathi, a 38-year-old transgender woman priest was found inside the sanctum of a temple on Friday, 15 February, reported The News Minute.

According to the reports, the police has found her decapitated head, which was left outside of the Mariamman temple that she used to manage. The police have arrested two suspects living in the vicinity of the temple. The main accused is identified as 23-year-old Maruthu, who owns the land on which Rajathi’s temple is built.

According to the police, Maruthu with his aide, visited the temple with a sickle when Rajathi was performing a pooja inside the sanctum on Friday morning. Maruthu and his aide then attacked her, chopped her body and placed her head outside the temple, said Grace Banu, the founder of Trans Rights Now Collective and a native of Thoothukudi.

According to Banu, the accused was harassing Rajathi for the past one year. “We heard that he used to threaten her and shout at her as the land belonged to his grandmother. She had been getting calls from him for the past one year,” said Grace Banu.

Reportedly, Rajathi had been in a relationship with Maruthu in the past. The relationship between Maruthu and Rajathi turned sour following which the latter stopped visiting the temple.

“Maruthi and his brothers own the land where this temple is located. After the falling out, it was just Rajathi who was taking care of the temple affairs. A few days ago, Maruthu learnt that she had entered into a relationship with another man. It was following this that the bloodshed took place. Besides this, the 5 brothers also used to harass Rajathi and the trans women who would come to the temple to pray. When she took over the temple, we feel they feared that the temple would fall into the hands of the trans community,” the source from the community, who did not want to be named, told TNM.

Meanwhile, the two accused are on the run while the police have sent Rajathi’s body to the post mortem and an investigation has been initiated. The funeral ceremony will be held in Thoothukudi on Saturday.

Speaking to the media, Rajamani, the sub-inspector of Thoothukudi North police station added, “We have registered an FIR in the case. The accused has been identified as a 23-year old man who lives in the same area. No arrest has been made until now.”

Hampi Vandalism: Four youths punished to re-erect the pillars they had knocked down, fined ₹70,000 each

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On Monday, a court in Hospet city of Karnataka directed the four miscreants who had vandalised pillars at the Vishnu Temple Complex in Hampi to re-erect the pillars and also imposed a fine of ₹70,000 each.

According to the reports, the judge Poornima Yadav of the local Hospet JMFC court punished the four youths – Ayush from Madhya Pradesh, Raja Babu Chowdary, Raj Aryan and Rajesh Kumar Chowdary from Bihar with ₹70,000 each and ordered that the four accused to be taken to the spot to re-erect the pillars, in the presence of Archaeological Survey of India officials, the Hampi police inspector and other officials.

The four accused reportedly admitted their guilt and assured the court that they would not indulge in vandalism in the future. All the four were also released on Thursday after they paid a total of ₹2.8 lakhs fine. Speaking to the media, Kalimuthu, Deputy Superintending Archeologist, Hampi Mini Circle, confirmed that some of the fallen pillars have been re-erected by the youths.

Additional Public Prosecutor Geetha Mirajka said the four were arrested on February 8 and were in custody till February 13. “The maximum punishment for the act is two years imprisonment or fine up to Rs 1 lakh. Offenders will have to serve the jail term if they are unable to pay the fine. The judge ordered them to pay the fine and they were released after they re-erected the pillar,” she said.

We had earlier reported about a group of miscreants seen in a viral video damaging the carved stone pillars in Hampi. The video shows three men wrecking the pillars of 14th century Vishnu temple and the subsequent exultation by the trio after the pillars were broken down. The fourth accused had shot the video and had uploaded it in the social media.

The incident of vandalism at historic sites of Hampi had triggered severe anger among the locals as well as people on the Social Media. People had expressed their concern and anger about the lack of enough security arrangements at such historically and culturally important locations.

The heritage collection in the ancient town of Hampi spans nearly 42 square kilometres and includes over 1,600 monuments. These relics include temples, palaces, markets and public baths. Most of the structures enduring today were built between the 14th century and 16th century, while the town dates back to 3BC. The collection of monuments has been accorded World Heritage status by the UNESCO and it represents the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire.

Turkish website spreads rumours about Muslim Kashmiris being threatened in Hindu-majority India after Pulwama suicide bomb attack

A Turkish website called trtworld.com was seen spreading rumours about India attacking Kashmiris in the wake of the recent Pulwama terrorist attack. Referring to the Pulwama terrorist attack as “a suicide bomb attack” and Kashmir as “India-administered Kashmir”, the website posted a tweet from its official Twitter handle.


The report published by the website says that “Muslim Kashmiris living in Hindu-majority India are facing property evictions, job suspensions and attacks on social media after a suicide bomber killed 44 paramilitary troops in India-administered Kashmir.” It mentions the statements of some “fear-engulfed Kashmiris”, as claimed in the report, living in other parts of India regarding the kinds of threats they are facing from the Hindu-right wing groups. The report does not stop at that, it further goes on to claim that the last year was the deadliest for India’s security personnel in Kashmir ever since PM Modi’s “Hindu nationalist” Bharatiya Janata Party came to power.

A Twitter user claimed that his tweet, in which he tagged the Home Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office complaining about the anti-India tweet of the Trt World, was suspiciously deleted by Twitter.


Similar claims have been made by the “liberal intelligentsia” in India in what appears to be an attempt to divert the attention from the ghastly terrorist attack carried out by Pakistan-backed terrorist outfit Jaish-e Mohammad. A JNU freelance protestor Shehla Rashid was seen spreading the rumours that Kashmiri students were being threatened by a mob in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Her claims were refuted by the Dehradun police. While there was no mob threatening the Kashmiri students, there were protests against the Kashmiris who were celebrating the death of soldiers in the Pulwama Terrorist attack.

Punjab farmers face possibility of arrest as banks file criminal cases for defaulting on loans

According to a report on The Indian Express, banks in Punjab have started filing criminal cases against farmers for non-repayment of loans. The farmers, on the other hand, claim that they were made to sign on blank cheques.

Buta Singh Burjgill, president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakunda faction), claimed that in the past 12 months, “thousands of farmers” have been issued legal notices by banks by using the blank cheques they got farmers to sign on at the time of granting crop loans. “These days, banks have been taking triple securities from farmers — pledging of land, signing by a guarantor and blank/post-dated cheques – while the RBI has asked banks to extend collateral-free agricultural loans of up to Rs one lakh. That limit has been raised to Rs 1.6 lakh in the Interim Budget,” he said.

An unnamed public sector banker was mentioned in the report admitting to the practice of obtaining blank cheques as security for farm loans. He blamed it on the loan waiver scheme of the Punjab government and its decision to ban the auction of mortgaged land to recover loans. “What is happening is unfortunate. But if loans are waived and kukri is not allowed, and the government also wants us to lend more to farmers, what are we supposed to do?” he was quoted as saying.

Despite the Congress President’s professed love for farmers, it appears farmers are not doing very well in Congress-ruled states. Apart from Punjab where farmers face the possibility of arrest, in Karnataka, despite Rahul Gandhi’s fantastical claims, the state government had itself admitted that the Rs 44,000 crore loan waiver had helped only 800 farmers in the state. Defaulting farmers there faced the possibility of arrest as well.

In Madhya Pradesh as well, the loan waiver promised by the Congress party had numerous terms and conditions which made many farmers ineligible for it. Reportedly, a massive loan-waive scam has also been brewing in the state of Madhya Pradesh after reports emerged that various beneficiaries listed by the government eligible for farmer loan waiver did not even exist in reality. Many discrepancies and irregularities are already being unearthed in the loan waiver schemes. Moreover, there have reports of incidents where farmers have gotten a loan waiver of as little as 13 rupees against a loan of Rs. 24000 and Rs. 25-30 against loans of Rs. 1 lakh or more.

The Congress governments in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are facing severe outrage from the farmers within weeks of their government formation, as both governments in the respective states had created a crisis by mismanaging the supply of urea.

Despite Rahul Gandhi’s bravado, it appears that farmers are suffering immensely in Congress regimes.

BJP and Shiv Sena to contest Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections together, announce seat-sharing formula

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Putting to rest all speculations about whether Shiv Sena will continue as NDA ally or not, BJP and Shiv Sena announced today that they will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections together.

In a joint press conference addressed by BJP president Amit Shah, Shiv Sena chief Udhav Thackrey and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, it was announced that the three-decades-old alliance between the two parties will continue for the time being.

In the Lok Sabha elections, BJP will contest in 25 seats, while Shiv Sena will contest 23 seats. Maharashtra sends 48 MPs to Lok Sabha. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won 23 seats, while Shiv Sena had won 18 seats.


It was also announced that both the parties will contest an equal number of seats in the Assembly election. The Maharashtra Election will take place later this year, as the last election was held in October 2014.


In 2014, BJP and Shiv Sena had contested the assembly election separately, following disagreements over seat sharing. BJP had won 122 seats in the 288 member house, emerging as the largest party but falling short of the majority, while Shiv Sena had won only 63 seats. Later both the parties came together to form an alliance government in the state, led by BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.

Talking to reporters, Amit Shah said he is confident that BJP and Shiv Sena will together win 45 out of total 48 seats in Maharashtra. Uddhav Thackeray said that people are seeing Shiv Sena and BJP together for 30 years, out of which for 25 years both stood united while there was confusing in the rest 5 years. CM Fadnavis said that they have taken this decision in the interest of the nation, and the alliance leaders believe NDA will come to power in 2019.

‘Our effort is to win 1 seat more than 2014 in Uttar Pradesh, not any less’, Piyush Goyal talks about elections and much more

(Note: This interview with Minister Piyush Goyal was taken before the Pulwama terror attack. As a mark of respect to our nation’s brave martyrs, we held the publication of this interview back so far.)

The General Elections is only weeks away and the electoral hustle bustle is just about picking up. One felt the mood changing after the Interim Union Budget 2019-2020 where big bang reforms were delivered, especially, for the middle-class. With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley away for treatment, acting FM Piyush Goyal delivered the budget speech.

OpIndia.com recently had the opportunity to interview Union Minister of Railways, Piyush Goyal. During the interview, Goyal answered questions on a variety of issues including BJP’s electoral prospects ahead of the 2019 General elections and the interim budget which he presented as the interim Union Minister.

The questions have been mentioned in bold followed by Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s answers.

In the interim budget, middle-class was the focus. Was this planned since the beginning or did the party take this decision after sensing some discontent among the middle-class? 

Goyal downplayed the suggestions that the massive benefits provided to the middle-class and income taxpayers in the interim budget were motivated by reports of ‘middle-class discontent’ with the BJP. “This was what we had planned and we have been working towards this in the past 4 years. I have listed the steps taken by the government in the previous budgets, this is just one more step in the series. Collectively, we had already given 80-90 thousand crores benefits to the middle class over the past 4 years and another 25 thousand crores this year, so this is merely a continuation. Put together, the tax benefits help people with income up to 6, 7, 8 lakhs and sometimes even 9 lakhs, almost become tax-free.”

Goyal also remarked on the low rates of inflation during the Narendra Modi government which benefits the middle class the most. “It’s at 2% right now. Never before has there been 5 years of consistently low inflation. You look at any 5 years in the history of India, we never had a period where we have seen 5 years of consistently low inflation. We inherited it at 9-10%, at one point, it had gone up to over 12% during the UPA regime. We have brought it down to 2%. I think it’s a huge achievement.”

The middle class cares about inflation, taxes, and corruption. Rahul Gandhi is trying to raise the bogey of corruption. Do you think his allegations will stick?

“People of India know what’s good for them. They trust Narendra Modi. Now, with the Supreme Court’s verdict, the CAG report has come out, the French government and Indian government have issued clarifications on the matter. I think the issue is settled and any amount of mudslinging will not have any impact.”

There has been a lot of talk about the lack of jobs in the market since BJP came to power. Do you think we have a job creation issue or the issue of lack of data on job creation? 

On the matter of job creation, Goyal insisted that we need better measures for collecting data on jobs. “The nature of jobs is changing all over the world. There are numerous areas where the jobs are not being counted because our method of collection of data is still based on old times.” When asked why a consolidated database on job creation, direct and indirect is not being released, he said that the nature of jobs are changing and the consolidated list is being compilated, to be released soon.

There have been allegations made against the BJP that the government was slow in pursuing cases of corruption during the first 4 years of the government and has only picked up pace only a few months earlier with the extradition of Christian Michel and others related to various scams.

“Our efforts to bring back such people have been most consistent. We have never slackened the pace at all. All of this culminates after due process, you can’t do it overnight. There are international agreements over which these achievements happen and I am happy that it has been one government which has been really relentless in its pursuit of such fugitives.”

Mulayam Singh Yadav supported Prime Minister Modi during the last session of Lok Sabha. What do you think changed? Do you think his statement is based on ground reality or change of heart?

“I think the people of Uttar Pradesh have made up their mind in support of Prime Minister Modi. Very clearly, for years, they haven’t seen a decisive government taking care of law and order the way it is today. Large parts of Uttar Pradesh have suffered due to lack of amenities for years and years which we have provided them. Over several generations, people in Uttar Pradesh were reconciled to such kind of existence, that has changed. And I believe there can be no better example of this than the results in Kairana which was not even a national election. Despite the entire opposition being together and Kairana not being a traditional BJP stronghold, we won over 46% of the votes, it’s no mean achievement. I think the winds are very much in BJP’s favour. Our effort is we are going to win 1 seat more than 2014, not any seat less.”

When asked if SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s remarks where he expressed his desire to see Narendra Modi re-elected as Prime Minister for a second term were indicative of his personal opinions or ground realities, Goyal replied, “My opinion is that it’s both, that it is the ground reality and also that it has been a good government which has worked for the welfare of the poor. Also, his traditional instinct that we need a good government in the country.”

What are the plans for Tamil Nadu? You are the prabhari there

Piyush Goyal said that the BJP is in talks with various parties and mentioned that “whichever parties have aligned with the Congress, they have been completely wiped out.” He also said that Rajnikanth is a “good friend” and at some point, will try meeting him as well.

The Modi government inherited a mess in the Railway sector. How did you manage to turn that around? 

“Historically before the Modi government came in, there were fund shortages. You think of any program, the first thing that you had to deal with was the lack of funds. The mindset was one of ‘We don’t have funds, so we can’t do much’. But mindset today has changed, Prime Minister Modi has ensured that Railways gets enough funds. We are focusing on modern technologies, we have revolutionized the cleanliness levels. Railway stations are cleaner than ever before. Now, we are trying to refurbish the trains to make the whole passenger experience much more delightful.”

Minister Piyush Goyal also spoke about how they revolutionarised the punctuality of railways and the importance of data collection when it comes to the railways. He said that earlier, the punctuality data was not accurate. On paper, the punctuality was always good. But people have always complained about punctuality. Goyal said that when a root cause analysis was done, they realised that punctuality was based on station master reports, which were inaccurate. Now, they have put data loggers across the country at all the interjections. The day the new system was switched on, the punctuality fell by 20%. Hence, unless the data is more robust and captures the actual position, a fix on the problem can never happen.

The Vande Bharat Express, which used to be called Train 18, has been displayed as an engineering marvel in India. What makes it so? 

“The Vande Bharat is a train set like they use abroad. It’s not different coaches being put together, so the safety level is much more. Also, the luxury levels will be much higher than any other train apart from speed. It also doesn’t have an engine. Further, there are regenerative power benefits. In many respects, it is modern technology at work in India and my own sense is that it will help change the passenger experience in India. We are already in the process of procuring 30 more trains and going forward, we will keep expanding. It’s the first time that India engineers have designed, manufactures and conceptualized this. It gives you a lot of self-confidence when you do something like that and it has been done in a time-bound manner, good modern technology and it is world-class. Going forward, we will improvise on it. And at the end of the day, I think we may end up supplying them to the rest of the world from India.”

There has been a lot of controversy regarding the Angel Tax. While the government has asserted that there will be no coercive action, there have been demands to withdraw this provision altogether considering the Modi government has been big on ‘stand up, startup’. What do you have to say about it? 

“Firstly, there is no such thing as an Angel Tax. This problem started because earlier, many people used to have shell companies, issuing shares at a huge premium and using that method to launder money. So, restrictions had to be brought. As you know, we have delisted nearly 300,000 companies and action had to be taken against those who indulge in such practices. Now, unless a company has some cogent evaluation or value and shares are issued at exorbitant premiums, it raises suspicion about the intent behind it. Now, what is needed is to separate the honest taxpayers and the real venture capitalists and start-ups from those indulge in the money laundering business. The tax that is presently being imposed is on those operations where money laundering was being done by issuing shares at a huge premium. We are trying to ensure that honest start-ups and capitalists do not suffer as a consequence. I am quite confident that we will be able to resolve the issue soon and no honest person will suffer. If necessary, when we come back, we will bring back measures which are necessary to address the issue.”

(This interview was conducted by Nupur J Sharma and Rahul Roushan)

Navbharat Times published two different versions of the same news in two different editions with same misleading headline

Ever since Vande Bharat Express, India’s first semi-high speed train, was flagged off by PM Modi a few days ago, a certain section of media has been targeting the made in India train by mocking it for getting delayed during its first run.

A popular Hindi newspaper Navbharat Times published two different versions of the same piece of news in its Ghaziabad and Delhi editions on February 18. The newspaper published that an unidentified person has committed suicide by jumping in front of Vande Bharat express. In the newspaper’s Ghaziabad edition, it was reported that the incident took place when the train was travelling from Varanasi to Delhi.

Navbharat Times Ghaziabad edition

While the same piece of news published in its Delhi edition claimed that the incident happened last month during the train’s trial run.

Navbharat Times Delhi Edition

It is unlikely that the readers of the newspaper in Delhi will read the Ghaziabad version of the newspaper to cross-check the news or vice versa. The difference in the news reported in two editions was spotted by a Twitter user who posted the photos of both the editions on Twitter.


This unexpected and highly irresponsible for a popular newspaper like Navbharat Times. This also raises questions on the credibility of the incident published by the newspaper.

Responding questions asked on social media regarding this anomaly, Navbharat Times journalist Narendra Nath Mishra said that it was a mistake that was rectified in the Delhi edition. He informed that Noida edition is printed earlier hence the error remained, which will be corrected later.


But this clarification still does not explain what was the need to publish a one-month-old news today. And even the Delhi edition, which carried the correct news, used a misleading headline to suggest it is a setback for the Vande Bharat Express project. Committing suicide by jumping in front of trains is an unfortunate event that happens quite often, but to term that as a setback for a newly launched train is a completely wrong presentation of the incident. People deliberately giving their lives by coming under running trains can’t raise questions on performance on a train, and Navbharat Times report on both the editions seems to be designed to spread negative information about the newly launched train.

Kavita Krishnan uses 4 year old photograph to claim PM Narendra Modi was laughing after Pulwama attack

There is no stop in lies by liberals in the aftermath of Pulwama attacks. There are rumours being spread that Kashmiri Students were harassed in various parts of the country after the attacks. Now, left-wing activist Kavita Krishnan has resorted to using an old photograph to peddle a lie.


On 17th February, Kavita Krishnan posted a tweet saying that while the entire nation is crying due to the Pulwama attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his friends like Nitish Kumar, Sakshi Maharaj are laughing and having fun at election rallies. She made the comments quoting a tweet by a Twitter user who had posted a photograph which shows Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar laughing together. Kavita Krishna tried to imply that the photograph was taken after the Pulwama attacks, and PM Modi is so insensitive towards the attack that he laughed loudly in public just after the horrific terror attack.

The photo seen here in a July 2015 report of Indian Express

But the fact is that the photograph that Kavita Krishnan was referring to is very old, and is not after the Pulwama attack. The Photograph was taken on 25th July 2015 in
Patna, where Modi had addressed an election rally ahead of assembly elections. Although both the leaders are seeing sharing a laugh in the photo, they were political opponents at that time, as Nitish Kumar had allied with RJD ahead of the assembly elections.

This means the allegation that Modi was having fun at election rallies after the Pulwama attack is false, as that allegation is based on a photo that is almost 4 years old.