We had earlier reported about Assam BJP’s Tinsukia district president Lakheswar Moran being thrashed by a mob protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill on January 30. Moran was there to attend a Lok Jagran Manch meeting, organised to tackle the misinformation surrounding the Amendment bill.
The protest was reportedly led by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Former NDA partner Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP).
Moran was greeted with slogans and black flags shown by protestors at the event. Subsequently, the protest took a violent turn after some protesters started chasing the leader. Miscreants were seen throwing tyres and stones over the leader, and also manhandling him. In the wake of this, police intervened and safely escorted Moran, protecting from further violence.
According to reports, the main accused in the case Sahir Hussain has been nabbed by police today. The alleged miscreant hails from Barpathar town of Golaghat district of Assam.
“We don’t have any problem if someone protests with black flags or going nudes. But if someone does like it was done in case of our Tinsukia district president, our 29 lakh karyakartas (workers) will not remain silent.” BJP’s state President Ranjit Kumar Dass was quoted after the incident. An FIR was also lodged by the state unit.
On February 1, hundreds of activists of BJP and other organizations a had led a protest condemning the assault outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office. Activists also submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner expressing ‘serious concern and anguish ‘ over the incident.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which was passed in the Lok Sabha on 8th January, seeks an amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to the persecuted minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, and Christians) from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The bill is expected to be tabled in Rajya Sabha during the Budget session.
Many years ago, a great Prophet had prophesied that a time will come when the dirty brown people of India would be depressed with leaders with ugly faces. After decades of longing for prettiness and gazillions of tubes of Fair and Lovely having been wasted by crores of Indians in the hopes of brightening their newspaper pages and TV screens, one day, a leader will come who will make all the gloom in their unworthy, brown lives disappear with just a smile. The leader will be the offspring of equally dazzling parents, a king and a queen, who would both rule over the land, and will have so much resemblance with the Goddess of Emergency that the resemblance itself can ensure 200 Lok Sabha seats.
The above prophecy may sound like a scary fable to Sanghi bigots who worship the devil, but this is the gospel truth for true believers of the faith of secular Nehruvianism. This is the future they had kept hoping for. The prophecy had kept them alive through the falling TRPs, the lost elections, the daily dose of public humiliation done by the devil’s Bhakts who bust their claims and fake news sermons with screenshots and reference links.
“How dare the devil’s Bhakts bust the claims of the perfumed, elite believers whose English flows over their privileged mouths like hot chocolate over vanilla scoops, how dare the devil worshipers to question the sermons uttered by those who are better, smarter, savvier than them?”, some of the believers of the true faith often wondered, “should not they take whatever we say as the gospel truth?”
“One day, my fellow believer, one day,” another would reassure. Together they had endured, all in hopes that one day, the princess that was promised will come to claim her throne and their fortunes will change. The TRPs will jump, the humiliation of riding autorickshaws with ugly wannabes will change to executive travels in charted planes. The days of speculating electoral outcomes and counting the semen content in Holi balloons will change into wine and cheese sessions and picking ministers for the union cabinet. They kept living, kept believing.
Well, finally their prayers were answered. The Princess of Congress decided that she can no longer stay away from her destiny. She had had enough. Mrs Priyanka Vadra decided that the time has come when she will have to claim her other surname. The time has come to move the handloom sarees to the main cupboard from the once-in-five-years box. As expected, the believers rejoiced, their god had decided to descend onto the earth. Their saviour had had enough of being called the poor farmer’s wife and came to snatch the throne from saffron clad devils.
What followed was no less than the scenes of Devtas raining flowers from heaven in old Ramanand Sagar epics. Behold:
Priyanka Vadra’s political entryVia Twittervia Twitter
With Priyanka’s formal entry into politics, which like Rahul Gandhi’s coming of age, has been happening several times in the last decades, the lost art of true journalism is being revived in our country. The entire Lutyens cabal that was reduced to scrapping the bottom of the barrel by fascist Modi has been feeling like one happy family. Even strangers smiling at each other, senior journos are hugging juniors and all that, a new era has dawned.
From now onwards, the media believers of secularism, the Nehruvian holders of the idea of India who have known the meaning of ‘palimpsest’ before they started on sippy cups will no longer have to spend their days in despair trying to invent cases of mob lynchings, outrage on fading colours of currency notes and repeat “where are the jobs” 5 times a day like a prayer. They have a princess to fuss about, write poetry for and sing praises on.
The India that was choking under constant fascism from saffron-clad men who knew nothing about class and style, who spoke and looked like every other person in the streets of Delhi has now got a style icon. The crisp handloom saree can make tons of saffron kurta disappear with a swish of its pallu. The suave hairstyle carefully maintained over the years to drive home the Dadi-resemblance deep into the psyche of every Indian voter can negate the bald heads and boring buns of the devil supporters. One flashing smile and the fingers will automatically move past the lotus towards the familiar ‘hand’. Indian mainstream media will find its glory days back.
Via Twitter
Rahul Gandhi has so far been the Taimur Khan of Indian politics. Like the media in our country feels itself obliged to inform us about every little detail of Taimur baba’s days, from his new shoes to nannies, toys and reactions given to random objects, Rahul baba’s ventures into temples, his opinions ranging from MRIs to potato factories to fighter jets are force-fed down the throats of Indians with so much frequency that, if Rahul manages to invent a way to stuff calories into words like ‘mobile factories’, ‘Rafale’, ‘Ambani’, ‘Kisan’, we would all be obese with unbearable weights.
So with the arrival of Mrs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the mainstream media of our nation will now be challenged with the task of trailblazing journalism. The race for most honest, non-pliant, brave media house is already on and many outlets are soaring ahead with their outstanding pieces on Priyanka Vadra’s hobbies, likes and dislikes. How many of you were aware that ‘Tiger enthusiast’ is an actual thing? See, that is what not having a secular, liberal, Nehruvian national leader does to your brains.
Like we all know by now that how differently Taimur reacts to a cat, dog and a toy, we are now going to know how exactly Mrs Vadra reacts to the names of each saffron politician.
Reporter: Ma’am Smriti Irani has hit back at you again…
Priyanka Gandhi: Who? pic.twitter.com/vRCn5ubjp2
Priyanka’s brother Rahul has made us realise the difference between ‘pliant’ and ‘non-pliant’ media. Pliant media is one that grills a politician about issues ranging from the nation’s economy to defence procurement, from agrarian crisis to industrial output. But true, secular, liberal media gulps down factual errors and blatant lies without questioning, asks about food habits, cooking skills and family life.
When the images of an ever-smiling Priyanka getting out of a car, walking towards sunlight, waving to the public, smiling at the camera, expressing ignorance over names of union ministers will completely saturate the Indian mainstream media scene, then maybe we will be treated with a live interview where we will get to know whether she likes her pasta with white sauce or tomato, whether the agrarian crisis brought on by the communal forces bothers her farmer husband, does she consider herself a grassroots politician, considering that her husband owns so much of farmlands, did she ever have her Dadi cook something for her? Questions that will awaken sleeping voters into dumping temporary leaders and choose leaders they were born to serve.
As of now, the princess has decided that she will have her own office. For hours now, news channels have been showing images of a nameplate being hung near a door. There are even special reports featuring journalists ‘reporting’ on the fact that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has got a new office. Surely, any office that Priyanka decides to use cannot be an ordinary office. So we are being told that it is the same office that her brother earlier used to make his staff sit in. Glorious historical facts.
Via Twitter
As if the enormity of the information that she got an office in the Congress headquarters was not asserted enough, we got exclusive reports, TV debates and lengthy analysis of the pros, cons, and the sheer universal significance of the office. In between, we are treated with other earth-shattering pieces of information like how she refused a grand welcome ceremony at the airport and how the location of the room at 24, Akbar road exudes hints and signs of her future role. And just when the people were about to recover from the overwhelming significance of the new office room the princess got in the headquarters of her family business, comes another future possibility, does the office room mean Priyanka will be the warrior to challenge the current CM of UP in 2022?
As the elections come nearer, we will perhaps be treated with more such important pieces of information. Just like we are apprised when Rahul Gandhi flies economy class, eats ice cream and has breakfast in a restaurant, we just cannot wait to find out how the flowers in a garden shine brighter in the reflected light from Priyanka’s face, how the per capita work enthusiasm has increased among Congress workers after she has taken charge, does she like organically produced vegetables from Rajasthan lands or Haryana lands and does she think Taimur should have his own dedicated TV channel. We are just dying to find out.
The Central university Jamia Milia Islamia has refused to implement the Economically Weaker Section reservation bill, citing the existing minority tag associated with it.
According to a Times of India report, the university in its academic council has decided that it will not be sending the University Grants Commission, its seat arrangement and infrastructure needs, in accordance with the reservation bill.
The Human Resource and Development Ministry, on January 17, had asked central universities to implement the bill and furnish the ministry with relevant information by January 31. HRD ministry has also asked institutions to implement the quota in the 2019-20 sessions and also increase 25% seats there. Jawaharlal Nehru University has already sent the details to HRD on February 1, while DU is yet to comply.
“We found that as we are a minority institution, the EWS quota won’t be applicable to us,” an Academic Council member was quoted by TOI. The member also added that due to minority tag, the university has also not implemented the OBC reservation quota.
The Economically Weaker Section bill became a law on January 9, after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha. The bill amended the articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India, making provision for reservation for educational institutes and jobs respectively. This reservation was added to the existing 50% reservation provided for people from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes. The bill has already been implemented in several states.
The economically backward has been defined as a family with an annual income below ₹8 lakhs, apart from clauses on landholding. The ₹8 lakh limit is at per with the existing limit for the creamy layer of OBCs.
In the past, there have been demands for ‘minority institutions’ like Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia Islamia, to accommodate Dalits in the university by implementing the reservation meant for them.
In an earlier report, we had documented the numerous occasions between 2009 and 2015 when the media had declared the ‘coming of age’ of now Congress President Rahul Gandhi. It appears the media hasn’t changed much since then. They have heralded the rise of Rahul Gandhi almost as many times as the Starks say “Winter is Coming” on Game of Thrones.
The latest instance was yesterday when The Wire published an Op-Ed by one Anikendra Sen where he argues that “The Congress president is clearly emerging as the game changer in the 2019 general elections.”
The Wire article which talks about Rahul Gandhi coming of age, again.
Two days after the Congress secured a victory in the Assembly Elections of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, it was only to be expected that the media would award much more credit to the Congress President than he deserved and the media did not disappoint.
The Daily Star, The Economic Times, all declared that Rahul Gandhi had finally ‘come of age’. The most hilarious, however, was certainly the google results that pop up for Economic Times. In 2009, the media outlet had declared with certainty: “Rahul Gandhi: A Coming of Age”. Over 9 years later, the certainty had certainly been drained out from its voice and in 2018, the same outlet posed it as a question, “Has Rahul Gandhi come of age?” Well, at least they conceded that they could not be sure this time around.
As per Economic Times, Rahul Gandhi has been coming of age since 2009.
But the media was declaring the ‘coming of age’ of Rahul Gandhi even before the Congress party’s recent victories in the recent state elections. In December, 2017, The Indian Express published an Op-Ed with the headline ‘Rahul Gandhi’s coming of age in 2017 sparks hopes of a Congress revival’ where the author argued “The image the Rahul Gandhi of 2017 wants to build and project is not of ‘an angry outsider’ but that of an ‘evolved politician’ as he seeks to rebuild the Congress party that has been at its lowest ebb in its 132-year history”.
Rahul Gandhi hope of revival for Congress, Indian Express
Around the same time, India Today, too published an article which claimed that Rahul Gandhi has come of age.
Every media outlet appears to have published articles where they have declared the coming of age of Rahul Gandhi as a politician. At least in Game of Thrones, after 6 seasons, Winter eventually came but it appears Indian media outlets will still be heralding the coming of age of Rahul Gandhi even when he is 70.
Since 2015, what has Rahul Gandhi really done to prove that he has ‘come of age’? He voiced his support for the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang of JNU, he has been lying repeatedly on the Rafale issue, he met with Chinese officials, secretly, while India was engaged in the Doklam standoff with China. Are these the signs of the ‘coming of age’ of a politician? When Rahul Gandhi is not lying on the floor of the Parliament, he is busy winking. And the lies are not white lies, his lies made the French government issue a clarification on the matter.
The only thing that has changed with Rahul Gandhi in recent times is the fact that he will stop at nothing to ensure Modi’s defeat, even if it meant his own party suffering electorally. In Uttar Pradesh, it has essentially conceded the entire space to the alliance between SP and BSP. In West Bengal, he ignored the state unit of his own party which claimed that Trinamool was murdering its supporters and went overboard in his support to Mamata Banerjee. In Karnataka, it’s in an alliance with the JD(S) which appears far too similar to a bad marriage. The Congress has been entirely wiped out from the North East as well. In Delhi, the party is said to be considering an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party, which would have seemed impossible couple of years back.
The Congress has been continuously ceding ground and that is fine. It appears for Rahul Gandhi and Congress, stopping Narendra Modi is more important than their own recovery. But the ‘stop at nothing’ attitude has also meant that the Congress President used the ruse of a courtesy visit to a terminally ill man to spread utter lies on the Rafale matter for electoral gains. That’s utterly disgraceful.
Of late, Rahul Gandhi has displayed an utter disregard for conventions and norms and stooped to unthinkable lows for electoral benefits. To the ‘pliant media’, it might appear as ‘coming of age’ but to sane folks, it shows a dangerous anarchic trait that the Congress President Rahul Gandhi appears to have picked up from his apparent ally Arvind Kejriwal. It’s no surprise then while the state unit of the Congress party and its workers are shedding blood for the party, Rahul Gandhi has no hesitating in embracing Trinamool for his personal ambitions.
‘Pliant Media’ may try to cloak it under the garb of fancy phrases like ‘coming of age’, in reality, these are only the desperate attempts of a political party in a state of decline to remain relevant by shedding every manner of decency, conventions and norms and an increasing willingness to sacrifice national interest at the altar of personal ambition.
Union Minister Smriti Irani today welcomed the apex court’s decision summoning Kolkata Police Commissioner to appear before the CBI and to cooperate in the Saradha Chit Fund scam probe. Irani said that the SC’s decision has ensured that a free and fair investigation in the many chit-fund scams which take place and that the culprits are brought to book.
Hitting out at the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Irani called her an ‘anarchist’ and expressed shock over her assertion of ‘moral victory’. Irani claimed that the fact that the Supreme Court instructed the Kolkata Police chief to meet CBI at a neutral venue is an implicit recognition of the lawlessness in West Bengal. Irani further alleged that the decision by the Supreme Court should spell concern for Mamata Banerjee, not a moment for celebration.
“With egg on her face, to celebrate it as a moral victory is a dichotomy that is only available in the realms of Mamata Banerjee’s politics,” added Irani.
Earlier today, listening to a petition filed by the CBI, the three-member bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said that the Supreme Court will instruct the Police Commissioner to make himself available for the investigation and cooperate fully. The Supreme Court issued a notice to Commissioner Of Police Kolkata, DGP and Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on contempt plea. The court has asked to file their response by 20th February. The Supreme Court has said that the Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar will appear before the CBI in Shillong, Meghalaya as a neutral place.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) has posted 7.12 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 246.51 crore for its third quarter ended December 31, 2018, and has brought down its Gross NPA from 18.32% to 16.33% indicating a sharp drop in provisions for bad loans. This despite the 100% provision made for the Rs 13,000 crore scam in which Nirav Modi is the prime accused.
According to the reports, Punjab National Bank, the second largest government-owned lender has reported a surprise profit in the October-December quarter, aided by lower provisioning for bad loans. PNB recovered about Rs 16,000 crore in the quarter helping the bank improve its balance sheet.
The provisions decreased 67 per cent from Rs 7,733.27 crore in the previous quarter to Rs 2,565.77 crore in the current quarter. During the quarter, the percentage of net non-performing assets declined to 8.22 per cent from 8.90 per cent in the September quarter.
“We are back in (the) black, after 100 per cent provisions for all our commitments,” PNB chief executive Sunil Mehta said in an earnings briefing. “We have honoured all our commitments. Our bank, as on date, has provided all for that incident (Nirav Modi fraud). We suffered because of the one-off incident which has now been absorbed by the bank,” Mehta said.
The total provisions excluding for income tax, made during the third quarter of the current financial year were ₹2,753.84 crore as against ₹4,466.68 crore in the year-ago period.
The Congress old-hand O M George has surrendered before Manandavady’s deputy superintendent of police Kuberan Namboothiri in a case regarding the sexual assault of a 17-year-old Adivasi girl several times in a span of two years. A case had been registered under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the district Congress committee (DCC) member O M George.
The incident came to the fore after the victim tried to commit suicide. Following it, the Childline activists assured that the victim was safeguarded and informed the police of the development. The victim’s relatives have alleged that the police didn’t heed their complaints and showed no interest in arresting the culprit. They have also accused the police of seeking to settle the case by bribing the victim and her family.
Owing to police’s callous response, the victim’s mother proclaimed of going on a hunger strike in front of the police station to protest against the “inaction and disinterest of the police in daughter’s assault case”. The incident provoked George to surrender.
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran has announced George’s suspension from the party. The DCC president of the Sulthan Bathery constituency assured strict action against George if he is found guilty. George had reportedly tried to settle the matter with police but to no avail. He was absconding since the incident came to light but has now surrendered himself.
While Rahul Gandhi waxes eloquence about ‘women empowerment’, his own party members are found guilty of serious offences undermining the modesty of women. This is not the first time that such appalling incidents have emerged involving Congress office-bearers. A former Kerala Chief Minister from Congress was named in a rape case in October 2018 and youth congress workers were accused of molestation during the Kathua and Unnao rape protests, among several other cases.
On Monday, AAP MLA Alka Lamba claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unfollowed her on Twitter. She further claimed that she has also been removed from the official WhatsApp group.
According to the reports, the Chandni Chowk MLA expressed disappointment over deliberate sidelining her in the party. After being removed from the official Whatsapp group, Alka Lamba said she has sent a message to the party leaders asking them to clear their stand on her position in the party.
“I have a strong feeling that the party does not need my services at all. But till I am an MLA, I will continue serving the people of my constituency,” said Alka Lamba.
“Such things, like removing from WhatsApp groups, unfollowing on Twitter and not inviting in meetings make me feel that I deserve the same position and respect as other MLAs have. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for me to continue. I cannot compromise my self-respect,” she further told PTI.
Alka Lamba has also denied allegations that she was getting closer to the Congress party, Lamba said, “It is being assumed that I am going to join the Congress though I have not uttered a word against the AAP or its leaders. But on the other hand, efforts to ally with the Congress through a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ are considered okay by them.”
Recently, MLA Alka Lamba was reportedly asked to resign from the Aam Aadmi Party over a resolution that was presented in the Delhi Assembly on December 21. Alka Lamba had protested against an alleged proposal to revoke Bharat Ratna awarded to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Recently, former Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly, Sukhpal Khaira tendered his resignation from AAP citing Kejriwal’s ‘dictatorial attitude‘. Prior to that, AAP leader HS Phoolka, who was against the formation of an alliance with Congress also resigned from the party. Years after AAP founding members Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav were kicked out of the party, in August last year, AAP senior leader Ashutosh and Ashish Khetan had also quit the party.
Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs today protested against the state government in the state assembly today by throwing paper planes and paper balls towards the governor Ram Naik.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath on ruckus in UP Assembly: The way slogans were raised against the Governor & SP members threw paper balls at him is condemnable. We criticise how SP&BSP members behaved in front of the Governor. Now you can imagine what kind of system these people want. pic.twitter.com/yPNGyq9sQa
They also held banners likening the CBI to a caged parrot and raised slogans as Governor Ram Naik addressed a joint session of Uttar Pradesh Legislature in Lucknow on Tuesday.
However, this is not the first time SP and BSP members have resorted to this sort of unschooled and trifling behaviour to stall the UP assembly proceedings. Last year too, the opposition had resorted to throwing paper planes, paper balls and balloons at Governor Ram Naik, agitating against Yogi government over encounters of dreaded criminals.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has been conducting encounters against dreaded criminals at a remarkable frequency since Yogi Adityanath took over as the Chief Minister of the state. Thus far, over 1,100 encounters have been conducted and 38 criminals have been eliminated. Hundreds of others have been arrested.
Although the public has been supportive of the Chief Minister’s drive to root out lawlessness from the society, oppositions like SP and BSP were troubled with the prompt actions taken by the UP police and thought it prudent enough to have recourse to protests in the Assembly, holding placards with slogans such as “Nirdoshon ki farzi encounter band karo (stop fake encounters of innocents)” and “Kansganj ke sampradayik hinsa mein nirdosh logon pe zulm bandh karo (stop harassing innocents in Kansganj)”.
Previously also, the Samajwadi party has initiated this kind of ludicrous act. In May 2017, the Budget session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature had begun on a turbulent note as the opposition parties created a ruckus during Governor Ram Naik’s address to the House. The SP, BSP members were seen throwing papers at the Governor’s face as he tried to complete his address.
In 2014, during the Uttar Pradesh assembly session, RJD legislators, in what could be called the most uncultured act, took off their shirts protesting against the incumbent government.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led state government will present the budget for the year 2019-20 on February 7. Subsequently, the discussion on Budget will take place on four days beginning from February 12. On February 6, February 7 the house will discuss Governer’s address. The Session would discuss and put to vote from February 18 -22.
The bonhomie between the Opposition parties was palpable at the dramatic ‘Dharna’ organized by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee following a team of CBI officials being detained by the state police.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi was quick to lend his support to the Trinamool supremo, making a remarkable U-Turn from his earlier stand on the matter where he had accused her of protecting the accused.
Now, it appears, while the Congress party at the national level is supporting Trinamool, their state unit is planning to organize massive protests against their supposed ally for their alleged involvement in chit fund scams.
Congress president Somendra Nath Mitra told News18, “At the national level, our stand is to be with all the parties including Trinamool who are against the BJP. But in the state politics, state Congress will fight with both the TMC and the BJP.” Mitra further claimed that Congress supporters had been killed by the TMC and their MLAs and MPs were forced to join them. “Given this, how can you expect me to join hands with the TMC in Bengal?”
The state unit of the Congress party has been at odds with the national wing of the party for a long while now. Last year in August, while the Gandhis met Mamata, the then state Congress chief, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, called Mamata a ‘chameleon’, ‘Trojan Horse’ and ‘Dictator’.
The national unit of the Congress party appears to be sacrificing its state unit due to its larger anti-BJP agenda. It raises a serious question about the kind of leader Rahul Gandhi is. The state unit of Congress claims that their supporters have been murdered by the TMC and yet Rahul Gandhi appears to be willing to ignore those murders and embrace the TMC due to his personal ambition of being the Prime Minister.
Ultimately, it appears the sacrifices of the Congress workers will go in vain as the national leadership has already made up its mind to lend its support to the Trinamool Congress. Since the party leadership has abandoned them, it appears to be only a matter of time before people from the state unit of Congress abandon the party as well.
