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Telangana: Congress candidate loses Panchayat elections, husband demands bribe money back from voters

OpIndia Staff
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Telangana: Congress candidate loses Panchayat elections, husband demands bribe money back from voters

In a bizarre incident in Telangana, the husband of a Congress candidate who lost in the recent Panchayat elections went back to voters demanding the return of money they had received as bribes before the election, reported Times Now.

The incident took place in Jajireddy Gudem village in Suryapet district of Telangana. On January 25, polls were held to elect the sarpanch and Prabhakar’s wife, Uppu Hymavathi had also contested for the post, while ending up with just 24 of the 269 votes in the village.

Following the election loss, Uppu Hymavathi’s husband Prabhakar has gone back to voters demanding that the money he had distributed among voters should be returned. Reportedly, the couple paid each voter between Rs 500- 700, in return for the promise of a vote. However, Prabhakar went around the village demanding the voters to return the money after the villagers didn’t vote for his wife Hymavathi.

According to a The News Minute video, Prabhakar is seen fighting with a villager, who had allegedly received the money to vote for Hymavathi. In the video, it can be seen that one of the villagers is refusing to return the money saying that he does not have money with him right now.

Prabhakar, however, after his series of request pleads to the villager that he is ready to fold his hands to get his money back. One of the voters finally obliges and said he will return the money. Reportedly, most of the villagers have not yet returned the money that they had received.

West Bengal: Vehicles used for Amit Shah’s rally in East Midnapore vandalised, BJP holds TMC responsible

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: Vehicles used for Amit Shah’s rally in East Midnapore vandalised, BJP holds TMC responsible

Several vehicles parked near BJP President Amit Shah’s rally venue in East Midnapore, West Bengal were reported to be vandalised on Tuesday. The vehicles were used to ferry people to the rally venue, which were parked near the rally site.


Public properties, private bikes and buses were in flames as violence enraged. After the incident, BJP blamed the ruling TMC in West Bengal and held the party responsible for ‘the attack’.

Soon after Shah left the spot, supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) clashed with each other. The two sides pelted stones at each other and the Rapid Action Force (RAF) had to be called in to control the situation.


As the event drew to a close, the BJP workers discovered several vehicles damaged.  Blaming the TMC for the incident, BJP leader Rahul Sinha said, “The TMC is afraid of our strength that’s why they committed violence. It is unfortunate that everything happened in front of police. Attackers didn’t even spare women workers.”

The BJP’s secretary in-charge of West Bengal, Kailash Vijayvargiya, referring to the incident, warned the Cheif minister of Bengal, Mamata Banerjee saying that the attack “will cost dearly.”

Earlier, during the rally, Amit Shah sneered the TMC chief on various issues ranging from the Rohingya crisis to the state of poverty, from the attacks on the BJP workers in the state to the citizenship bill.

While Shah in his scathing attack on Mamta alleged that Banerjee’s paintings were bought by chit fund owners for crores of rupees, he also mocked her double standards alleging that she has a soft corner for infiltrators but takes a tough stand on refugees coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Addressing the public rally, Shah said, “I would like to ask Mamataji if she will support Citizenship Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha or not and tell that to people of Bengal. They welcome infiltrators and Rohingya but there is no place here for the refugees who come to save themselves. I would like to tell all the refugees in Bengal that BJP and the Narendra Modi government will grant them the citizenship”.

Asserting that it was impossible for any state to flourish unless the roots of democracy are strengthened, Shah concluded that the West Bengal’s present generation is missing out on the past glory of the state. “This land of West Bengal has led the nation for many years. It provided cultural leadership, political leadership and commercial leadership but what has happened to that Bengal? Where did ‘Shonar Bangla’ go? Bengalis in India are searching for it. All are looking towards Bengal…For this nation, it might be an election to make Modi ji PM once again but for Bengal, the election means to re-build ‘Shonar Bangla’,” said Shah.

Shah also criticised the state government for creating an obstruction in BJP’s planned Yatras.

Meanwhile, TMC leader, Chandrima Bhattacharya has issued a defamation notice to BJP national president Amit Shah for his remarks against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking to either give evidence in support of his statements or apologise publicly for his comments.

The Mamata government had denied permission to BJP to carry out their proposed ‘rath yatra’, which the party had planned to flag from Cooch Behar on December 7, citing threats of ‘communal disharmony’ in the state.

After being denied permission for their proposed ‘rath yatra‘ or the ‘Gantantra Bachao yatra’ in West Bengal, BJP had announced dates for the public meetings the party intends to carry out in the state of West Bengal.

Following this announcement BJP has been holding back-to-back rallies in West Bengal since last week. Last week Amit Shah had held a public rally at Jhargram district in West Bengal after the state government gave its approval for the same on January 23.

Last year, in August, a part of the tent erected for the public at a rally being addressed by PM Narendra Modi had collapsed in Midnapore, West Bengal, leaving several injured. An inquiry conducted then by a central team had blamed the state government for the lapse, stating that local authorities had not provided adequate cooperation to the advance security liaison team.

OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Tuesday, 29th January 2019

OpIndia Staff
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OpIndia Evening Dispatch: Tuesday, 29th January 2019

In the hustle and bustle of the day, it is only natural to miss some of the biggest developments that impact the nation. The OpIndia Evening Dispatch will catch you up on the day’s event even if you have been busy thus far.

Here is what made it to news today:

1. Modi government files petition in Supreme Court to release the excess land around Ram Janmabhoomi

In a massive development in the ever-burning Ram Janmabhoomi issue, the Modi government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to release the excess land around Ram Janmabhoomi.

According to sources, except the approximate 0.313-acre land which is ‘disputed’, the remaining 67-acre land which was acquired can be returned to the Ramjanambhoomi Nyas.

Also read why this Narendra Modi’s latest move in the Ram Janmabhoomi case bound to put Congress in a fix.

2. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal discovers a new low, asks parents to vote for AAP if they love their children

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hit yet another political low after he sought votes for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the name of children asking parents to chose between their children or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to the reports, Delhi CM Kejriwal while addressing school students and parents in Delhi asked parents to chose between their love for children or PM Modi saying that they should vote for the party which had built schools for their children. Shockingly, Arvind Kejriwal chose to drag school children into politics to urge people to not to vote for BJP.

3. George Fernandes: From the teenaged boy who wanted to be a priest to one of India’s tallest leaders

Born on 3rd June 1930, George Fernandes, passed away earlier today leaving an irreplaceable void in the Indian political landscape. A lifelong socialist, Fernandes had stood up against the Gandhis, even after the Emergency was lifted.

Today morning, George Fernandes breathed his last following a prolonged illness. Fernandes was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and had recently even contacted swine flu. With him, India has lost one of the loudest voices for the poor and marginalised.

Also read a sordid tale of Emergency: The illegal detention and torture of George Fernandes’ brother.

4. Gujarat: Fed up with conversions, villagers decide to not allow outsider Christians into the village

Fed up with rampant Christian conversions in and around the village, the residents of Navsari district’s Gandeva village in Gujarat have decided to ban on entry of outsider Christians to their village as a measure to prevent them from converting local tribal Hindus, reported Indian Express.

According to the reports, the local tribals have put up banners and boards declaring a “ban on entry of outsider Christians” in the area. The recent activities from Christian missionaries to convert local Hindu tribals to Christianity have been cited to be the reason behind such decision by the villagers.

5. Three southern states see highest fall in sex ratio at birth in a decade

Traditionally, the north Indian states have been under the scanner for skewed sex ratio, due to rampant sex determination tests and abortion of female foeticide prevalent in those states. It is generally assumed that the sex ratio is better in the southern states compared to states like Punjab and Haryana due to these reasons.

But the data collated by the Registrar General of India using birth and death registrations across the country shows that South Indian states also have worrying sex ratio, and the decline in the ratio in some of the southern states is among the highest. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka has seen highest fall in the sex ratio in a decade, and Andhra Pradesh shares the spot of lowest sex ratio with Rajasthan.

6. Two groups of Congress workers bash each other up in Rajasthan, fight over 2019 Lok Sabha election tickets

A video has emerged where two groups of Congress workers are seen bashing each other up, reportedly, over Lok Sabha Election tickets.

The fight between the two Congress factions reportedly broke out in the Jalore area of Rajasthan. In front of the AICC secretary, in a meeting organised for the Lok Sabha election, the two groups were seen getting into a fist fight. Reportedly, the fight broke out while Congress leader Vivek Bansal was taking ‘feedback’ from the workers about the Lok Sabha elections.

7. ‘PUBG wala hai kya’: PM Modi leaves audience in splits with his response to a mother talking about son’s gaming addiction

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, interacting at the “Pariksha Pe Charcha” with nearly 2,000 students from high school to college managed to break the audience into laughter after a mother asked him a question regarding online gaming.

During the interaction, a concerned mother complained to the Prime Minister that her son was avoiding studies and addicted to online games. To her question, PM Modi replied: “PUBG-wala hai kya? (is he a PUBG gamer?)” which resulted in a loud burst of laughter from the audience present.

8. AAP MLAs refuse to furnish details of their assets to Lokayukta, ask to recall the notices served to them

On Monday, almost 50 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs in Delhi, refused to furnish details of their assets and liabilities as directed by Delhi Lokayukta Reva Khetarpal. The MLAs have filed affidavits stating that demanding such declarations are not within the Lokayukta’s jurisdiction as there is no such law or legal provisions that prescribe the same.

While the Delhi social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam and transport minister Kailash Gahlot are amongst those who have replied to the notice, AAP supremo and Delhi CM, Arvind Kejriwal and the Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, who have also been served the notice by the Lokayukta’s office, are yet to respond.

9. Posters of Rahul Gandhi depicting him as Lord Ram: A sham by a party that questioned the very existence of Lord Ram

Posters of Congress President Rahul Gandhi depicting as Lord Rama have been put up at various places in the capital city of Bihar, Patna. The poster hailed Rahul Gandhi as the living embodiment of Lord Rama while disparaging the naysayers as mere chanters of slogans.

10. Government trashes report by The Print, says no such “IB report” exists that talks about Universities being anti-Modi

On 28th January 2019, The Print published a story claiming that Modi government is hesitating in giving Institute of Eminence (IoE) status to several private universities due to an IB note with adverse remarks about the universities. According to the report, Intelligence Bureau (IB) has said that persons associated with the universities are critical of Narendra Modi and BJP.

But according to the Education Secretary of the HRD ministry, no such IB report on those universities has been received by the ministry. Reacting to the report by The Print, R. Subrahmanyam tweeted that his department has not received any such report from IB, and hence the report is not correct.

Government trashes report by The Print, says no such “IB report” exists that talks about Universities being anti-Modi

OpIndia Staff
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Government trashes report by The Print, says no such “IB report” exists that talks about Universities being anti-Modi

On 28th January 2019, The Print published a story claiming that Modi government is hesitating in giving Institute of Eminence (IoE) status to several private universities due to an IB note with adverse remarks about the universities. According to the report, Intelligence Bureau (IB) has said that persons associated with the universities are critical of Narendra Modi and BJP. The Print says that IB sent its report to the Human Resources Development Ministry in the last month.

The report lists Ashoka University, KREA University, Azim Premji University as the institutions red-flagged by IB.

But according to the Education Secretary of the HRD ministry, no such IB report on those universities has been received by the ministry. Reacting to the report by The Print, R. Subrahmanyam, who is the Higher Education Secretary in the ministry, tweeted that his department has not received any such report from IB, and hence the report is not correct.


Subrahmanyam also informed that UGC will take up the matter relating to granting the IoE status to more universities which was scheduled for today.

It is also important to note that the universities named as red-flagged by IB has actually been included in recommendations by the Empowered Expert Committee (EEC) for granting the status. The EEC has been formed by the HRD ministry to select Institutions of Eminence. Today, the committee suggested that the number of IoEs should be increased to 30 from the current proposal of 20.

Moreover, the committee had submitted a list of 19 institutions for granting the status in December, and this list included Ashoka University, KREA university and Azim Premji University, against which there are adverse IB report as per Print. HRD ministry has already submitted the names with the UGC, and the matter is pending with UGC only. If the government was hesitating with the institutions, they would not have included the names in the list submitted to the UGC.

Earlier, EEC had recommended 11 names for the IoE status, out of which 6 were finally granted the status. Now the committee recommends that remaining five from the earlier list and the additional 19 institutions should be granted the status, taking the total to 30.

Therefore, this proves that the report by The Print is wrong and there is no IB report submitted with the HRD ministry in the ministry. The portal is a habitual offender and regularly publishes fake stories. Moreover, even after their stories are completely refuted by relevant authorities, they just update the story with the clarification, instead of retracting the story. Their stories are often attributed to sources with no proof given for claims made by them.

Posters of Rahul Gandhi depicting him as Lord Ram: A sham by a party that questioned the very existence of Lord Ram

Jinit Jain
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Posters of Rahul Gandhi depicting him as Lord Ram: A sham by a party that questioned the very existence of Lord Ram

Posters of Congress President Rahul Gandhi depicting as Lord Rama have been put up at various places in the capital city of Bihar, Patna. The poster hailed Rahul Gandhi as the living embodiment of Lord Rama while disparaging the naysayers as mere chanters of slogans.


To start with, it is hilarious to see the Congress party, which once questioned the existence of Lord Rama is now champing at the bit of furnishing their Hindu credentials. This attempt to portray Rahul Gandhi as Lord Rama can be termed as a desperate bid by Congress to win back the estranged Hindus they have antagonised by their anti-Hindu policies and unabashed Muslim appeasement.

This is, perhaps, the first imitator of Lord Rama who himself and his Sena (read Congress party) are against the very ideals laid down by Lord Rama himself and his established Dharma. So intense is their hatred for Lord Rama that the drawings of Lord Hanuman, Lord Rama’s chief disciple were branded as communal and unacceptable by the Congress ecosystem. Add to this, Rahul Gandhi’s proclamation that building Ram Temple is a non-issue for his party in the coming elections. What kind of an ungrateful lot would want to showcase their leader as God who ridicules everything, from Lord Rama’s cherished ideals to his Birthplace, and his faithful followers like Lord Hanuman?

Rahul Gandhi, through his actions and his party’s policies, appears to wear Hinduism on his sleeves only during the election season. As the elections come closer, posters of Rahul Gandhi depicting as a Hindu God are put up to entice Hindu voters, his Temple-runs around election time are organised to give an impression that he is a practising Hindu but as the election season subsides, Congress party and its president Rahul Gandhi relapse to their modus operandi of indulging in unabashed minority appeasement and anti-Hindu activities.

It is notable to mention that one of the close aides of Rahul Gandhi, Kapil Sibal, who is also a senior Congress member and also a lawyer, is evidently fighting the Ram Janam Bhoomi case for the Sunni Waqf Board opposing the building of a magnificent Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. He has also employed dilatory tactics and asked the apex court to delay the decision in the RJB case till 2019 elections. Sibal, of course, will claim that he is fighting the case in his ‘personal capacity’ but it cannot escape the fact that he is acting in conformity with the Gandhi family. Another eminent Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had earlier claimed that no ‘good Hindu’ would want a Ram Mandir at Babri site.

Congress has a long and decorated history of manifesting anti-Hindu leanings. It was Congress that moved heaven and earth to concoct the “Saffron Terror” narrative by falsely implicating Sadhvi Pragya and even Lt Col Purohit. It was Congress which wanted to pass the Communal Violence Bill which basically ensured that only Hindus would be considered perpetrators and never a Muslim, should there be any communal violence. The bill was formed by people who were associated with various foreign-funded NGOs. It was Rahul Gandhi himself who declared mythical “saffron terror” more dangerous than LeT. It was P Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde who called Hindus terrorists with no proof or reason. It was Manmohan Singh who said Muslims have the first right on our country’s resources.

On one hand, the Congress leaders leave no stone unturned to snub Hindus and their religion. On the other hand, they try to pacify the damage by portraying their president as Lord Rama and a pious religionist. Hindus condoning anti-Hindu antics by Congress is like turkeys voting for Christmas. Congress can ill-afford to assume that Hindus can be lulled into silence by claiming their leader to be a cheap imitation of Lord Rama. It will neither beget them the goodwill nor will it translate into votes, it will only evoke irrepressible laughter.

Uttar Pradesh: Yogi Adityanath announces Ganga expressway, connecting Prayagraj to Meerut

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Yogi Adityanath announces Ganga expressway, connecting Prayagraj to Meerut

In the state cabinet meeting at Prayagraj’s Kumbh today, Cheif Minister, Yogi Adityanath approved the construction of a 600km long, four-lane greenfield expressway, extendable up to six-lanes, linking the western part of the state to the east which will be built at a cost of Rs 36,000 crore.

The news Agency, ANI quoted the CM as saying, “This will be world’s longest expressway, approximately 600 km, it will take 6,556 hectares of land, it will cost approximately Rs 36,000 crore.”

The Ganga Expressway, as it has been named, will connect Meerut, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Kannauj, Unnao, Raebareli, Pratapgarh and arrive at Prayagraj.

The meeting was held in the office of the Prayagraj Mela Authority which organises the Kumbh Mela. In the first ever cabinet meeting in the Kumbh, the cabinet also decided to speed up the land acquisition process for the 296km Bundelkhand expressway and also sanctioned Rs 8,864 crore for the project to acquire 3,641 hectares of land.

It was also decided that another road, the Gorakhpur link of Purvanchal Expressway will be constructed at a cost of Rs 5,555 crore.

The beautification drive of Maharshi Valmiki Ashram and Maharshi Bharadwaj Ashram were also discussed in the meeting.

Along with sanctioning houses for 3791 lepers in the state under CM Awas Yojana and deciding that doctors at Lucknow’s Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute (SGPGI) will now get allowances and other benefits at par with doctors of AIIMS, the CM also welcomed the Union government’s decision to file a plea in Supreme Court to transfer excess land in Ram temple case to the original owners.

Apart from these, Yogi Adityanath further announced that the film ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ which “will instil a feeling of nationalism in the youth and the citizens of the country,” said the CM, would be exempted from state GST.


The UP cabinet met at Prayagraj on Tuesday morning in the backdrop of ongoing Kumbh Mela. CM Adityanath and other leaders took a holy dip in the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest pilgrimage, ahead of the cabinet meeting.


This is the first time Kumbh has been selected to hold the State cabinet meeting, otherwise, from the previous five decades, the UP cabinet has been meeting in Lucknow.

‘If this happens, the entire country will burn’: Muslim petitioner on the Government’s Ram Mandir move

OpIndia Staff
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‘If this happens, the entire country will burn’: Muslim petitioner on the Government’s Ram Mandir move

We had reported earlier that the Narendra Modi government had filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking permission to release 67 acres of land at Ayodhya around the Ram Janambhoomi site, excluding 0.313 acres of disputed land, to the Ram Janambhoomi Nyas. This area was acquired by the government of India and is not part of the title suit that the court is hearing, and there is no dispute over this land which surrounds the disputed site. The dispute is limited only to the  0.313 acres of land where the disputed structure of Babri masjid once stood.

Now, Times Now has reported that one of the Muslim petitioners in the case, Haji Mehboob, has asserted that the entire country will burn should the government’s plea be accepted by the Court.


Mehboob suggested that the move was political. He stated, “The whole world knows about the current position of the BJP, therefore the Modi government took this step.” He then went on to add that if the “government would have taken this step two years back, people would have accepted it. We know that it is a big game. If this happens, the entire country will burn. Remember this, the country will not be saved.”

The repeated delays in the Supreme Court has been the cause of much anguish in the Hindu community. Recently, the January 29th hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi matter was delayed further because of the non-availability of Justice S A Bobde. Earlier,  Justice Lalit had decided to recuse himself. Therefore, the hearing was adjourned till January 29.

Under such circumstances, the move by the Narendra Modi government is seen as a way of quickly resolving the dispute. However, it is again up to the Judiciary now to pave the way further towards resolving the dispute.

Benami assets worth Rs 6900 crores seized under benami property law by the IT department

OpIndia Staff
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Benami assets worth Rs 6900 crores seized under benami property law by the IT department

As per the Income Tax Department sources, the department has so far impounded assets worth ₹6,900 crore in pursuant to the anti-benami transactions law. The department, through a public advertisement, has informed about the worth of assets confiscated by them.

Benami properties are those assets which are bought by an individual, not under his or her name. It can include properties which are held in the name of spouse, child or any other family members, for which the amount is paid out of known sources of income.

The advertisement published in the leading newspapers warned people against “abetting and inducing” benami transactions, being party to the illicit transaction by being a Benamidar (in whose name benami property is standing) and beneficiaries (who pay money consideration). According to the advertisement, being involved in benami transaction can result in rigorous imprisonment up to 7 years apart from being liable to pay fine up to 25 per cent of fair market value of benami property.

Some time back, the government cracked a whip on more than 16,500 shell companies and has put another 80,000 companies under the scanner and has also introduced a reward scheme to clamp down on benami properties.

Ever since the Modi government is in the saddle, there has been a fierce clampdown against the benami property holders. The anti-benami transactions law was legislated in 1988  was amended by the present government to provide more teeth to fight against illicit transactions and black money. The new law seeks to prohibit the benami transaction irrespective of the method by which such property, movable and immovable, which can be then acquired.

Priya Ramani summoned as an accused in defamation case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar

OpIndia Staff
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Priya Ramani summoned as an accused in defamation case filed by former Union Minister MJ Akbar

Priya Ramani, who had accused M.J. Akbar of sexual harassment, has been summoned by the Patiala House Court as an accused in the defamation suit filed against her by the former Union Minister.

Six witnesses appeared before the Court to testify for the former union minister. All of them claimed that they were shocked and dismayed at the allegations levelled against Akbar and asserted that they had never heard of any such complaint against him. They vouched for Akbar’s credentials and professionalism as well. All these witnesses are said to have been associated with Akbar for many years.

Ramani responded on Twitter by saying that it was time to tell her side of the story.


Ramani has been ordered to appear before the Court on the 25th of February. On 22nd of January, the Court had reserved its order on whether to summon Ramani as an accused in the defamation case.

Akbar had filed a defamation case against Ramani in October last year and dismissed the allegations made by her against him as ‘false and fabricated’ and ‘malicious’. He had then resigned from his post of Minister of State in the External Affairs Ministry.

Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Rafale scam’: A repeat of the fake ‘coffin scam’ that Congress used to hound Vajpayee and George Fernandes

Raju Das
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Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Rafale scam’: A repeat of the fake ‘coffin scam’ that Congress used to hound Vajpayee and George Fernandes

The demise of George Fernandes today brings back the memory of how he, and the NDA government he was part of, was hounded by Congress using a fake scam. During the Kargil war, the government of India had purchased 500 coffins from a company in the USA for transporting the mortal remains of the soldiers perished in action. The coffins cost $2,500 per unit. The opposition parties, led by Congress, had alleged that there was a huge scam in the purchase as the price paid by India was too high. It was alleged that the price was thirteen times the original price, and India had lost $1,87,000 in the ‘scam’. George Fernandes was defence minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at that time, two persons known for their personal integrity.

This ‘coffin scam’ has lots of similarities with the ongoing ‘Rafale scam’ that Rahul Gandhi is trying to establish as a real scam. Although the Congress party badly wants the ‘Rafale scam’ to become the Bofors scam for BJP, it is actually a repeat of ‘Coffin scam’. Both so‑called scams are based on fictitious allegations, made up numbers, and complete disregard for facts. In both the cases, opposition parties ignore information provided by the Indian government and respective foreign governments.

During the Kargil war, the Indian government had decided to purchase high-quality Aluminium coffins for the armed forces. The Indian armed forces had seen such coffins used by American forces in peacekeeping missions abroad and had sought the same for Indian Army. The coffins are actually Aluminium caskets, which are reusable, unlike the single-use wooden coffins. They are called transfer cases, used by the military to transport bodies from harsh conditions, and they can’t be compared with ordinary coffins used for funerals. Just like at present Rahul Gandhi is comparing the prices of bare aircraft and fully loaded Rafale, that time also prices of Aluminium caskets were compared with ordinary coffins to invent a scam.

Both the Indian government and French government has assured that Dassault is free to select its offset partners, but Rahul Gandhi keeps alleging that Dassault was forced to select Reliance as offset partner, and Modi has given ₹30,000 crore to Anil Ambani through the Rafale deal. Similarly, the government of the United States of America had confirmed in writing that the caskets cost $2,768 each, therefore, the price India was paying was not more than then the actual price. In fact, India was able to secure a discount on the custom-made coffins.

Adding more fuel to the so-called coffin scam, a CAG report had said that actual price of the coffins is $172 only. This figure had no basis as there was no evidence of anyone buying or selling Aluminium caskets at such a low price. Even single-use wooden coffins cost more than that, therefore it was impossible that Aluminium caskets will be available at such low price, given that these items are custom made based on orders mainly for military, and not mass produced for general use. Later it was found that $172 could be rent for the reusable caskets, and not price of the same. Just like Rahul Gandhi has used the entire offset amount in Rafale deal, the bulk of which go to PSUs, a benefit given to Reliance, that time also a rental price was used as the purchase price to invent a scam.

Just like during that time the opposition had ignored that fact that India was buying a US military standard product which can’t be compared with products made for general public, this time also the Congress party is ignoring that fact that Dassault has made several India specific modifications to the Rafale jet, and it includes several advanced weapons and other systems.

The main corruption involved in any defence deal is a bribe paid by the supplier to win the deal. But in the current allegation about the Rafale deal, nobody has alleged any payment of a bribe. The aircraft was selected during the UPA government after an extensive bidding process, and the current deal is with the French government, therefore there is no bribe angle. Similarly, there were no allegations of bribes being paid in the coffin deal, it was just a wild accusation of excess payment.

The most important fact is, ultimately the court had found that there was no evidence of any scam in the coffin deal during the ABV government. In 2013, the court had discharged three army officials named in the case for lack evidence. In 2015, the Supreme Court had given a clean chit to the NDA government over the case, as the allegations were not proved during the CBI probe. Similarly, several petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court alleging a scam in the Rafale deal, but the apex court has refused to order a probe in the deal after studying all the documents related to the purchase of 36 fighter jets from France.

Even after courts had found no evidence of corruption in the coffin deal, Congress continued to make the allegations, just like Rahul Gandhi keeps repeating his lies about the Rafale deal even after Supreme Court has found no wrongdoing.

Although Coffin scam was not real, Congress was able to cast a shadow of doubt over the integrity of Vajpayee government with the help of a media that refuses to fact check allegations made by the party. Sonia Gandhi had called late Atal Bihari Vajpayee a ‘Kafan Chor’. And the exact thing is being repeated now, with no media dares to question Rahul Gandhi on his ₹30,000 crore allegations, and Rahul Gandhi saying “Chowkidar Chor Hai”, referring to Narendra Modi.

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