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Rahul’s Day Out : Congress Vice President’s Gujarat tour creates political ripples

Nirwa Mehta
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Rahul’s Day Out : Congress Vice President’s Gujarat tour creates political ripples

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today visited the flood victims in Banaskantha, Gujarat, a week after one of the worst floods hit the state in almost a decade. Before visiting Gujarat, Gandhi had a brief stopover at yet another flood affected area in Jalore, Rajasthan where he toured the area by road.

He then steered his helicopter towards Dhanera in Banaskantha, Gujarat. Interestingly, Dhanera MLA, Joitabhai Patel is one of the 44 Congress MLA vacationing in Bengaluru’s Eagleton resort. All 4 Congress MLAs from Banaskantha are holed up in the resort, where karaoke parties are reportedly being organised.

Ironically, Rahul Gandhi then tried to assure people of Gujarat that Congress party is with Gujaratis.


Evidently, people are angry at their elected representatives abandoning them in their hour of need. Angry people protested his visit by showing black flags, to which, Rahul Gandhi, being as calm as cucumber, said he is not bothered by the act of people who are actually scared.

If only he had carried theplas cooked by the specially flown Gujarati chef for 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs for these people, they might not be so scared or unhappy maybe.

However, things got a bit ugly when stones were reportedly pelted at Rahul Gandhi’s car in Banaskantha, which Congress quickly blamed on the BJP:


Responding to allegation that the BJP was behind the attacks, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said Congress VP refused to drive around in a bullet proof car offered by the state government, as per protocol, and chose to travel in a normal car:


Political temperature rose further as in a series of tweets, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, referring to Congress VP as “perpetual tourist”, hit it out on Congress and accused the party of having anti-people and anti-Gujarat mindset:

It is interesting to note here that 3 Rajya Sabha seats are up for reelection in Gujarat and one of the seats is of Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. BJP has fielded BJP President Amit Shah and Smriti Irani. BJP has also fielded Balwantsinh Rajput, a former Congress MLA who defected and joined the BJP last week. With this, politics has taken center-stage in the state, even though assembly elections are a few months away.

Hindustan Times’ Hate Tracker: A classic case of how media peddles an agenda

Nirwa Mehta
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Hindustan Times’ Hate Tracker: A classic case of how media peddles an agenda

On 28th July, 2017, Hindustan Times introduced a “Hate Tracker” which is “a national database on crimes in the name of religion, caste, race”. They even have an option where you could “submit” a hate “incident” which shall be added to their database only if it meets their “editorial criteria”. Interestingly, their source till now has only been articles published by Hindustan Times.

Since little over three years, the Indian media has woken up to “hate crimes” or “identity-based hate crimes” in India. There can be no justification for any sort of hate crime. On similar lines, there should be no discrimination in reporting hate crimes. But it seems expecting fairness in reporting news by reputed media houses is also too much to ask for.

The “hate tracker” reports 14 “hate crimes” for the month of July 2017. They have reported articles where majority of the “victims” are Muslims and Dalits.

There’s a catch, though.

Hate crimes against people belonging to certain political or religious inclination are conveniently ignored, and so are crimes perpetrated by people belonging to certain political or religious ideology.

Scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan was one of the first one to spot and point out this obvious bias. His thread on Twitter exposes this chicanery by Hindustan Times:


Frankly this is not surprising since there has always been a section of “liberals” who even denied that a mob attacked the train in Godhra where 59 Hindu karsevaks returning from Ayodhya were burnt alive.

Speaking of hate crimes against people belonging to certain religion, which failed to make it to Hindustan Times’ database, here are a few of those:

On 31st July, 2017, a group of Kanwariyas were attacked. Kanwariyas are Shiva disciples who make annual pilgrimages to various places in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Bihar to fetch holy water of Ganga river. The holy month of Shravan is when the pilgrimage is undertaken. This is not included in the “hate tracker” of Hindustan Times.

Attack on Kaanwariyas because of their faith is not rare actually, however you would believe that it does not exist if you look at Hindustan Times “database”. In July itself, many such incidents were reported, including the one in Bareilly of Uttar Pradesh where Muslims attacked kaanwariyas for passing through “their area”.

While we are on the topic of attacks on Hindu pilgrims, conveniently ignored by the “hate tracker”, remember Amarnath Yatra Attacks on the first day of holy Shravan? It was not “hateful” enough to be part of the “hate tracker”.

Then on 2nd July, 2017, in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, a personal fight turned communal when one Kamil Raza and his friends threw casteist slurs at one Sunil and his friends who belong to the Dalit community. On 7th July, 2017, in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, youth belonging to Muslim community attacked youth belonging to Dalit community, following which there was communal tension in the area. Even though these crimes have overtly communal elements, they couldn’t find their way into the Hindustan Times “database” which might well be quoted by international organisations soon. That’s how the “ecosystem” works.

And these are the incidents from just last few weeks. Since the “Hate Tracker” is tracking hate crimes since September, 2015, here are some of the crimes they missed. In November, 2015, 23 year old Gaurav was killed in an alleged scuffle with his Muslim neighbours who objected to Diwali firecrackers. In January, 2016, 17 year old Saavan Rathod was burnt alive by Muslims after he identified himself as a Hindu — a typical hate crime, ignored by Hindustan Times.

The hate is not just limited when victims are Hindus. Earlier in March, one H. Farooq, who identified himself as an atheist and a free thinker, was killed by radical Muslim group, and ignored by HT.

Hindustan Times “Hate Tracker” not only ignores hate crimes based on caste and religion, but also political ideologies. On 29th July, 2017, Rajesh, an RSS worker in Kerala, was hacked to death allegedly by CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) workers. Similarly, in January, 2017, a BJP worker, Ezhuthan Santhosh, was killed by suspected communists. And these are two of the dozens of murders of RSS/BJP workers in Kerala allegedly by CPM workers.

Nope, not hateful enough to be part of the “Hate Tracker”.

Why is just selective hate being tracked and documented? As a media organisation, which has taken the onus upon itself to hold the government accountable to eliminate hate crimes, why is the outrage one sided? Who benefits from this whitewashing of crimes against Hindus?

As a citizen, I feel betrayed by the media houses for not showing me the balanced, true and fair picture.

PTI misleads again, know the truth about ‘mandatory’ Aadhar for death certificate

OpIndia Staff
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Earlier today, news agency PTI (Press Trust of India) sent out an update that suggested that having an Aadhar card was mandatory for getting a death certificate from October onward this year:


//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsIn absence of any details, and the way the update was worded, people thought that a person dying must have got an Aadhar number, or death of such a person will not be registered. Soon, Twitter was full of such jibes and jokes:


However, of late, PTI has developed a dubious distinction of spreading half-truths or fake news. Recently, it had spread misleading claim about Defence Minister planning surgical strikes due to an “insulting question” by a journalist, then it spread fake news about Yogi Adityanath government drastically reducing education budget, and only last month, it spread old pics of Chennai airport as those of Ahmedabad airport, for which they even drew flak from Information & Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani.

And yet again, PTI was not exactly accurate.

On closer look of the press release issued by the Home Ministry, it becomes clear that the claim of Aadhar number being “mandatory” was misleading. Not only that, the step was not as regressive or void of logic as it may sound (this of course is beyond the basic concerns about privacy).

First let us understand what exactly has the government said:

  • First of all, it is already mandatory to register birth and death of citizens, and that’s actually a good thing for accurate information and management of human resources of a nation.
  • Nowhere the press release says it is “mandatory” or “must” or “necessary”. The title of the release is “Requirement of Aadhaar number for Registration of Death of an Individual”.
  • Through today’s press release, the government has essentially said that if a deceased person had an Aadhar number or Enrolment ID, the relatives (or the applicant registering the death) should disclose that number or ID to the authorities.
  • In case the person did not have an Aadhar number or had not even enrolled for it, or if the relative or applicant are not aware of the status, the same should be declared by the relatives/applicants in writing by issuing a certificate, wherein they should take responsibility for their declaration.
  • Therefore, even if a person did not have an Aadhar number or enrolment ID, he or she will have their death registered.
  • One line in the press release suggests that the applicant should mention his or her Aadhar number while issuing the certificate/declaration about deceased person not having an Aadhar card. It is not clear what will be done if no one in the family has an Aadhar card. Perhaps the same can be declared in the certificate.
  • Home Ministry has claimed that the objective of this new rule is to ascertain the identity of the deceased person and to smoothen the process. The press release says “it will obviate the need for producing multiple documents to prove the identity of the deceased person.”
  • Another objective, and that is very important, is to prevent identity theft and frauds. The press release says “It will provide an effective method to prevent identity fraud.” One should note that many scams involve using identities of dead persons to withdraw benefits available in government schemes. One such scam was unearthed in Uttar Pradesh in April this year. Thus, by this step, the government wants to ensure that an Aadhar number is not misused for such scams once a person has passed away.

Haraam or Halaal: Zakir Naik’s ready reckoner

Nirwa Mehta
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Haraam or Halaal: Zakir Naik’s ready reckoner

Every other day a Muslim celebrity gets told by their fans how their acts are un-Islamic. After Mohammad Kaif was trolled for doing Surya Namaskar and playing chess with his son, and Irfan Pathan and Mohammad Shami drew flak for posting photograph of their respective wives on social media and for even celebrating birthdays, the moral police army has shifted aim to non-Indian players to teach them Haraam v Halaal 101 lessons.

Now English cricketer Moeen Ali is the latest celebrity to be reminded that drawing is against Islam. He has discovered that drawing a picture, which he did to raise money for charity, was against Islam.

Now this is tricky. The Muslim celebrities, especially those on Facebook, should know what is allowed and forbidden in Islam. So we’ve got you covered, brothers (and sisters).

Zakir Naik, the legendary intellectual and patron saint of all things halaal (allowed), has given us guidelines which could be followed by these celebs to ensure they do not unintentionally do anything that is haraam (forbidden).

Here are the ten commandments you must follow to avoid being called out on your un-Islamic ways on social media.

1. Thou shalt not listen to music or dance. It leads you to do bad things:

Only dafali is allowed in Islam.

2. Thou shalt not indulge in painting or drawing (yes, Moeen Ali, listen to Naik). Thou shalt not even use photography or videography in ‘wrong’ way as they are modern versions of drawings:

Zakir Naik especially considers it wrong to keep big photographs of celebs in your house. But having his own big photographs on billboards is allowed it seems.

3. Thou shalt not play cricket as it’s a waste of time (Shami, Irfan, Kaif, Moeen, what have you done with your lives?):

Personally, brother Zakir doesn’t say that cricket is haraam, but he doesn’t like the game. Children studying in the school run by his foundation are not allowed to play cricket, as it is waste of time for players as well as those who watch it.

4. Thou shalt not celebrate birthdays or anniversaries:

Celebrating birthday of individual is not haraam, but if it involves music and such things, it is haraam. Celebrating birthdays of celebrities or even religious personalities though is haraam.

5. Thou shalt not wear make up*:

*unless it is for your husband.

6. Thou shalt not send your children to institutions offering co-education:

“Medical college, atmosphere is the worst in terms of breaking the hijab. Only Allah can save you… Examining patients is very dangerous.” – Brother Zakir Naik.

7. Thou shalt not take insurance from modern companies:

Insurance per se is not haraam in Islam, but interest that banks charge on insurance is haraam. You need Islamic banking for ‘right kind of insurance schemes’.

8. Thou shalt not use pirated software (but don’t lose hope, you can in some cases):

Piracy per se is not allowed, but you can use the pirated copies if the companies themselves allow it (?) or if the software is Islamic (?) and not available in your country.

9. Thou shalt not shake hands with someone from the opposite sex:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL0WGzm0Obs

This is something we would suggest the Muslim men cricketers on Facebook should be careful. If they meet a woman cricketer, who recently are in news for their awesome performance in the recently concluded Women’s World Cup, they should not shake hands with them.

10. Thou shalt not fall in love before marriage, especially girls:

LBW (Love Before Wedding) does not exist in Islam (that term LBW is Zakir Naik’s invention, not ours). “Better to love the girl you marry, than marrying the girl you love” – Brother Zakir Naik.

No matter how noble your intentions are (non noble intentions are haraam to begin with), if the means to attain them are haraam, then it is haraam.

Save yourself from committing the sins and facing the whip on the Day of Judgement.

Sant Gopal Das: fighting for cow rights by bringing dead bull at political rally

Nirwa Mehta
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Sant Gopal Das: fighting for cow rights by bringing dead bull at political rally

India is a democracy. Protests by dissenting voices keep the democracy thriving. Except, India is now turning into a land of unique protests. After the bizarre protest by Congress (State Bank of Tamatar) which appeared to be more like a scam in itself than a protest, another one took place at the BJP President Amit Shah’s rally in Haryana.

One ‘cow rights activist’ and self styled ‘sant’, Gopal Das has taken upon himself to ensure that the government delivers its cow protection promises. Despite heavy security, Sant Gopal Das and few of his followers stormed Tilyar Tourist Complex where Shah was addressing a rally, carrying a dead bull in a JCB.

Clearly miffed at the government, Gopal Das thought nothing like throwing a bull carcass amidst huge crowd to get the promise of cow sanctuary fulfilled. He also started lashing himself, because just bringing a dead animal to rally is not protest enough.

Das has since been arrested for creating nuisance in public and the dead bull has been sent for autopsy. If it is found to be an unnatural death, cow rights activist Gopal Das could be booked under the Cow Slaughter Act as well. Irony just sat on a JCB and threw itself in an Amit Shah rally.

But this is not the first time Gopal Das protested with a dead animal by his side. Back in 2014, Sant Gopal Das was arrested in Delhi and booked in Tihar when he tried to march towards the Parliament with a severed cow’s head!

Strangely, while Youth Congress in Kerala wants the rights to slaughter cow, and they even slaughtered a cow in public, Congress in Haryana supports Gopal Das in his mission. On 27th July, Haryana Congress President Dr. Ashok Tanwar joined Sant Gopal Das in a rally for cows rights.

How Congress, BSP and some ‘journalists’ provoked people in name of caste

OpIndia Staff
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How Congress, BSP and some ‘journalists’ provoked people in name of caste

At any given moment, 8 out of 10 Indians active on social media are offended. The remaining two will most likely take an offence at those 8 getting offended.

This morning, Indians woke up to an ad put up on Delhi railway station, which had pictorial depiction of evolution from ape to human where the most evolved human is shown to be throwing waste in the dustbin. This was an ad of Swachha Bharat campaign conceptualised and designed by one Antyodaya Group.

Swachh Bharat ad showing Ambedkar
The ‘controversial’ ad

As one can see in the poster, the most evolved human being was shown as Dr. BR Ambedkar. This apparently was insulting to Babasaheb, according to Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s son in law Robert Vadra’s brother in law Tehseen Poonawalla.

This is what he tweeted in response:


Poonawalla, who was earlier caught lying about lynching and sending obscene tweets to Smriti Irani, virtually “threatened” the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if the Indian Railways didn’t bring this poster down, “volunteers” will bring these posters down themselves.

We tried digging it a bit deeper and discovered it wasn’t Poonawalla who had discovered the “offensive” poster. It was first circulated by one Devashish Jarariya, Bahujan Samaj Party’s media representative on WhatsApp, screenshot of which he posted on Twitter.


Not wanting to be left out, Bahujan Samaj Party official handle soon tweeted the same image taking ownership of all things Dr. Ambedkar.


Soon, Nikhil Wagle, a journalist who recently lost his job due to bad TRP of his show, also took an offence to the said poster and demanded that the government took it down immediately.


Quick to follow suit was the mouthpiece of Aam Aadmi Party, the left leaning political outfit:


All of them condemning the government for using Dr. Ambedkar’s image for picking up trash.

Now the fact of the matter:

The poster is a part of the series of a campaign where the most evolved human form is a hero common man could relate to, who endorses picking up trash and keeping the surrounding clean. Earlier, the campaign included Mahatma Gandhi and even the fictional hero “Bahubali” picking up trash.

Mahatma Gandhi in similar poster at a railway station.
Bahubali picking up trash as part of the campaign.

No one found it offensive when Mahatma Gandhi was picking up the trash. This just goes out to show that the sensitivity is dependent on vote bank. If only manufacturing offence could contribute to the GDP.

Once the needless controversy gained ground thanks to these vested interests, Antyodaya Group, which conceptualised and designed the ads, gave an explanation on how the ads were based on post graduate research on behaviour change at Tata Institute of Social Sciences:


Too bad the poor researcher didn’t factor how the IQ and propaganda of some Indians work.

Communists get support of Muslim fundamentalists in Kerala: RSS leader

OpIndia Staff
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Communists get support of Muslim fundamentalists in Kerala: RSS leader

J Nandakumar, an executive committee member of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), has claimed that the communists in Kerala get active support from Islamic fundamentalists. He said that the Left front returned to power in Kerala with active support from Muslim fundamentalists, which helped them cobble a majority in the last assembly elections.

Mr. Nandakumar was speaking exclusively to columnist Shefali Vaidya for an interview to Maha Tarun Bharat, a news and opinion multimedia platform in Marathi. The interview largely focused on the “red terror” i.e. targeted killings of RSS workers by the left-wing terrorists in Kerala.

“The LDF (Left Democratic Front) came into power with the Muslim fundamentalist help,” Mr. Nandakumar said referring to the assembly elections that took place in May last year. He claimed that the attacks on RSS cadre started as soon as the communists took office after the elections.

During the interview, the RSS leader, who is also the convener of the intellectual think-tank of the Sangh, talked about the killings that have taken place recently. He said that the communists didn’t even spare women and children as they target not just the RSS workers but their families too.

He gave moving accounts of various victims of red terror including that of Ramith and his father both of whom were murdered by communists. He claimed that even though Ramith’s house was just a stone’s throw away from the country house of CM Pinarayi Vijayan, he (Vijayan) hasn’t till date visited their home to offer his condolences. He also described the harrowing details of the brutal murder of RSS worker Rajesh who was killed on Saturday. He claimed that a few elements had also tried to give it a nasty spin by claiming that the murder was a result of a clash between people affiliated with the RSS.

He further revealed that targeting of RSS workers and leaders was not a new phenomenon, even though the media has started reporting about such attacks only recently. He recounted an incident as old as one taking place in January 1948, when communists had attacked an RSS gathering in Kerala. They targeted none other than M S Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak (supreme leader) of the RSS.

Mr. Nandakumar came heavily on the Kerala police too, accusing them of bias and collusion with the communists. He claimed that many policemen – whom he referred to as goons – were members of the trade unions or other outfits affiliated to communist organisations, and instead of protecting the citizens from the red terror, they either play the role of a mute witness or worse, help the communists in spreading the terror. He said that those policemen who are not part of such outfits or unions, have no option but to do the same so that their careers are not impacted.

We had recently seen in a CCTV footage how the state police had failed to stop an attack by leftists.

He also spoke about the culture of “party village” in Kerala where the communist party outright controls a whole village to such an extent that, no other political parties are allowed to exist. According to him, there’s so much interference in those villages that the party even decides which paint to use on one’s house.

He also expressed disappointment over the functioning of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and claimed that even though the CM knows everything about the whole history of political violence in the state, he is doing precariously little to stop it.

You can watch and listen to the interview here:

Muslim clerics oppose Yogi govt’s decision to make marriage registration compulsory

OpIndia Staff
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Muslim clerics oppose Yogi govt’s decision to make marriage registration compulsory

On Tuesday, the Yogi government’s cabinet announced that marriage registration would be compulsory for couples regardless of their religion.

This legislation of the Yogi government came in line with the Supreme Court’s 2006 order, which had asked Centre and state governments to make such registrations compulsory for people regardless of their religion or caste. Till date all the states apart from Uttar Pradesh and Nagaland had complied with the order.

According to the report, previous UP governments had not passed this order because of apprehensions within the Muslim community, which had objected to the move as the “nikahnama” should not contain the photograph of the couple. The government rejected the objection on the grounds that various documents like Aadhar and Passport too had photographs and there was no opposition to them.

According to this order, if someone fails to get their marriage registered, they would be liable to pay a token fine of Rs 10, which would increase to Rs 50 per year till they comply.

Now some Muslim clerics and organisations aren’t too happy about this order.

According to reports, Abul Qasim Naumani the Mufti of Islamic school Darul Uloom Deoband, has termed this decision “unnecessary”, and has claimed that such a compulsion is against religious freedom. He further said that the Nikahnama (without the pics) is a registration in itself. He also stated that it was okay if someone wanted to voluntarily register, but any sort of compulsion shouldn’t be there.

Another such cleric named Ahmad Khijar Shah Masoodi of Darul Uloom Wakf opposed the fines to be paid in case of non-compliance. One senior Mufti named Arif Kasami claimed that Islam had made the marriage process very easy and such registrations might make things difficult for the less educated.

The Muslim personal law body AIMPLB too was a bit grumpy about this decision. Its member Zafaryab Jilani stated that they had no problems about the registration, but that there shouldn’t be any provision which would imply that no registration means no marriage.

However, there were a few Muslim groups that welcomed this move by the Yogi government.

According to the All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB)’s President Shaista Amber, this was a step in the right direction and claimed that such a registration would be a proof of marriage. AIMWPLB General Secretary Rabia Sandal stated that it would go a long way in ensuring social security for women. Even the Shia personal law board welcomed the move.

It is worth mentioning that the groups that have welcomed this decision had also advocated for other reforms, which includes their opposition to [1][2] the practice of triple talaq.

Supreme Court blasts Congress over the issue of NOTA in Rajya Sabha elections

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Supreme Court blasts Congress over the issue of NOTA in Rajya Sabha elections

The Congress in recent days has been growing very anxious about the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, especially in Gujarat. The elections in that state have become a prestige issue for the party as one of its candidates seeking reelection is Ahmed Patel, the political adviser to the Congress party considered a crony of Sonia Gandhi.

Things started getting complicated for the Gujarat Congress when its MLAs resigned from the party and some even crossed over to the BJP. This would have meant that Patel risked losing his seat, and to avoid the embarrassment the party decided to fly out all its remaining MLAs to a Bangalore resort in order to prevent them from crossing over.

If this wasn’t enough drama, the Congress decided that it had a problem against the ‘None Of The Above’ (NOTA) option, which would also be applicable in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. On Tuesday, the Congress party decided to knock the doors of the Election Commission to object to its use. The party claimed that use of NOTA violated the Constitution and electoral laws.

When the Election Commission did not pay heed, Shailesh Manubhai Parmar, the Chief Whip of Gujarat Congress decided to petition the Supreme Court regarding the matter but the Apex court too has now blasted the Congress over this issue.

As it turns out, the use of NOTA in the Rajya Sabha election is not something that has been envisioned recently. The Election Commission in a notice dated January 2014 [PDF] had announced that the NOTA option would be applicable in the Rajya Sabha election. Soon on 7th February 2014, Rajya Sabha elections were held in 16 different states (including Gujarat) which contained the NOTA option.

Since then, Rajya Sabha elections have been held in all the states of India with the NOTA option, but the Congress party, during whose tenure the notification was issued, had failed to lodge any protest against it, until now.

This was pointed out by the Election Commission on Tuesday and when asked about its 3.5 years delay, Congress leader Manish Tewari stated that “It missed the collective wisdom of the Parliament”. Even though Congress’s sudden aversion to NOTA wasn’t based on rational facts, rather than acknowledging its delay, the party tried to insinuate that the Election Commission was biased:


Now Congress’s game might finally be up now as even the Supreme Court today declined to stay the use of NOTA in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The bench also blasted the petitioner for such a long delay in approaching the court:


The apex court however has agreed to examine the constitutional validity of the NOTA and has scheduled a 13th September hearing for the same.

Maoists pay tribute to their ‘martyrs’ by abducting railway employees

OpIndia Staff
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Maoists pay tribute to their ‘martyrs’ by abducting railway employees

The Naxalites in Bihar stay true to their words. Last week, they had announced they will be celebrating “martyrdom week” from 28th July to 3rd August with a promise to fulfil dreams of those ‘martyrs’. Nothing like a bit of train hijacking and abduction of railway employees to pay tributes to insurgents, though.

Early on Thursday, 3rd August, Maoists reportedly hijacked a train in the Lakhisarai district in Bihar. The report says a mobile tower was also blown up in the area. The CRPF statement read that train no-13288 Danapur Durg Express train was hijacked near the Bhalui station around 2:30 AM (3rd August). The cabin man who was on duty was also abducted. Exchange of fire took place between the forces and the Maoists. However, normalcy has been restored now and the kidnapped cabin man freed.

Before the Moaists hijacked the train in Lakhisarai, two railway employees were abducted on two separate tracks in Bihar on the intervening night of 1st-2nd August around midnight. On Kiul-Jhajha track, the Gopalpur cabin man was abducted whereas on Kiul-Jamalpur track, Urain cabin man was abducted. Following night-long operations by the district police and CRPF, normalcy was restored at around 6 am on Wednesday morning.

The Maoists had demanded a shutdown during the “martyrs’ week” observed by the banned CPI (Maoist) and its armed wing, the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) on the death anniversary of Charu Mazumdar who is considered the father of Left-wing terrorism in India. It is reported that around 100 “rebels” were involved in the abduction of railway employees for defying the shutdown. The employees are now released.

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