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Congress hit by a mutiny in Gujarat as MLAs continue to quit the party

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Congress hit by a mutiny in Gujarat as MLAs continue to quit the party

On 21st July, it was reported that veteran Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela had officially quit the party. It was also reported that he had resigned from the post of leader of opposition in the Gujarat assembly.

Barely a week has passed and the Congress party is already facing a serious mutiny in the state as its MLAs continue to quit ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha elections, which are due next month, and assembly elections that are due towards the end of the year.

Thursday saw 3 Congress MLAs named Tejashree Patel, Pl Patel and Chief Whip of the party Balwantsinh Rajput resigning from the party. The trio without wasting any time, went to the BJP headquarters and got its party membership.

The BJP too didn’t waste any time and within minutes declared Balwantsinh Rajput as its 3rd Rajya Sabha candidate from Gujarat. There are rumours that Rajput may be contesting the Rajya Sabha election against Ahmed Patel, who is the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi.

Today, two other Congress MlAs, Chhana Chaudhry and Mansinh Chauhan also decided to switch to the BJP and submitted their resignation to the Gujarat assembly speaker Ramanlal Vora.

This doesn’t seem to be the end of the story as reports are speculating that as many as 16 MLAs might leave the Congress before the Rajya Sabha elections that will take place on 8 August. The report speculated that such a massive defection in the Congress could dearly hurt the re-election chances of Ahmed Patel.

The report might be true to a certain extent as another Congress MLA Raghavji Patel has already announced that he also intends to quit the party and in-turn join the BJP. Interestingly the reason he has sited for his resignation is that the Congress is treating the Patidars as second grade citizens.

Incidentally, Tejashree Patel and Pl Patel too had cited a similar reason before quitting the party. They apparently had stated that the Congress had failed to take a position on Patidars’ demand for reservation.

Now the Congress seems to have gone to panic mode and is trying to somehow prevent more MLAs from defecting. According to reports, the party has started keeping MLAs in secured places. The places as it turns out weren’t very secure as an MLA Bholabhai Gohil has already successfully escaped from one such safe house.

Some of the secure locations include, a farmhouse near Vadodara where 20 Congress MLAs are present, a club and house of Rajkot MLA Indrani Rajyaguru where 8 MLAs (now have become 7) are present.

A similar tactic had been employed by Sasikala in Tamil Nadu where she had taken 130 AIADMK MLAs ‘hostage’. We at OpIndia at that time had given her tips as to how she could prevent them from escaping but she didn’t pay heed. Maybe the Congress would be wiser…

Congress hooligans disrupt screening of Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar’ in various cities

OpIndia Staff
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Congress hooligans disrupt screening of Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Indu Sarkar’ in various cities

Congress workers continue to protest against the screening of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Indu Sarkar as the movie hit the theatres on Friday.

Even as the Congress leaders maintain that the party is not against the release of the movie per say, angry party workers disrupted the screening of the film at various places of Maharashtra – Pune, Nashik, Jalgaon, Nanded, Thane and Kalyan.

In Thane, the protesting Congress workers stalled the matinee show of Indu Sarkar at INOX Cinema in Korum Mall. The Congress workers, led by Thane district unit president Manoj Shinde, barged into the INOX Cinema when film was about to begin. They tore the posters of Indu Sarka’ and raised slogans against the movie and the director Madhur Bhandarkar. They also shouted slogans against the BJP governments in Maharashtra and at the Centre.

“We will not tolerate any slander against Indira Gandhi. We will not allow a single show of the film in the state or country,” said Shinde.

The protesting Congress workers also warned of dire consequences if the theatre management continues the screening of the movie. The theatre then decided to cancel the show.

In Jalgaon, around 50 Congress workers, led by Jalgaon district president Sandeep Patil, staged a protest at Natwar Multiplex and Khandesh Central theatre. They shouted slogans against the movie, hurled abuses at director Madhur Bhandarkar and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Pertinent to mention that two weeks ago, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil – in a letter  – had warned the state government about the possible protests if the film is screened.

Similar protests were held at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh by Congress workers. Reports suggest that the movie could not be screened in a number of cinema halls in Jabalpur in lieu of the protests.

Earlier, director Madhur Bhandarkar was forced to cancel the pre-release Press conference of Indu Sarkar in Pune and Nagpur because of the violent protests by Congress workers.

The Supreme Court had yesterday refused the stay on the release of Indu Sarkar saying that the movie is an “artistic expression within the parameters of law.”

It could be noted that Salman Anees Soz, national spokesperson of Congress, in a recent article in Hindustan Times had tried to distance the party from such protests. He wrote:

“Freedom of expression is about the free flow of ideas, debates and inquiry that leads to inventions, discovery and progress.  I believe there is much scope for progressively removing restrictions on free expression.”

Taking a similar line, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor‏ had tweeted:


Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram recently said that the party has nothing against the film as it does not believe in endorsing “parallel censorship.”

But these hollow talks of freedom of expression by these elite Congress leaders appear to have no effect on their fellow Congress leaders and workers. Now, some Congress leaders have started arguing that the protests are “spontaneous” in nature. This underlines the Congress’s double speak.

Or do these protests have indirect support of the Congress high command? After all it is only the Gandhis whose views are respected in the party, not of leaders like Tharoor.

Rebel AAP leader claims that Kejriwal is trying a ‘compromise’ with the BJP

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Rebel AAP leader claims that Kejriwal is trying a ‘compromise’ with the BJP

Rebel AAP leader Kapil Mishra, who has become a major thorn in the flesh for the party and specially for Arvind Kejriwal, is back in action. Continuing with his barrage of sensational ‘revelations’, he today claimed that Kejriwal was actually in process of desperately trying to make peace with the BJP.

Mishra claimed that Kejriwal had recently met a senior BJP leader to try and convince him that he (Kejriwal) had no animosity towards Prime Minister Modi, whom he used to constantly attack earlier:


Mishra further claimed that Kejriwal promised to not criticise the PM, but got belittled in return:


The rebel MLA made another sensational claim that Kejriwal even promised to apologise to Arun Jaitley in order to end the defamation proceedings against him:


The claims by Kapil Mishra come at an interesting juncture when Kejriwal’s legal woes don’t seem to be ending. Kejriwal had initially started with one defamation case which down the road became two, and now his counsel, Ram Jethmalani too has now deserted him and called him a liar.

Kapil Mishra has made many other claims about Kejriwal, all of which started with him alleging that Kejriwal deliberately influenced and delayed the probe into the Rs 400 crore tanker scam, which happened during the Sheila Dikshit regime. Here are some other major claims made by him:

  • Mishra had alleged that he had personally seen Kejriwal taking cash of Rs 2 crores from Health Minister Satyendra Jain and when confronted failed to give a satisfactory answer.
  • He alleged that crores of unaccounted money were funnelled into AAP’s party coffer through shell companies via Hawala transactions. He even provided documentary proofs to back him claims.
  • He has made allegations about corrupt businessmen funding foreign trips of AAP leaders.
  • He has claimed to have uncovered medicine and CNG scams which were allegedly carried out by the AAP government.
  • He has also hurled a murder charge against Kejriwal by hinting that he could have played a role in the death of AAP leader Santosh Koli, who had died in an accident in 2013. Some had claimed that the accident was staged and Koli was actually murdered.

After Ajit Doval-Yang Jiechi meeting, signals emerge about diplomatic resolution of Doklam standoff

OpIndia Staff
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After Ajit Doval-Yang Jiechi meeting, signals emerge about diplomatic resolution of Doklam standoff

In a sign that the standoff between India and China at India-China-Bhutan trijunction could deescalate, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi and offered “serious diplomatic efforts” to bring down the rising temperatures.

This was the first official meeting between the two top officials of India and China ever since a standoff broke out between Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army over China’s attempt to build motorable road in Doklam plateau, which is Bhutanese territory. The meeting came on the sidelines of the two-day BRICS Security Summit in Beijing. Doval is on an official visit to the Chinese capital to attend the BRICS Security Summit. The NSA is scheduled to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping on Friday.

Around the time the NSA met the Chinese state councillor, New Delhi in a statement said that “Differences between India and China should be handled or addressed in such a manner that they do not become disputes”.

Sending out a similar “conciliatory signal”, Chinese official news agency Xinhua published an editorial following the meeting between Doval and Jiechi. The editorial made a strong plea to avoid possibility of a war.

“Most economies, including those in the West, will find themselves negatively affected by an India-China war in a globalised and intertwined world today,” the editorial said.

The editorial emphasised the need to enhance mutual trust between India and China as the two countries are “not born rivals”.

“India must understand that China wishes what is good for the Indian people and would love to see a strong India standing shoulder by shoulder with China,” the Xinhua editorial said.

This is in sharp contrast to earlier commentaries published in Chinese state run newspaper Global Times, which had called for anti-India propaganda and even threats of war.

The Xinhua editorial further said, “Instead of being rivals, India and China have much more common ground, common interests and common aspirations. Both as developing countries, the two need to work together on important issues like fighting climate change, protectionism and the financial privileges of Washington.”

“Both China and India need to enhance communication and nurture trust between them, first by recognising that the two are not born rivals and that harboring ill will against each other is dangerous,” it added.

“Hopefully, wisdom will guide the two countries to common prosperity. There is more than enough room for them to co-exist and thrive in Asia and in the world,” the Xinhua editorial observed. 

Back home in New Delhi, India has reiterated the promise of a “development partnership” with China based on the “Astana consensus”. Astana consensus refers to the outcome of the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Chinese President on June 9, held in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

“We have also mentioned our approach to the settlement of border… our approach is to resolve in a peaceful manner through discussions. There are established mechanisms to address the border issue,” MEA spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.

PTI uses Chennai Airport pictures as pictures of flooded Ahmedabad Airport

OpIndia Staff
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PTI uses Chennai Airport pictures as pictures of flooded Ahmedabad Airport

Union textiles minister Smriti Irani, who was given additional charge of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry earlier this month, has shown yet again that she has a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to dealing with the mainstream media. Irani was given charge of the ministry after her predecessor Venkaiah Naidu resigned to participate in the Vice-Presidential elections.

While Naidu was large-hearted to not award even a one-day token ban to NDTV India for their controversial coverage of Pathankot terror attack, Irani took to Twitter to call out news agency PTI for circulating wrong images of Ahmedabad airport.

This is what happened: yesterday, various news outlets reported, especially on their websites, that the Ahmedabad airport had become completely flooded due to incessant heavy rains in the state. Some of them used the following photograph to show the allegedly inundated airport:

India Today shared the image, but later deleted after realising that the pictures are of Chennai airport from 2015

Readers, who these days appear more aware and alert than the journalists, were quick to point out to such media outlets that they were using old pictures from the 2015 Chennai floods when Chennai Airport was flooded due to similar heavy rains.

To their credit, some media houses deleted their tweets and reports after discovering the truth. Some were even honest to publicly regret the error to the readers, such as Indiatimes:


However, despite users pointing out the errors and some media outlets even making amends, news agency PTI circulated the same old 2015 photograph of Chennai Airport as 2017 photograph of Ahmedabad Airport on the same day.

As it happens, media outlets blindly trust anything supplied by a new agency, and thus some newspapers carried the same photograph on their front page today, thereby misleading and misinforming their readers about the situation in Ahmedabad.

Following is the front page of The Indian Express declaring Ahmedabad airport a “waterport”:

Indian Express newspaper front page, showing old picture of Chennai Airport as fresh picture of Ahmedabad Airport
Indian Express newspaper front page, showing old picture of Chennai Airport as fresh picture of Ahmedabad Airport

Perhaps this issue too had died down with some people mocking Indian Express and PTI on Twitter for their incompetence (while thousands of others would have wrongly believed these pics as being from Ahmedabad), but the new I&B minister decided to set the records straight:


She also asked the PTI to provide an explanation for its blunder:


Such a response by the minister forced PTI to come up with an explanation. They blamed it all on some photographer, whose services they claimed to have terminated:


So did a photographer in Ahmedabad fool PTI by sending a two years old photo? That sounds pretty bizarre. Also, why could no one in the editorial team spot that it was a two years old pic, while many Twitter users were able to spot this? Not only that, even newspapers like Indian Express need to explain why could their editorial team not spot something that was spotted by average readers? In the digital era, when some media outlets had already realised their mistake and corrected the same, how come Indian Express repeat the same mistake?

By the way, this is not the first time PTI has been caught spreading misinformation. Recently we had reported how they had almost maliciously spread a completely false report about the Yogi government drastically slashing its education budget in Uttar Pradesh, while the truth was that it had actually seen an increase. They have not bothered to correct that lie. Prior to that, PTI had spread fake news that claimed that the former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had planned the 2016 surgical strikes in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir due to an “insulting question” of a TV news anchor.

India and China face-off over making Tibetan medicine a part of their own cultural heritage

OpIndia Staff
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India and China face-off over making Tibetan medicine a part of their own cultural heritage

The genesis of standoff between India and China over the Himalayas dates back by centuries. To give a more recent chronology of events:

  • In 1950, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had forcefully invaded Tibet.
  • In 1959, New Delhi had granted asylum to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
  • In 1962, India and China fought the now infamous Indo-China war.

Presently, the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China are again locked in a standoff at India-China-Bhutan tri-junction over China’s attempt to build a motorable road in Doklam plateau, which actually is Bhutanese territory.

The two countries also seem to be locked in another conflict, which is who will formally be able to tie the ancient practice of Tibetan medicine to its nation’s patrimony that is make it a part of its cultural heritage, according to a New York Times report.

China had filed paperwork at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in March pressing for recognition of medicinal bathing which is one of many practices of Sowa Rigpa as part of its “intangible cultural heritage”. Following this, India has filed its own bid at the UNESCO staking claim for its cultural patrimony of the entire Sowa Rigpa.

Sowa-Rigpa, which means “the science of healing” in English, is commonly known as the Amchi system of medicine. This is among the oldest documented medical traditions in the world and is believed to have originated in the 3rd century BC. Sowa Rigpa is practiced in China, India, Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal.

“Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa, knowledge and practices concerning life, health and illness prevention and treatment are popular among the Tibetan people in China,” reads the China’s claim.

The India’s claim, however, states, “The majority of theory and practice of Sowa Rigpa is similar to Ayurveda. The first Ayurvedic influence came to Tibet during 3rd century AD but it became popular only after 7th centuries with the approach of Buddhism to Tibet. Thereafter, this trend of exportation of Indian medical literature, along with Buddhism and other Indian art and sciences were continued till the early 19th century.”

Western scholars say there are clear historical links between Ayurvedic and Tibetan medical traditions.

Both the dossiers will be considered during UNESCO’s session in 2018. It is also believed that, UNESCO’s recognition to Sowa Rigpa will definitely have tangible effects on its commercial aspects. Stephan Kloos, a medical anthropologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, was quoted as saying that his preliminary calculations suggest that the industry’s value could be approaching $1 billion.

Regarding the claim, Tashi Tsering Phuri, Director of the Tibetan Medical and Astro-Science Institute in Dharamsala, was quoted as saying that the founding text of Tibetan medicine is “for the whole world to enjoy.”

In 2010, India had recognised Sowa Rigpa as an Indian medicinal system. Both the Houses of the Parliament had passed a bill to include Sowa-Rigpa under Indian systems of medicine.

But Qin Yongzhang, an ethnologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in Chinese state run newspaper Global Times as saying, “Tibetan medicine not only originated but has been developed in China.”

Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University, however, said that because China has forcibly owned most of the Tibetan Plateau, its UNESCO application did made some sense. “But to claim that somehow China has been the origin of the tradition is just silly.”

Minor whose FB post triggered Basirhat riots, still unlawfully languishing in jail

OpIndia Staff
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Minor whose FB post triggered Basirhat riots, still unlawfully languishing in jail

At the start of July, Basirhat in West Bengal was rocked by communal violence when Islamist mobs went on a rampage after being offended by a 2nd July Facebook post of a 17 years old boy. The resulting violence led to the death of a 65 year old Kartik Ghosh and resulted in heavy damage to temples, establishments owned by Hindus and public property in general.

Just as the situation had started to boil, the local police had promptly arrested the school going minor. Now according to latest reports, the boy is still languishing in the jail while he should legally have been lodged in a juvenile correctional home.

The boy whose home was torched by the Jihadis, was registered as an 18+ youth even though there were still 4 days left before he was scheduled to turn 17. The police then also booked him under the sections reserved for carrying out deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings and also for publishing obscene material.

He was first presented in front of an additional chief judicial magistrate’s court, which sent him to a 3 day police remand. He was later sent to a 14 day custody in the next appearance on 6th July, and only on 20th July did the subject of him being potentially tried as an adult came up.

Now the reason being given for him not being taken to the Juvenile Justice Board for trial is that his date of birth could not initially be ascertained. One of his lawyers named Brajendranath Ray blames this lapse on the local police. According to him, the boy had appeared for the Senior Secondary examination in January and it was well known that 90% of such students are aged around 16 years. Hence the lawyer claims that the police should have verified this information within a matter of hours.

The police now seems to have finally verified his birth certificate and the admit card of his Class X final and have deemed him to be a minor. C Sudhakar the SP of North 24 Parganas has been quoted as saying that the police would now recommend to the court on 3rd August (the next trial date) that he be sent for juvenile trial. These identification documents though were reportedly not recovered by the police but were painfully scrounged by activists of the Hindu Samhati from the ruins of his home.

The report also claimed that human rights groups in West Bengal were unusually quiet over this issue, supposedly because they had ”mixed feeling” about helping him.

This isn’t the only injustice the boy has faced. Many media outlets, including a propaganda blog favouring the Aam Aadmi Party, had revealed revealed the name and photograph of the concerned minor. This could very well have made him a target of other Jihadi groups. Such media groups are in violation of the Juvenile Justice Act, which prohibits publishing identity of a juvenile. Such media groups could face potential imprisonment of 6 months and a fine of Rs 2 lakh, but unfortunately there is not much support for a teenager.

Communist leader Sitaram Yechury denied another Rajya Sabha term by his party

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Communist leader Sitaram Yechury denied another Rajya Sabha term by his party

Comrade Sitaram Yechury’s bid for a 3rd Rajya Sabha term was rejected by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau had on 7th June denied a 3rd term to their General Secretary Yechury by citing the party’s convention but the Bengal State Committee had wanted an exception to be made in his case.

This logjam led to a voting round where by a 50:30 vote it was decided that Yechury won’t be given a 3rd term. The state commission of Bengal was then asked to either pick an independent candidate acceptable to all the opposition parties or go solo in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

The main opposition to Yechury’s candidature came from the Kerala unit of the party. According to reports, it was Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, party’s former General Secretary Prakash Karat and a few other leaders who had put their foot down when it came to Yechury’s candidature.

According to the report, Yechury’s candidature would have been considered if the party was in a better position. Of the 6 Rajya Sabha seats which are up for elections in West Bengal, the TMC is expected to win 5. The CPM on the other hand could only retain its lone seat with the help of support from the Congress party. Now it seems the party leadership would talk to the Congress party for fielding a common candidate.

The current term of Sitaram Yechury ends on 18th August and 28th July is the last date to file the nominations. Yechury has now been quoted by the media as stating that he would now focus on spending more time with the party to fulfil his role as its General Secretary.

Currently the CPM has 8 Rajya Sabha MPs and 9 Lok Sabha MPs. If the CPM and the Congress agree on an independent candidate then the strength of the Communist party might diminish further in the Parliament.

Documents show terrorists turn to separatists for finances

OpIndia Staff
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Documents show terrorists turn to separatists for finances

The recent raids by National Investigation Agency (NIA) on separatist leaders have revealed how the terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen were turning to separatists for finances time to time.

According to reports, during the raids, the NIA has recovered several letters from separatist leaders which show that the terrorists were demanding funds from them ranging from thousands of rupees to lakhs. Several separatist leaders are currently under NIA custody for funding the turmoil in Kashmir through the money coming from Pakistan. The amount received by the separatists from Pakistan in the last one year could run into several hundred crores.

The NIA has found a letter written by Jammu & Kashmir Hizbul Mujahideen to Ayaz Akbar Khandey, a close aide of Tehreek-e Hurriyat chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani. Khandey is among the separatist leaders currently under NIA custody.

The letter, which was written on the terror outfit’s letter head, reads, “Rs 5 lakh is urgently needed to tide over the immediate financial crunch arising out of demonetisation.” It could be noted that the unrest in Kashmir valley was on a backburner following the demonetisation.

“We are in dire need of money at this time as we are not getting payments from outside due to present (security) situation and demonetisation. Inshallah we will wait for you for four days. If you do anything, then you will be responsible for yourself and family,” reads the letter.

Another letter, dated 17 March, 2006, written by Hizbul Mujahideen area commander Burkan to Nayeem Khan – a close aide of separatist leader Shabir Shah who is currently under NIA custody – reads, “We are in dire need of Rs 7,000 or Rs 10,000. Also if you can leave a mobile phone with us…” The letter has been recovered from Khan’s residence during the NIA raid.

A third letter, written by the Jammu & Kashmir unit of the LeT to Hurriyat Conference reads, “…Our friend is unwell and he is in dire need of Rs 5,000. We hope you won’t disappoint us…” The NIA sleuths have recovered the letter from Shahid-ul-Islam, the political advisor of moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

During the raids, the NIA has also found photographs of Hurriyat leader Shahidul-Islam with Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddinand. One of the photographs shows the Hurriyat leader wielding an AK-47 rifle.

Meanwhile, CRPF Director General Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar has revealed that stone-pelting incidents in Kashmir Valley have been reduced by half this year. While 1590 incidents of stone pelting were reported last year, only 424 stone pelting incidents have been reported so far this year.

According to Bhatnagar there are several factors instrumental for the improvement in the situation. These include new standard operating procedures, a new strategy to deal with the mob, action taken by other agencies like NIA against the organisers of such incidents and joint operation by forces.

How some journalists suffered a virtual meltdown during the Bihar political drama

OpIndia Staff
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How some journalists suffered a virtual meltdown during the Bihar political drama

Yesterday Bihar politics witnessed an unprecedented amount of drama after Nitish Kumar resigned from the post of Bihar CM citing inability to run the grand alliance (mahagathbandhan) due to the prevailing circumstances. It is believed that the catalyst for this severance were the impending corruption allegations against Lalu and his family members which were accentuated by the CBI raids at his residence on 7th July.

Even as the words of his resignation had barely left Nitish’s mouth, PM Modi came out with a tweet to congratulate him for joining the fight against corruption, hinting at both the parties coming together again. Lalu though didn’t take it lying down and in a press conference alleged that Nitish was facing trial in a 1991 murder case, which led him to resign from the government.

However, the BJP was moving with great speed and it announced support for the JD-U and Nitish. It was immediately reported that a BJP-JD-U coalition would be forming the government in Bihar with BJP’s Sushil Modi also taking oath as the Deputy CM of Bihar the following day.

The RJD tried it all, with Tejashwi marching to the Governor’s house at 2:30 AM but too no avail. Both Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi finally took oath as scheduled earlier today, leading to the reunification of two former allies.

All this drama meant that some eminent journalists suffered a virtual meltdown, so here are a few funny instances.

Rajdeep Sardesai looked like creating his own version of Comedy of Errors after he mistakenly introduced a JD-U MP as a RJD politician. When the poor MP pointed out the error, Rajdeep pretended that it never happened:


Even Rajdeep’s colleague Rahul Kanwal unwittingly mocked him:


An alleged pro-congress journalist tried to lift Rahul Gandhi to a moral high ground but she was soon exposed:


People couldn’t believe when even Barkha Dutt started to attack ‘liberals’ and their version of secularism:


People also mocked online website DailyO for publishing an abusive troll masquerading as journalist for getting things entirely wrong just a day earlier:


People couldn’t help but react to all the drama which was simultaneously unfolding in the newsrooms:


And yes, poor Rahul Gandhi was at target again:


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