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NDTV deletes blog post written by Kapil Mishra that was critical of Kejriwal

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV deletes blog post written by Kapil Mishra that was critical of Kejriwal

Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, who has made many sensational claims about corruption and misdeeds by Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP government of Delhi, has now claimed that his views critical of Arvind Kejriwal are being supressed by news broadcaster NDTV.

Yesterday, Kapil Mishra had shared a blog post that was published on the Hindi website of NDTV. The blog post was titled “yeh hain Arvind Kejriwal ke brahmastra”, which loosely translates to “these are the ultimate weapons of Arvind Kejriwal”:


In the blog post, Mishra had claimed that Kejriwal uses lies, deceit, treachery and conspiracy as weapons against those whom he considers threat to his political ambitions. The AAP MLA claimed in the post that these ‘weapons’ were used against Anna Hazare, Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, and also against Kumar Vishwas, who is still with AAP.

The blog post made a sensational claim that emails and other messages that targeted Kumar Vishwas’s personal life by terming him a lecherous man who was cheating on his wife, originated from an IP address that was of Kejriwal’s house. The article claimed that a ‘report’ confirming the same exists and Vishwas is in possession of the same.

Another sensational claim made in the blog post was about the death of AAP worker Santosh Koli, who died after meeting an accident in 2013. Mishra claimed that he talked to parents and brother of Santosh and came to know that the death was a political assassination and Kejriwal had a role in it. The blog post though did not ascribe any direct role of Kejriwal in the alleged assassination.

The blog post further recalled an incident involving an unnamed AAP worker and close aide of Manish Sisodia, who apparently was removed from the party on behest of Kejriwal as he had tweeted in support of Kumar Vishwas. Later, Mishra re-tweeted a message by a person who claimed to be the same AAP worker who was removed for supporting Vishwas.

The blog post made news despite being published on a day India and Pakistan met in Champions Trophy. However, the post was gone early this morning. The link to the article was sending people to the home page of Hindi NDTV website. A google archive of the article is available on this link though.

Kapil Mishra claimed that NDTV did not provide him any reasons or explanation on why the blog post was deleted by them. He hinted that the broadcaster was biased in favour of Kejriwal:


Incidentally, Arvind Kejriwal later tweeted in support of NDTV condemning CBI raids at the residences of its founder Prannoy Roy. Mishra took a dig both at NDTV and the AAP supremo by reminding people how Kejriwal used to abuse media and that the case against NDTV and its founders was about financial fraud that had nothing to do with free speech or independent journalism.

Army tightening noose on anti-India forces, helping Centre in development push in Kashmir

Saswat Panigrahi
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Army tightening noose on anti-India forces, helping Centre in development push in Kashmir

Indian Army, with the strong backing of the Centre, is going aggressive against the anti-India forces operating in and around Kashmir. At the same time, it is swiftly implementing Government of India’s agenda in carrying out development push and weaning away the Valley’s youth, away from militancy, through education and jobs.

Kashmir has been on the boil since the Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by the Army in July last year. Seventy-six people and two police personnel were killed during the five-month-long unrest following the killing of the terrorist.

Ever since the recent by-poll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, a fresh spurt violence broke out in the valley. There is a palpable tension in the valley with the separatist forces calling for a 2016-like protests. The Valley has witnessed a spurt in incidents of violence and terrorist attacks in the last couple of months. But the Army has been controlling the situation with an iron first.

“The tempo of our operations has been significantly higher than previous years and it will remain high in the coming months. Our approach is way more aggressive than before and has the backing of the force’s top hierarchy,” a senior Army officer was quoted as saying.

According to Defence experts, what has led to the aggressive approach of the Army in Kashmir is that the government’s strong backing to the Army’s operations in Kashmir.

A young Army officer – Major Leetul Gogoi – had used a Kashmiri protester named Farooq Dar as a human shield against the stone pelters in Budgam on April 9 while moving a convoy of election officials and ballot boxes to safety. Following this act, Major Gogoi was awarded by the Army. Army chief General Bipin Rawat has praised Major Gogoi saying that the dirty war has to be fought with innovative ways. The government has stood by the Indian Army on the incident at a time when the Army is coming under attack by a section of political class.

The government has given a free hand to the Army to take stern actions against those who are spreading terror and vitiating the atmosphere in the Valley. The Army has launched Operation Clean Up to flush South Kashmir of terrorists. About a dozen terrorists, including Burhan Wani’s successor Sabzar Bhat, were gunned down by the Army over the last two weeks. The Indian Army has released a list of 12 dreaded terrorists operating in the Kashmir Valley.

At the same time, the Army has been carrying out “punitive fire assaults” against Pakistani posts. “The encounters were a result of ‘relentless operations’ by security forces to defeat the desperate attempts by Pakistan and Pak-sponsored agents to spread terror in Kashmir”, an Army statement said.

The Army, on 26 May, avenged 1 May beheading of two soldiers by killing two men from Pakistan’s Border Action Team (BAT). BAT, a rogue division of Pakistani Army, is primarily tasked for dominating the LoC by carrying out disruptive actions. It basically works in tandem with Pakistani terrorists waiting to sneak into Indian territory. In a clean break from the past, the Indian Army tweeted:


The Indian Army, on 23 May, has released a rare video of heavy artillery blasting. This is a clear departure from the past also.

Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had expressed satisfaction over the “aggressive domination” and “readiness” of the troops along the LoC in Jammu & Kashmir. “The aggressive domination and readiness of troops for befitting response to any misadventure by enemy is very satisfying,” Jaitley said. He stated that the force was not only dominating the LoC but also applying pressure on terrorist cadre.

Amid all these, the Army is carrying forward the Centre’s focus on education, jobs and development in Kashmir valley.

The Army is running scores of schools in the civilian areas of the Valley. The schools are getting very good response from the young students.

Hundreds of Kashmiri youth appeared for the Army recruitment test in Kashmir, on 28 May, rejecting the bandh call given by the separatists and defying the threat call by the terrorists.

Continuing the Centre’s development push in the Valley, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on 27 April took stock of the implementation of the Rs 80,000 crore development package announced by the Prime Minister for Jammu & Kashmir. The package was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November, 2015. So far, Rs 17,000 crore has been released to the state government by the Centre.

“The Home Ministry has a multi-pronged strategy which includes building of infrastructure and capacity and generation of employment opportunities coupled with firm handling of criminal activities,” Ashok Prasad, Union Home Ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying. The Centre is involving the Army for the successful implementation of the crucial development projects.

Pregnant Muslim woman burnt alive by family for marrying Hindu man in Karnataka

OpIndia Staff
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Pregnant Muslim woman burnt alive by family for marrying Hindu man in Karnataka

In a shocking case of dis-honour killing, a young Muslim woman died after being burnt alive by her family members for marrying a man outside her religion. The incident happened in Gundakanala village of Bijapur district of Karnataka.

the 21-year-old Muslim woman named Banu Begum had reportedly fell in love with 24-year-old Sayabanna Sharanappa Konnur, a Hindu boy belonging to the Valimiki caste. Both Banu and Sayabanna are residents of the same village. When Banu’s parents learnt about their relationship in January this year, they had brutally assaulted Sayabanna.

“The day Banu’s parents found out about their relationship, they had dragged her to the police station. They had created a huge ruckus and had demanded that the police file a POCSO case against Sayabanna claiming that their daughter was a minor,” PK Patil, Talikote DSP, was quoted as saying. After an enquiry, the police dropped the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) case lodged against Konnur.

Following this incident, Banu and Sayabanna eloped to Goa to get married. They later got their marriage registered at the at the sub-registrar’s office in Muddebihal in Karnataka. When Banu got pregnant, the couple returned to their village thinking that their families would accept their wedlock. As the couple came back to Gundakanala village on last Saturday (3 June) and met their families with the news of Banu’s pregnancy, a huge fight raged.

“Banu’s parents wanted her to leave Sayabanna and the boy’s father was also not too pleased with the marriage. On Saturday night, when the couple refused to give in to their families’ demands, Sayabanna’s father, along with Banu’s mother, brother and sister brutally assaulted him,” the DSP said.

Sayabanna was bitten all over his body and Banu’s mother had pelted stones at him. But Sayabanna managed to escape and ran to the Talikote Police Station for help. A severely injured Sayabanna informed the police about the incident, sought help and ran back to Banu’s place to save her. But by the time he reached Banu’s house, her family members had set her on fire.

Sayabanna, meanwhile, begged for help to save her wife’s life but Banu’s neighbours went inside their homes and locked their doors while she was being burnt. Police claims to have reached Banu’s house 10 minutes after Sayabanna reached out to them, but by that time everything was over. Banu had been stabbed multiple times before being set on fire, police said. Sayabanna sustained injuries in the process of dousing flames from her wife’s body.

The police have arrested Banu’s mother, sister, brother-in-law and brother in connection with the shocking incident. Four other accused – two elder sisters of Banu and her two brothers – are still at large.

It’s not CBI raids on NDTV but the arrogance of media that threatens democracy

Abhishek Banerjee
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It’s not CBI raids on NDTV but the arrogance of media that threatens democracy

It happens every other day in India. Raids by some branch of law enforcement – police, CBI, ED, IT sleuths, et al. – on some individual or some business. Jewellers get raided, factories and their owners get raided. Politicians and industrialists get raided. Film stars and cricket players get raided.

So why does it matter if a raid happens on NDTV? Why is the reaction different? Here are just three samples – one that virtually threatens the law enforcement agencies with trail by media, another that declares it akin to Emergency (attack on democracy), and third one that suddenly finds such raids ‘barbaric’:


Why such extreme rhetoric? No, Mr. Praveen Swami, CBI raids are not ‘defining moment’. The last time this sort of thing happened was probably last week. Check local news reports from all across our vast nation. I am sure you will find that some business owner or executive was raided by police during the last week.

In fact, such raids have probably happened somewhere or the other in the country on every single working day for last several decades. And Indian democracy is doing just fine. It would have been in danger if media would have done what Tavleen Singh suggests – oppose every CBI raid (Lalu would love that suggestion by the way).

So what makes the current CBI raid special that warrants such extreme, almost hallucinatory, reactions? The fact that these are raids against a business that sells a very specific product : news.

If a jeweller or shopkeeper is raided by law enforcement, it’s not an assault on democracy. If you raid a ‘news trader’, only then is it an assault on democracy. Huh. Why?

The media would probably chafe at the term “news trader”, as if it is some kind of insult. What’s wrong with being a trader? Business creates wealth. If only Nehru and his descendants had understood this simple fact, they would not have led us into a four decade long disaster of aligning with the wrong side of history.

But no, the media looks down on the word “trader”. In an attitude that can only be described as Brahminical, the media claims to live in some higher intellectual heaven. What they sell is more than just a product, it is some kind of divine prasad that we should be eternally grateful for.

I checked. According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, there are over 15 lakh registered companies in India. NDTV is just one of them. Nothing more, nothing less.

If media in general and/or NDTV in particular has a heightened sense of self, or some sense of entitlement, that is their problem. You know, like this:

NDTV statement on CBI raids

No, NDTV you are not an “institution of India”. You are just one of the 15 lakh+ companies in the country. Get over yourself.

If you insist on being put on some higher pedestal than other ‘traders’, let us, for argument’s sake, promote you and put you along with some ‘professionals’ and ‘service providers’. In fact, let us give you – media and journalists – another promotion, and not club you along with CAs (professionals) or mobile companies (service providers).

Let us give you a higher status, like a Teacher (considered even more important than god in the Hindu tradition you love to hate) or a Doctor (considered another form of god in the same tradition). The role and importance of a journalist is definitely not more important than these two in the modern world; I hope you have the modesty to accept that. But if you introspect, you know that you don’t deserve this high status.

You need to study hard to become a doctor, and your license is revoked if you indulge in malpractices. But in your industry, you just need ‘connections’ to become a journalist, and your career is not impacted when you are found indulged in fixing ministries or doing PR work or even manufacturing facts.

Being a teacher is also so dissimilar to being a journalist. You have to pass some exams, including Maths. There are some standards you should meet. So unlike journalism, you see. By the way, raids have been carried out against teachers and they have been arrested if they are found to indulge in malpractices. Here is an NDTV report on the same. I did not hear any teacher crying attack on education or insult to Maa Saraswati.

If you are honest, you know that you don’t deserve to be equated with doctors or teachers, for there is no similarity between your industry and theirs. You deserve to be equated with ‘traders’ only. Just like anyone can open a shop and become a trader, anyone can launch a newspaper, a TV channel, or a website and become a journalist. You are nothing but ‘news traders’ in true sense.

You are a trader who looks down upon other trades and traders. A trader who demands special status. A trader who seeks power without accountability. A trader with a sense of entitlement.

The same sense of entitlement operates when conventional media bashes the social media. The most common technique is to dismiss social media as “trolls” and the most common smear is to call them “misogynist”. You have been carrying out “raids” against anyone speaking against you. Thus there is no wonder that there is a sense of glee among masses when you are being raided.

Instead of creating fake outrage, introspect why you have come to this level. It is your arrogance. CBI raids should be least of your concern.

We do need institutions that can act as watchdogs in a democracy, but that institution can not be built with the arrogance that you proudly possess. That institution has to have the relationship of mutual respect, trust, and accountability with the public. You hate all three when it comes down to those. Public has to blindly follow your diktats and be in awe of your grand status. Sorry mate, it can not work this way.

If the conventional media thinks that a handful of their media workers could do a better job than the collective intelligence of the masses, it is really their problem. Technology has always gotten rid of low skilled jobs and it may just be the turn of the old media.

In short, media is a business. Privately owned. Privately operated. Be prepared to operate within the same system as every other business. I can’t believe you expected anything else.

You being treated the same as other businesses is not the problem, your entitlement without accountability is.

CBI raids at Prannoy Roy’s residence – read what NDTV and Roys are accused of

OpIndia Staff
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CBI raids at Prannoy Roy’s residence – read what NDTV and Roys are accused of

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the residence of New Delhi Television (NDTV) Limited co-founder and executive chairperson Prannoy Roy this morning. The CBI reportedly conducted searches at at four places including Delhi and Dehradun.

The raid was part a crackdown for bank frauds. The CBI has registered a case against Prannoy Roy, his wife and co-founder of the channel Radhika Roy, a private company and others for allegedly defrauding a private bank.

The case is related to a Rs 396 crore fraud on ICICI Bank. Reports suggest that Roys took Rs 396 crore loan from ICICI Bank to shell company RRPR Holding showing NDTV assets. Rs 21 crore and Rs 71 crore were then diverted to the bank account of Prannoy and Radhika Roy respectively.

Reacting to the CBI raids, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy said, “Fear of law is necessary and it should be applied no matter who you are.”

Swamy had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the CBI to file case against NDTV under Prevention of Corruption Act. Alleging that NDTV was a party to Aircel-Maxis scam, during the Congress rule, Swamy had said it received illegal money from Maxis subsidiary Astro. Swamy further said that the money, received by NDTV from Maxis, was “illegally approved” by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram to “benefit his son” Karthi Chidambaram.

The Roys are being probed for contraventions of tax laws and laws involving foreign money. A report published in Caravan Magazine suggests that a series of financial transactions that the Roys have carried out from the mid 2000s onwards have been under close investigation by government agencies.

In 2013, Sanjay Dutt, director of a financial-services firm Quantum Securities who owned around 125,000 shares in NDTV, had filed complaints with Enforcement Directorate and Directorate General of Income Tax alleging that that NDTV and its promoters had violated a number of laws. In January 2015, Dutt had filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court against Enforcement Directorate and Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation alleging that both agencies failed to act on his complaints.

The Enforcement Directorate, in November last year, had slapped a show cause notice to NDTV for flouting foreign exchange regulations while bringing foreign investments to the tune of Rs 2,030 crore between 2007-10.

A book named ‘NDTV Frauds’, written by Sree Iyer, talks in detail about alleged illegalities committed by the media group.

The raids come on a day the broadcaster is taking its English business news channel NDTV Profit off air. It could be noted that NDTV Profit continued to have the lowest TRP among the genre of business-economy channels. Even the general news channels in Hindi and English have failed to top the TRP charts.

During the quarter ending 31 December 2016, NDTV had reported a consolidated revenue loss of Rs 18 crore following a dip in advertising revenue. Facing financial losses, the channel has put its assets on sale.

NDTV is facing three-fold challenges – revenue loss, fraud and credibility crisis. NDTV, primarily a left-leaning television news channel, often faces a lot of flak in social media for taking partisan stand against the Modi government and the BJP, using half truths and manipulation of facts. Incidentally, after the Congress lost power in 2014 general elections, the broadcaster is facing financial crisis.

At the same time the credibility of the channel is on a further downside with its anchors peddling fake news, channel being silent on crimes by relatives of NDTV journalists, and the channel giving platform to people who are abusive and violent.

NDTV also came under severe criticism for its coverage on the terror attack at Pathankot airbase. In November last year, the government had ordered a one day token ban on NDTV India, after an inter-ministerial panel constituted by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry recommended this action. The ban was ultimately not executed, even as the channel refused to apologise for Pathankot coverage.

Congress publishes booklet showing Kashmir as ‘Indian occupied’, terms it ‘printing error’

OpIndia Staff
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Congress publishes booklet showing Kashmir as ‘Indian occupied’, terms it ‘printing error’

In what has come as a huge embarrassment for the Congress, a booklet released by the grand old party shows the map of Kashmir as ‘India occupied Kashmir’.

The 15-page booklet titled ‘राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा पर आँच’ (National Security Endangered) was released at a Press conference in Lucknow by senior Congress leader and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Uttar Pradesh PCC president Raj Babbar on the party’s assessment of three years of the Narendra Modi government.

The Congress which has left the national security of India in a moribund condition alleges that India’s security is under threat in Narendra Modi rule. The party attacked the Modi government for handling India’s relations with Pakistan and China.

The wrong map of Kashmir was published on page-12 of the booklet in a chapter headlined China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

On its part, the Congress called it a “printing error.” “This is a printing error. This was our responsibility. We seek apology. Such mistakes will never be repeated,” senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said.

The BJP latched on to the faux pas attacking the Congress saying the party must have gladdened the heart of its “patrons in Pakistan”.

“It is not only regrettable but shocking that a senior Congress leader like Azad is projecting a map of Kashmir where it is described as Indian occupied Kashmir. Is Congress speaking the language of Pakistan?” senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

“By projecting Kashmir as Indian occupied Kashmir the Congress party has not only made separatists happy but also gladdened the heart of its patrons across the border. It is condemnable,” Prasad said.

A Saturday : One Bengali renounces Indian secularism

Abhishek Banerjee
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A Saturday : One Bengali renounces Indian secularism

Here’s a wish from Rabindranath Thakur :

Chitta jetha bhoyshunyo, uchcho jetha sheer… Bharatere sei sarge koro jagorito (Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high… let my Bharat awake into that heaven of freedom)

Words from Gitanjali (1910).

In independent India of 2017, imagine if the poet were to look up to the sky for inspiration and tried to put his vision into his own words. The poet would not be allowed to describe the blue sky as he chooses to in his beloved Bengali language. Instead he would face a fatwa from the government of West Bengal to call the blue sky “aasmani” instead of “akaashi”. If the poet wanted to describe the rainbow, he would have to call it “rongdhonu” instead of “ramdhonu”.

His words would become restricted. The poet’s spirit would wither away.

How did we reach to this stage? Should I be scared?

But scared of what? Of whom?

Of late, I see numerous articles from eminent liberals warning Bengalis about the expanding empire of BJP ruled states. They say Modi is coming to impose the culture of the “cow belt” on West Bengal.

Apparently, the “North” will take over. Supposedly, they will take away my Bengali language and force me to speak Hindi (I already speak it fluently, don’t worry). Supposedly, they will take away the regular meal of beef curry from my table and replace it with paneer (just like almost all Bengali Hindus, nobody in my family eats beef, don’t worry).

Dear liberals, I am more similar to those “invaders from the North” than you think. On the other hand, you and I probably have nothing in common.

So, stop warning me about the dangers to my Bengal and my Bengali culture from the rising tide of BJP. Tell me what your Indian secularism has done for me before you shed crocodile tears about Bengal.

Let me tell you clearly. I don’t have any confidence in your Indian secularism. Can it protect me when the need arises? Take our National Anthem:

Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha… 

You must know these words, again written by Rabindranath. Tell me, where is Sindh? Show me Sindh on the map of the Republic of India. Can you? What happened to Sindh and to the Hindus there? What happened to their homeland and their culture?

Again from the National Anthem :

Dravida, Utkala, Banga.

Where is Banga? I only know about West Bengal. There must be an East Bengal somewhere. Where did it go and what happened to the Hindus there?

Was secularism able to protect the Hindus of East Bengal? No, as a matter of fact, this whole joke called “idea of India” was built on the bones of millions of Hindus of East Bengal.

Why did Indian secularism throw away the lives of Hindus of East Bengal? Is it not true that they threw these lives away because they were impatient to rule from Delhi? Today, their biological and intellectual descendants have come to teach me “idea of India”.

The only “idea” in “idea of India” in 1947 was this : throw away the lives of millions of Hindus (and Sikhs) of West Punjab, East Bengal, Sindh and others so that we can rule from Delhi.

Trying to emotionally blackmail Bengalis today with the same “idea of India” is a sick joke. Secularism took away East Bengal. Today, all it can give us is renaming the leftover West Bengal simply as “Bengal” or “Banga”. Could it be any more pathetic?

I am being told to fear the so called “Hindutva forces”. Really? Is that the real fear?

What happened to Hindus in the Muslim majority regions of India that went to Pakistan in 1947?

In the Republic of India, there was one, just one large region where Muslims were a majority. Kashmir. What happened to Hindus there? They were marched out of the state and became refugees forever.

There are 57 Muslim majority nations spread all across the world. They could be as rich as Qatar or as poor as Somalia. Tell me what is the status of democratic, religious and cultural freedoms in these countries.

How do Muslim majority nations behave across the world?

How have Muslim majorities treated minorities in parts of the Indian subcontinent that broke away from India in 1947?

How have Muslim majorities treated minorities even inside the Republic of India?

Now tell me why I should not be worried as district after border district of Bengal turns Muslim majority?

Why should I believe that the pattern that has repeated in every corner of the Republic of India, in every corner of the Indian subcontinent and indeed in every corner of the world will not repeat in say West Bengal or Western Uttar Pradesh or Kerala or Assam?

Are you asking me to believe in magic? At least you should say so openly.  I do not believe in magical sky gods. Perhaps you do.

Now tell me what is the real danger to my personal security, my way of life and my culture.

Does Indian secularism wish me well? Will it give me a fair deal? Can it protect me?

I see liberals burning Manusmriti every day. In fact, I think that the sales of this book are driven almost entirely by liberals buying it just so they can burn it. Go ahead, for it is your right. But would these liberals ever dare to burn the …. ? You know what I am talking about. Are you saying that no oppression of human beings is carried out in its name?

Everything I need to know about Indian secularism and liberalism is already clear from that comparison.

Yesterday, I happened to read a much talked about article in The Hindustan Times by Naseeruddin Shah. Here is the last paragraph of this article and I guess it was meant as some kind of punchline

Naseeruddin Shah's article

I have too much respect for the acting of Naseeruddin Shah to accuse him of malicious propaganda, so I will only express pity for his ignorance. Because I have never seen a more spectacular example of an author destroying his own argument.

Mr. Shah, you should know that Mohammed Iqbal, who wrote “Saare Jahaan se achcha Hindustan hamara” in 1904, became a rabid Muslim separatist in the 1920s. He was one of the leading lights of the idea that Muslims cannot live in a Hindu majority democratic India. His close collaboration with Jinnah laid the intellectual basis for Pakistan, with Iqbal often coming across as more extreme than even Jinnah in believing that separation of Hindus and Muslims was inevitable. Heck, he shed tears and eulogized the guy who killed a person for writing a blasphemous book. You know, it is like eulogizing someone who kills someone for eating beef.

Now add to this the fact that Mohammad Iqbal was a great scholar, with a Bachelors degree from Cambridge and a Doctoral degree from Munich. That’s even more impressive if you imagine the attitudes towards Indians in colonial Europe of more than 100 years ago. Great scholar and great literary master and yet Iqbal became the rabid Muslim separatist that he was.

If a brilliant and educated man as Mohammad Iqbal can become a danger to Hindus …

I am sure Mr. Naseeruddin Shah can explain why I have nothing to worry about. Or can he?

Since I was a child, I have been taught about the greatness of Indian secularism. The media writes about it non-stop. Cable news blares about it incessantly.

It’s as if Nehruvian secularism is the state religion. But what has it ever done for me?

So today I renounce it. I renounce Nehruvian secularism. This is my dissent.

Yes, I understand that I have been late in my realization. But what do I do? I am not a media celebrity nor a full time propagandist.

I am just an ordinary person. I have my compulsions. I have to be busy during the week with my everyday job so that I can put food on the table.

You tried to divide my Bharat over caste on a Monday.

You tried to divide my Bharat over language on a Tuesday.

You tried to divide my Bharat over veg and non-veg  on a Wednesday.

You tried to divide my Bharat over North and South on a Thursday.

You divided my Bharat on August 15, 1947. That was a Friday.

I am only replying to you on a Saturday.

People slam propaganda website that compared Indian Army Chief to Gen Dyer

Hemant Bijapurkar
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People slam propaganda website that compared Indian Army Chief to Gen Dyer

Leftist propaganda website The Wire stooped to a new low after it carried an article that made a direct comparison between India’s Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and General Dyer, the perpetrator of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13th April 1919 when British troops led by General Dyer opened fire at a crowd of people inside the garden, who were unarmed and taking part in the annual Baisakhi celebrations. Officially 379 people died but the number has been speculated to be as high as a 1000.

The article titled “In Kashmir, India Is Witnessing Its General Dyer Moment” sought to somehow draw parallels between the monstrosity of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Major Gogoi’s novel action of tying a protester to his jeep. Perhaps for the editors of The Wire, stone pelting and flashing flags of ISIS are like celebrating Baisakhi.

This piece in The Wire was possibly taking things too far and people reacted with varied emotions like shock, disbelief and outrage:


Even Shekhar Gupta, who is famous to have reported about a possible coup by the Army, reacted with shock, which proved how low really the propaganda website had sunk:


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In a first, NIA raids Kashmiri separatist leaders over terror funding

OpIndia Staff
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In a first, NIA raids Kashmiri separatist leaders over terror funding

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today raided as many as 23 locations in Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana in connection to the funding reportedly received by separatist leaders from Pakistan to spread terror in the Valley.

Those raided by the NIA sleuth include Altaf Fantoosh, son-in-law of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shahid-ul-Islam, a prominent leader of Awami Action Committee of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, businessman Zahoor Watali and some second rung separatist leaders belonging to both Hurriyat Conference and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

In addition, the NIA team raided eight hawala dealers and traders in the national, besides two in Haryana’s Sonepat. The agency has seized around Rs 1.5 crore from various locations in the Kashmir Valley, besides recovering some incriminating documents.

It could be noted that the NIA – for the first time – has carried out the raids on the separatist leaders in connection with terror funding ever since the militancy raised its ugly head in the Valley in 1990s. In 2002, Income Tax Department had carried out searches against separatist leaders, including Geelani, and seized cash and other documents. However, no criminal case had been registered against them then.

Earlier this week, the NIA had registered FIR against the separatist leaders for receiving funds from Pakistan to keep the turmoil in Kashmir active. Though no separatist leader from the Valley was named in the FIR, separatist organisation Hurriyat Conference, terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, women separatist outfit Dukhtaran-e-Milat and terror outfits Lashker-e- Taiba mentioned in the FIR. Besides, the NIA FIR mentioned the name of Jamaat-ul Dawah chief Hafeez Saeed. The NIA raids came following the questioning of three separatist leaders — Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Gazi Javed.

We had earlier reported that the separatist leaders were under NIA radar for receiving funds from Pakistan-based terror outfits and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The amount received by the Kashmiri separatists from Pakistan in last one year, to keep the turmoil in Kashmir active, could run into several hundred crores. The funds are used for attacking security forces by carrying stone pelting, burning schools and other government buildings.

The Kashmiri separatists, who want to disintegrate Kashmir from the rest of India, claim to represent the “political views” on Kashmir. They depute stone pelters to attack security forces. A stone pelter is generally paid Rs 500 to Rs 1000 every day. This is an open secret that the separatists work in tandem with terrorists operating in the valley.

The separatists are basically superimposing terrorism by radicalising youth with the help of Pakistan. In its annual report for 2016-17, the MHA had stated that the year 2016 saw a change in Pakistan’s tactics following strategy of superimposition of militancy over “civil resistance” through radicalisation by vested interest groups and social media.

Reports quoting officials at the North Block state that the funds from Pakistan, which is directly monitored by Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, comes via gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and other places before it reaches to the separatists through hawala route.

Corruption, assault, and a possible murder – Kapil Mishra makes startling charges against AAP

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Corruption, assault, and a possible murder – Kapil Mishra makes startling charges against AAP

Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, who is turning out to be a Kejriwal for Kejriwal, has now claimed that a few AAP MLAs grabbed his throat in order to strangulate him in the Delhi Assembly.

The incident allegedly happened on 31st May when Kapil Mishra was allegedly assaulted in the Delhi assembly. Delhi assembly had met in a special session in order to pass the GST bill. Apparently 4-5 AAP MLAs started to confront and assault him after he raised a banner in the assembly alleging corruption against Kejriwal.

Now a couple of days later, Kapil Mishra has come up with a dramatic blog post narrating the incident. In the post, he claims that one of his MLA colleague grabbed his throat while others kept assaulting him. He also claimed that rather than trying to stop them, Deputy CM Sisodia directed other MLAs to go and confront him.

He claimed that he thought Kejriwal would condemn the incident, but apparently even the Chief Minister of Delhi didn’t do anything and kept smiling. Mishra further alleges that Kejriwal even spent a whole day in company of one of the accused MLAs after the incident.

Due to this alleged behavior, Mishra called Kejriwal a small minded person with a questionable character. Mishra has also claimed that on 11 AM on Saturday he would go to the Civil Lines police station to lodge an FIR regarding the attempt to ‘kill’ him in the assembly. He also named MLAs Jarnail Singh and Amanatullah Khan as the MLAs who assaulted him.

Not just that, he hinted that there could be a ‘role of Kejriwal’ in the death of Santosh Koli, an AAP leader who had died after meeting an accident in 2013. Some had claimed that the accident was staged and Koli was actually murdered.

This blog post and the possible FIR would mean the beginning of another eventful day in Kapil Mishra’s life and these aren’t the only events he planned for today. He has also organised an India against corruption 2.0 event at Constitution club in New Delhi from 4 PM. Interested parties have been asked to give a missed call to a number 7863037300.

Till date Mishra has been maintaining his Kejriwalesque consistency and vigor when it comes to making allegations about possible scams carried out by the AAP Government.

On Thursday, the Anti-corruption Bureau had raided three godowns of a pharmaceutical company in Delhi based on the allegations of medical scam by Kapil Mishra. On Monday Mishra had alleged that excess medicines were purchased on the direction of Health Minister Satinder Jain and were lying rotting in warehouses.

News has also broken about another allegation by Kapil Mishra wherein he alleged that the Kejriwal government gave tenders for affixing CNG kits in cars to fraud companies who installed Chinese kits while claiming that they had actually imported them from Canada. Apparently such kits were installed on 10,000 cars.

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