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Scroll gets caught again while defending the ‘Tunday Kababi’ Fake News

Gaurav
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Scroll gets caught again while defending the ‘Tunday Kababi’ Fake News

A few days back, as the crackdown on illegal slaughter-houses in Uttar Pradesh was on, Scroll.in reported a story titled:

UP: Lucknow’s legendary Tunday Kababi downs its shutters as meat crackdown intensifies

Predictably, left liberal media ran this news and journalists like Barkha Dutt and Rahul Kanwal cried over the closure of Tunday Kababi. OpIndia.com though ran a counter to this story which showed, with evidence, that Tunday Kababi had closed their shop only for one day and was back in action after that, albeit not serving beef at one of their outlets, indicating that for all these years the beef was probably sourced from illegal slaughter-houses. OpIndia.com also noted that in the headline, Scroll.in deliberately chose to ignore that it was a crackdown on illegal slaughter-houses and NOT a “meat crackdown”.

Subsequent to this, Scroll changed the headline of that very story to this:

Lucknow’s legendary Tunday Kababi reopens, but serves chicken and mutton kebabs for the first time

With the same URL, but with a totally opposite headline and body, Scroll had changed the story barely 9 hours after it published the original report, and within a few hours of OpIndia.com busting their lies. Luckily, we had screenshots of the original story as well, and we demonstrated exactly how and where Scroll changed their original report.

On Sunday evening, in a “Reader’s editor” post, where someone from within Scroll responds to readers, Scroll put out their defence, trying to explain why the original report was right, and why the changes were not immoral. We reproduce the relevant part:

There are two Tunday Kababi outlets in Lucknow. One in the Akbari Gate area which dates back to 1905 and seems to be the better known; and the other in Aminabad.

On Wednesday March 22, Tunday Kababi in Akbari Gate was shut because, following the government’s state-wide drive against illegal slaughter houses, the eatery found it could not source buffalo meat.

Scroll.in was the first to report this story the next day, on Thursday, March 23, that the Akbari Gate outlet of Tunday Kababi had not opened on March 22 because it could not source buffalo meat, which was the only meat it served until then. The report also said the Aminabad outlet which serves chicken and mutton was open on March 22.

The headline said “UP: Lucknow’s legendary Tunday Kababi downs its shutters as meat crackdown intensifies”

The Scroll.in story also had an opening paragraph which said that the context was the drive against “illegal slaughter houses” in the state by the new government of Uttar Pradesh.

Later in the day, when Tunday Kabab re-opened but served only mutton and chicken (for the first time ever), the Scroll.in story was updated to report the re-opening and the new menu. That the story had been updated and the time of updating were both clearly mentioned. The headline in the updated story said “Lucknow’s Legendary Tunday Kababi reopens but serves chicken and mutton kababs for the first time.”

In short, Scroll’s version is this: one of the Tunday Kababi outlets shut down on Wednesday 22nd March because it could not source buffalo meat. On 23rd of March, Scroll ran the report saying that Tunday Kababi had “downed its shutters”. Later in the day, when Tunday Kababi re-opened, the story was updated to report the re-opening and the new menu.

This should sound reasonable, only if we are to ignore some key aspects.

Firstly, such an explanation from print media could be very valid. A shop is closed on 22nd. Printing starts sometime near midnight on 22nd itself. In the newspaper published on 23rd, the news runs that Tunday Kababi has shut shop. Later on 23rd, Tunday Kababi reopens, so the printed story is invalidated. BUT, Scroll is a digital only platform. So such explanations are just cop-outs.

As the following screenshot of the original report shows, Scroll published the original fake news report at 12pm on 23rd. So at least on 23rd, it had at least 3 hours from 9am to 12pm to call up the owners of Tunday Kababi, to confirm whether they had shut down for good, or would they be opening again.

For the sake of an argument, let us assume Modi had devilishly installed mobile jammers at Scroll’s office which disallowed them from making one phone call to get an accurate story. But can we blame Modi for the next major faux pas?

In their explanation, Scroll claimed that “Later in the day, when Tunday Kababi re-opened”, they updated the story, thus claiming that at the time of publishing the news, they had no idea that Tunday Kababi had reopened. This again sounds fair. BUT, they DID KNOW, that Tunday Kababi had reopened. Here is a screenshot from the original article which was published at 12pm:

The highlighted text, from the original fake news article clearly states that at 12pm, Scroll was well-aware that Tunday Kababi had reopened! So here we have the reader’s editor claiming that at 12pm, they had no information of it reopening, hence they had updated their article later, but their own article which was published at 12pm, clearly shows that they had full knowledge of the shop reopening!

In fact, on 23rd March itself, at 4 pm, i.e after the fake report, and before the update, I had stumbled upon this anomaly myself, and had tweeted about it. This was in fact how I realised that Scroll’s headline was highly misleading, if not plain lies:



In short, to cover up a lie, Scroll updated its article after making a complete u-turn, and then to defend that u-turn, Scroll’s Reader’s Editor gave a false explanation, which can be exposed by looking at their own article! A classic case of having to tell more lies to cover up one lie!

Some other arguments put forth by Scroll were that this was a developing story and hence it was standard practice to update such posts. But such a practice in reality is standard only for major live events, such as a speech which is being covered live, or a sporting event. Was the closing down (for one day) of a shop in Lucknow such a major story?

Scroll also addressed our point that their original headline did not mention “illegal” slaughterhouses and instead called it a “meat crackdown”. The excuse given here is that they would need a longer headline to cover “crackdown on illegal slaughter houses” and hence, “the error, if any, was trivial”. One wonders what exorbitant costs Scroll would have to face to add 3 more words to a headline to make it factually correct, instead of sticking to a headline which is basically fake news since there was no “meat crackdown”. But at least, they conceded that it could have been an “error”.

In closing, we recommend that the “Reader’s Editor” of Scroll, (who incidentally worked for 11 long years at The Hindu), reads Scroll’s own stories before attempting to defend the fake news that they propagate. And after he does that, he can read the comments of some real readers:

Has Modi scored a self-goal with Tunday Kabab bandi?

Abhishek Banerjee
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Has Modi scored a self-goal with Tunday Kabab bandi?

This is an article from the future. But, I am going to publish it today itself, beating Scroll and/or Wire to the punch.

It was the night of March 8, just after the end of the seventh phase of the Uttar Pradesh polls. But the exit polls couldn’t be unwrapped yet, because the Election Commission was still to conduct polling for one seat each in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. As such, bored news channels had made up their mind to pass the evening with the usual parade of astrologers, tarot card readers and expert election analysts.

That’s when they were told to stand by for an important announcement by the Prime Minister at 8 pm. As Modi spoke, the nation turned to stone.

As of midnight on March 8, the old Tunde Kabab would no longer be in circulation. All Tunde Kabab outlets would remain closed the following day. Starting March 10, the supply of Tunde Kabab would slowly be restored to the public, as the meat from unlicensed, illegal slaughterhouses in circulation is replaced by the new legal meat.

Despite the obvious problems with the logistics, as Aakar Patel points out here, Modi’s initial announcement was so powerful and energetic that he carried the public opinion with him. Only two grassroots leaders, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, recognised the danger and opposed it.

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Kejriwal’s response to the decision consists of unprintable expletives. The only other person who could anticipate the disaster was Shobha De, who tweeted this out in extreme anguish:

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But the full scale of the disaster began to dawn when the Tunde Kabab outlets reopened on March 10. Since then, we have seen every single day, long serpentine queues of Tunde Kabab lovers waiting for kabab that never arrives.

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Slowly but surely, Modi is losing the media narrative here. And ground reports from journalists confirm this, as seen in this tweet from the Associate Editor of CatchNews.

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At some places, the situation turned so bad that people had to downgrade to chicken and mutton. Congrats India, did you vote for Modi in 2014 so you had to be stuck with eating chicken and mutton? Is this Achche Din?

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Our correspondent caught up with 50 year old Umar Kanhaiyya standing in a queue before a Tunde Kabab outlet near Delhi’s famous Seculari Gate.

“My daughter is getting married tomorrow. The invitations have long gone out. People have started arriving. All the guests have been promised Tunde Kabab. What am I supposed to do now? I have been standing in line since 3 AM but this line is still not moving.”

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Another gentleman who was standing nearby chippen in, “Do you see anyone from an illegal slaughterhouse standing in line here? We are all honest people here, waiting for our hard earned Tunde Kabab.”

Meanwhile, the government has decided to provide some interim relief by allowing Tunde Kabab from old slaughterhouses in special circumstances. The old Tunde Kabab will continue to be available outside Delhi media studios, JNU and NGO offices, including PETA & Greenpeace.

Everywhere across this land, it’s the same story of ruin. With Kababbandi, the activity of transporting bulls rescued from Jallikattu to safe homes in slaughterhouses has come to a standstill. Across the enclaves of Lutyens Delhi, there are heartbreaking stories of NGO workers returning en masse from Tamil Nadu after losing their jobs.

The BJP has begun to feel the pinch. As the public moved from voluble support to silence to outright anger, there was palpable panic in the Modi camp. With the  Panvel Tunde Kabab Cooperative Committee elections billed as the “real test for Modi” and “referendum on Modi”, there was a lot at stake. And Modi’s worst fears came true.

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Modi has committed a self goal with Tunde Kababbandi. Only time will tell how high a political price he will pay.

And liberal journalists are celebrating already.

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The Hindu spreads lie about former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

OpIndia Staff
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The Hindu spreads lie about former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

The quote “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” is widely attributed to a man named Joseph Goebbels, who was appointed Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda in Hitler’s regime. But in the modern world, Indian Left Liberals truly deserve to be the rightful owners of this quote. And if the Left “Liberals” are so adept at this, one can only imagine how fine the core Left may be in this art.

Today, leftist newspaper The Hindu which has a history of publishing inaccurate news, published an opinion piece, innocuously titled “Taking a leap of taste” by Ruchir Joshi. Joshi, for the uninitiated , is a rabid Modi hater, his coarse and vile writing about Modi in the past shows that he has an irrational perverse hatred for anything and anybody on the “Right”:


In the column, Joshi chose to slip in a small comment on former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee:

Talking about tastes from home, there is a famous story of the Indian Prime Minister of a cow-protecting government who was ‘caught’ eating beef steak in a restaurant abroad. When asked about this, he apparently smiled and said, “These foreign cows have nothing to do with our Indian cows, completely different species!” Like the former Pradhan Mantri-ji, many of us also discern between the beef we find abroad and the beef we find at home.

Joshi, perhaps fearing defamation suits, chickens out from naming Vajpayee explicitly but the reference is clear. A “cow-protecting” Government, can only be one run by the BJP (although in reality, most beef-bans were brought in by Congress Governments). And prior to the current Government, BJP had formed Government only once and has given only one Prime Minister to India: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is widely regarded as one of the best Prime Ministers India ever had.

This allusion is proved without doubt when one checks up the past, as there was indeed an incident in 2003, when Vajpayee was accused of eating beef. “Gai hamaari mata hai, Atal Bihari khata hai” (The cow is our mother, but Atal Bihari eats her) read banners held aloft at rallies by members of a youth wing of the Congress Party. The issue of course spiralled into a huge controversy and Vajpayee had to come out to stop these lies. He had said (emphasis added):

I have seen posters, pamphlets saying that Vajpayee eats beef. This is absolutely false and baseless. If the Youth Congress had not indulged in this slander campaign, I would not have brought up the issue. I prefer to die rather than eat beef. If the Congress does not stop this false propaganda at once, it could incite violence across the country. Raising of provocative issues will be a hurdle for democracy and is not going to strengthen it.  I have an experience of over fifty years in public life, but nobody has ever hit me below the belt. The Congress has gone too far this time.

Eventually, fearing backlash from the lie being spread, Congress itself back-tracked and claimed innocence. The Congress said that it had not circulated any rumour that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee eats beef, or any other rumour regarding his eating habits. Addressing a Press conference, AICC spokesperson Anand Sharma said that after cross-checking at every level, it was found that none of the party’s office-bearers, leaders or functionaries had ever made such comments.

In essence it was a rumour started by the Congress, vehemently denied by Vajpayee himself, and then by the Congress itself. Yet, bigots like Ruchir Joshi use such false news to further lies and propaganda. This issue was first brought to fore on social media by this user:


This is very much like another false allegation levelled against Vajpayee, in which it was claimed that he had referred to Indira Gandhi as Durga. See the video below where Vajpayee himself denies it:

It is indeed shameful that The Hindu gives space to such lying bigots who propagate falsehoods through “opinion” pieces. Worse, the current lie is against a man respected by all parties and sections of society, and comes at a time when owing to his ill-health, he cannot even personally refute such cheap claims. This shows the depraved mentality of the likes of Ruchir Joshi who will not spare even senior, retired, politicians living out their last few years in solitude.

Govt seeks a clear apology from a reluctant NDTV for its Pathankot attack coverage

OpIndia Staff
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Govt seeks a clear apology from a reluctant NDTV for its Pathankot attack coverage

On 3rd November 2016, an inter-ministerial committee of the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry had recommended a token one day ban over NDTV India for its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack, which took place in January 2016.

As exclusively reported by us here, NDTV India received this punishment from the I&B ministry for its live coverage of the anti-terror operations via which the channel gave away sensitive information about the Pathankot airbase, like the details of ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter planes, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel tanks, etc., which could have been misused by the terrorists to cause grave harm to the airbase and the people inside it.

The Venkaiah Naidu led I&B ministry later suspended the ban after the Supreme Court decided to hear NDTV appeal against the ban. In one of the hearings of that case in the Supreme Court, on 24th March, lawyer Harish Salve who appeared for the NDTV came up with an apology statement, which was deemed too generic by Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi who appeared on the behalf of the I&B ministry.

The statement which Salve reportedly came up with was,

“NDTV is a very responsible media organization. We regret the unfortunate incident which occurred”

Rohtagi also suggested that the statement should be tweaked, so that it was evident that it was in the nature of an apology. Salve later suggested a statement which read, ”we regret the controversy that led to the incident” which too was not appreciated by the AG.

The next hearing is scheduled on Friday 31st march when the NDTV will respond if it agrees to the modifications suggested by the Government.

Maybe NDTV fears that issuing a clear apology would lead to an open admittance of its guilt, which might spur people to further raise questions as to whether it deliberately indulged in such a form of coverage.

NDTV is not new to such controversies and earlier it was accused of being irresponsible while covering the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008. Then its English channel’s controversial journalist Barkha Dutt was criticised, which led her to send a legal notice to one such blogger critic. Barkha had been embroiled in a similar controversy during Kargil war too, and a recent book confirmed that her reporting was a cause for concern for the Army.

Perhaps that’s why Barkha Dutt, who has now left NDTV, is extra careful that people don’t link the latest incident with her. On Twitter, while responding to a tweet, she clarified that it was the Hindi NDTV that was guilty this time:


Rajdeep and India Today issue a wrong corrigendum for a lie he spread, people seek apology

OpIndia Staff
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Rajdeep and India Today issue a wrong corrigendum for a lie he spread, people seek apology

On the day Yogi Adityanath was announced as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister by the BJP, some politicians and mediapersons had ganged up to spread a blatant lie about Yogi Adityanath delivering a hate speech about calling for the rape of dead Muslim women.

One of those who took part in this slanderous exercise was eminent Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai who spread the lie on national television via the India Today news channel:


The truth of the matter was that the alleged video speech was delivered not by Yogi Adityanath but by one of his supporters when Yogi was just sitting on the stage (as seen in an undated video clip). Speculations were also raised about malicious editing being a possible tool in creating that particular video clip.

After the lies of Rajdeep on India Today were exposed, the channel was forced to issue a corrigendum for the same. Incredibly, the corrigendum that was issued also had a mistake in it:

Screengrab of the Corrigendum issued by India Today

India Today in the very first line got the date of Rajdeep’s lie wrong. To top it off, it was Rajdeep himself who unflinchingly read out the wrong corrigendum:


After the fact about the error sunk in, the people were unhappy with India Today just issuing a casual corrigendum for a statement, which was defamatory to say the least.


A BJP leader and former state minister IP Singh too asked for an apology for Rajdeep’s unfounded and shameful (sic) statement, failing which he would initiate legal action against him:


It is the second time this month that Rajdeep Sardesai has goofed up while attempting to somehow discredit the BJP in UP. On 3rd March he had helped spread a lie about the Vice Chancellor of BHU attending PM Modi’s rally in Varanasi. After doing so, he raised questions over BHU’s autonomy and impartiality.

This lie was busted by the VC himself, who pointed out that he was sitting in his office during the rally, forcing Rajdeep to tweet out his ‘mistake’ with a promise of an apology:

Police officer suspended for administering oath of cleanliness while chewing paan masala

OpIndia Staff
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Police officer suspended for administering oath of cleanliness while chewing paan masala

Apart from launching campaign to clean Uttar Pradesh of illegal slaughterhouses, illegal buses, and eve-teasers, the new Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also announced cleanliness campaign in literal sense, especially in the government offices where he asked officials to keep the premises clean and had banned paan-gutkha-tobacco products in government offices and establishments.



As part of the same campaign, government and police officers were administered oath of cleanliness, where they were asked to pledge 100 hours per year to contribute towards cleanliness. To push the campaign further, a state minister Upendra Tiwari had picked up broom himself and cleaned his office.

However, in Lucknow, a police officer took this lightly. Nagesh Mishra, a police inspector Madiaon police station in the state capital, was not only found chewing paan masala, but he was chewing it while administering oath of cleanliness to policemen.

Police officer suspended for indiscipline
Nagesh Mishra in civil clothes chewing paan masala (Dainik Jagran photo)

If this was not bad enough, Mishra was not wearing the uniform while administering the oath. Mishra is reported to have been found careless even in a case of sexual exploitation against a local politician Ayyub Khan.

After his photo of administering oath of cleanliness in civil clothes while chewing paan masala was published by the local media, the Chief Minister’s Office is reported to have taken note and the state DIG investigated the issue.

Nagesh Mishra has now been suspended and sent to police line for disciplinary action.

Pakistan sheltering the mastermind behind Indian train sabotage which left over 150 dead?

Hemant Bijapurkar
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Pakistan sheltering the mastermind behind Indian train sabotage which left over 150 dead?

In the early hours of November 20th last year, train number 19321 going from Indore to Patna had derailed near Kanpur, but the cause remained unclear. The railway authorities first suspected a possible rail fracture behind the accident, which took lives of around 150 people.

But in an alarming twist, the Bihar police on 17th January this year claimed that the accident was a result of a sabotage attempt by the Pakistan’s ISI.

In the days to come, the ISI angle gained more credence and Shafi Sheikh, a known ISI agent and a kingpin of Pakistan’s fake Indian currency notes (FICN) operation emerged as the mastermind of the whole affair. Sheikh allegedly hatched the conspiracy after the ISI’s fake note business was dealt a severe blow due to demonetization. He reportedly took the help of an ISI agent Shamshul Hoda, who in turn contacted Nepali criminal Brij Kishore Giri for targeting Indian railways by placing explosives on the tracks.

Shamshul Hoda was recently arrested in Nepal, but Shafi Sheikh, the main piece in the puzzle, was still beyond the reach of the authorities. As it turns out, Sheikh all these days was based in Dubai, but before the Indian authorities could request extradition to UAE, he had fled to Pakistan.

It was also reported that Sheikh had hatched the whole sabotage conspiracy while sitting in Karachi, as was revealed by the arrested Shamshul Hoda. Hoda claimed that he had visited Karachi months back before the incident on Sheikh’s invitation, stayed there for a couple of days, met 3 other people and was asked to tap into his Indian contacts to create trouble in the country.

This is just the latest instance of Pakistan harboring persons accused of terror and criminal activities in India. The most famous example being Dawood Ibrahim who has reportedly been enjoying the hospitality of the Pakistani establishment by continuing to live in Karachi unabated.

I’m a woman and a kebab lover, and this is what I think about Yogi’s decisions

jogakhichudi
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I’m a woman and a kebab lover, and this is what I think about Yogi’s decisions

I’m a woman and a kebab lover, born and raised in Uttar Pradesh and one who’s recently voted in the state’s election. My gender and my dietary choices become very important in what I’m about to share in the form of views on a couple of recent steps taken by the current Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath – closure of illegal slaughterhouses and the formation of the ‘anti-romeo’ squads for women’s safety.

The Lutyen’s media has turned its “The Eye of Sauron” on UP and like a well oiled ‘Orc’ machinery has started churning outrage after outrage demanding – freedom to run ILLEGAL businesses and freedom to HARASS women!

So first let me address this as a woman and share one story of mine as a young girl from UP. I was about 20, used to ride a TVS Superchamp and fairly independent thanks to my working parents and no available ‘bhai’ bodyguards cum chaperones to go about the daily routines of life.

On my way back from college one day I saw a guy on a bike tailing me (a very usual activity of men) and immediately I was on alert. He kept stalking me and I kept trying to speed away, unfortunately my TVS was hardly a match for his bike. Suddenly, before the turn towards VIP road he slowed down, came up right next to me. Stretched his left hand and squeezed my breast and rode away.

I’m shaking while typing this, had to take a break before starting again. It’s been more than a decade to that incident and I still feel as angry and as helpless…

That day I froze on my bike, I simply could not speed up and chase after him not that I’d have caught him. Forget a chase I couldn’t even scream because I was so shocked! Some guy just rode up to me, violated me and snatched away my freedom of space and dignity with impunity.

As you can see how vividly I remember the incident, you can tell how deeply it affected my psyche. I couldn’t share this horror and pain with my parents, what could they except for fearing even more for their young daughter’s safety when out on the roads?

This is just one story of one woman from UP, I’ve many many more such personal stories and thankfully I’ve been able to give it back plenty of times, but trust me there were and still are women who can’t. They just keep getting harassed and bear it or lock themselves up.

So as a victim of sexual predators in public spaces, I’m elated and welcome this step of Yogiji to create these Police safety squads to help women reclaim their right to public spaces. I don’t want to be stalked, followed, groped, pinched, dirty-talked, teased, stared at when I’m out there in the open – this is my basic human right.

I want to feel safe and at the same time I want those men out there to realize that I’m not an object for their perverse pleasures, and for that message to hit home a bit of strictness is required, so be it! The Lutyen’s media has got its knickers in a twist shouting “moral policing”.

Well, first mostly the mainstream media is a crazy sham, and second yes, there’s a chance that this move can be exploited. But hell, which law does not have a loophole? IPC – 498a? But if any, such exploitation can be checked and corrected. As a woman from UP, if I have to choose between a sexual assault free life vs chances of restrictions on teenage romancing… I’ll choose the former now and forever!

One of the better aspects of being an UPite is food. Gorgeous food! So yes, grew up on delectable chats, kachoris and kebabs. Have been eating at Tunday, Idris, Anand, Dastarkhan etc. before Barkha discovered them as her pet stops for bigoted journalism.

The entire Lutyen’s media is in a state of gastronomic shock hearing about the crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses; suddenly they’re all acting like those starving African kids on NGO posters being denied their share of daily meat… wait, they’re not even based in UP! So far all the news headlines I’ve come across, none of them specify that only illegal entities are getting sealed.

So as a UP wali meat eater Tunday lover what do I feel about this move? One word – brilliant. The reason is, like so many things I was completely unaware of the irregularities and illegalities in the state’s meat industry. Yes have always heard about those as once in awhile news and rumours about cattle theft and such but nothing on the scale of facts like – out of 126 slaughterhouses in the state, only 1 is legal!

Only Azam Khan’s stolen buffaloes ever made to the national media and parliament to be honest. This level of illegality is mind boggling, and as a consumer I’ve been contributing to this industry unknowingly for the longest time, but I don’t want to anymore. Yes I’ll miss my favourite food, but it’s better to be deprived of meat than be financing an illegal industry, and most normal people would share my opinion is what I strongly believe.

The other gut churning aspect of anything illegal especially food related is how unhygenically it must be done, because no checks or safety regulations in place. After knowing this aspect, do I really want to continue consuming such meat? Hell no.

I’m apalled that the mainstream media is still busy stoking fear and paranoia around these much needed steps of the new CM, and not already asking relevant questions on why and how these gross irregularities on both women’s safety and illegal businesses have been neglected by the previous governments.

But then as John Swinton so famously stated about the mainstream journalists – “We are intellectual prostitutes” and look how passionately they’re playing out that role.

The dangers of letting illegal slaughterhouses operate

Hemant Bijapurkar
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The dangers of letting illegal slaughterhouses operate

Yogi Adityanath led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh has started shutting down illegal slaughterhouses in the state after assuming power. This decision, which was one of the key poll promises of the party, has now got embroiled in controversy, thanks some malicious rumour mongering and some well meaning concerns over how the decision seems to do more harm than good.

The harms of closing down these slaughterhouses are mainly about loss of jobs and negative impact on associated industries such as food and leather. One may tend to believe that a few rules can be relaxed and these slaughterhouses should be legalised for ‘greater good’.

But before that, we have to realise that illegal slaughterhouses are not just about not possessing some required government documents (assumed bureaucracy). Often it is about not following required rules related to hygiene, security, and animal welfare.

Let us look at issues involved:

Rules that are ignored: The slaughterhouse industry in India is regulated and all legal slaughterhouses need to comply with Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Slaughter House) Rules [pdf]. For example, before slaughtering the animal one needs to ensure that it isn’t pregnant or doesn’t have an offspring less than three months old, or is under the age of three months. Plus the animal needs to be checked by a veterinary doctor.

Depending on the region where the slaughterhouse is situated, the municipality determines a possible demand and stipulates the number of animals which the house can slaughter. Further, there are 8 rules about the animal’s resting area, 5 rules about lairages, 14 rules about how to slaughter the animals, 26 rules about how the slaughterhouse building should be maintained, 3 rules about engagement, and 2 rules about inspection.

Almost all of these rules are required to ensure that a slaughterhouse is safely and optimally functioning. These rules not only are related to operations, but also about animal welfare and stopping spread of diseases due to contaminated meat.

Cattle smuggling: If one allows illegal or unregulated slaughterhouses, there is no way to ascertain the conditions in which the animals are kept and the source from which the animals are procured. In the absence of the same, possibility of illegal slaughterhouses being complicit in cattle smuggling arises. Cattle is often the only asset or one of the main assets for rural or semi-urban families. Imagine losing an important asset like your house to a financial fraud; for these families, losing the cattle could mean something similar. This is why we often hear news about skirmishes and even bloody violence related to cattle smuggling from the hinterland.

Loss of revenue to the government: While there are speculations of revenue loss due to negative impact on meat industry (with assumptions of all slaughterhouses being closed), there is another aspect to it. Government is already losing a lot of revenue due to functioning of illegal slaughterhouses as they are not disclosing all the details about their operations. Some reports suggest there was only 1 legal slaughterhouse in the state out of a total 126 surveyed. So factoring in the whole of UP, there is substantial loss of revenue to the government exchequer already.

Environmental hazards: Maintaining a slaughterhouse invariably leads to environmental hazards. Alive animals produce solid and liquid waste, which is rarely treated and properly disposed off in illegal slaughterhouses. After their death, the blood mixed water and animal carcass, if not properly disposed off, causes further health and environmental hazards. Any slaughtering activity leaves behind large quantities of by-products like bones, lungs spleen, oesophagus etc. which won’t pose a hazard if they are processed and suitably utilised, but unregulated and illegal slaughterhouses could dump them carelessly causing further environmental and health hazards.

Hazardous work conditions: Not just animals, but the employees too are impacted in illegal slaughterhouses. Considering a general case, a report about US slaughterhouses talked about the slaughterhouses hiring undocumented workers who themselves were subjected to injuries due to a lack of safety equipment. The Prevention of Cruelty against Animals act specifies how the handler needs to be at least 18 years of age and not be suffering from any communicable diseases. Plus the handlers need to have a license before they can work in a slaughterhouse. An illegal slaughterhouse will hardly care to follow these rules.

Being legal doesn’t mean all’s well: Even if a licensed slaughterhouse is being operated in an area, its by no means necessary that it is ascribing to the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals act. At one legal slaughterhouse in Delhi, authorities on an inspection found loads of violations by the slaughterhouse authorities, which included electrocuting animals instead of stunning and having dismal hygiene. If such is the case in a legal and licensed slaughterhouse, one can only wonder about what goes on in the illegal and unregulated ones.

Can SM Krishna help BJP in Karnataka?

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Can SM Krishna help BJP in Karnataka?

After months of speculation, former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna joined the BJP on Wednesday. Party President Amit Shah along with other state bigwigs Ananthkumar, Sadananda Gowda, C T Ravi, R Ashok welcomed the veteran politician in the party headquarters in Delhi.

Those following the developments in Karnataka in the last few months would recollect that SM Krishna quit Congress in January this year. Various reasons were attributed to his departure. Some even wondered, why is he quitting Congress at a ripe age of 84? What else can he expect to achieve?

Some even suggested that his greed was insatiable. After all, he was a chief minister of a state, governor and external affairs minister. Only other position that eluded could be that of Prime Minister and that of the President – which all of us can agree he would never get with Congress. It is even more of a certainty that he will not get these positions with BJP.

So, why did he move? And what are the political repercussions of this?

To understand his move, one must know the background of his politics. SM Krishna has a substantial influence in the “Old Mysore” region of Karnataka. This includes the districts of Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajnagar, Mysuru, Bengaluru, Kolara and Chikkaballapura (roughly all the districts in green, in the image below).

Karnataka map

Coincidentally, these districts are considered the home-turf of JD(S) of HD Deve Gowda. Also, the current CM Siddaramaiah wields his influence in this region. Historically, only Congress and JDS have fought for the top spot in this region.

SM Krishna may not be the dynamic vote catcher of the 90s, but he did groom many politicians during the time. Also, he was instrumental in following up with various IT industry related initiatives that Karnataka continues to enjoy. Hence, people in the area of Bengaluru have a special regard for his contribution.

Of late, it is said that Siddaramaiah was not seeking advice from SM Krishna – which apparently hurt him. In political terms, seeking advice doesn’t mean discussions on policies – but placing people who are supportive of one leader in government positions (example: in co-operative banks and so on). Hence, many of SM Krishna’s protegés were left in the cold. So SM Krishna brings with him these members who can be expected to add incremental votes to the BJP.

One of the well-known SM Krishna loyalist is actress Ramya (Divya Spandana). Don’t be surprised if she joins BJP before the next elections.

As our political analysis is almost entirely based on caste parameters, let us consider that too. SM Krishna comes from the Vokkaliga community and wields his influence with them. BJP has historically been not as successful to woo this community, compared to the Lingayats and the Brahmins (and the dalits in 2014 elections).

JD(S) too considers Vokkaligas as their base. Another key politician from this community is D K Shivakumar of Congress. However, he is mired in controversies and considered notorious. Also, Siddaramaiah removed actor Ambarish from the ministry – which has irked some. Hence, we can expect considerable flux within this community.

By joining BJP, SM Krishna is expected to achieve the following. Dent Siddaramaiah’s vote share in the old Mysore region and ensure Congress’ defeat in 2018. Ensure his loyalists a new political base for them to grow. As far as his personal moves, the only possibility looks like a governorship in some state – but will BJP give him that when he has joined to get votes.

From SM Krishna’s point of view, the move could backfire. However for BJP, he is a prize catch in the longterm. If SM Krishna remains active for few more years and “introduces” his followers to the BJP brand, it must be considered a good investment. Given that Krishna has maintained a clean image, his joining BJP will send a message that BJP rewards clean leaders and that Congress in the state is corrupt. His value may be limited for 2018, but the inroads he can generate within a hard-to-break region within Karnataka will be priceless.

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