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Analysing the SIMI encounter – a view from a veteran

rohitagarwal
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Analysing the SIMI encounter – a view from a veteran

The trouble with opposition generated and media sustained hype about anything that could be used to embarrass the government is manifold. First, there seems to be no issue too serious, no institution too sacrosanct to avoid politicisation and sensationalizing. We recently witnessed major opposition parties casting serious aspersions on the credibility of the army by asking the government to furnish proof of the operations that the DGMO briefed media about. One regional leader of the major opposition party even went as far as to call the operations fake, and instead of chastising him, his party Vice President built on that argument and accused the government of pimping the blood of soldiers.

Secondly, hype is sought to be built up around catchy phrases with scant regard to the connotations. Shallow arguments are built around superficial information just to grab eyes and ears. These are turned into gospel truth merely by frequency of repetition. And what is worse is that those responsible for speaking on behalf of the government also fall into the trap, trying to counter the narrative built to target them rather than demolishing it to build a more cogent one closer to reality.

Latest in this cycle is the storm being kicked up about the gunning down of eight fugitives from Bhopal jail belonging to the banned militant organisation SIMI and under trial for charges including terrorism, conspiring to murder and a previous jailbreak. They escaped from the prison in the middle of the night after killing a jail guard, and were killed by the police the next day in what is being touted as a ‘fake encounter’. The arguments being forwarded and theories being propounded range from absurd to bizarre, and converge towards a narrative that is being sought to be built, that the entire episode was a pre-mediated plot on part of the authorities to kill innocent Muslims.

What is being implied is that either they were deliberately allowed to escape so that they could be followed and killed, or maybe they were just picked up from the prison and taken to the place of the encounter and shot dead in cold blood. Grainy video footage of a few seconds from unknown sources are being purported as substantive evidence that the killing was in cold blood.

But if we step back from the noise and rhetoric to examine the facts, a clearer picture emerges.

Fact 1 – All the eight were under trial for heinous crimes including terrorism. Yes, they were not convicted criminals, but four of them had previously escaped from jail, a crime which doesn’t require much to prove in a court of law.

Fact 2 – While escaping this time around, they had  murdered a jail guard in cold blood. Unless those making vague references to conspiracies are also alleging that the murder victim was a sacrificial goat in the elaborate plan by the authorities, the fugitives were also facing fresh charges of murder.

Fact 3 – The information about the presence of the fugitives near the encounter site was given to the police by villagers, with the sarpanch being on record on video asserting this. Scores of villagers witnessed the ensuing encounter from a distance. As per eyewitness accounts on video, the police asked the fugitives to surrender and also fired in the air. It was only when they refused to surrender, and started pelting stones that the police fired at them.

Fact 4 – One video shows one policeman firing into the supine body of one of the fugitives from close quarters.

If we piece together these facts, we can dispassionately arrive at some logical conclusions. There were definitely major lapses on the part of the jail administration, who don’t seem to have learnt anything from the previous escape by four of these under trial terrorists. But the eight had definitely escaped and were on the run. When confronted by the police at the encounter site, they did not surrender. Therefore, by no stretch of imagination can this be called a case of ‘fake encounter’, which implies that the whole incident was stage managed. That the police either picked them up from the prison, took them to the site and then killed them in cold blood. Or that they surrendered, and instead of arresting them, the police shot them. Neither of these versions are borne out by the facts listed above.

What the police can possibly be faulted for is ‘use of excessive force’. And how much force can be considered excessive while dealing with hardened criminals and suspected terrorists is a matter of the judgement of the person in charge on the spot. The fact that they had already killed a policeman while escaping would have been a factor in making this judgement. One of the primary responsibilities of the commander on the spot is to avoid casualties to own men, and the fugitives had already demonstrated the intent to do so. Whether they had the means to do so was not something that was easily discernible at the spur of the moment.

Another factor in deciding whether the force was excessive or not is the possible outcome if such force wasn’t used. Since it was obvious that the terrorists had no intentions of surrendering, and were instead launching stones at the cops (the police have even claimed there was some firing), failing to shoot them could have led to their escaping, and possibly carrying out terrorist attacks in future leading to death of innocent citizens.

Politicians with an axe to grind may go ahead and use the incident to castigate the police and target the government, even choosing to ignore or twist facts. But we, as ordinary citizens must realize and appreciate that such actions by the police and other security forces are aimed at protecting us. If we can’t give them even the slightest margin of error in decision and action, it is at our own peril.

 

This was first posted on my blog http://swordarm.in

Thousands attend funerals of SIMI terrorists killed in police encounter

OpIndia Staff
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Thousands attend funerals of SIMI terrorists killed in police encounter

In a reminder of scenes that were witnessed when hordes of people attended the funeral procession of Mumbai bomb blasts convict Yakub Memon, thousands of people were reported to have attended the funeral ceremonies of eight SIMI terrorists who were killed in an encounter in Madhya Pradesh on Monday.

According to The Indian Express, whose headline “And They Hanged Yakub” could be argued to have legitimized such support to terrorists, over 2000 people took part in funeral processions of seven SIMI terrorists who were buried at various places in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

Out of these seven, five belonged to Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh where they were buried. Another terrorist hailed from Ujjai district and was buried there, while one belonged to Maharashtra, but since no one came to claim his body, police buried him in Bhopal where the encounter had taken place.

The body of the eight terrorist, that of Mujib Shaikh, was taken to Ahmedabad by his relatives, and latest reports suggest that a big crowd assembled there too for his funeral today.

Mujib was accused in Ahmedabad serial blasts and had earlier worked with terrorists and underworld dons like Dawood and Latif. Incidentally the character of Latif will be played by Shah Rukh Khan in the upcoming movie Raees.

This apparent support for terrorists among common Muslims can be argued to be a result of the usual “liberal” narrative where every terrorist – whether punished through lawful trial like Yakub or killed in a police encounter like these SIMI terrorists – is painted as a person who has been wronged by the state and the society. Ironically, the same liberal narrative claims to work against identity politics, while reducing Muslims to just their identity.

Arnab Goswami quits Times Now, why it happened & what is he going to do next?

OpIndia Staff
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Arnab Goswami quits Times Now, why it happened & what is he going to do next?

Editor-in-Chief of English TV news channel Times Now has reportedly resigned from the channel, if the chatter on social media and a report by The News Minute are to be believed.

The nation wants to know why it happened and what will happen next. We try to give these answers to the nation, but suggest you to take it with a pinch of salt as there is no official confirmation of Arnab’s quitting yet.

Why he quit:

Times Group is often seen as being soft on Congress while Arnab was seen as enemy number one by the Congress party. Maybe this led to the relationship between Arnab Goswami and management being strained beyond repair?

Of late, Arnab had strictly disassociated himself with other Times Group brands, especially Times of India. He announced that he didn’t support the Aman Ki Asha campaign by the group. This could be another reason why his relationship with the management got strained?

Arnab Goswami realized that people don’t watch Times Now but watch him instead. He had grown bigger than the brand he was working for. Maybe he realized that it was time he worked only for his own brand? Entrepreneurship calling?

Arnab was increasingly being attacked by his own fraternity of journalists and there were concerted attempts to put him under pressure. Maybe he decided to take this battle to the next level by quitting and coming out as an independent warrior? Take the bulls by the horn?

Recently Mukesh Ambani – India’s richest man with investments in the media industry – publicly praised Arnab Goswami as the person he prefers to watch during the prime time. Was that a job offer that Arnab accepted?

What can he do next?

Join Network18 – the company that Mukesh Ambani bought a couple of years ago. Its TV channel continues to be laggard and needs rejuvenation. Who better than Arnab Goswami? Network18 has currently a CEO who was earlier with the Times Group, and many more high level ‘defections’ from Times Group have taken place in recent times.

Join Zee’s WION – Zee TV group has recently launched its English language TV news channel that aspires to be India’s first international news channel. Arnab too has earlier opined that the hegemony of the western media should end. Not entirely impossible, though looks uncertain as a possibility.

Help Rupert Murdoch launch Fox News in India – international media baron Murdoch did launch Star News in India way back when 24 hours news channels were new thing in India, but he quit due to FDI restrictions. Recently FDI restrictions were relaxed. So Arnab could help him make a comeback? Though that will be against his idea of ending the hegemony of the western media.

Start his own channel – with a name and following like his, money will not be a problem. And with distribution costs going down thanks to the DTH technology, starting a new TV channel won’t be such a hassle. The required government approvals could also come without hiccups as Arnab is not seen as any enemy by the current regime. When media people who are sworn enemies of the current regime are able to grow professionally and form their own ventures, Arnab surely can bank on no government roadblock to his plans.

Go entirely digital – maybe not a news channel, but Arnab starts a digital news venture. Arnab never joined Twitter, but he controlled what trended on Twitter. Digital is the buzzword today and he could get investors easily. No regulatory roadblocks or speed-breakers too unlike for a news channel. It could be a content generation company that syndicates content to Indian and global news platforms.

So what do you think? Maybe take out your crystal ball and tell us in the comments section.

Social Media outrages as second major Twitter account is suspended hours after mocking AAP

OpIndia Staff
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Social Media outrages as second major Twitter account is suspended hours after mocking AAP

Call it a coincidence or call it a coordinated attack. Last week an influential twitter user who goes by the handle “India_policy” found that his account had been abruptly suspended by Twitter. The suspension took place within hours of his tweeting something against Arvind Kejriwal. A screenshot of that tweet was shared by Arvind Kejriwal among his AAP trolls on Twitter and boom, India_Policy the account was suspended, probably after mass reporting by AAP fans:


Although the official reason given by Twitter was that the user had multiple accounts, a twitter account which specialises in suspending other accounts claimed credit for this suspension, claiming that the account India_Policy was “abusive” :


The fact was the account was never abusive, as was testified by Twitter users:




Today, something similar happened. Another extremely popular Twitter account, that of GabbbarSingh, which is well known for its funny tweets, was suddenly suspended. The common thread: just hours before his suspension, he too had mocked Arvind Kejriwal. And Twitter users were aghast at this arbitrary move again:


 


 


 


The user behind the account though wondered whether it was related to a tweet he posted about Shah Rukh Khan’s fans. But he was quick to add that it would highly odd if he was suspended for that, since many others had tweeted similar material: “But many had tweeted similar things, and it was also picked up by mainstream media. I don’t understand why they would suspend me for that,”

As of now, the account GabbbarSingh is suspended, and people on Twitter have no clue. Is it a mere coincidence that both the accounts had mocked Arvind Kejriwal and AAP hours before their suspension?

UPDATE: The account is back and it claims that the reason was something else:

Great Derangement Syndrome: The new bogey – Diwali and sexual abuse of children

Abhinav Agarwal
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Great Derangement Syndrome: The new bogey – Diwali and sexual abuse of children

Diwali (or Deepavali) is a time for celebration. Diwali is also a time for welcoming the return of the annual Great Derangement Syndrome. It is a rabid affliction which is marked by the apogee of a ritual that many Indians punctuate with long, haunting howls of dirges, for several nights at a stretch, every night, their penned faces pointed towards the west, the words contorted into a grotesque visage that seems to beg forgiveness for collective sins unknown. The climax of this annual ritual is a long, unbroken shriek of guilt that is somewhat quaintly reminiscent of the atavistic call of dogs to their savage masters out on their hunts. So powerful is this ritual that several people who have witnessed this ritual have lost their sanity. Let us take a look at once such recent example.It all began with a tweet on the 27th of October by @padhalikha that I was pointed to:


The screenshot embedded in @padhalikha‘s tweet was of a tweet by the controversial news channel, @NDTV, of a five-day awareness campaign on child sexual abuse launched by the The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (@NCPCR_), and which was jointly launched in Delhi by the AAP led Delhi government and the Childline Foundation (@CHILDLINE1098). .

Screenshot of tweet from NDTV

The campaign on awareness of child abuse is in itself is neither objectionable nor controversial. In fact, it should be lauded. What was controversial, or eye-brow raising at the very least, was this statement, attributed to the NCPCR in the news article:

“The awareness campaign is being undertaken in the city around Diwali as during this time children become susceptible to sexual abuses in large gatherings and as parents leave them in the custody of others while taking part in festivities,”

On a second reading, the insinuation was unmistakable – “around Diwali as during this time children become susceptible to sexual abuses.” The assertions were manifold.

  • First, that Diwali is a time when the sexual abuse of children rises.
  • Second, it is imputed that Diwali facilitates the sexual abuse of children because of “large gatherings” that leaves children “in the custody of others.“
  • Third, that Delhi as a city is more susceptible to the sexual abuse of children.
  • Fourth, the unsaid but clear assertion was that it was the Hindu festival of Diwali that made children more susceptible to sexual abuse than festivals of other religions.

The statement had been carefully constructed to establish an association between Diwali, and by association, Hindus, with child sexual abuse, and yet cloak it in a message of awareness. Why would anyone in their sane minds want to do something as egregious as associating the Hindu festival of Diwali with child sex abuse?

Veracity

I tried to ascertain the veracity of the statement attributed to the NCPCR. My first suspicion was that it was either an outright lie, a distortion, or a mis-attribution on the part of NDTV. It would not have been the first instance when NDTV would have done so, but I wanted to be sure.

Therefore, I looked around for other news sites that may have carried the same story. Sure enough, there was a story in the Business Standard on the 25th of October – a syndicated feed from PTI – with the same quote attributed to the NCPCR. So that it was a hit-job from NDTV could be ruled out.

I now went to the NCPCR’s website. After all, if this was a statement made by the NCPCR, and if the campaign had been launched by the NCPCR, there would have to be some mention of it on the Commission’s website. The NCPCR’s “Press Release” page had no mention of this campaign. I accessed the page on Oct 28th, and the page itself mentions it having been last updated on the 28th of October (“Last Updated On: 28/10/2016”). No press release on the NCPCR website. I even tried using a search engine to search the entire site for the statement. Nothing.

The third option was to tweet to the Women and Child Development Minister, Ms Maneka Sanjay Gandhi. Why Ms Maneka Gandhi? Because, as per the website of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD), the NCPCR is an “associated organization” of the WCD. While it would be unreasonable to expect her to have direct knowledge of everything that goes on in the NCPCR, my hope was that she would notice the tweet and at least direct her ministry to get a clarification and thus close the matter.


As of writing this post, there had been no response or acknowledgment of the tweet.

Hence, it is important to summarize what I learnt:

  • I have not been able to verify with certainty that this is indeed a statement made by the NCPCR, as asserted by the PTI story. Evidence suggests that the NCPCR did in fact make this statement.
  • Neither the NCPCR nor the NWCD minister have chosen to issue a clarification.
  • The “campaign”, titled “Jagruk Raho, Chuppi Todo” has been launched jointly with the @AamAadmiParty Delhi Govt and @CHILDLINE1098.
  • The NCPCR is an associated organization of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, which is headed by Ms Maneka Gandhi.
  • Ms Maneka Gandhi recently met with the Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Arvind Kejriwal. She tweeted about the meeting.
  • The state of Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls in 2017. People widely believe the BJP has a good chance of coming to power in the most populous state in the Indian Union. The political stakes are huge for all parties involved.
  • There has been speculation that Ms Maneka Gandhi is strongly in favour of her son, Varun Gandhi, being annointed as the BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate for the UP state elections (see Has the fight for Uttar Pradesh begun within BJP? for example)
  • There is a relationship between the NCPCR and WorldVision. (More on this later)

The Great Indian Derangement Syndrome (GIDS)

Diwali, or any Hindu festival and activity, is a legitimate target for assault in the eyes of an assorted gang of evangelicals, liberals, racists, Hinduphobes – many of whom are difficult to tell apart. While in the early days of this assault on Hinduism the masters and and agents were the same – as in the manufacture of atrocity literature around Sati for example – today a sophisticated level of separation and plausible deniability has been established between the two. The fanatical evangelist, the rabid liberal, none need to come to India to do their dirty work. They only need send their money to Indians, who gladly carry out the bidding of their paymasters. This model has now been perfected – these paymasters need not send huge sums of money. By infiltrating every arm of the government, these paymasters get the government – you, the taxpayer – to pay the bulk of the money required to exterminate the way of life, the culture, the religion of the very people who pay these breaking India forces.

In infiltrating and hollowing out a nation and culture from within, the modern-day educated Indian has been more than a willing tool, because of a near-complete lack of self-respect and awareness.

“The educated Indian, particularly the Hindu, suffers from such a deep loss of self-respect that he is unwilling to be recognized as such. He feels, in fact, deeply threatened by any surfacing or manifestation of the identity that he has worked so hard to, and has been trained to reject. … It is these people wearing various garbs – liberal, left, secular, modern – who oppose, more often than not from sheer ignorance, any attempt to introduce Indian traditions of thought in the mainstream education system – a classic case of self-hate taking the form of mother-hate.” [Kapil Kapoor, quoted in “Indian Culture and India’s Future”, by Michel Danino]

 The great Indian sage and philosopher, Sri Aurobindo, had said this about the class of “educated Indians” – “They will not allow things or ideas contrary to the European notions to be anything but superstitious, barbarous, harmful and benighted, they will not suffer what is praised and practised in Europe to be anything but rational and enlightened.” [Sri Aurobindo, reproduced in Michel Danino, “Indian Culture and India’s Future”]

In closing, what Swami Vivekananda wrote about what the Macaulayite education system does to the Indian is truer today that a hundred years ago:

“The child is taken to school, and the first thing he learns is that his father is a fool, the second thing that his grandfather is a lunatic, the third thing that all his teachers are hypocrites, the fourth that all the sacred books are lies! By the time he is sixteen he is a mass of negation, lifeless and boneless.” [Swami Vivekananda, “On India And Her Problems”, reproduced in Michel Danino, “Indian Culture and India’s Future”]

But today, that mass of negation, the modern-day Indian secular, liberal intellectual, is no longer lifeless. The spirit has been educated away into thin air, the poison of hate that has been injected into him (or her) has resulted in a vampire-like creature that stalks every walk of life. Preying on any vestiges of Hinduism that it can detect, it submits itself to ever more toxic bites from foreign funders, and in turn turns its fangs on his own country, its culture, its roots. This vampire-like mass of negation today will, in return for money and recognition from the west, will happily bring out statements that associate Diwali with child sexual abuse.

And yes, I still await a clarification from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, or the Ministry of Women and Child Development, on its insinuating that Diwali causes a rise in the sexual abuse of children.

(The views expressed are personal)

SIMI terrorists killed, skepticism among some in media and social media

OpIndia Staff
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SIMI terrorists killed, skepticism among some in media and social media

Just today it was reported that in a daring jailbreak, eight terrorists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) escaped from Bhopal Central Jail in the morning after killing a security guard and scaling the prison wall using bed sheets. They slit the guard’s throat with a steel plate and glass after overpowering him, the DIG said.

This was not the first time SIMI members had escaped from a jail in Madhya Pradesh. Among these, Jakir, Mehboob Shekh, Amjad had fled in 2013 as well. In 2013, seven terror suspects from SIMI cut the iron bars of a Khandwa jail’s bathroom window and escaped after stabbing two security guards. They stole rifles and wireless sets. While one prisoner surrendered the next day and another was caught in December 2013 from Barwani in Madhya Pradesh. A third was killed in an encounter with Telangana Police on April 5, 2015. But four of the seven SIMI activitists, who had escaped in 2013, could be arrested only after three years and during the period of their hiding, the militants were involved in multiple incidents of terror and a bank robbery.

Even as a high level probe was ordered into this jail-break, today news broke out that all the 8 escaped SIMI were killed by Bhopal Police at Malikheda on the city outskirts.

While most of social media was happy that such anti-social elements were neutralised, some usual suspects began the usual crying. Rana Ayyub, who had last year declared that the West Bengal nun rape was done by RSS activists (which was actually done by Bangaldeshis), had already declared this encounter an “extra judicial murder”. Much like the hanging of Kasab or the killing of Burhan Wani in her worldview?


In fact, Rana Ayuub went a step further this time and re-tweeted an anonymous account that is known to be Jihadist symphathiser. The tweet equated the encounter as being a “terrorist attack”, painted the SIMI men as innocent “hostages” and termed the Indian policemen as terrorists who had held these men hostage:

Rana Ayuub's retweet
Rana Ayyub’s pain reflected in the re-tweet

Associate Editor of The Indian Express (which had famously put up a headline saying “And THEY hanged Yakub” when the Mumbai blasts convict was hanged) was busy complaining about semantics as to why “under-trials” were called terrorists:


So now members of banned outfits, who had fled after killing cops on two different occasions, need to be accorded more “respect”?

Even as such reactions were being shared by a select few, an India Today journalist shared a 10 second video, allegedly of the encounter which showed someone shooting at dead bodies:


Some used this video to float the boat of “fake encounter”, but failed to realise that the dead people were shot at just to make sure they were really dead. A hand also flew up as soon as the bullet struck. Soon, a longer version of the same video appeared (suggesting that India Today had spliced the video to suit their own purpose), which showed more details:


This video showed that some persons found a knife on the body of one of the dead SIMI activists first, and this was what probably prompted the other person to shoot at a presumed “dead” body, just to make sure of his death. The video also contained noises of many people shouting from the background, indicating the presence of a large number of people.

And amidst all of these alleged videos, no one paid attention to ANI News’ video interview of the eyewitness who helped locate the terrorists:

Mohan Singh Meena, Sarpanch of the village explained the entire sequence of events. He said he got information from the cops that he should alert any suspicious movement in his area. Soon he was informed by some people that some suspicious looking people had entered into his area. As he was going to the spot where they were seen, he saw people coming out of the river, one by one. He asked them to stop, but they replied in some unknown language, and he caled the cops. He then asked a labourer nearby to bring as many people as he could, while the Sarpanch kept following the suspects. He claimed they were carrying sticks.

Once the cops, he says, the cops asked them to surrender, but they shouted some slogans and began pelting stones and compelled the cops to open fire. The cops even fired in the air but they did not heed he says. And even as the cops had encircled the criminals, many people from surrounding villages had slowly turned up to see the fight. Even the video showed hundreds of people in the background.

In the light of all this information, one must really ask whether a “fake” encounter can be conducted in the presences of so many people? Would police allow their security guard to be killed just to stage an encounter? Why does it surprise people that they fled the jail on their own when some of the same people had escaped in a similar fashion 3 years ago, and that time too, killing 2 security guards?

On the political front, Scindia of the Congress lauded the MP police:


And Arvind Kejriwal’s first and only response to the entire episode where alleged criminals killed a security guard (for the 2nd time) and escaped (for the 2nd time) was this :

How a social media user has forced NDTV into apologising for their “error”

OpIndia Staff
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What do you do when you see a misleading news or complete falsehood or something grossly wrong on mainstream media (MSM)? Either you ignore it, or you tweet about it, create some outrage and forget about it. We at OpIndia.com tried to hold media accountable for their lies by documenting and exposing media’s half-truths and whole lies. But one social media user took it one step further, and it paid off.

Chaitanya Joshi is an average social media user. He has all of 220 odd followers, so by no means is he influential online to create enough outrage and evoke some action or reaction. In June of 2016, as Chaitanya was watching a program on NDTV, the “Rise and Fall of Nations” featuring Ruchir Sharma and Dr.Prannoy Roy on NDTV, he noticed something very odd. “I generally avoid watching political programs on NDTV because I feel they are biased against India, even on their economic programs they predict only gloom and doom situations, still with Dr.Roy I thought this program would be very interesting on a global perspective by Ruchir Sharma” said Chaitanya.

Chaitanya recalls his reaction: “I was paying full attention to the screen, and lo and behold! I see the map of India, shown on the screen with Aksai Chin shown as a part of China and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir as part of Pakistan!! I couldn’t believe my eyes, this was late in the night and this wasn’t BBC or CNN but an Indian Channel disrespecting India!!! and an experienced journalist like Dr.Roy would or should have noticed the wrong map of India, right away but visual after visual the same distorted map was shown. I took out my camera phone, and began to take pictures.”

Chaitanya then proceeded to tweeting this issue to NDTV, Prannoy Roy and others, but to no avail:


Later he even tagged I & B minister Venkaiah Naidu


But he didn’t stop there. When he didn’t receive a reply, he filed a complaint on the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and sent photographic evidence on the portal about the wrong portrayal of the Indian map by NDTV. He even followed it up with a police complaint.

“I spoke about this to as many people I could, did whatever I could do, I had lost hope as I really did not know what else I can do?” said Chaitanya. But there light at the end of the tunnel.

Last week Chaitanya received a letter from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting along with a letter from the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, asking NDTV to express regret for their mistake, by airing a text on the 5th of November 2016 before the 9 PM news along with a voice over, stating that they made a mistake:

NBSA's letter

NBSA’s letter

This is something unprecedented. An ordinary person used the grievance portal provided by the Government and now a popular mainstream media channel has been forced to tender an apology at prime time! Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating and one can only claim victory when NDTV airs the above apology, but this entire episode gives the common man a real hope that mountains can be moved.

Chaitanya says, “We can take on large media groups like NDTV and make them apologize to the nation  and when I say ‘we” I mean each of us can do their bit, I cant take up a gun and defend my borders, but I certainly wont watch a movie starring a Pakistani or buy Chinese goods and most certainly I won’t tolerate any to insult the Flag of India or the map of India. Please let us all come together and do what we can for our nation as John F Kennedy said “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. I do hope my simple story inspires common people to say, all is not lost yet maybe we could come together and do something about this! However small our contribution is.”

Years back a social media user named Chaitanya Kunte exposed and NDTV and Barkha Dutt. Now, we have another Chaitanya who has struck the first blow. Will he herald a new era in accountability of India media?

Goans burn an effigy of an AAP demon on Diwali. Here is why

OpIndia Staff
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Goans burn an effigy of an AAP demon on Diwali. Here is why

Goa is in festive mood and also in election mode. We had published a two part analysis of Goa political scene (here and here) that concluded that BJP had an advantage, Congress was in tatters, while AAP was aggressively trying to break in.

However it appears that AAP’s aggressive on-ground campaign has won it equally aggressive pushback. Since last night, an image has been circulating on social media in Goan circles that claims to be of AAP’s “biggest” supporter ever. Have a look:

AAP demon
A supporter of Aam Aadmi Party has demonic tendencies?

In case you are wondering who this demon-like AAP supporter is, it is not any real AAP leader (even the cap sarcastically says Aam Adani Party due to AAP workers always claiming Ambani-Adani hand behind things), but an effigy of a demon known as “Narkasur” in Goa. This demon is part of Diwali celebrations in Goa and some other regions down south.

In most of India, especially in North India, Diwali is celebrated as the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya. But in Goa, it is celebrated as Narak Chaturdashi – slaying of the demon Narkasur by Lord Krishna.

While in North India, effigies of a Ravana are burnt on the eve of Dussehra, in Goa, in the wee hours of Narak Chaturdashi, giant effigies of Narkasur are burnt.

And this year, one of the Narkasurs was the Aam Aadmi Party. This is somewhat similar to the incident in the JNU in Delhi where effigy of Prime Minister Modi was burnt on Dussehra, and ironically, many supporters of AAP had defended that act as free speech. Perhaps someone tried to pay back and currently it’s going viral on social media in Goa.

But this AAP demon is not the only demon worth going viral. In case, you were not aware about Narak Chaturdashi and Narkasur, do check out more effigies and you’d love them.

In fact, making of Narkasur effigies is an annual event in which all Goans take part in. Effigies are made literally in every locale and the night is spent by people roaming around seeing this effigies.

Narkasur in Goa
Narkasur effigy being checked out by people among the festivities in Goa
Blue Narkasur
The Narkasur effigies take various shapes and styles, and can be found in localities in Goa.

While most Narkasurs are made to represent the traditional demons from Amar Chitra Katha, in some cases people let their imagination run wild and use different themes. For example this reptilian Narkasur:

Reptilian Narkasur
The modern Narkasur, are Hollywood studios watching?

Some even make Narkasurs based on current events. A few people chose to vent their hatres for Pakistan’s terrorists activities by making a Pakistani Narkasur:

Pakistani Narkasur
Pakistani demon begging for forgiveness after the surgical strikes

Quite cool ones, no? They are! We are leaving you with two more cool Narkasurs, and hope you go ahead and google to check out more of them. Or visit Goa next time for non-beer reasons!

Narkasur
The Narkasur is watching you
Narkasur
Scary? Or Cool? check out more of them by clicking here.

Three Pakistani spies nabbed, they used to get information from people in BSF

OpIndia Staff
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Three Pakistani spies nabbed, they used to get information from people in BSF

Indian authorities today nabbed a total of three Pakistani spies. Two named Maulana Ramzan and Subhash Jangid were apprehended in Delhi and the 3rd person named Sohaib, who managed to escape from Delhi, was caught in a train at Merta Road in Rajasthan.

Of the three, Maulana Ramzan was an Imam at a local mosque in Nagaur who was responsible for recruiting locals for espionage. Sohaib was a passport and visa agent who allegedly made fake passports for Pakistani Spies. The third one, Subhash Jangid, had contested the 2013 Rajasthan assembly elections from Khinwsar constituency.

We managed to procure his affidavit submitted to the Rajasthan Election commission where his name is listed as only Subhash. In the affidavit he was stated as married with total assets worth Rs. 3.12 lakhs. He polled a total of 1939 votes in that election. So even an apparent average recruit by the Pakistani agencies could fool around 2000 people in the locality.

As reported in the Hindustan Times, Subhash and Ramzan were old friends, with Subhash having a clothes shop and Ramzan a grocery shop in the city of Nagaur. Subhash was in debt after the elections and was alleged to have been lured into spying by Ramzan.

These spies reportedly leaked the location of military and paramilitary forces at the Indo-Pak border, especially in Gujarat and Sir Creek area. They and Mahmood Akhtar, the man who worked at the Pakistan High Commission’s visa department and who held even an Aadhar card in the name of Mehboob Rajput , were held on Wednesday night near the Delhi Zoo. Akhtar used to pay them for documents they could leak to Pakistan.

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Spy’s AADHAR card

These spies reported to Mahmood, who used to give specific tasks to them. The most shocking aspect that has come to light is that Ramzan had relatives in the Border Security Force (BSF), who used to provide the information and documents that they passed to Mahmood. The two spies have been sent to police remand for 12 days, while Akhtar has been asked to leave India. Reports say that around a dozen BSF officers too are now under scanner.

In total, 46 Pakistani spies have been arrested since 2013 with the latest excluding today’s being on 22nd October from Sambha sector in Jammu & Kashmir.

The core issues here would be:

1. How did an alleged Pakistani spy contest elections in India?

2. How did an alleged Pakistani spy get confidential information from BSF?

3. How did an alleged Pakistani spy obtain an Aadhar card?

Karan Johar has got an assured release, but will the junta oblige?

rohitagarwal
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Karan Johar has got an assured release, but will the junta oblige?

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Had Sir Charles Boycott been alive today, he may have empathised with Karan Johar. Wanting to get his lands harvested amidst protests from tenant farmers in 19th Century Ireland, Sir Charles resorted to hiring 50 workers from outside the county to do the work. The catch was that they had to work under protection of a 1000 strong force and the resultant cost was several times the profit from the harvest. Faced with a similar situation of being prevented from ‘harvesting’ the fruits of the labours put into his film, Johar has tried to do whatever it takes to reap his crop. But at what cost?

A victim of circumstances rather than design, Johar was unfortunate enough to have cast a Pakistani actor in his film at a time when relations between the two countries appeared to be on an upswing. To his utter bad luck, a series of attacks by Pakistan backed terrorists and punitive reprisal by India led to the ties turning belligerent by the time the movie was due for release. Popular sentiment against anything to do with our estranged neighbour engendered a spontaneous social media campaign against the movie. To make matters worse, the Pakistani actor in the eye of the storm refused to condemn acts of terrorism in his host country, preferring to flee back home, leaving Johar holding the proverbial baby and facing the flak.

It didn’t take long for people with interests – vested and otherwise – to jump into the fray. Fringe political elements rushed in to grab the driving seat in the bus of public sentiment, asserting their nationalism by threatening dire consequences if the movie was allowed to be released. Theatre owners, afraid of being at the receiving end of vandalism, decided not to screen the film. While they professed popular sentiment and their own sense of nationalism as being their motive, it’s obvious that the prospect of financial losses due to the film doing badly at the box office combined with possible damage to their property was an equally compelling reason.

People in the film industry were divided, depending on what they themselves had at stake. Several in the same boat as Johar – having invested in forthcoming movies with Pakistani talent – came out strongly in his support. Some others took the opportunity to settle old scores, basking in his discomfort. A section of the intelligentsia attempted to link the chain of events with the narrative they have been carefully constructing and nurturing ever since the present government came to power – that of growing intolerance in the country. In doing so, they misrepresented a spontaneous popular boycott as a ban, implying the authorities were responsible for it. Central and state governments, possibly in a bid to counter this narrative, assured their commitment to allowing the release and providing adequate protection to the theatres screening the film.

The eventual outcome of this churning has been a negotiated settlement under which Johar has been assured of a peaceful release of the film provided he agrees to certain conditions laid down by the party opposing the release. Notable among these is payment of Rs 5 crore towards the Armed Forces Martyrs Fund by Karan Johar, and by all other producers releasing movies featuring Pakistani artists. In his single-minded effort to harvest his crop, just like Capt Boycott, Johar is heedless to the cost.

But the Armed forces themselves are not amused at being made a party in this unsavoury deal. The payment, instead of a voluntary contribution by the producer to a noble cause, is rightfully being viewed as a ransom being extracted with a gun at his head. That this is being done in the name of martyred soldiers is offensive to their sensibilities, and senior veterans have urged the army not to accept the payment. The defence minister echoed the sentiment, and the chief minister who was supposed to have ‘brokered’ the deal has distanced himself from it.

Popular sentiment isn’t likely to be assuaged under these circumstances either. Preventing the release of the movie wasn’t the common netizens’ agenda in the first place, and they may stick to their original intent of not loosening their wallets to watch the movie. So, it remains to be seen if Johar himself manages to break Capt Boycott’s jinxed precedence and actually profit from the troubled harvest. Forging a truce with Raj Thackeray may assuage fears of theatre owners, but it won’t convince those boycotting his movie to spend money to see it. And if the movie bombs, he won’t even have the cold comfort that Capt Boycott did, of being immortalized in language by having a unique form of protest being named after him.

This was first posted on my blog http://swordarm.in/

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