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Tag: India

  • ‘Ethnic cleansing’: Naseeruddin Shah asks Modi govt to stop genocide of Muslims

    ‘Ethnic cleansing’: Naseeruddin Shah asks Modi govt to stop genocide of Muslims

    Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah has asked the Modi government to stop genocide of Muslims and warned that oppression could lead to civil war.

    In an interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Shah said if attempts are made for Muslim genocide and ethnic cleansing, India’s 200 million Muslims are going to fight back.

    He said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not care but ethnic cleansing of Muslims will trigger a civil war in India.

    While talking about the Mughals in India, he said that they “contributed” in the country and “came here to make this their homeland”.

    “The so-called atrocities of the Mughals are being highlighted all the time. We forget that the Mughals are people who have contributed to the country. They are people who have left lasting monuments in the country…who have left the tradition of dancing, music, painting, literature. Mughals came here to make this their homeland. You can call them refugees if you like,” he said.

    Shah, after this statement, earned a lot of backlash from the Indian social media, especially Indian Twitter. In a clip circulating on social media, the actor is seen talking during Thapar’s show on his YouTube channel. However, the clip omitted a few lines he said about the real marauders.

    These lines from the original video were omitted in the clip: “No one talks about Taimur, no one talks about Mahmud of Ghazni, no one talks about Nadir Shah. I don’t think these people are conversant with that history. Those were the marauders who came, looted and left.”

    https://twitter.com/MeghBulletin/status/1476082232586477572?s=20

    The clip is being circulated widely in India and has made ‘Mughals’ trend on Indian Twitter.

  • Kashmiri students await justice, arrested for alleged celebrations of India’s loss to Pak in cricket

    Three Kashmiri students are still awaiting justice after they were arrested by the police for allegedly celebrating Pakistan’s win against India in the T20 Worldcup in October this year. The police charged them with sedition, reports by The Wire.

    The students whose names are Arsheed Yusuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh, and Showkat Ahmed Ganai were admitted to Raja Balwant Singh Engineering College in Agra. They also got expelled from the university as well. Police arrested them on October 27 after they uploaded some statuses on WhatsApp. Currently, they are in Agra jail for over 50 days.

    After the rejection of their bail petitions in lower courts, their applications are now proceeding to Allahabad High Court.

    Their families appealed bail orders for their sons but the Allahabad High Court in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) could not hear their applications for bail because of some procedural delays.

    Prior to this, lawyers refused to aid the jailed students in Agra as they were labelled “anti-nationalists.” Some volunteers and student unions arranged legal aid in the city of UP, Mathura. Another application was also filed to move the case from Agra to Mathura alongside the bail plea but it is still pending in court.

    The lawyer who represented the students, Madhuvan Dutt said, ”Justice Suneet Kumar was hearing the petitions today [Thursday] after lunch. Applications were heard until article number 43 however, our article number was 76. So our application was not disposed of. It is likely to come up only around the 6th or the 7th of January.”

    Dutt added, “All litigants in UP are suffering with these delays. Three of our appeals for the transfer application could not be heard because there was no sitting judge. This delay is causing injustice for all litigants.”

    According to a friend and mentor to the students, Manzoor Wani, other Kashmiri students faced harassment and threats after the arrest.

    The hopes of the student’s families are fading due to delays in the hearing.

  • ‘Kill them’: Three-day hate speech conclave held in India as Hindutva leaders call for killing Muslims

    ‘Kill them’: Three-day hate speech conclave held in India as Hindutva leaders call for killing Muslims

    A three-day “hate speech conclave” was organised by Hindutva leader Yati Narsinghanand in Uttarakhand’s pilgrimage city of Haridwar, India, where multiple calls to kill minorities and attack their religious spaces were made, reports The Quint.

    The gathering had speakers like Annapurna Maa, Dharamdas Maharaj from Bihar, Anand Swaroop Maharaj, Sagar Sindhuraj Maharaj, Swami Premanand Maharaj, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Upadhyay.

    “If you want to finish them off, then kill them… We need 100 soldiers who can kill 20 lakh of them to win this,” said Annapurna Maa.

    Dharamdas Maharaj from Bihar said: “If I was present in the parliament when Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh said that minorities have first right over national resources, I would’ve followed Nathuram Godse, I’d have shot him six times in the chest with a revolver.”

    “If the governments do not listen to our demand [the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra through violence against minorities], we will wage a war far scarier than the 1857 revolt,” said Anand Swaroop Maharaj.

    According to the report, religious leader Swami Anandswaroop gave an example of how Muslim street vendors should be treated. “The street in which I live, every morning I used to spot a mullah with a big beard and nowadays they keep a saffron beard. This is Haridwar, Maharaj. There is no Muslim buyer here, so throw him out,” he said.

    Videos of the event have been circulating on social media and people are reacting to the threats being directed towards the minorities in India.

  • ‘It will generate revenue’: Ravi Shastri calls for legalisation of sports betting in India

    ‘It will generate revenue’: Ravi Shastri calls for legalisation of sports betting in India

    Former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri has said that he is all for legalising sports betting in India and it is time that the country catches up to an excellent way of generating revenue, which will only help the authorities to keep a control on it in official ways.

    Sports betting is illegal in India as of now. As per reports, in 2018, the Law Commission of India had recommended the legalisation of regulated betting and gambling activities in sports. It has also been said that the efforts of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are “ineffective and insufficient to tackle the menace of illegal and underground betting”.

    Titled as ‘Legal Framework: Gambling and Sports Betting Including in Cricket in India’, the report stated: “Incapability to enforce a complete ban has resulted in a rampant increase in illegal gambling, resulting in a boom in black-money generation and circulation. Since it is not possible to prevent these activities completely, effectively regulating them remains the only viable option.”

    The Law Commission also recommended classifying gambling into two categories, namely ‘proper gambling’ and ‘small gambling’.

    While in conversation with an Indian media outlet Indian Express, Ravi Shastri was asked whether he will be in favor of or against if sports betting was legalised in India. The former Indian team head coach said that he would be in favour of legalising betting on sports.

    He said that other countries were benefitting from it tax-wise and it would generate tremendous income for the government. He also asserted that the more the authorities tried to curb it or stop it, the more betting will rise through alternate channels, hence it was better to earn from it by legalising it in a proper way.

    “I think it will generate tremendous revenue for the government. Tax-wise, it’s the way of the world at the moment. The more you try to shut it down, the more it will be in your face through alternate channels. I think it’s extremely important that it should be legalised in a proper way and it’s a good platform for things to be done officially and properly,” Shastri stated.

    Meanwhile, he called the BCCI the most efficient cricket board in the world in the last 40 years and lauded the politicians for running the Indian cricket board and doing an excellent job in administering cricket in India.

  • Abandoned newborn survives as stray dogs kept her warm all night

    In India, parents abandoned their newly born baby girl by throwing her in an open field in a village in the Chhattisgarh state. However, the newly born survived as she was kept warm by a litter of puppies all night in the cold.

    Later, she was discovered by a group of villagers going out for their daily chores in the morning.

    The villagers, while narrating the story, said, “At 11 in the morning, we saw that there is a newborn baby girl who was crying and lying alongside puppies in our village. We panicked and informed the health department before the newborn was taken to the hospital for further check-up.”

    It is believed by the villagers that initially, the mother of puppies discovered the baby girl, who was naked, and the umbilical cord was also attached to her body. She was lying down with the puppies.

    Locals said that it was sheer luck that the baby survived at such low temperatures during the night which was made possible because of the warmth given by the puppies and their mother.

    The police were called by the local government known as a panchayat to register a case.

    The baby girl was given the name, Akanksha by locals and was shifted to the hospital for examination of her condition. The Indian NGO, Child Line Project was also involved to help the child.

    The villagers criticised her parents who abandoned her and called them criminals. One of the locals said that it was a miracle that she survived in the night because stray dogs can be violent.

    Police have started their search investigation for the newborn girl’s parents.

  • Kashmiris rage at India’s proposal to redraw voting map

    A proposal to redraw the Indian-administered Kashmir’s electoral map has given rise to a controversy in the region, reports BBC.

    Many view that the recommendation is an assault on the political centrality and supremacy of the Indian people. The proposal has raised eyebrows as the Muslim population thinks that it will lessen their choice for electing their leaders.

    People in the Kashmir Valley believe that the proposal of redrawing the voting map is part of India’s ‘dream project’ of installing a Hindu minister in the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir.

    It will further dissociate the Muslim majority from the rest of India.

    The people of Kashmir have another fear of constant security clampdowns and communication jamming of Kashmir, keeping it away from the world.

  • Man kills newborn, injures wife trying to deliver baby at home with YouTube videos

    Man kills newborn, injures wife trying to deliver baby at home with YouTube videos

    The Health Department in Tamil Nadu’s Ranipet district has registered a complaint after a man allegedly tried to help his wife deliver a baby at home with the help of YouTube videos, as a result of which the woman gave birth to a stillborn.

    Lokanathan (32), who runs a small store at Panapakkam near Nemili in the district, allegedly relied on YouTube videos to help his wife Gomathi (28) deliver their baby.

    The Nemili police said they are conducting inquiries, but no one has been booked yet. “The family members said the delivery was done with Gomathi’s permission and that there was nothing wrong on the part of Lokanathan, so we have not booked anyone yet. We are conducting the inquiry, further action will be taken based on its outcome,” said a police official from Nemili station.

    Police said that the woman was due to give birth on December 13. On December 18, she experienced labour pain, but instead of visiting the hospital, Lokanathan decided to help her deliver the baby at home. He sought the help of his sister Geetha and they also watched YouTube videos. After a long struggle, Gomathi delivered a stillborn male. Since she was bleeding profusely, her husband took her to a Primary Health Centre nearby, from where they were sent to the Vellore Government Hospital.

  • India beats Pakistan to win bronze in Asian Champions Trophy

    India beats Pakistan to win bronze in Asian Champions Trophy

    Indian men’s hockey team won the bronze medal at Asian Champions Trophy after beating Pakistan 4-3 in third-place play-off match.

    Earlier, India suffered defeat at the hands of Japan with a 3-5 scoreline in the semifinals the previous day after having topped the round-robin stages with an unbeaten record.

    In the other semifinal, South Korea beat Pakistan 6-5.

    India will be going home with the bronze medal.

    It was India’s second win over Pakistan in the tournament after having beaten the same opponents 3-1 in the round-robin stages.

    “It is disappointing for us because we scored more field goals,” said Pakistan captain Umar Bhutta after the semi-final match, referring to his side’s four field goals while the South Koreans only got one from open play.

    “We played a good match but the two goals we conceded from penalty corners hurt us,” he said.

  • ’Gang war’: Two monkeys kill 250 dogs in a revenge attack in India

    Two monkeys killed nearly 250 dogs in a revenge attack after a pack of dogs killed an infant monkey, which took place in a village of Maharashtra, India.

    It was reported that the Nagpur Forest Department team captured two monkeys for spreading terror in a region for at least a couple of months. The authorities will release the monkeys in a nearby forest.

    According to eyewitnesses, the monkeys were killing dogs for the last couple of months in Lavool village. Monkeys used to roam around in a region to catch dogs as soon as they saw and kidnapped them. They took dogs to a certain height and threw them (dogs) either from rooftops or trees.

    The villagers reported Dharur’s Forest Department when monkeys attacked school-going children. Such incidents created panic among people.

    https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1473043029443235843?t=umNHSy1sgPTMJ-qAEDKK4Q&s=19

    However, an official from the department said, “This [the killing of an infant monkey by dogs] is said to have enraged the monkeys, who in retaliation are killing the puppies of dogs as per local residents. But we do not have any proof to back up this theory. It’s animal behaviour and we cannot ascertain why they are behaving like this.”

    Meanwhile, netizens started circulating amusing memes on ‘monkeys vs dogs gang war’ on social media.

    https://twitter.com/HayeSiyapa/status/1472174210873061381?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1472174210873061381%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ndtv.com%2Findia-news%2F2-monkeys-caught-in-maharashtra-in-revenge-killing-of-250-dogs-report-2659758

  • Sourav Ganguly says he likes Virat Kohli’s attitude but ‘he fights a lot’

    Sourav Ganguly says he likes Virat Kohli’s attitude but ‘he fights a lot’

    Former Indian cricketer and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly has said that he is a huge admirer of Virat Kohli’s attitude, however, he expressed unhappiness with the crickter’s tendency to pick up fights with everyone.

    Read More – Rohit Sharma replaces Virat Kohli as India’s ODI captain, to take over from South Africa series

    Ganguly made the comments in an event in Gurgaon while answering which player has the best attitude according to him. “I like Virat Kohli’s attitude but he fights a lot,” said the BCCI president.

    Both the Indian cricketing giants left the fans confused after Kohli contradicted Ganguly’s statements regarding captaincy shuffle.

    Kohli, while addressing a press conference ahead of India’s tour to South Africa, claimed that he wasn’t asked to continue to lead the side in the shorter format. However, days before the presser, the BCCI president said in an interview that he personally approached Kohli to remain at the helm in T20Is.

    In the same presser, India’s Test captain also put an end to the speculations of a rift between him and senior batter Rohit Sharma, stating he has been doing the same for the past two years and urged people to look beyond it.

    Ganguly was also asked about how to manage stress, to which the former India captain had a very sarcastic answer. “There is no stress in life. Only wife and girlfriend give stress,” he said.

    Meanwhile, after Kohli’s explosive presser, the BCCI president refused to comment much about it and asserted that the BCCI will deal with it.

    Kohli and his unit are currently in South Africa where they will play a three-match Test series starting from December 26.