The ruling Communist government in Kerala arrested R.V. Babu, General Secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi, who had called for a boycott of Halal products.
The Kerala Police arrested the Hindu Aikya Vedi leader from his workplace who had earlier posted a video on social media where he explained how Halal impacts the economy.
Babu has been arrested under non-bailable sections citing that his post ‘could lead to communal tensions’. The Hindu Aikyavedi has now called for state-wide protests condemning the arrest of RV Babu.
BJP Kerala President K. Surendran condemned the arrest and said that the Pinarayi Vijayan Government was resorting to pleasing Muslim extremists. He said that Hindus would not be cowed down by Left government’s attempts to .
Earlier, five Hindu Aikyavedi activists were arrested for asking a bakery owner to remove the halal certificate. The organization has been protesting against the Halal system stating that it is discriminatory against non-Muslims leading to the monopoly of Muslims in certain businesses.
On Friday, the Madras High Court came down heavy and issued a warning to Christian pastor Mohan C Lazarus for making reckless statements against Hindus and Hindu religion.
The Court while quashing the FIRs filed against the rabid evangelist pastor said that spewing venom against another religious faith and developing hatred among the followers of a particular religion against another defies the very purpose of religion.
The court observed that religious leaders must realize their responsibilities and be watchful while propagating their religion. It said that reckless statements made by such persons would only sow the seeds of hatred across people of different religions.
“The whole object of religion is to enable humans to evolve themselves into better beings….Unfortunately, in many instances, people get blindly attached to their religious beliefs and tend to make demeaning statements against other religions. They do not realise that spirituality is not a medium through which each religion competes with each other to show its superiority over the other,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed, as per the report by Bar and Bench.
Justice Venkatesh also said that the whole object of religion is to enable humans to evolve themselves into better beings.
Mohan Lazarus in an affidavit filed earlier this week had ‘expressed deep regrets and sincere remorse’ for his remarks. He had stated in his affidavit that ‘it was not his intention to hurt to defy either the sacred places of Hindus or their Gods or any other faith’ adding that he felt remorse that ‘his words had led to such kind of impressions among the Hindus’.
“I assure that I would take adequate care so as to avoid such occurrences in future.” he had stated in his affidavit.
The Court in its observation noted that Indian Secularism is not one that is anti-religious but one that gives equal freedom of conscience and religion to all its citizens.
Mohan C Lazarus is a problematic Christian evangelist who runs the missionary organization, Jesus Redeems, which receives funding from abroad through FCRA. He is known for his hate speech against Hindus. controversy by claiming that prostitution is rampant in temples. Mohan C Lazarus also said that Satan’s grip is tight only in Tamil Nadu as it is the state with the highest number of temples in India.
FIRs were filed against Mohan C Lazarus under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
Few days back DMK declared that there is nothing called as Hinduism and Tamils are not Hindus. Thread to show who's propaganda they have taken up … #1 Mohan.C.Lazarus pic.twitter.com/fOBpmpbXgG
— Vishwatma 🇮🇳 ( மோடியின் குடும்பம் ) (@HLKodo) August 10, 2020
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday (February 5) announced waived of farm loans worth ₹12,110 crore that were availed by 16.43 lakh farmers. These loans were taken by farmers from cooperative banks.
Announcing the move in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, CM Palaniswami said that the waiver would come into immediate effect and the required finances would be arranged and allocated by the government.
விவசாயிகளின் நலனுக்காக, கூட்டுறவு வங்கிகளில் அவர்கள் பெற்ற 12,110 கோடி பயிர்க்கடன் தள்ளுபடி செய்யப்படுகிறது. 2016ல் 5,780 கோடி கடன் தள்ளுபடி செய்தோம். "ஆட்சியில் இருக்கும்போது 2 முறை பயிர்க்கடன் தள்ளுபடி செய்தது அம்மா அரசு மட்டுமே" என்பதில் ஒரு விவசாயியாக எனக்கு பெருமகிழ்ச்சி. pic.twitter.com/Jsexe6NKFM
He said that the decision was taken as farmers suffered huge losses due to two cyclones – Nigar and Burevi – and the COVID19 pandemic.
It is to be noted that this move of the AIADMK government comes ahead of the Assembly polls.
DMK on its side is trying to take credit for CM Palaniswami’s move. In a tweet, Lok Sabha MP from Thoothukudi and the DMK Women’s Wing Secretary Kanimozhi ‘thanked’ CM Palaniswami for ‘fulfilling MK Stalin’s demand’.
“அறிக்கை நாயகனின் அடுத்த வெற்றி” தளபதி சொல்வதை எல்லாம் செய்ய துடிக்கும் பழனிசாமிக்கு நன்றி. வாழ்த்துக்கள் pic.twitter.com/K7xANnji7X
Serial abuser of Hindu culture and deities, stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui has been granted interim bail today by the Supreme Court today (5 February).
Also, the apex court has told the Madhya Pradesh government and put on hold a warrant against him in Uttar Pradesh.
Issuing notice to Madhya Pradesh on the comedian’s request that the FIR (First Information Report) against him be cancelled, the Supreme Court agreed with his lawyer that procedure was not followed because Munawar Faruqui’s lawyer has successfully argued that “a person cannot be arrested without a magistrate’s order or a warrant, which is stated in Section 41 of the Criminal code.”
Faruqui has been in jail for over a month after videos emerged wherein he could be seen and heard “insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses” during a show.
After his arrest, many left-liberals came out to support him and called his arrest an attack on freedom of speech and expression.
Munawar Faruqui had been denied bail thrice before and the Madhya Pradesh High Court refused to grant him bail on January 28.
Immediately after the verdict was given, Swati Goel Sharma who is a journalist with Swarajya Magazine, tweeted, “Only one of the five arrested men have been able to move Supreme Court for bail and that man is Munawar Faruqui.”
Only one of the five arrested men have been able to move supreme court for bail and that man is Munawar Faruqui https://t.co/ttXfISMhKu
The 2021-2022 budget has been hailed as the most revolutionary since the path-breaking budget of 1991 when India liberalised its economy. On that basis, the government has started the third phase of airport privatisation and is all set to begin the process of awarding up to 10 airports in the country to private players, reportsEconomic Times.
According to the report, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), under the plan, is giving serious consideration on selling loss-making airports along with a profitable one.
“AAI is examining giving non-profitable airports and profit-making airports as a package. We could see six to ten airports being taken up,” Pradeep Kharola, Civil Aviation Secretary, was quoted as saying.
“The airports will be given to the private sector for a period of 50 years,” Kharola said.
This information was shared by the Civil Aviation Secretary while interacting with media on Thursday (4 February). On the aviation-related key points in Budget 2021 were an increase of 35 per cent at Rs 600 crore for the regional connectivity scheme has been allocated.
Kharola also mentioned that the new Budget provides several tax incentives for aircraft leasing companies to set up their operations in GIFT city in Ahmedabad.
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People of Nallurvayaal have risen in protest demanding that their village be renamed to its original name, which is now called ‘Karunya Nagar’, named after Karunya University belonging to Christian pastor Paul Dhinakaran.
Karunya University, run by Christian evangelist Paul Dhinakaran, is located near the Velliangiri Hills in Coimbatore district. It was established as an engineering college in the year 1986 at the village of Nallurvayal. It is said that the local tribes living in the village were removed from their habitat. Post its arrival, the village was renamed as ‘Karunya Nagar’ which is now dotted with churches and ‘prayer halls’.
The village which is officially known as Nallurvayal in all government records however has police station, post office and telephone exchange identifying their location as Karunya Nagar. Boards and milestones also have ‘Karunya Nagar written on them.
After Paul Dhinakaran made news for hoarding crores of money and gold in his Karunya University premises which came to light during the raid by Income Tax Department, villagers have used the attention brought to their to village and have risen in protest demanding that their village be renamed to Nallurvayal.
A group called Nallurvayal Meetpu Kuzhuvinar (Nallurvayal Rescue Team) has been formed. The group had undertaken a protest rally and a signature campaign in the nearby Alandurai town to prevent the usurpation of their village by Paul Dhinakaran. Police arrested more than 350 people who took part in the demonstration leading to tense situation. Following this, more than 500 members sat in protest on the road holding placards of #SaveNallurvayal
The village panchayat had under the chairmanship of the Panchayat President Kittusamy convened a meeting and passed a resolution to change the name of Karunya Nagar in government offices in the Madvarayapuram panchayat area of Coimbatore to ‘Nallurvayal’. The panchayat meeting was attended by village panchayat Vice President Vetrivel, Panchayat Secretary Devi and 11 other members.
Coming to know of this, Thondamuthur Regional Development Officer (RDO) Jayakumar contacted the panchayat leader and had reportedly asked based on whose permission they passed the resolution. The panchayat members had told him that they need not take any permission to pass a resolution on the demand of the villagers. The RDO had then told them they could have informed him before passing the resolution. They were then told to appear before the District Collector Rajamani.
The Panchayat President, Vice President, Secretary and a few others went to meet Collector Rajamani. Srinivasan, Assistant Director, Rural Development Department (Panchayat) was present during the meeting. The officials had received the book in which the details of the resolution passed was recorded. The Collector had reportedly told the panchayat members that they could have informed before taking up such a resolution to which the panchyat member showed them a copy of the official gazette in which the village was mentioned as ‘Nallurvayal’.
Collector Rajamani was quoted saying in Tamil news daily Dinamalar that the members were not called for any inquiry and that they had come only to show the information. He had said that he is studying the situation and will take steps accordingly.
Meanwhile, the villagers have now blackened the milestone and boards with ‘Karunya Nagar’ and have erected a new board with the village’s original name ‘Nallurvayal’. A movement #SaveNallurvayal has been started by the villagers now.
Kudos to the villagers near ,#ConversionMafia Paul Dhinakaran's Karunya University in TN.
The locality was renamed to 'Karunya Nagar'. They have fought a battle to get their original name of 'Nalloor Vayal' back. pic.twitter.com/dy7nEOQCTE
— Mission Kaali – Say No To Conversion (@missionkaali) February 4, 2021
Protesters gathered in downtown Vancouver on Tuesday January 26 for what they called a “Global Day of Action”. Coincidentally, the day of the protests in Canada did coincide with the tractor rally and the ensuing riots that shook India’s capital. On 26 January 2021, Republic day, agitators protesting the Centre’s farm laws took out a massive tractor rally in Delhi. However, the rally soon turned violent and the agitators ran riot on the streets of the national capital. They destroyed cement barriers and police barricades, attacked security forces with swords and caused great destruction to Delhi’s public property. While some rioters rode horses and tried to run down policemen, others attempted trample policemen under tractors.
Protestors in Vancouver, Canada
Protestors in Vancouver, Canada
However, it is not just the day of the protest at Vancouver that connects it to the riots in India. The protests were held outside the Indian consulate on Tuesday in support of agitating farmers in India.
Scenes from the 26 January protests at Vancouver, Canada
Scenes from the 26 January protests at Vancouver, Canada
A poster put out by Sikh Press Association
One of the groups behind the protests is called Our Avaaz. The group has been organizing local protests in Metro Vancouver, in solidarity with the violent agitators who planted Sikh and Khalistani flags on top of the Red Fort in Delhi. According to the organizers, similar rallies in support of farmers have been taking place “in Canada, the United States, Australia, the UK, Germany and Denmark to bring attention to India’s history of oppressive actions as vulnerable farmers and their families continue to protest in Delhi.”
#AskIndiaWhy
In a statement, a spokesperson for Our Avaaz said that “the focus of today’s protests was to mark a Global Day of Action, which would encourage global citizens and the Indian diaspora to #AskIndiaWhy”.
“This hashtag will connect efforts by supporters around the world to keep India accountable for human rights abuses and to highlight that global attention is turned to the farmer protest in Delhi with the expectation of a peaceful resolution.”
While one wonders what human rights abuses the Canadian protestors are talking about, one must also note that this is the same hashtag mentioned under the ‘prior actions’ list in the ‘toolkit’ document that was earlier shared by Swedish radical Greta Thunberg. The now-altered document had called for a ‘Digital Strike’ and a ‘Global TweetStorm’ by trending #AskIndiaWhy and tagging the Twitter handles of the PMO, the Agriculture Minister, other Indian government officials and press-persons.
This coincidence of the hashtag can be explained by the fact that another group involved in the Vancouver protest was the Poetic Justice Foundation (PJF), and the PJF is the group that created the ‘toolkit’ document and other campaign materials and social media templates to frame the farmers’ agitations in a particular narrative.
According to the group’s website (the website being registered in Germany): “Poetic Justice Foundation challenges structures of oppression and discrimination through intersectional grassroots advocacy. We develop content, workshops and events to provoke, challenge and disrupt systemic inequities and biases. We create safe spaces for exploration, learning and healing to foster societal change. Our goal is to educate, organize and mobilize Canadians to achieve and protect equal rights in all aspects of social, political and economic life.”
The website also adds: “Currently, we are most actively involved in the #FarmersProtest that has activated Indian diaspora worldwide as a rebuke to India’s oppressive policies towards farmers.”
There is also a website AskIndiaWhy.com, registered to a UK address. This website is owned by PJF.
Mo Dhaliwal: The PJF’s front-man
Talking of the protests in Vancouver, Mo Dhaliwal, co-founder of the Poetic Justice Foundation, stated in a press release, “These protests might feel like they are worlds away, but they are fighting for the same things we all value here at home – including the right to earn a living and feed our families. Farmers believe the agricultural reform laws introduced by the Indian government will drive down crop prices, devastate their earnings and allow private players to dictate food prices, driving small farmers even further into debt. Their concerns must be heard and their right to peacefully protest must be protected.”
According to data available with Corporations Canada, Canada’s federal corporate regulator, Monminder Singh Dhaliwal, Hardeep Singh Sahota and Sabrina Sohi are the three directors of PJF. Dhaliwal, who runs Skyrocket, a digital marketing agency, is also a friend and brand manager of Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh Dhaliwal. He even designed Jagmeet Singh’s campaign for the 2017 leadership of the federal New Democratic Party. Jagmeet Singh is known for his Khalistani sympathies and his endorsement of violence as a tool to achieve political goals. He had even been denied a visa to India in the past.
Mo Dhaliwal, co-founder of Poetic Justice Foundation, with Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh Dhaliwal | Instagram
Now, by his own admission, Mo Dhaliwal is a ‘Khalistani’ and wants “an independent Punjab”.
Mo Dhaliwal expressing his views on Facebook in September 2020
Did the ‘Global Left’ use the Sikh diaspora to undermine India, or is it the other way round?
Dhaliwal also gave an interview to Canadian broadcaster Global News in the aftermath of the Republic Day riots, wherein he made accusations of fascism against the Indian government, and expressed hope that there would be enough international pressure on the government to force it to repeal the farm laws. He also mentioned the role of the Sikh diaspora in creating international awareness to put pressure on India.
Moreover, these rallies are not in any way recent, and nor are they limited to Canada alone. Under the umbrella of the California Sikh Youth Alliance (CSYA), Sikh activists in California, USA celebrated the Republic Day riots and also clashed with activists of the Hindu American Foundation recently. They also opposed the re-installation of a vandalised statue of MK Gandhi.
To go back farther, in November 2020, a rally was held in Surrey in support of agitating farmers in India. Rallies were also held in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary in Canada in December 2020.
A rally in Canada organised by the Sikh diaspora in support of the farmer agitations in India | Images: dailyhive.com
Special mention must be made of the placards and the Sikh insignia used by those protesting against the Indian government’s farm laws. The phrase “Free Punjab” occurs more than once, on the placards attached to the windscreen of the cars participating in protest-rallies across Canada. The black jackets of two protestors shows the Khanda, a Sikh symbol, merged with the red maple leaf, a widely used national symbol of Canada. The words “Legendary Sikh Riders” are emblazoned on the jackets as well. Perhaps these protestors see themselves as a modern version of the sword-wielding, horse-riding Nihang Sikhs, generally identified as the “warriors of Sikhism”, who attacked Indian policemen during the riots in Delhi.
What all these rallies have in common is that the global Sikh diaspora play a huge role in organising them. That is very telling.
Where does the Sikh diaspora stand?
In some sort of protestors’ manual and ‘strategy deck’ released by the PJF, called “Global Day of Action: Protesting for Farmers on India’s Republic Day January 26, 2021”, it is clearly mentioned that the organisation aims “to develop a campaign in the Diaspora to support the people and the cause that awoke us.”
A page from the PJF’s Global Day of Action strategy deck, explicitly mentioning the significance of a campaign in the diaspora
Another page of the ‘strategy deck’ stressing on the importance of the Punjabi diaspora
In another page of the ‘strategy deck’, the PJF clearly says that the support to the protests from the Sikh and Punjabi diaspora is seen as “extremism of militant factions”. There is also some lament that while “communities worldwide [are] engaged in protest actions to drive awareness”, the “Indian liberals and urbanites aren’t fully expressing their support”.
In a notable SWOT analysis of the movement in the same document, the PJF expresses the sentiment that “being overtly Khalistani” may be a bad thing as they enjoy “goodwill with [the] common people of India”.
More remarkably, the document notes that “social media activism in the west” and “mainstream media accessibility” are opportunities, seemingly with the view that such activism from Western celebrities on mainstream media (and perhaps also social media) can be exploited to force the Indian government to repeal the farm laws. “Volunteerism” and “seva” are mentioned as well, in what may possibly be a reference to the langars the Sikh community is famous for.
Detailing the ‘situation’ and giving a SWOT analysis
The document further calls for a “united global disruption in the Diaspora on Jan 26th”. Was this “disruption” the riots that happened in Delhi, or something else entirely, is not fully ascertained.
Pages from the PJF’s ‘strategy deck’
The document also contains samples of messages on how protestors and other supporters can frame the narrative. It also claims that the Indian government “persistently” “oppress[es] its citizens in favour of corporate interests”, “persecute[s] critics” and “harass[es] journalists”. Here, the document is clearly signalling to the widely-held belief among several members of the international community and a section of the Indian populace that the Indian government is some sort of authoritarian regime.
Pages from the PJF’s ‘strategy deck’
The document also explicitly mentions that through these protests, the PJF aims to “develop a compelling message for the world to take notice of India’s ongoing oppression of its citizens.”
Pages from the ‘strategy deck’ shared by the PJF
The document also asks protestors to “access” networks of Sikh organisers and Punjabi cultural groups to influence policy makers, other social and political movements and the general public.
‘sphere of influence’
One section asks protestors to target “Indian consulates or intersections or community gathering places in major metros”; in other words, places related to the Indian government and/or places where lots of people can notice the protests. It is noteworthy that the site of the anti-CAA Shaheen Bagh protest too was a major traffic intersection with heavy footfall. Another interesting section of the document is called “The Plan”. This section is mostly devoted to media management and how to garner good PR for the protests.
‘Call to Action’ and ‘The Plan’
‘The Plan’
Mo Dhaliwal is listed at the end of the document.
Mo Dhaliwal’s name appended to the document
The PJF has also released a document for the benefit of the protestors, highlighting a few templates for social media.
The template also contains the picture, Twitter handle and a tweet by Thenmozhi Soundararajan, of the Equality Labs initiative. Equality Labs is a well-known Periyarite organisation seeking to foment hatred towards Hindus and Brahmins.
Given that the motive of the protests ― both within India and abroad ― is to de-legitimise the current Indian administration in the eyes of the world, one can only wonder what steps, if at all any, the Indian government will take to ensure that such an attempt does not succeed.
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Evidence of Congress’ role in the global conspiracy against India has emerged in which the party’s Kerala unit had tweeted the exact content that has been found in the ‘tool kit’ shared by child protestor Greta Thunberg.
The ‘tool kit’ (accidentally) shared by the school dropout ‘activist’ revealed a sinister plan to run a global propaganda against India. The document titled ‘Global Farmers’ Strike – First Wave’ provides a list of ‘urgent actions’ and ‘prior actions’ to orchestrate the ‘largest protest’ in human history. It also had a section of ‘suggested posts’ which had readymade texts to be tweeted.
One such suggested post had pop star Rihanna’s handle mentioned which was also incidentally the same tweet put
Likewise, the verified Twitter handle of the party’s women’s wing in Kerala, the Kerala Pradesh Mahila Congress had tweeted word by word from the ‘tool kit’.
It is to be noted that this tweet by the Kerala Pradesh Mahila Congress was put out on January 18, days before violent protests rocked Delhi on January 26. This tweet has now been deleted.
This document which contains elaborate instructions to carry out a global propaganda against India has now stirred up a hornet’s nest exposing several individuals including a section of journalists and opposition leaders.
It is being said that the entire document has been shared with influencers across the world to build a propaganda against India.
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Sadhguru’s third painting, Circa 2020, was auctioned off for ₹2.3 crore. The funds raised will be used to help Coronavirus relief efforts in Coimbatore and nearby areas.
Earlier, Sadhguru’s first painting, titled ‘To Live Totally!’, fetched ₹4.14 crore and a painting in memory of Isha’s majestic ‘Bhairava’ bull fetched ₹5.1 crore. It is noteworthy that Sadhguru also donated the funds towards Covid-19 relief activites.
Isha Outreach has been conducting various relief activities for the betterment of rural communities in south India for many years. Ever since the lockdown was announced last year by the central government, Isha started various programmes to assist people living in rural areas.
In particular, Isha has been assisting over 100 villages in the vicinity of Coimbatore’s Thondamuthur and other remote villages. The relief activites include providing food, medical equipment, face shields and sanitisers to the needy, as well as frontline workers. Isha volunteers also provided Nilavembu Kashayam, a herbal drink, and Kapa Sura drinking water to boost the immunity of the locals.
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The Government on Wednesday (03 February) in a written reply to Lok Sabha said that the preliminary surveys have shown the presence of lithium deposits of 1,600 tonnes in Mandya district of Karnataka.
The survey was done on the surface and limited subsurface in the pegmatites of Marlagalla – Allapatna area by Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), a constituent unit of Department of Atomic Energy.
Lithium is a key element for new technologies and finds its use in ceramics, glass, telecommunication and aerospace industries.
The well-known uses of lithium are in lithium-ion batteries, lubricating grease, high energy additives to rocket propellants, optical modulators for mobile phones and as a converter to tritium used as a raw material for thermonuclear reactions i.e. fusion.
Due to the continuous increase in demand for lithium-ion batteries, the requirement of lithium has increased over the last few years.
The significance and quantity of lithium resources in Marlagalla – Allapatna area, Mandya district, Karnataka may be established only after the completion of exploration in the entire area.
Subsequently, plans for commercial exploitation of the lithium deposits can commence after the technical, social and economic feasibility studies in the area.
The development comes even as India had last year got into an agreement with an Argentinian firm to jointly prospect lithium in the South American nation which has 17 million tonnes of lithium metal reserves. The agreement was signed by India through a newly instituted state-owned company, Khanij Bidesh India Limited. The company has the specific mandate to acquire strategic mineral assets like lithium and cobalt abroad.
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