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Sikh activists who celebrated Delhi riots now call Gandhi a ‘pedophile’ and ‘sex offender’, hurl abuses at Indian-Americans

By
The Commune
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protests against mahatma gandhi statue
Feature Image Credits: Owen Yancher (@dhspunter on Twitter)

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was recently vandalised by unknown miscreants in Davis, California on 28 January. Photographs of the damaged statue were shared by several people on social media. The Indian government had even condemned the incident. Talks were also on to install a new statue at the damaged one’s stead.

On Sunday, Indian-Americans gathered together as a mark of protests against the vandalism. However, they were met with activists from the California Sikh Youth Alliance (CSYA), who opposed the Gandhi statue and held counter-protests. The events soon took a dark turn.

The CYSA counter-protesters hurled obscenities at the gathered Indian-Americans, most of whom happened to be Hindu, and invaded people’s personal space. Matters got so tense that the police had to get involved.

They also called Mahatma Gandhi a ‘rapist’ and a ‘sex offender’, and went on celebrate the act of vandalism. They held up a poster which described Mahatma Gandhi as a ‘Devil’ and called him anti-Black and accused him of having ‘Nazi-love’.

“It is absolutely unfair to have such a questionable figure planted in parks,” Dr. Prabhjot Singh, one of the counter-protestors, said. “We’re talking about a pedophile statue.”

The CSYA is a pro-Khalistani Sikh organisation, known for its support to the ongoing agitations against the Centre’s farm laws in India. On Republic Day, the CSYA had shared sweets to celebrate the riots and the hoisting of the Khalistani flags on the Red Fort. The CSYA has also said that they will lobby against the re-installation of the statue.

Local journalists shared photos of the protests on social media.

https://twitter.com/calebmhampton/status/1356002614635360265

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Committee set up to probe about reports of Congress leader watching obscene videos in Assembly

By
The Commune
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A committee has been formed to probe into the veracity of reports of Congress leader Prakash Rathod allegedly caught watching obscene video in the Karnataka Assembly.

Chairman of the Legislative Council K. Prathapchandra Shetty made the announcement on Monday, after the House convened. The panel will have Tejaswini Gowda, B.K. Hariprasad and Marthibbe Gowda as members.

Earlier, multiple media reports stated that Prakash Rathod, a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) belonging to the Congress party, was caught watching video clips and images said to be pornographic in nature on his phone during the Question Hour on Friday (January 29).

The act was caught by a cameraman belonging to a regional media channel. In the video, the MLC can be seen surfing through the visuals some of which were pornographic in nature. However, the Congress leader denied the allegations.

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Ancient Pallava era idol found in Uttiramerur

By
The Commune
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Pallava era idol of Jyeshta Devi

A 1000-year-old idol of Jyeshta Devi was found in the temple area when municipality workers were digging a canal near the Kulambeeswarar temple. The idol was cleaned by the people of the area and worshipped with turmeric and kumkum later.

Earlier, a treasure chest containing gold was found in the Uttiramerur area when villagers were involved in the demolition and reconstruction work of the Kulambeeswarar temple. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department and the district administration took custody of the gold, despite villagers demanding that this should not be added to the government’s treasury and that it was to be kept in the temple once it was renovated.

It is to be noted that there are various mysteries surrounding this temple, which is said to have been built during the reign of Kulothunga II. The idol, believed to be that of Jyeshta Devi, is said to be at least thousand years old belonging to the Pallava period.

The idol of Jyeshta Devi, elder sister of Goddess Lakshmi, was found to be 4 feet high and 2 feet wide. The deity is seated with a white crown under the umbrella and adorned in earrings, chest ornaments, and a dress at the waist. It is said that many years ago there were separate shrines to this Goddess and as time passed, the worship of this goddess gradually disappeared.

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Twitter suspends the accounts of those instigating violence, restores back in hours

By
The Commune
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Twitter, along with the Government of India, had temporarily suspended the accounts of those who have been tweeting in favour of the violent Republic Day protests that took a tangent from what started off as a peaceful farmers’ protest.

Around 250 accounts were withheld for tweeting, or retweeting, with the #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag, and making “fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets” in connection with the ongoing ‘farmers’ protest. But the social media giant began unlocking some of them later.

Some of the twitter handles that were withheld were: anti-Hindu and anti-national magazine The Caravan, founder of Tribal Army Hansraj Meena, Rahul Gandhi’s fan lady Sanjukta Basu, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Mohammad Salim, etc.

This suspension was followed by a blanked out screen that said: “Your account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand”. A Twitter spokesperson had told IndiaTV that if it receives a “properly scoped request” from an authorised entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time.”

“Transparency is vital to protecting freedom of expression, so we have a notice policy for withheld content. Upon receipt of requests to withhold content, we will promptly notify the affected account holders (unless we are prohibited from doing so eg if we receive a court order under seal),” the spokesperson added. However, Twitter did not provide details of the accounts/tweets that were blocked.

“Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s),” Twitter said in its statement.

However, these accounts were restored within hours of facing the action.

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Couple from Chennai literally ‘take the plunge’, get married underwater

By
The Commune
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While a wedding in itself is an unforgettable moment, it is becoming more and more common for weddings to be held in innovative ways. A couple from Neelangarai is making headlines after getting married underwater.

Chinnathurai, an IT worker from Thiruvannamalai, and Swetha from Coimbatore had an arranged marriage. Chinnathurai, who has been training in deep-sea diving as a hobby, expressed his desire to get married under the sea, in an attempt to conduct his wedding differently than usual.

The bride and groom approached a deep-sea diving coach from Pondicherry after their parents agreed to his proposal. The couple even took a few days of training in preparation for the wedding. Following this, an oxygen cylinder was fitted to the bride and groom and they were taken to the sea in a boat in traditional attire and the wedding took place under the sea in Nilangarai, Chennai.

The wedding took place on a platform arranged with flowers at a depth of about 30 feet from the sea surface. The bride and groom exchanged garlands and vows and became man and wife while being 30 feet under water. The ceremony under the ocean included tying the knot and exchanging garlands.

While making it a unique affair was one part of the whole idea, Chinnadurai says, there was another motive behind this, which was to raise awareness about the constant amount of pollution that the ocean is being subjected to, and more so during the pandemic.

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No, fuel prices will not increase because of new agri cess

By
The Commune
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In the Budget 2021 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a new ‘Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess’ (AIDC) has been brought in to provide for more funds that will go towards strengthening the agricultural infrastructure in the country by creation of cold storages, strengthening the supply chain etc.

The cess however is not uniform and varies for different products. It will be levied on items like petrol, diesel, crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil, alcohol, gold, silver, apples, peas, etc.

On alcoholic beverages, the cess will be levied at 100% as it is a luxury item. Gold and silver bars will attract 2.5%, however, the customs duty on both the metals has been brought down by 5% thus not affecting the end user.

Though the cess is being levied on fuels like petrol and diesel, the Central Government is bringing down the Basic Excise Duty and Special Additional Excise Duty commensurately. To make up for the cess, basic excise duty on petrol has been revised to ₹1.4 per litre from ₹2.98 per litre and on diesel from ₹4.83 per litre to ₹1.8 per litre.

So, there is no need for people to worry about a rise in fuel price rise because of the new AIDC.

The intention of the government is to levy this AIDC on items such that it would have not have a major impact on a huge section of the population

What the AIDC does is to levy a tax on items are primarily used extensively by affluent sections and redistribute that money to those in need especially those dependent on agriculture.

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“Miya Muslims won’t vote for BJP”: Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

By
The Commune
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Himanta Biswa Sarma

In the lead-up to the Assam Assembly polls to be held later this year, Assam’s Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not get any seats in areas dominated by Miya Muslims, as they do not vote for the BJP.

‘Miya Muslim’ is a colloquial term used to refer to Bengali Muslims in Assam.

Citing his past experience, Sarma said that Miya Muslims did not vote for the BJP in Panchayat and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

“Miya Muslims don’t vote for us (BJP), I am saying this on the basis of experience. They didn’t vote for us in Panchayat and 2014 Lok Sabha polls. BJP will not get votes in the seats that are in their (Miya Muslims) hands, while other seats are ours,” Sarma told reporters on Saturday.

“We will field our candidates in those (Miya Muslims) seats so that people who do not identify themselves with ‘Miya Muslims’ get an option to vote for lotus (BJP’s symbol) or elephant (Asom Gana Parishad’s symbol)”, he added.

The Assembly polls are likely to take place in the April-May time frame for 126 Assembly seats.

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Pakistan to receive 7 million Made-In-India AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccines

By
The Commune
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pakistan covishield vaccines

Pakistan has managed to secure 17 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine under the global Covax alliance and seven million will be ‘Made In India’ AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccines.

Pakistan will also start its Covid19 vaccination drive that begins next week, reports The Times of India.

COVAX led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO) has been formed guarantee fair and equitable access of vaccine for every country in the world. 

In 2020, Pakistan signed up for this vaccine sharing scheme which is being coordinated by WHO to support lower-income countries.

“Though AstraZeneca is being prepared in India, it will come through Covax, an international alliance which has announced free vaccines for 20% of Pakistan’s population. DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) has already registered both Sinopharm and AstraZeneca,” PM Imran Khan’s special assistant on health Dr Faisal Sultan said on Sunday (31 January).

Pakistan will launch its vaccination drive against Covid19 by inoculating health workers with nearly 5 lakh Covid19 vaccines made by China’s National Pharmaceutical Group (SinoPharm).

However, many in Pakistan have already agreed on one aspect of the vaccination drive which is, the military will get the top priority and it will take a long time for the poor people to have access to the vaccine.

India has completed vaccinating 37 lakh healthcare workers with the Central Government aiming to vaccinate over 30 crore high-risk groups by July that will include healthcare workers, frontline workers and the elderly and those with any comorbidities.

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Four Muslim youth with criminal record rape minor girl in Maharashtra

By
The Commune
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Muslim rape minor girl, arrested under POCSO Kerala

Four Muslim youths who are history sheeters in Maharashtra’s Sangli district on Thursday (28 January) evening drugged and raped a 13-year-old minor girl.

As per reports, the minor was drugged by Kamil Nadaf, Farhan Dalait, Furkhan, and Farukh Dalait. As of now Farhan Dalait has been arrested and charged under various sections of the POSCO Act.

After the girl was raped, a complaint was registered by the girl’s mother. In her statement to the police, she said that the girl was kidnapped by the four accused from near their residence and was taken behind Miraj’s Masterchef Hotel, where she was supposedly injected with a drug to make her unconscious and then raped.

At present, the girl is receiving treatment at Sangli Civil Hospital and her condition is said to be delicate.

All the four suspected rapists have a long criminal history and one of them was arrested under POSCO earlier because he was accused in the Miraj riots case. Considering their criminal history, demands have been raised for a speedy investigation by the police and conviction of all the accused.

Miraj City Police Station Senior Police Inspector Raju Tehsildar has stated that they have recorded the girl’s statement as well and have undertaken investigations accordingly. Further, Farhan Dalait has been charged under sections 342, 354, 363, 376, 504, and POSCO Act. While Farhan has been taken into custody, police officials have said that further investigations are ongoing and subsequent action would be initiated on the basis of their investigations.

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Netherlands: Police arrest 14 year-old for Rotterdam park fire and hundreds more for anti-curfew riots

By
The Commune
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Netherlands riots

Netherlands’ Rotterdam police arrested a 14-year-old youth last week in connection with the fire which burnt down a theatre in the Plaswijckpark amusement park in Rotterdam.

The youngster was picked up after a video, which allegedly showed the blaze being started, was circulated on the internet and social media . The Plaswijckpark is a small-scale amusement park that caters to young children, and has some live animals as well as other attractions for kids.

Elsewhere, police in various towns and cities arrested up to 300 individuals in connection with devastating riots held against the restrictions and curfews imposed by the Dutch government to minimise the spread of the coronavirus.  Most of the arrests took place in Amsterdam and Eindhoven. Prime minister Mark Rutte described the violence that accompanied anti-lockdown protests in some Dutch towns and cities as ‘unacceptable’. Rioters were also fined for not complying with the coronavirus rules, including social distancing, wearing face masks and selling alcohol.

Police also arrested another minor from Zuidhorn for calling on people to bring petrol to Groningen and loot shops using a chat group with 425 members. In Drachten a 19-year-old man and a minor were arrested for calling for riots, as was a 17-year-old youth in Oosterhout. Limburg police also made one arrest for incitement, while two men, aged 23 and 23 were arrested in Utrecht on similar charges.

In Leiden, three teenagers aged 15 and 16 were arrested for carrying white spirit and explosives.

In Nijmegen a 26-year-old man and 19-year-old woman were picked up, apparently while filling bottles with petrol. They had also made their intentions to riot plain on social media, police said. The public prosecution department says that simply circulating a message calling on people to riot can be considered a criminal offence. ‘Sharing this sort of message can in concrete cases be seen as incitement,’ a spokesman told local broadcaster Omroep Brabant.

The Oost-Brabant police force went as far as to confiscate cars, money, bank accounts and even salaries from some of the people arrested in connection with the riots. This was done in order to ensure that eventual claims for damages can be paid by the perpetrators themselves, if they are found guilty.

The ongoing pandemic-inspired curfew is the first time a curfew has been imposed in the Netherlands after World War 2. The country is seeing an increased police presence everywhere due to these anti-curfew disturbances.

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TheCommune
The Commune is a news and views portal focusing on social and political issues of the southern part of India with a focus on Tamil Nadu.
Contact us: thecommune.news@gmail.com
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