Congress files complaint over poster portraying Rahul Gandhi as Ravan
Lucknow: Congress has lodged a police complaint in Lucknow against an objectionable poster targeting Rahul Gandhi. The party has demanded legal action against those behind the poster. The posters titled “Sanatan Bharat Ke Virodhi Ravan” surfaced at prominent locations in Lucknow ahead of Dussehra. The posters depict Rahul Gandhi and many politicians as Ravan, with their faces portrayed as the demon king’s ten heads. The posters were reportedly attributed to Sanatan Raksha Sangathan and also featured Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Congress has lodged a complaint at Khala bazaar police station against an objectionable poster targeting party leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking legal action against those responsible. Asif Rinku, chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Law and Human Rights Department, Shailendra Tiwari and Tauheed Ahmad Nazmi, along with other advocates, lodged a complaint at the Bazaar Khala police station on Monday. Congress said political opposition could not be used as a pretext for acts that violate democratic values and the dignity of political leaders. Reiterating its commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law, the party said such incidents should be dealt with due legal process. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Rahul Gandhi questions investment in Uttarakhand after investors’ summit, says it exists only on paper
Dehradun: Questioning “investment” in Uttarakhand after state govt’s much-publicised investors’ summit, LoP Rahul Gandhi while citing a media report, has termed it as a “big fraud” by the Dhami govt. He alleged that the “investments existed only on paper and employment in slogans, and the state’s youth got nothing but paper leaks during BJP rule”. Meanwhile, refuting the Congress leader’s allegations, govt authorities on Monday said that “all figures related to investment in the state are public and details of each project are available on govt websites”. They added that “encouraging local entrepreneurs and creating a favorable environment for them is the govt’s priority”. State govt also filed a case at Rajpur police station against social media handles and unidentified persons that were purportedly circulating videos questioning the summit’s grounding figures. Gandhi wrote on X that the Global Investors’ Summit was widely publicised as having garnered “1,779 MoUs worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore”, and around Rs 100 cr of public money was spent on roadshows for the event. A recent media investigation, he said, revealed that even flour mills, fertiliser-seed shops and small clinics were counted as “investors,” adding that a school run through CSR and donations was described as an “investor” of Rs 24.4 cr. He said, “Some of the people mentioned as investors did not even know they’re on the list. Also, Rs 35,279 crore — that is, 35% of the investment — belongs to ‘govt power companies’ which would have in any case invested in the state.” Gandhi further added that one investor credited with an investment of Rs 1,200 cr had reported no earnings for four years and listed no employees in its records. “Roadshows in Dubai and London were said to have attracted investments worth Rs 27,975 cr, yet not a single company from either city features on the list of investors that have actually invested on the ground,” Gandhi said. He further wrote: “Just seven days before the summit, on Dec 1, 2023, the definition of ‘investment’ itself was loosened. This is what is called: first change the rules, then present the figures. CM should make public the full list of 3,300 ‘investors’”. Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations, industries secretary, Vinay Shankar Pandey said, “Grounding of investments worth more than Rs 1.01 lakh cr has been completed so far and preparations are being made for the next grounding of investments worth about Rs 24,000 cr. Details related to this have also been made available on the single window system.” On small local investors figuring in the list, he said, “If a local person starts a small business by investing Rs 10,000 from his hard-earned money and two people get employment from it, then this too is an important contribution to the state’s economy and employment generation.” The secretary further said that “questioning the inclusion of a flour mill, mobile shop or other small business in the investment category is not correct since Uttarakhand is a small state where investment opportunities are restricted due to its geography.” “The geographical conditions of Uttarakhand are different from those of other states. About 70% of the state’s area is forest-covered, and the possibilities for setting up heavy industries are only limited to areas like Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and some parts of Nainital.” He asked the media and people to directly inspect the projects, interact with entrepreneurs and assess the work done on the ground on the basis of facts. Meanwhile, in a complaint to police by industries directorate on Sun, additional director Mrityunjay Singh alleged that false and misleading facts regarding investment in the state were being continuously circulated from certain social media account and other mediums. It added that “this could create a situation of confusion and distrust among investors and adversely affect the state’s industrial environment.” Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
2 transgenders held for creating nuisance at Knp stn
Kanpur: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Sunday arrested two transgender persons at Kanpur Central railway station for allegedly misbehaving with passengers and engaging in unauthorised activities, officials said. The accused were identified as Tania and Khushhal. RPF in-charge SN Patidar said the two were found allegedly misbehaving with passengers near the foot overbridge stairs at the Delhi end of Platforms 6 and 7 during a routine patrol. Despite being warned, they allegedly continued their activities and failed to produce valid authorisation documents. They were subsequently arrested, he said. Cases were registered against them under Sections 145 and 147 of the Railways Act. Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Marichjhapi massacre of Dalit refugees becomes Durga Puja theme in Kolkata pandal
The Kamardanga Sarbojanin Durgotsav Samiti members told ThePrint they are trying to pull the Marichjhapi massacre out of oblivion. The forgotten massacre of Dalit refugees on a faraway island in the Sundarbans during 1978-79 has become a Durga Puja pandal theme at Kamardanga Sarbojanin Durgotsav Samiti in Kolkata’s Entally area. It is part of the broader theme of ‘Bam Bodh’ (eradication of the Left) that the organising committee has worked on for this puja. “This year, we are organising Durga puja with the dream of establishing Sanatan Hindu Rashtra,” Suraj Kumar Singh, president of the 107-year-old Kamardanga Sadharan Durgotsav Samity, told ThePrint. He added that it is “important for the new generation to know the historical struggles of Bengali Hindus”, before and after India’s independence. “The biggest massacre of Bengali Dalits in independent India was done by the same political party that claims to stand up for their rights.” A forgotten massacre In 1978, around a lakh Dalit refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had assembled at a tiny island named Marichjhapi in the Sunderbans. They hoped to turn it into a village of their own. These refugees had come to Marichjhapi from the Dandakaranya region, spread across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where the government of India had sent them to be part of the Dandakaranya rehabilitation plan for Hindu refugees from East Pakistan in early 1956. Unable to adjust to their new surroundings, a band of women and men made their way to Marichjhapi island in the Sundarbans, the topography of which they were accustomed to. In the span of a few months, the refugees converted a shrub-filled, uninhabited island into a thriving village of their own with no help from the state or the central government. They built huts, a school, a bidi factory, a boat-manufacturing yard, even as the Left Front government wanted them to leave the island. The government designated it as a reserve forest and accused the refugees of violating the forest acts by destroying the existing and potential forest wealth and also creating ecological imbalance. “On January 26, 1979, India’s Republic Day, then Left Front chief minister Jyoti Basu announced an economic blockade of Marichjhapi. Thirty police launches surrounded the island; the refugees were tear-gassed, their huts, fisheries and tube-wells destroyed. Those who tried to cross the river in makeshift boats were shot at,” a report in The Wire said. The refugees, the report added, armed with carpentry tools and makeshift bows and arrows, were no match for the government’s armed forces. A conservative estimate put the death toll at several hundred men, women and children, who either starved to death or were shot, their bodies thrown into the Raimangal River. “Marichjhapi became out of bounds to visiting journalists, opposition politicians and even a Parliamentary Committee, who came to investigate police atrocities, faced harassment at the hands of the Forest Department officials,” the report said. Author and senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court Joydeep Sen told ThePrint the actual number of Dalit refugees killed by the police in Marichjhapi was much higher. “It was not in the hundreds but in thousands that the police, under express orders of the Left Front government, killed in Marichjhapi. That history was suppressed even during the Trinamool Congress regime under Mamata Banerjee,” Sen said. The Wire report said that when the Trinamool Congress was aspiring to power in Bengal, large hoardings about Marichjhapi had come up in Kolkata in 2009 promising justice to the survivors. “However, the lesson from the massacre seems to have been consigned to oblivion and the cycle of political violence continues in the state through different semblances,” the report said. The Kamardanga Sarbojanin Durgotsav Samiti members told ThePrint they are now trying to pull the Marichjhapi massacre out of that oblivion. ‘Left Front’s many misdeeds’ Suraj Kumar Singh said that he has not allowed Left parties to set up book stalls near his pandal this year. “Members of the Left parties, who publicly state that they do not believe in gods and are anti-religion, use the occasion of Durga puja to set up book stalls near pandals where they sell Marxist literature. I won’t allow it near my pandal,” Singh said. Instead, Singh and committee members of the Kamardanga Sarbojanin Durgotsav Samiti are using large 3D canvases in the pandal premises to tell the story of “many misdeeds of the Left regime from 1977 to 2011” through a four-and-a-half-minute documentary. “Leftists in West Bengal pulled out 17 Hindu monks of the Anandamargi sect from taxis, thrashed them, and burned them alive near Bijon Setu in the Ballygunge area, hacked to death members of the Sain family and made the matriarch of the family eat rice soaked in the blood of her slain relatives, and gangraped three female health officials who had gone to inspect lapses in a government-funded rural immunisation programme,” Singh alleged. He added the Left can not be allowed to take the moral high ground when their own political history is soaked in the blood of innocents. In the audio-visual presentation at the pandal, Abanindranath Tagore’s painting of Bharat Mata finds a prominent display. “This is the time to reclaim our narrative of a Sanatan Hindu Rashtra,” Singh said. “If you look closely at Tagore’s painting, Durga is Bharat Mata and Bharat Mata is Durga,” he said. Deep Halder (Edited by Ratan Priya) Courtesy : The Print Note: This news is originally published on https:/theprint.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
From Brahmins to Dalits to Adivasis, everyone has the same ancestors; BHU professor’s DNA research makes a major claim on castes.
Professor Choubey stated that it is clear that the caste system that has developed here is local and not imposed from outside. The caste system in India is frequently debated. Furthermore, there have been discussions about the Aryan and Dravidian theories. Concerns have often been raised about caste dominance and a sense of superiority. Meanwhile, research led by Professor Gyaneshwar Choubey of Banaras Hindu University has made significant claims. According to him, although Indian society is divided into various castes, everyone has the same ancestors. He claims that people of all castes, including Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Dalits, share the same ancestors. He has spent more than 10 years on this research. Recently, his research on the people of Northeast India has been published, rekindling discussions about his research. He told NDTV that the racial divisions in India, such as North and South, or Aryan and Dravidian, are incorrect. He said that the Aryan and Dravidian theory is completely misleading. He explained that through the Y chromosome, we have discovered that our ancestors were the same. He explained that we are studying the Y chromosome, which determines paternity. The father’s gene is passed on through the Y chromosome. Professor Gyaneshwar Choubey reported that a tribal and a Kshatriya have a common ancestry dating back 1,500 years. A similar connection was found with the Patels of Gujarat. Professor Choubey said that it is clear that the caste system that has developed here is local and not imposed from outside. He said that when some people gained socio-economic power, they decided on their caste, while others remained tribal. Thus, from Brahmins, Dalits, backward classes, and even tribal communities, everyone has the same ancestry. The professor said that they have now begun research on the Indian psyche. He stated that the “ANI” (Ancestral North Indian) and “ASI” (Ancestral South Indian) theories promoted by Harvard University never actually existed in India. Everyone in India, from Brahmins to Dalits, has a common ancestor. This has been proven through DNA research. Written by: Dr. Surya Prakash Courtesy: Hindi News
Dalit hamlet attacked, houses set on fire after 20-year-old youth’s murder in Bihar
The SSP described the situation at the village as tense but under control. We are keeping a close vigil on the situation after the youth’s murder. The deceased and the suspects belonged to two different castes. PATNA: Tension is running high at a village in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district following the murder of a 20-year-old youth late on Saturday. The deceased, Navneet Kumar, a resident of Mohammadpur Khaje village under Karja police station limits, was attacked with a knife when he had gone to a local fair with his friend, Subhash Kumar. As the body of the deceased reached his native village after post-mortem, local residents attacked a neaby Dalit hamlet as one of the suspects belonged to the village. The attackers not only thrashed the inhabitants but also set several houses on fire. The suspects involved in Navneet’s killing were stated to be residents of Partapur village. Residents alleged that the attackers also opened fire in the air to terrorise them. Police, however, did not confirm the firing during the attack at Partapur village. Ganesh Ram, a resident of Partapur village, said that the deceased Navneet had an altercation with the son of Gajendra Ram, who is involved in an illicit liquor trade. “More than 50 people attacked the Dalit hamlet in retaliation of the murder,” he said. He confirmed that at least six houses belonging to Scheduled Caste were set on fire by the attackers. Inhabitants somehow managed to escape to save their lives, he told the police. According to Ganesh Ram, fire tenders rushed to the village to douse the flames. By the time, fire tenders reached the village, houses were badly damaged, he revealed. Senior SP, Kantesh Kumar Mishra, SP, rural, Rajesh Singh Prabhakar and City SP, Mohibullah Ansari later took stock of the situation. “Additional armed police force has been deployed at the village to ward off any untoward incident,” SSP Mishra said. The SSP described the situation at the village as tense but under control. “We are keeping a close vigil on the situation after the youth’s murder. The deceased and the suspects belonged to two different castes,” he added. He warned of stern action against those violating the law. “Local police station house officer has been asked to initiate action against the offenders,” he told the media. A police team led by SDPO, Saraiya, Abhijit Kaur is camping at the village. Ramashankar Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Shah to visit Punjab on Oct 20; to meet families of anti-drug activist, Dalit suicide victim
Chandigarh: Union home minister Amit Shah will visit Punjab on Oct 20 to meet the families of victims and activists linked to the state’s drug crisis, escalating pressure on the governing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of 2027 state assembly elections. Shah announced the visit on X. “The AAP govt has left no stone unturned in pushing Punjab into the quagmire of drugs, as a result of which countless families have had to lose their children. I will meet the families of those individuals who, under the patronage of the AAP govt, have recently had to sacrifice their lives for raising their voices against the smugglers peddling white powder, on Tuesday (Oct 20) in Mansa, Sangrur, and Gurdaspur…” he wrote in a post in Punjabi. In Mansa, he will meet the family of anti-drug activist Parminder Singh Jhota, who was shot dead on Oct 13 following an altercation with a chemist over the alleged illegal sale of synthetic drugs. Protesters in Mansa have refused to perform Jhota’s final rites, demanding a CBI investigation. The main accused, Ashwani Kumar, has been arrested. In Sangrur, Shah is scheduled to meet relatives of Gulzar Singh of Toor Banjara village, who died by suicide last month after alleging harassment for confronting officials over local drug sales. He is also scheduled to meet the family of Bikramjit Singh who was killed in Mari Panwan, Batala, Gurdaspur, on Oct 15, allegedly over drug matter. Shah promised the Centre would “selectively put the drug smugglers behind bars and will ensure the entire country, including Punjab, is freed from this black trade of drugs”. This will be Shah’s second visit in less than a month and comes four days after the MHA sought “a comprehensive factual report” from Punjab govt regarding the murder of Jhota. The same day, the MHA also sought reports from the Punjab govt on Gulzar Singh’s death and Bikramjit Singh’s killing. Police have denied any drug angle in Bikramjit’s death. During his previous visit on Sept 30, Shah had declared to make Punjab drug free by the end of Dec 2029 if the BJP was voted to power in the state. A senior Punjab govt functionary told TOI that arrangements were being made for advanced teams of officials, including CRPF, for Mansa, Sangrur and Batala. Shah, as per a party functionary, is scheduled to land in Bathinda on Oct 20. BJP functionary and former Union minister of state Ravneet Singh Bittu told TOI that Jhota’s father Bhim Singh had been continuously “expressing faith in Amit Shah ji”. Bittu said, “Punjab election is in Feb and it is for the people to decide then. But, today the people of Punjab need to extend support to Amit Shah. In wrestling, the only powerful wrestler who can defeat Bhagwant Mann is Amit Shah. He has the power to defeat Bhagwant Mann. We should get our problem (of drugs) resolved by expressing faith in him (Shah) by rising above party lines.” Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Will punish ‘orchestrators’ of vote theft, says Rahul
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a sharp attack on PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing them of orchestrating “vote theft” and asserting that the Congress would hold them accountable. Addressing a public gathering in Margao in Goa, Gandhi also accused the BJP government in Goa of rampant corruption, alleged land grabbing and selling of public assets to billionaire associates, while calling for a Congress government with a full majority in the state. “We are the guardians of the Constitution, and the Constitution is our religion. By engaging in vote theft, they have attacked our religion,” the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said, alleging that Modi, Shah and Kumar would have to pay the price for their actions and would not be able to escape accountability from the Congress. In a pointed allegation against the three, Gandhi said, “Gyanesh Kumar implements vote theft, Amit Shah operationalises vote theft, and Narendra Modi does the complete planning of vote theft.” The Congress leader also claimed that the BJP was apprehensive about legal scrutiny of the alleged electoral malpractice. “People from the BJP are scared. If a case were filed on vote theft, it would become a legal matter, and they would get entangled in it,” he said. Courtesy : The Tribune Note: This news is originally published on https:/thetribune.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
‘Nothing can save Gyanesh Kumar, CEC simply has to go; SIR must be suspended forthwith’: Congress
For the first time, parties will be shared with “readable” electoral rolls at draft and final stages in both hard and soft versions. With the Election Commission deciding to provide parties with “readable” electoral rolls, the Congress on Sunday credited the move to nationwide protests against “vote chors”. The party reiterated its demands that the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar must go as well as the SIR be suspended forthwith. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said that over the past two years the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party have been persistent, insistent and consistent in demanding that the Election Commission of India provide electoral rolls in searchable format to all political parties. “The demand was repeatedly refused by the ECI which stopped providing searchable voter rolls in 2018 when the Congress found lakhs of bogus voters in Madhya Pradesh. The demand was denied for 8 years to enable Vote Chori,” Ramesh said on X. On October 15, 2026 the ECI issued an order that electoral rolls will be provided in searchable format to political parties for the Special Summary Revision (SSR), which resumed after a gap of two years in 17 states and UTs, he said. “This is because the whole nation is on the streets against the Vote Chors,” Ramesh claimed. “Every time ‘vote chori’ is caught, the Modi government adopts a new tactic: stopping readable voter rolls, fake voter additions, SIR. But not this time,” he said. Nothing can save the CEC, who, acting on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, has destroyed public trust and confidence in the ECI, Ramesh said. “He simply has to go. But that alone will not be enough. The ECI itself along with its IT system has to be thoroughly revamped,” he said. The SIR, which has put the Constitutional right to vote for over 13 crore Indians at risk, has to be suspended forthwith, Ramesh said. The Election Commission has ordered holding the annual special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union territories, including those where assembly polls are due “early next year”. The final rolls in these states and Union territories will be published on January 4. A senior EC functionary explained that SSR is an annual exercise mandated under election law. It is specially held in poll-bound states. In these 17 states, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ list has been completed. In Assam, a special revision instead of SIR had taken place due to legal reasons. For the first time, parties will be shared with “readable” electoral rolls at draft and final stages in both hard and soft versions. Candidates in poll-bound states will also be shared draft and final rolls. Rolls will also be made available for sale by the ERO to other persons before the elections. Courtesy : TNIE Note: This news is originally published on https:/thenewindianexpress.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights
Rahul: Will take care of Modi, Shah, Gyanesh, their expiry date is near
Margao: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the trio of orchestrating “vote chori” and warning that they would “pay the price” for it. Addressing a Congress rally in Margao, Rahul said: “The entire country knows – Gyanesh Kumar implements vote chori, Amit Shah operationalises it, and Narendra Modi chalks out the entire plan,” he said. Rahul said he was facing over 45 defamation cases, filed by Shah, Modi and others, yet no case had been filed over his repeated allegation that Modi steals votes. “Do you know why? Because they fear that if a case on vote chori were filed, it would trigger a full-blown legal process in which they themselves would become entangled,” he said. The Congress MP said that he had “proved it with evidence” and alleged that vote theft had taken place in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Assam. He said Congress would not let the matter rest. “We are the protectors of the Constitution, that’s our religion. When they committed vote chori, they attacked our Constitution, attacked our religion. Modi, Shah and Gyanesh Kumar will face justice and will pay the price for it,” Rahul said. He also took a jibe at the PM’s much-publicised 56-inch chest remark. “Have you seen Modi’s face these days? Where has the 56-inch chest gone now? Modi saamne khade nahi ho sakte,” he said, claiming that the PM and Shah knew they had been cornered by Congress and that the youth of the country had risen against them. “We will take care of Modi, Amit Shah and Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi. Work is under way. Their expiry date is near, and they cannot escape,” he said. Rahul said people had seen through the BJP leadership’s designs. “Desh ki atma Modi aur Shah ko samajh gayi hai. Ab baat khatm ho gayi hai. The soul of the country has understood Modi and Shah. The matter is now decided,” he said. “When the soul of the country decides something, it is only a matter of time.” Courtesy : TOI Note: This news is originally published on https:/timesofindia.com/bha and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially human rights