Deedwana/Jaipur: The protest which had begun after the encounter of gangster Anand Pal Singh in Rajasthan has turned ugly on Wednesday. The supporters and the family who had gathered at Deedwana, near Anand Pal’s house to pay tribute to their ‘Robinhood’ and demanding an inquiry by none other than Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), attacked policemen soon after the event got over.
They even torched their vehicles. In the incident, one civilian Lal Chand was injured and has succumbed to his injuries. However, neither police nor Rajasthan Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria confirmed how he died, whether from police bullet or not. The home minister also refused the demand of CBI inquiry for the encounter, claiming that police has done its work honestly. Twenty one policemen who got injured in the clash, and among nine received serious injuries are under treatment at the SMS Hospital, Jaipur. Other than Lal Chand, three civilians were also injured and getting treatment along with policemen.
A policeman Mancha Ran and a civilian Mahendra’s condition are critical. Both are in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
There are reports of Superintendent of Police Paris Deshmukh’s vehicle being set ablaze. In this incident, a woman probationary Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Monika Sen went missing for sometime but was found later.
ADGP NRK Reddy informed that police had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd. Police has also imposed 144 in four districts of Rajasthan, and internet services have been blocked. While, at the native village of Anand Pal in Nagaur district, police clamped a curfew.
[/media-credit] A policeman being shifted to SMS HospitalAnand Pal, was killed in an encounter on June 25 itself, but his dead body is yet to be cremated. The family is demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
His corpse has been kept at freezer at Anand Pal’s house in Deedwana.
Earlier also, after the encounter, his supporters, mostly Rajput community people had blocked roads, and indulged in arson in many districts of Rajasthan.
On July 12, thousands from the Rajput community including large number of women gathered to pay homage, to the gangster, who was considered Robinhood in the area.
[/media-credit] Females had also participated in large numbers and they interacted with crowd tooAnand Pal has two daughters and wife, and had 37 cases against him, including six of murders. One of his daughter studies in Dubai and the other in Pune. According to Rajasthan police, he had amassed a huge property.
Since Anand Pal was encountered, there has been a huge protest, right from road to social media.
In 2015, he had escaped from jail, and had Rs 5 lakhs reward on him.
Once I was afflicted with extreme sadness. I was young, just out of my juvenile years. I felt as if I were the unhappiest person in the world. I tried, but could not think of an immediate cause. I was usually short of cash and no girl was taking interest in me. But that was the case with several of my friends. All the time I was brooding over the futility of living. I was losing interest in eating, playing and even going to see a film which was my passion. Then a chance remark by a close friend gave me a spark.
Unhappy
The friend (one among the few close friends I had) had for days been trying to improve my mood in various ways possible. But all in vain. Then one day in sheer exasperation, he put an end to his efforts with a shout: ‘you are not alone, almost everyone feels unhappy for one reason or the other.’ It got me thinking and thinking. Then I decided to find out for myself if others were also unhappy.
I went to the stationer’s and purchased a pocket notebook. I made it my mission to ask everyone I met if he/she was happy in life. I would note down his/her name (and the place and some personal particulars) along with his or her reply. In this way I ‘interviewed’ over 700 persons from Varanasi to my home town in Punjab over a span of several months. Only two of them had replied without a moment’s hesitation: ‘yes, I am perfectly happy in life.’ one of them I discounted for the simple reason that she was a young girl, married only about a month — and that is the period when a girl floats on cloud nine. The other was a genuinely happy person. He was the Registrar of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Sometime in 1963, a three-day youth leaders’ convention was held at AMU. I also attended it by virtue of being President of Students’ Union of my University. One day the AMU hosted the dinner to the participants. It so happened that I was sitting next to the Registrar, a slightly bulky man with thick ‘khichdi’ beard. As the dinner was in progress, I asked him if he was happy (it had become an obsession with me). Mr Khan (I am unable to recall his first name now) stopped eating, looked at me for a few seconds and said in a deep voice: ‘Yes, I am perfectly happy’. At my further query, he elaborated: ‘young man, I am 58. I have good health. I have much better appetite than you, though you can see I am more than double your age. I have a loving wife. I have two sons and both are well settled. And I have enough savings for a comfortable life after retirement. What else do I need?’
On the last day of every such gathering, there is always a flurry of address-sharing and promises to keep in touch (internet and mobile were not yet known). A beautiful girl from Baroda was generously writing her address for anyone who asked (almost all the boys appeared to be wanting her address). She would, however, tell everyone that no one had ever succeeded in getting a reply from her.
Prudence prevents me from giving her full name; so let’s call her by initials G P. I accepted her challenge and told her that I would get a reply from her. She wrote down her address in my notebook. During the three days I had seen that she was showing special interest in a boy from her own State, Gujarat. On getting back to my place, I wrote her a postcard (yes, postcard it was) asking her the address of the boy as I had (I wrote) misplaced his address. I promptly received a reply from G P, giving me the address of the boy. I wrote reminding her of her bragging that no one could get a reply from her.
She thought (and wrote to me) that I was clever but I attributed it to the revival of my spirits with the knowledge that I was not alone feeling unhappy in this world.
Kolkata: Common man, social and human rights activists came out in scores to condemn the attack on the Amarnath Pilgrims. They even held a candle light vigil to pay tribute to those killed during the attack. Coming forward was also those who had recently protested over mob lynching under the banner of Not In My Name campaign. Large number of people turned up right from Kashmir, to Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Jaipur, Bhopal, Pratapgarh and Giridih. The common Indian seemed to be grieving over the dastardly act of the terrorists. In Kashmir, the Kashmir Civil Society called to pay the tribute to the victims, while eminent activists like Shabnam Hashmi, Kavita Krishnan, and journalists like Saba Naqvi and Vinod Sharma were present along with many others in Delhi. AMU students marched in the city with candles in their show of solidarity with the victims. In Jaipur, Kavita Srivastava led a candle vigil upto Gandhi Circle. Bhopal witnessed maximum citizen presence. The members of minority wing of Pratapgarh Congress also paid tribute, while in Giridih, Rajesh Sinha of CPI-ML and Sandeep jaisawal of AISA, led candle vigil. Kolkata which had heavy rainfall on Tuesday, will have many such programme on July 12. All pictures have been arranged.
Delhi: Prominent people assemble under Not In My Name
Aligarh: AMU students march candle vigil
Bhopal: Citizens pay homage to the victims
Jaipur: PUCL conducts candle vigil
Giridih: People gathered here for candle vigil under Ekta Manch
Giridih (Bagoder): AISA led a march with candles and paid tribute
Giridih: A call for humanity and peace programme also organized here
Kolkata: We all know that no other state in India has as many types of minerals, as that we get in Jharkhand. But do you know that the governments of mineral rich state could not run free ambulance service—108, which is operational in 19 states of India, even after 17 years of its inception?
Also, you must be aware that the fact that Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the son of a farmer. But you may not have an idea about the fact that in the native place of CM, several farmers are committing suicides and those alive, are leading a horrible life. Some farmers have to use humans in place of animals for farming.
On Sunday morning, one Rajendra Uraon, a resident of Sidpa village in Tandwa block of Chatra district, was bit by a snake on Saturday night, reached Sadar Hospital, only to be declared dead in the afternoon, after getting some initial treatment.
Rajendra was accompanied by his wife Sunita Devi, brother Laxman Uraon and sister in law (Bhabhi) Sita Devi. Sita was carrying a small kid also on her back.
After the death of Rajendra, the family requested the hospital authorities for an ambulance. However, they demanded Rs 4000 to drop off Rajendra’s body at his village. The family, unable to pay and decided to take the body on their own.
Using a towel to cover the face of the corpse, his brother Laxman held the corpse by its head, while Sita Devi held it by its legs, despite carrying an infant on her back. Rajendra’s widow Sunita walked behind him, crying.
They had walked almost 200 meters, when some people stopped them to know what the issue was. Following which, they called the local media and also informed, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Nandkishore Lal. SDM contacted Sadar Hospital authorities and reprimanded them for their inhuman behavior. Later, ambulance was arranged and the corpse was sent to Sidpa village.
In most of the districts of Jharkhand, healthcare facilities are in shambles and ambulance play a major role in shifting critical patients, but as government has no such free service, private operators are running a business out of it.
Ten months back, image of Dana Manjhi, a tribal carrying his wife’s corpse on his shoulder in Orissa had moved the world, but it seems, many has to undergo the ordeal because of the pathetic health service in Jharkhand too.
But, for Sardar Barela, a farmer of Basantpur Pangri village, in Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh, his difficulty did not come for one time. The father, because of lack of money has been using two of his minor daughters to plough corps for the past three years. He simply cannot afford to buy a pair of oxen.
Sunday also, he was using his 14-year-old daughter Radha and 11-year-old Kunti in place of ox, when a few journalists spotted them. Both used to study in school but had to drop, because of lack of money and since then have been helping their father to plough the field.
When matter come to fore, District Collector Tarun Kumar sent a team to the village and assured for all kind of help to family, so the girls should not leave discontinue her education and work in the field in such a manner.
But, the two incidents, from Jharkhand to Madhya Pradesh, highlight a stark reality, that the poor in India are still being ignored by the policy makers.
Kolkata: When Souvik Sarkar, a teenager from West Bengal’s Rudrapur village, was posting a “religiously insensitive” morphed image or meme on his timeline in Facebook, he perhaps failed to understand the futility of his action. No sooner than his post was made public, that the image made its way to most preferred way of spreading news or information these days – WhatsApp. It’s free, it’s cheap and it results are effective for those wanting spread hatred through fake news and information across India, like a wild fire.
The circulation of fake news, it seems is directly proportional to the building up of communal tension in Bengal. A day after Eid, Shankhayug, a Bengali newspaper in Bashirhat carried a fake news, labelling an Islamic flag as Pakistani flag being flown in the area to commemorate Eid celebration. Adding fuel to the fire was Sarkar’s post, which made some fundamentalist Muslim leaders to go on a rampage.
What followed was a large scale violence in Baduria, as a section of Muslim fanatics, incited by the derogatory meme took law and order in their hands. The violence, so far has had a single casualty – a 65-year-old man whom BJP is claiming to be their party worker. He was stabbed to death by a mob, which most are presuming were Muslim fanatics.
Fake Alert
The circulation of fake news, it seems is directly proportional to the building up of communal tension in Bengal. A day after Eid, Shankhayug, a Bengali newspaper in Bashirhat carried a fake news, labelling an Islamic flag as Pakistani flag being flown in the area to commemorate Eid celebration. Adding fuel to the fire was Sarkar’s post, which made some fundamentalist Muslim leaders to go on a rampage.
However, the agenda of the perpetrators of fake news didn’t end with the violence. Adding to the tension were other fake news of riots doing the rounds. Soon, after the news of the Baduria violence went viral, social media got flooded with more fake news. First news was circulated that Muslims were demanding that Souvik be stoned to death, and an image was also circulated purportedly of his family members including his mother and it was said that they got attacked. The truth was that not only Souvik but his family was saved by his Muslims neighbours.
Later, a BJP member Vijeta Malik shared a picture of Bhojpuri film, claiming it to be evidence of how women in Baduria were being raped by Jihadis or Islamist. So, much so, BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, got a flak for passing off Photoshopped images of the 2002 Gujarat riots as that if Baduria’s images.
When there are no fake news and images circulating with the Bengal agenda, then instigating hashtags are run by certain news channels. Is it just a coincidence that almost all the fake news, images, or instigating hashtags are being circulated either by BJP leaders, supporters or BJP backed channels?
Bengal Takes on Cyber hate mongers
The silver lining, in the Baduria incident, was the Bengal police coming into action to take on those spreading communalism on social media. Speaking to eNewsroom, ADG CID, Rajesh Kumar, said, “We have already arrested two people with regards to sharing fake news on Social Media. We blocked several YouTube channels, pulled off inflammatory videos that had been posted to create a communal backlash in Bengal.” On being asked about political leaders or famous personalities sharing such contents, he said, “We will definitely investigate their posts and if found guilty, action will taken.”
A tweet from Kolkata Police
He also, had a warning for those who just keep pressing the share button, “You will be responsible for what you share. Please don’t share content that can instigate communal tension. If found guilty, we will take stern action against such people.”
Kolkata and Bengal Police, have since then been issuing images, messages and video warning people to use social media for social networking and not to spread hate.
Eyes on Bengal
A lesson needs to be learnt from the incident. With instances of communalism on the rise, morphed images, memes and photoshopped content will be shared more regularly on social media. Many believe that the trend will continue till 2019 Elections. Author Devdan Chauhari, in one of his article, pointed out that RSS’s dream of creating a Hindu Rashtra will only materialise when Bengal gets saffronised. He categorically stated, “The chances of communal tension in Bengal will be on the rise, till 2019 General Elections.”
Ringing the alarm bell at the Parliament
TMC leader Derek O Brian, on being contacted said, “We will be raising the issue with all other parties at the Parliament, the day after. Fake news, is dangerous and we need to weed it out. I have always alerted people about fake news, will be doing it once again.” Other political parties, in Bengal, seem to have the same say on this issue.
A way out
So, what’s the best way to deal with this web of lies and fake news? Answering that, fake news encounter specialist and Alt News founder, Pratik Sinha says, “Well, there is no fixed guideline that I can share to make people understand the difference between fake and real. But, yes, we need to be alert. We should be cautious of sharing religiously sensitive news or posts without cross checking facts. If you have doubts then don’t share.”
He further added, “To check authenticity of picture, opt for Google Reverse Image search. It helps in most cases to identify the original image. It in a way can help you decided on the fate of the post that you want to share.”
What makes Bengal, a difficult turf?
Fake news and Sarkar’s morphed image might have triggered violence for a brief span of time. But residents, both Hindu and Muslims, realising their folly, took on the task of reuniting. A day after the riots, broke out, news of both the community members are working hard to restore back the peace. So, if Amirul Haque did his best to save Sarkar’s family, then there were news of Hindu youths guarding mosques alongside Muslims. News of Muslims pooling in money to restore shops and homes of those affected during the riots is also making the rounds.
“It will not be easy for BJP to take over Bengal that easily. Here people are more united than other parts of India. Had Bashirhat incident happened in another state, I am sure there wold have been more deaths. Here it was a riot and there was only one casualty. People are more secular here and they realise their folly. Look how the Muslim community is coming forward to help their brethren on realising their mistake. Such a thing only Bengalis can do. For, us our Bengali identity comes first and then our religious identity,” summed up Supratim Sengupta, one of the #Notinmyname participant from Kolkata.
The message to Mamata Banerjee is that deal sternly with anti-social elements but deal more strongly with anti-nationals who circulate fake images and videos to instigate riots and help anti-social elements.
Ranchi: Jharkhand is the numero uno Indian state when it comes to people being lynched to death by a random mob. In the last year or so, it has witnessed an abysmal rise in cases of mob lynching. While Muslims have been the major victim of lynchings, other community people like Dalits, Tribals and in some cases Hindus too become a victim of it.
The most recent was Giridih’s dairy farmer Usman Ansari and Ramgarh’s Alimuddin Ansari being lynched. The former was lucky enough to survive the attack, but Alimuddin succumbed to his injuries.
Just before these incidents, 16-year-old Junaid was stabbed to death in a Ballabhgarh-bound train’s compartment. And for many others, including the Jamshedpur lynching of Gauta and Ganesh, Kashmir’s Ayyub’s incidents brought people on the roads of Ranchi and Giridih yesterday and today, respectively. At both places, Sajha Manch played an important role and brought several other organizations under one umbrella, to protest.
However, the way of protesting was different in both the cities. At the state capital, they organized the Not In My Name campaign, while in Giridih, they formed a human chain. Ranchi’s protest had one of the protestors dressed as the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who with his folded hands was requesting people to maintain peace.
Protest at Giridih was attended by former MLA Vinod Singh, Rajesh Yadav and Rajesh Sinha whose party, CPI-ML had organised a protest march across the state on July 3, for the same.
Along with the two cities of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh’s state capital, Bhopal too had citizen protest against mob lynching on Friday. Here, girls had participated in large numbers. All pictures have been arranged.
Ranchi: Jharkhand is the numero uno Indian state, when it comes to people being lynched to death by random mob. In the last one year or so, it has witnessed an abysmal rise in cases of mob lynching.
The most recent was Giridih’s dairy farmer Usman Ansari and Ramgarh’s Alimuddin Ansari being lynched. The former was lucky enough to survive the attack, but Alimuddin succumbed to his injuries. Just before these incidents, 16-year-old Junaid, was stabbed to death in a Ballabhgarh-bound train’s compartment.
And for many others, including Jamshedpur lynching of Gauta and Ganesh, Kashmir’s Ayyub’s incidents brought people on the roads of Ranchi and Giridih yesterday and today, respectively. At both the places, Sajha Manch, played an important role and brought several other organizations under one umbrella, to protest.
However, the way of protesting was different in both the city. At state capital, they organized Not In My Name campaign, while in Giridih, they formed a human chain. Ranchi’s protest had one of the protestors dressed as the father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi, who with his folded hands was requesting people to maintain peace.
Giridih protest was attended by former MLA Vinod Singh, whose party had organised a protest march across the state on July 3, for the same. Along with the two cities of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh’s state capital, Bhopal too had citizen protest against mob lynching on Friday. Here, girls had participated in large numbers. All pictures have been arranged.
Baduria/Kolkata: As news of a person succumbing to his injuries is coming in, because of Baduria violence, we all sitting miles away, are believing that there exist a high communal tension out there. But then, there seem to be a couple of silver linings too. The people of Baduria and nearby areas are showing solidarity and are attempting to restore communal harmony in the affected areas.
Take this example, when the family of the teenager Souvik Sarkar, who had posted the morphed image on Facebook, triggering a communal unrest, was saved from wrath of the mob on the rampage, by his Muslim neighbour, Amirul Haque. Amirul not only insured safety of family but Souvik also.
An officer of Bashirhat fire service station who mentioned Haque’s name, on condition of anonymity further informed that he comes from that area only and that he understands the people of Baduria very well. “During the agitation, local people of both the communities who have lived together for long came to rescue each other,” he told eNewsroom.
The officer added, “The communal tension was caused by outsiders. Local people were not involved in it. These people most of whom belong to lower middle class are not interested in violence.”
The same message was echoed by Seba Das and Fahmida Begum, both residents of Baduria. “We have more important works to do in life. We are neither interested nor do we believe in communal violence,” said Das, a mother of a three-year-old child.
“Such incidents never happened here. We have lived peacefully side by side, have celebrated EID and Durga Puja together. Why will we listen to outsiders who have vested interests?” questioned Rahim Seikh, a rickshaw puller in Baduria.
[/media-credit] A Bengali youth promoting peace during the processionAlso, in Barasat, a congregation of 250 people from both the community assembled at the Barasat railway station to protest against the violence that broke out in Baduria.
“We had planned to organise a road show to condemn the incident and to show solidarity in hour of tension. We shared our plan on social media asking people who believe in peace to participate in this communal harmony march. We were overwhelmed with the response,” Rabin Das, one of the conveners of the peace march and a resident of Barasat told eNewsroom.
Another resident of Barasat, Masud Khan pointed out that efforts are being made by certain people to malign the identity of Bengal. “They want to make us fragile by dividing us. We are not going to fall in to their trap. Certain people are their best to polarise the Bengali society, just like the British did so many years back. Money is being spent by these miscreants to create communal unrest. We need to be tolerant and not get instigated by Facebook and WhatsApp messages,” said Khan who is an owner of a grocery shop.
In another incident at Berachapa, Deganga area, youths from the local Muslim community compelled certain people, who were identified as outsiders trying to create communal tension, to leave the area to restore peace.
Police said that, at least forty people have been arrested so far for the violence and the number can increase in days to come.
Bhopal: It seems farmer committing suicide in Madhya Pradesh do not move Shivraj Singh Chouhan government at all, as it is continues like never before. In a single day, on Tuesday, three more farmers had committed suicide, the lives of fifty farmer ended, since the Mandsaur firing took place. And among them, ten belong to chief minister’s hometown.
A month ago, right after the police fired on protesting farmers in Mandsaur which had killed five farmers, Shivraj had observed an extravagant fast to send across a message of peace to the agitating ones, and that he is always there for them.
Madhya Pradesh Farmers
The farmer, who hanged himself from a tree, was identified as Suraj Singh Gurjar, a resident of Pathoria village, Sehore. The town is only 50 kilometers away from state capital Bhopal. The 50-year-old farmer had reportedly had a 2.5 lakhs loan on him, which he was being unable to repay.
Besides Gurjar, 65-year-old Parsaram Sahu, a resident of Sagar district had consumed poison to bring an end to his misery. He wasn’t being able to take on the pressure of being unable to repay his loan. Sahu, at present is in a critical condition.
The third incident took place at Shivpuri. Both Sagar and Shivpuri are hometowns of Shivraj’s cabinet ministers.
Official figure tabled in the State Assembly, itself says that between July 1 to December 15, 2016, 531 farmers have committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh.
It means, more than three farmers commit suicide in the heartland of India everyday. While Shivraj not only claims himself of being son of a farmer, but he is the longest serving chief minister of Madhya Pradesh too.
And the state also boats of having India’s first Happiness Department. Ironically, all these distinctions could not change the fate of farmers in state.
But where is the opposition parties, does it only follows Shivraj’s action and statements or doing something concrete? Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh Rahul claims to eNewsroom that they are, pushing hard to make government accountable, “All these suicide, dents the claim of chief minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan) of being the son of a farmer. In fact, it also proves that his government’s policies are not right for the farmers.”
After Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s fast, another Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had sat on 3-day long Satyagraha in support of farmers.
On being asked about the policies of Shivraj’s government that according to him are not farmer friendly, he said, “Private companies charge very high interest to farmers but government has no monitoring system for it.”
“There is a bill already drafted for many years to rein control on the money lenders, but it is yet to be passed. Also, earlier corporate companies used to help farmers, but now there is no such activity by the government to use corporate sector for the benefit of the farmers. And it’s an open secret, as to how demonetization has broken the rib of the farmers. We all know that farmers are not getting fair price for their crops,” he added.
The senior Congress leader also mentioned that in the coming Monsoon session, the party will make farmer suicide a major issue inside the assembly.
Jaipur: Ever since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was announced, protests have broken out across India. From textile traders to theatre owners, several groups have taken to the streets in cities like Surat, Jaipur, and Kolkata, while in states such as Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, entire industries have demanded a complete or partial rollback of the new tax regime. But in Jaipur, a rather unique protest has emerged — led by sculptors.
On July 5, hundreds of sculptors under the banner of Moortikala Sangharsh Samiti marched through the streets, protesting against idols made by them being brought under GST. Protesters dressed as gods, goddesses, and priests carried striking slogans such as “Kasam Ram Ki Khatey Hain, Milkar GST Hatayenge” (We swear in the name of Ram, together we will force GST to be rolled back). They argued that taxing idols of gods amounted to an attack on Hinduism.
Adding to their frustration was confusion over the tax slab. Initially, sculptors were told that their products would attract a 28% GST, but later this was revised to 12%. “Irrespective of the slab, we want a complete rollback,” said Satya Prakash Natha, spokesperson of the Samiti. The rally concluded at the Jaipur collectorate, where a memorandum demanding rollback of GST on idols was submitted.
This was the second such protest by sculptors in Jaipur, following a chetawani (warning) rally on July 3.
Sculptors dressed as gods and goddesses stage a protest march on the streets of Jaipur
Not only did they dress in an innovative way, but also demonstrated uniquely
When Gods say no to GST
With interesting slogans they came out in full force
The sculptors marching on to the Jaipur collectorate
