Tag: Shobha Karandlaje

Modi’s Cabinet: Six With Rs 100 Cr+, 28 With Criminal Cases From Murder to Crimes Against Women

Bandi Kumar Sanjay, Minister of State for Home Affairs, has 42 cases against him with at least 30 serious charges while Shantanu Thakur, junior minister for ports, has 23 cases and 37 serious charges.

New Delhi: Six of the newly sworn-in ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government have assets exceeding Rs 100 crore, according to a report put together by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) along with National Election Watch.

As per the report, 28 ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves in their election affidavits, with 19 accused of serious crimes under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including crimes against women. Furthermore, two BJP MPs from West Bengal are facing murder charges.

The report is based on the self-sworn affidavits of 71 of the 72 ministers sworn in on Sunday (June 9). The details of George Kurien were not analysed as he is not currently a member of either house and has not contested the Lok Sabha election, ADR said in a statement.

Ministers accused of crimes against women include Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Shantanu Thakur, Sukanta Majumdar, Suresh Gopi and Jual Oram, all from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). 

Eight ministers have been accused of hate speech. They include: Amit Shah, Shobha Karandlaje, Dharmendra Pradhan, Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Shantanu Thakur and Sukanta Majumdar.

According to the report, 70 of the 71 ministers are ‘crorepatis‘ or have assets worth at least Rs 1 crore. Six with the highest declared wealth include: Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani at Rs 5,705 crore, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia at Rs 424 crore, H.D. Kumaraswamy at Rs 217 crore, Ashwini Vaishnaw at Rs 144 crore, Rao Inderjit Singh with Rs 121 crore and Piyush Goyal with Rs 110 crore.

Criminal cases

Non bailable offences; offences with a maximum punishment of five years or more;  electoral offences; offence related to loss to exchequer, those related with assault, murder, rape or kidnapping; crimes against women and offences mentioned in the Representation of the People Act (Section8) have been categories as serious offences in the report. 

Bandi Kumar Sanjay, Minister of State for Home Affairs, has 42 cases against him with at least 30 ‘serious charges’ while Shantanu Thakur, junior minister for ports, shipping and waterways, has 23 cases and 37 serious charges. Minister of State for education, Sukanta Majumdar, has 16 cases with 30 serious charges.

 

Ahead of Assembly Polls, NDA’s Ministers List Is a Delicate Balance of BJP’s Concerns

A close look at the ministers who were sworn in on June 9 also drives home the fact that the BJP under Modi has stuck to what it is particularly known for – its election mode.

New Delhi: As many as 72 ministers are now part of the Narendra Modi regime – part three.

Even though in the truest sense this is the first National Democratic Alliance government since 2014 – the earlier ones were only notional and the Bharatiya Janata Party did not need other parties’ support to cross the majority mark – Modi has certainly tried to keep things firmly within his control. He has done so by ensuring that 61 of the 72 ministers are from his own BJP, leaving only 11 spots for the allies to peck on. 

A close look at the ministers who were sworn in on June 9 also drives home the fact that the BJP under Modi has stuck to what it is particularly known for – its election mode.

States bound for polls between the end of the year and 2026 have been given particular attention. The selection reflects corrective measures, an effort at balancing caste group representation and an effort to continue the BJP’s southward expansion plan.

Look East 

An eastern state that finds a sizeable presence in the Modi ministry is Bihar, bound for assembly polls in 2025. The state has been given eight ministerial berths. 

Among the six Lok Sabha MPs from the state sworn in yesterday, four belong to the NDA partners Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), while two are senior BJP state leaders – Giriraj Singh and Nityanand Rai.

Together with allies, the BJP pocketed a formidable 30 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar in these elections. However, the vote share of the Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal combine was significant, which means that a state election may not be a bed of roses for the NDA. 

No wonder then that a close look at NDA ministers’ names reflects an attempt by the leadership to arrive at a representation balance – through caste groups – with the polls in mind.

While JD (U)’s Rajiv Ranjan Singh’s inclusion is expected to woo the Bhumihar community, the Paswans are to be represented at the Union government by Chirag Paswan of the LJP (Ram Vilas). Then there is Jiten Ram Majhi, the chief of HAM, a leader of the Mushahar community. BJP’s Giriraj Thakur is the Hindutva face of the party in that state while Rai represents the Yadav community, a counter to the Yadav-heavy RJD. Two other ministers are Rajya Sabha members from the state – Satish Chandra Dubey, a prominent Brahmin face of the BJP, and Ram Nath Thakur, son of the state’s celebrated socialist and OBC leader, Karpuri Thakur. 

The composition of ministers based on caste and community, aided by a few smart moves by the BJP and its allies in the state in coming months may well put NDA ahead in the game.

Hold on to the Northeast

Assam, a state the BJP depends considerably on to continue its sway over the Northeast, is headed for polls in 2026. While former state chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal was sworn in to serve as a cabinet minister once again in a Modi-led government, the inclusion of the BJP Rajya Sabha MP from the state, Pabitra Margherita, as a minister of state has come as a surprise to many. 

The message behind that decision is clear, though. Pabitra has been elevated to thwart the rise of three young and influential opposition leaders from the Ahom community that is key to winning several of eastern/upper Assam’s assembly segments. Pabitra belongs to the same community. 

In these general elections, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, former student leader who now heads the anti-CAA Asom Jatiya Parishad, gave a formidable fight to Sonowal from the Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat.

Lending him support was Akhil Gogoi, the founder president of another anti-CAA party, Raijor Dal. Akhil is an MLA from eastern/upper Assam. The duo also gave their full backing to another Ahom leader, Gaurav Gogoi of Congress, which reflected favourably in the results of the newly-carved out Jorhat Lok Sabha seat in upper Assam. Gaurav Gogoi won that seat by beating a BJP candidate from the Ahom community, which rang the alarm bells among the party’s leadership in the state.

Ahead of 2026, BJP is keen to win back the Ahom votes which had helped it corner both the 2016 and the 2021 state polls. As many as 126 assembly seats of the northeastern state lies in eastern/upper Assam. 

It is to be seen, though, if Pabitra’s elevation can do the trick for the BJP, or if he continues to be viewed by the community as a former cultural activist who has risen in the party only by dint of being close to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Pabitra is political secretary to Sarma as well.  

Keep the West 

Even though a peeved Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-Ajit Pawar faction) has refused to accept a minister of state berth, Maharashtra, bound for polls by the end of the year, is another state that has been given sizeable attention in the newly-sworn in ministry. This, despite the BJP and its NDA partners faring not too impressively in these general elections. 

Together with allies, the NDA government will have six ministers from Maharashtra – four from the BJP, and one each from Shiv Sena (Shinde) and RPI (Athawale). State MPs Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal will continue to be cabinet ministers from the BJP while two others from the party – Raksha Khadse and Muralidhar Mahal – will be ministers of state.

RPI chief Ramdas Athawale and Pratap Jadhav of the Shiva Sena (Shinde) group have also been sworn in as ministers.

This was seemingly done to ensure that regions and communities are well represented in the Modi ministry before a crucial election where, if the recent poll results are an indication, opposition parties are quite formidable. Congress, after a hiatus, is back in reckoning in that western state. 

Also read: From Kairana to Kushinagar, the BJP Lost Popular Support in All Regions of UP

Sew up the North 

Though Uttar Pradesh turned out to be the biggest dampner for the BJP in these polls, having lost 28 of the 62 seats it had won in 2019, as many as 11 ministers of the NDA government represent the northern state – all keeping delicate caste equations in mind. 

From the BJP stable, there is Modi himself representing the state, along with senior party leader Rajnath Singh. Some others from the party who have found their names in the list are Lok Sabha MPs Jitin Prasad, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Pankaj Chaudhary, Kamlesh Paswan and S.P.S. Baghel, along with the two party Rajya Sabha members from the state – Hardeep Puri and B.L. Verma. Ministers from among the allies are Kanupriya Patel and Jayant Chaudhary. 

Going by the fact that the number of ministers is just one less than it was in 2019, one can safely say that the party has not yet lost all hope in its Hindutva hotbed. 

From Rajasthan too, where the opposition Congress snatched quite a few seats from the ruling BJP, the Modi-Shah duo has picked four ministers – Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Bhupendra Yadav, Arjun Meghwal and Bhagirath Choudhury. While one belongs to a Dalit community, two belong to OBC communities, and one, to the General category. Choudhury is a first timer in a Union ministry. 

This considerable presence of Rajasthan in the ministry despite the BJP’s debacle there, does say that similar to UP, the party is hopeful of gaining lost ground in Rajasthan too.

From Haryana, while inclusion of Manohar Lal Khattar as a minister in the Modi-led government is on expected lines (he was promised a place in the Centre in exchange for stepping down as Haryana chief minister), that of Rao Inderjit Singh and Kishan Pal Gujjar are no big surprises either, considering their caste backgrounds and respective holds.

Along with Maharashtra, Haryana too is bound for elections at the end of the year, and clearly, BJP is no longer in a sweet spot in that northern state. Deciding to hold on to ground it still has some control over appears to be a game the national leadership is ready to play.

However, from the northern belt, what comes as a surprise is the induction of Ravnet Singh Bittu in the Modi ministry. While states like West Bengal seemed to have been overlooked for not electing enough BJP MPs as the party hoped for (ministers from Bengal are fewer than in 2019), a similar loss in Punjab is being looked at differently by the national leadership. Bittu has been accommodated even after losing the polls from Ludhiana.

Bittu’s presence in the NDA government is, therefore, a strong indication that BJP is conscious about having lost large ground in Punjab in the last few years and may now want to send a message to voters that it is not quite as hostile to the majority Sikh community after all. The swearing in of Bitu, a grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, can be called the most decisive sew-up effort by the BJP in the North.   

Firm up the South 

Not one but two ministers in the Modi government are from the Kerala BJP. While one is the Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi who helped BJP reach its dream of having a Lok Sabha MP from the southernmost state by winning the Thrissur seat for the party, the other is a long-time party functionary in the state – George Kurien, a  Syrian Christian. While Gopi’s selection is clearly to uphold the party’s hard won victory in Kerala (Gopi became third time lucky after losing the 2019 LS polls and the 2021 state polls on BJP tickets), through Kurien, the BJP wants to send the message to the sizeable Christian population of the state that it wants to take Modi’s recent engagement with religious leaders further ahead of the assembly polls of 2026.

Another poll-bound southern state where the BJP hopes to expand is Tamil Nadu. To be able to dilute the strident opposition of a large swathe of Tamils to its Hindi-Hindu agenda is a particular goal of the BJP’s.

While the party has continued to lose the parliamentary polls in the state, the induction of L. Murugan as a cabinet minister yesterday in spite of him losing in the election is indication enough of its plans.

Murugan, a Rajya Sabha member who had served in the 2019 Modi ministry as a minister of state, is also a Dalit face of the party in Tamil Nadu. The community comprises about 20% of the voters in the state.

Murugan is often given the credit for ensuring BJP’s entry into the Tamil Nadu assembly in 2021 after a gap of several years. The party now needs him as a central minister to ensure that the strategy woven by the current BJP state president Annamalai at home is backed up by implementation of central schemes in that state in order to help in the next assembly polls. Tamil Nadu is going to the polls in 2026. 

The composition of the Modi ministry also indicates that BJP is taking measures to better its position in Karnataka, a southern state it lost to the Congress in the last assembly polls. Aside from accommodating former state chief minister and NDA ally H.D. Kumaraswamy in the new central cabinet, Modi has inducted four other faces from the southern state from his party. 

Of course, there is Rajya Sabha member Nirmala Sitharaman, five-time MP from the state Prahlad Joshi, along with V. Sumanna and Shobha Karandlaje. 

Karandlaje must have been picked keeping the fine balance in mind; she is not only a well known Vokkaliga face but also a woman leader of the state. But what stands out particularly is the inclusion of Sumanna. He is not just an influential Lingayat leader from South Karnataka but is often at loggerheads with former BJP state chief minister B. S. Yediyurappa, another strongman from the community. 

The message seems clear. Even while keeping caste equations in mind to arrive at a winning recipe, BJP has decided that the time has come for the ageing faces like Yediyurappa to be shifted to the marg darshan. The qualifying factor for this is the age of 75. This rule that applies to all party men but for one – Narendra Modi.

FIR, EC Action Against BJP Minister Shobha Karandlaje for Promoting Enmity Over ‘Bomb’ Remark

Karandlaje made controversial remarks implying that people from Tamil Nadu were responsible for planting bombs in Bengaluru cafes. After facing backlash, Karandlaje retracted her statement and issued an apology.

New Delhi: A first information report (FIR) was filed against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Shobha Karandlaje by the Tamil Nadu police in Madurai on Wednesday (March 20).

This action came after Karandlaje – who is a Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare – made controversial remarks implying that people from Tamil Nadu were responsible for planting bombs in Bengaluru cafes.

“One person comes from Tamil Nadu and plants a bomb in a cafe. Another man comes from Delhi and raises pro-Pak slogans in the Vidhan Soudha. Another man comes from Kerala and throws acid at college students,” she said at a protest in Bengaluru on March 19.

Her comments sparked outrage and she was charged under sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 505(1)(b) (with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), and 505(2) (intent to create or promote feelings of enmity) under the Indian Penal Code.

According to Hindustan Times, she has been booked under 23 (3A), 125 and 123 (3) of the Representation of People Act.

After facing backlash, Karandlaje retracted her statement and issued an apology, clarifying that her remarks were misinterpreted and were intended to highlight specific incidents, not generalise against the Tamil community, The News Minute reported.

“To my Tamil brothers and sisters, I wish to clarify that my words were meant to shine light, not cast shadows. Yet I see that my remarks brought pain to some – and for that, I apologise. My remarks were solely directed towards those trained in the Krishnagiri forest, linked to the Rameshwaram Cafe blast. To anyone from Tamil Nadu affected, From the depths of my heart, I ask your forgiveness. Furthermore, I retract my previous comments,” she said.

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday directed the Karnataka Chief Electoral officer to take action against Karandlaje for violating the Model Code of Conduct, reported the Indian Express.

The EC’s action and the FIR came after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, in a complaint to the EC, stated that Karandlaje’s statement attempted to promote feelings of enmity and hatred between the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It urged the EC to take action against the BJP minister.

Karnataka: 5 Years After BJP Claimed Youngster Was Tortured and Killed, CBI Says Not a Murder

After 18-year-old Paresh Mesta was found dead in a lake in Honnavar in December 2017, BJP leaders blamed ‘jihadi elements’. But the CBI says medico-legal evidence from multiple institutions established that he died due to drowning.

Paresh Mesta died due to drowning, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) concluded, five years after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed it was a communal murder. Eighteen-year-old Paresh was found dead at the Shettikere Lake in Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district on December 8, 2017. His death had created massive communal tension in Karnataka with the BJP claiming that it was a communally motivated murder and that Paresh had been burnt with hot oil and then drowned.

The CBI, which said that no evidence was found to prove that Paresh was murdered, is set to write to the magistrate court in Honnavar informing it that the investigation has concluded. In a letter to Paresh’s family last week, a CBI investigating officer said:

“During the investigation, no incriminating evidence has emerged showing the involvement of accused persons and the medico-legal evidence/opinion collected from multiple Institutions clearly established the cause of death of Paresh Mesta as anti mortem drowning. Accordingly, a Final Report (Closure report) is being filed before the jurisdictional court.”

Anti-mortem drowning indicates that the person died after falling into the water. Paresh’s father Kamalakar Mesta had filed a complaint alleging that his son was killed by a Muslim group. A CBI officer TNM spoke to said that a letter to the party concerned, in this case, Paresh’s family, is a mandatory requirement.

Paresh had been caught in a minor communal clash that broke out after an argument between an autorickshaw driver and a motorbike rider. The local police had said that he had disappeared for two days after the clash and was later found dead near the lake. While the police believed that he fell into the lake as he was fleeing, the BJP alleged brutal torture and murder.

In the run-up to Karnataka assembly elections in 2018, Paresh’s death had become a massive issue, with the BJP accusing the then Congress government of not protecting Hindus from hate crimes. BJP leaders, particularly the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje, had alleged on December 9, 2017, a day after Paresh was found dead, that he was killed by a Muslim group. Shobha had also alleged that “hot oil was poured on his body resulting in the body turning black” and alleged that the murder was carried out by ‘jihadi elements’. Another BJP leader claimed that a Shivaji tattoo was removed from Paresh’s body by ripping his skin away.

Tweet by Aravind Limbavali.

The press note issued by the Karnataka unit of the BJP.

In response to these claims, a forensic expert from the Kasturba Hospital in Manipal issued a point-by-point rebuttal on December 11, 2017, denying Shobha Karandlaje’s claims that Paresh Mesta was tortured before his death. “The change in colour of the face of the deceased is due to putrefaction (the process of decay),” the forensic team had said in its report. “The fingers and toes of the deceased are in normal condition. There is no evidence suggestive of assault,” the report had concluded. The report also said that the tattoo was very much on the body.

Following Paresh’s death, the BJP alleged that the police were covering up the real cause behind his death and called for a bandh in Uttara Kannada district, which sparked violent demonstrations. The car of a top Karnataka police officer was burnt during the violence. Many other BJP leaders, including Pratap Simha, Eashwarappa and others, had made multiple allegations that Paresh was tortured, and had urged Hindus and BJP cadres to protest.

Following the CBI closure report, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter on Monday, October 3 to demand an apology from the BJP for communalising Paresh Mesta’s death.

This article was originally published in The News Minute.

Union Govt Now Has Highest Number of Women Ministers Since 2004

In addition to the existing cabinet ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and Smriti Irani, and Ministers of State Sadhavi Niranjan Jyoti and Renuka Singh, seven more women were inducted into the government.

New Delhi: The number of women ministers has nearly been doubled from the first term after the cabinet reshuffle by the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday, according to a report in the Indian Express.

While there were six women ministers in the previous term, this term there are eleven, the highest number since 2004. Both the governments led by Manmohan Singh had 10 women ministers in each of its tenures.

In addition to the existing cabinet ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and Smriti Irani, and Ministers of State Sadhavi Niranjan Jyoti and Renuka Singh, seven more women were inducted into the government.

“Youngest in the history of India having significant representation of women ministers…” The Council of Ministers reflects the Prime Minister’s “commitment towards women-led development & fulfilling aspirations of a New AatmaNirbhar Bharat,” said women and child development minister Smriti Irani said on Twitter.

The addition of more women ministers comes in the wake of two recent assembly elections, where women played a decisive role in influencing the outcome of the election results. In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee recorded a landslide victory earlier this year after banking on support from the female electorate in the state. In Bihar as well, Nitish Kumar was re-elected after largely retaining his female voter base.

Also read: Female Parliamentarians at a Historic High, but Parties Must Do More

As the female electorate emerges as a dominant voting bloc, the decision to include more women in the cabinet is seen as a move undertaken with an eye on the general elections in 2024.

Among the women newly inducted as ministers are Anupriya Singh Patel, the MP from BJP’s ally Apna Dal in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur. Patel had served as the minister of state for health in the first term of the Modi government and used to work as a professor at Amity University before joining politics.

Shobha Karandlaje, the MP from Karnataka’s Udupi Chikmagalur is also a newly inducted minister and a two-time MP. She was previously a cabinet minister in the Karnataka government and is considered to be close to chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa. Karandlaje will replace D. Sadananda Gowda as a representative from the southern state.

Darshana Vikram Jardosh, 60, who is a three-term MP, has been also been inducted as a minister in a purported move to reward her winning her seat in Surat when the BJP’s support base was threatened by the Patel-Patidar movement. She has previously been a corporator with the Surat municipal corporation as well as a member of the Gujarat Social Welfare Board.

Meenakshi Lekhi, the second term MP from New Delhi, is another prominent leader to have been inducted as a minister. Lekhi is a Supreme Court lawyer by profession. Other women who have been inducted include Annapurna Devi, the MP from Jharkhand’s Koderma, Pratima Bhowmik, MP from Tripura West, and Bharti Praveen Pawar, the MP from Maharashtra’s Dindori.

Twitter Employees Booked But BJP MP’s Tweet With Wrong India Map Passes Below UP Police Radar

Here are 11 other reported instances where an incorrect map of India was published – but no police action was sought or taken.

New Delhi: One of four recent FIRs in India against Twitter and its employees pertains to an incorrect map of India on its platform. Though Twitter removed the offending map after it was pointed out on Monday, an FIR was registered against the parent company, Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari and one more employee, Amrita Tripathi.

Sharing an incorrect map of India, particularly with reference to the Jammu and Kashmir region, is more common than one might think. In most cases, though, FIRs are not filed – especially if the person or organisation who made the mistake takes the wrong map down. Even when the offending map is not removed, cases are rarely filed if the persons involved have connections with those in power. The case against Twitter, then, is perhaps because of the ongoing stand-off between the platform and the government, rather than the offence itself.

In 2016, the Narendra Modi government was mulling a new law that would entail seven years’ imprisonment and a Rs 100 crore fine for anyone sharing a map that incorrectly marked India’s borders. However, the draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill ended up in cold storage because of its many controversial provisions.

Here are multiple instances where an incorrect map of India has been used either online or offline – and was not followed up by the police despite the government being aware of the matter.

1. BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje, January 2020

BJP MP from Karnataka, Shobha Karandlaje. spoke at a rally in support of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Chikmaglur in January 2020. Behind her on the stage was a large banner carrying a map of India – with the north-western edge of Jammu and Kashmir missing. After the MP tweeted photographs with the map, this error was pointed out by users on Twitter, but no action was taken against Karandlaje or the group who organised the event, the Rashtra Jagarana Samiti.

Karandlaje’s tweet with the incorrect map is still up on Twitter but the UP Police has not seen fit to file a case relating to this.

2. Gujarat government, September 2014

When the Gujarat government distributed copies of a map of Guangdong province in China which incorrectly depicted Arunachal Pradesh as a part of China, the Congress party asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise. “This is unacceptable for the sovereignty, ethos and foreign policy of the country. We demand that the Prime Minister must make a proper statement on the issue and unequivocally and firmly write to the Chinese President a strong worded letter, which should be made public,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi had said at the time.

3. Shashi Tharoor, December 2019

About a month before Karandlaje, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor too had been under fire for a similar mistake. He shared an image on Twitter from an anti-CAA rally he had attended, and that image too showed an incorrect map of India. Tharoor subsequently deleted that tweet. Several BJP leaders, including Amit Malviya and Sambit Patra, had lashed out at him for the mistake, but no police case was filed.

4. Makers of Namaste London, August 2018

The poster for the Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor-starrer Namaste London had to be recalled because it excluded the Aksai Chin region from the map of India. While the error was widely reported and the poster was changed, no action was taken against the filmmakers.

5. RSS mouthpiece Organiser, March 2015

In March 2015, RSS mouthpiece Organiser apologised after publishing a map of India that showed parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as being in Pakistan. The magazine web edition took the map down, but nothing could be done about the print edition that had already circulated. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad raised the matter in parliament, but the police was not involved.

6. Australia, November 2014

Days ahead of a scheduled G20 meeting in Brisbane, all G20 leaders were shown an inaccurate map of India. India’s foreign secretary at the time raised the issue with the Australian government, which issued an unconditional apology.

7. BBC, January 2021

During a show in January this year, the BBC displayed an incomplete map of India. A day later, the channel apologised and said the mistake would be rectified in future broadcasts.

8. Al Jazeera, April 2015

While the BBC did not face any sort of action from the authorities, Al Jazeera was taken off the air for five days in April 2015 for repeatedly showing an incorrect map of India on air. While the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting took this step and penalised the channel, no police case was filed.

9. WHO, February 2021

The Indian government issued a statement in February this year after the World Health Organisation website showed Jammu and Kashmir as not part of Indian territory on a map. WHO later added a disclaimer to the map about how it was not expressing any opinions on the territory’s legal status.

10. Mark Zuckerberg, May 2015

Facebook founder Mar Zuckerberg posted a world map on his Facebook page in May 2015 that inaccurately depicted India’s borders. After several users pointed out the issue, he deleted his post.

11. Wikipedia, December 2020

The Indian government in December last year asked Wikipedia to remove a map that showed Aksai Chin as part of China. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary reportedly wrote to the company, saying that the map must be taken down. Again, there was no police involvement in the case.

Watch | ‘I Grew Up With Indians, This Attitude Was Not Indian’: Princess Hend Al Qassimi

“I’m sorry about the Islamophobia that is going on in India, but hatred is not welcome in my country,” Princess Hend Al Qassimi said, in an interview with Arfa Khanum Sherwani.

The intelligentsia in India-friendly Gulf countries has been speaking out against Islamophobic tweets in India. The Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) has also issued a statement on growing Islamophobia in India.

Senior editor of The Wire Arfa Khanum Sherwani spoke with Princess Hend Al Qassimi, a member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates, on why she decided to speak out about the state of affairs.

“This is how genocides are born. They first begin by hate that grows in the heart, comes to the tongue, and eventually turn into a genocide,” Princess Hend Al Qassimi said. “I’m sorry about the Islamophobia that is going on in India, but hatred is not welcome in my country.”

Communal Tweets: More Indian Missions in Gulf Tell Indians to Avoid ‘Attempts to Sow Discord’

The statements from three Indian missions in the Gulf are being seen as a reflection of the concern over India’s image in the region.

New Delhi: After the Indian envoy in UAE issued a statement, more Indian missions in the Gulf have joined in, urging the Indian community to remain vigilant against attempts to sow religious divisions, as ripples continue to be felt over the backlash against Islamophobic comments by some Indians on social media.

The comments had come to the notice of and have been highlighted and criticised by prominent Arab intelligentsia.

The Indian embassy in Qatar on Tuesday posted screenshots of two Twitter accounts, which had the same display picture, but had different names; one of them claimed to be based in the Gulf kingdom. Both of them had posted anti-Islam comments, linking the spread of coronavirus to the community.

Asserting that the ‘fake’ Twitter accounts were being used to “create divisions within our community”, the Indian embassy in Doha posted, “Please understand the reality and do not get swayed by these malicious attempts to sow discord. Our focus right now needs to be on COVID-19”.

Similarly, the Indian embassy in Oman also took to Twitter on Wednesday to highlight the need to stay focused on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and “not get distracted by fake news on social media with malicious intentions”.

Asserting that relations between India and Oman were based on “shared values of tolerance and pluralism”, the embassy’s Twitter account posted, “Let us all commit to maintaining unity and social harmony at this critical juncture. As PM @narendramodi said: We are in this together”.


Earlier on April 20, the Indian envoy to United Arab Emirates, Pawan Kapoor had to take to Twitter to stem the damage from possible repercussions over Islamophobic comments made by Indians living abroad in Arab countries as well as by several Twitter users who allegedly pretended to live there as well.

He had posted that India and UAE share the value of non-discrimination on any grounds. “Discrimination is against our moral fabric and the Rule of Law. Indian nationals in the UAE should always remember this,” he tweeted on Monday.

The controversy had started over social media posts from a few Indian nationals based in UAE, who were posting against Muslims claiming that they had deliberately spread coronavirus in India, an operation which purportedly ‘began’ with the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi.

Due to UAE’s strict laws, there are punishments and penalties for any use of internet to abuse any religion, promote sectarianism and harm public order.

Also read: India’s Coronavirus-Related Islamophobia Has the Arab World Up in Arms

When some Indians were fired by their employees in the Gulf state for their social media posts, it had led to a Twitter support campaign for the fired individuals.

Meanwhile, some of the screenshots of these anti-Mislims posts, including that of an old tweet of an Indian member of parliament, came to the attention of influential Emiratis and intellectuals from other Arab states, like Kuwait.

This led to Prime Minister Narendra Modi posting a tweet on Sunday that COVID-19, “does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking”. The Indian ambassador to UAE then posted his own message to the Indian community in the Emirates.

Former Indian envoys are concerned that the vicious comments by some Indian citizens may be harming India’s reputation.

Speaking to The Wire, former Indian ambassador to UAE, Navdeep Suri said that the bilateral relationship remains strong, with personal investment by the leadership in India and the Gulf.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, India had allowed for export of 5.5 million tablets of the antimalarial drug hydroxychlroloquine (HCQ) to UAE, despite restrictions on its trade.

“At a popular level, we were very well regarded by the man on the street and the Arab elite. The goodwill from the visit of the Crown Prince for the Republic Day celebrations in 2017 had also filtered down to the people. [But] I really think some of the sheen has gone,” Suri stated.

He pointed out that UAE has been very “proactive” in promoting tolerance, even appointing a minister with this portfolio. The UAE government had also allowed for the construction of a Hindu temple, despite objections from some quarters. “They find all this [the comments against Muslims] abhorrent”.

Retired Indian diplomat Talmiz Ahmad, who had been India’s ambassador to UAE from 2007 to 2010, also noted that the bilateral component at the government level remains strong. “India-UAE relations are very, very strong for decades and have been strengthened during the prime ministership of Narendra Modi. He has focused on UAE leadership and it has been reciprocated in turn”.

He reiterated that the UAE law on abusing religion is “non-discriminatory”. “If you remember, UAE has even deported people who had only accessed Islamist websites to India,” said Ahmed.

Indians are the largest expatriate group in UAE, which account for 60% of the population. “This shows how respected Indians are. These are exceptions by some foolish individuals. The law is non-discriminatory and will be applied in full force”.

As per sources, the statements from the Indian missions in the Gulf is a reflection of the concern that the widespread attention received by the social media comments could damage the image, especially now that the controversy has began to gain traction on local media.

However, there is also a perception among the Indian missions that “vested interests” may have entered the fray, especially since tweets from past have been raked up in the last few days.

One of those tweets which got wide circulation was that purported to be from a eminent Omani intellectual, who threatened to take the plight of Indian muslims to the Sultan and expel the Indian migrant population.

This evening, Mona Fahad Mahmoud Al Said, assistant vice chancellor for external cooperation, Sultan Qaboos university, posted on her social media accounts that the viral tweet was by an account impersonating her.

“I have confidence in all of you that you would strengthen awareness of practices which are unacceptable by the Omani society…” Al Said posted, adding her official accounts on Instagram and twitter.

The Indian ambassador to Oman, Munu Mahawar, personally thanked the senior Omani academic for issuing a clarification.

Note: The article has been updated with the latest tweets from the Indian embassy in Oman.

COVID-19: How the Kannada Electronic Media Is Baying for Blood

Since the Tablighi Jamaat-related spread, news coverage has been ramped up in an almost war-like way.

When the notion that members of the Tablighi Jamaat were ‘COVID-19 carriers’ popped into the mediascape, Kannada news channels gleefully zeroed in on their favourite pet plot.

In Kannada, this could be described as ‘Arasuttidda balli kaalige todarida haage’, which, roughly translated, means ‘the creeper one desperately searches for lies right at their feet’.

Since then, news coverage has been ramped up in an almost war-like way.

The initial report by Vijaya Karnataka on March 28, by when there had been three COVID-19 deaths in the state, said that all three dead were Muslim and had travelled for a religious event. The report also spoke about Muslims “huddling in masjids to offer namaz”, and of Muslims “violating the curfew”.

The first death linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz event happened in Srinagar on March 26. Soon after, many religious preachers who had returned to their home states tested positive.

With this turn of events, the titles of Kannada news channels took on some colour. The titles of news segments screamed of the ‘Markaz disease’ and the ‘Tablighi Virus’.

Also read: The Coronavirus Has Morphed Into an Anti-Muslim Virus

One channel called it ‘Tablighi Jihad’, claiming Muslims were hell bent upon infecting ‘Bharat’. Some of the panelists reportedly made sweeping remarks that China had joined hands with Pakistan and Indian Muslims and this was a plan to halt India’s success story. The source of the panellist’s information, as expected, turned out to be a WhatsApp forward.

While reporting on coronavirus, blaming the ‘Tablighis’ and whipping up communal sentiments has become the norm day in and day out. This means that the fact that the virus only came into India via passengers coming in from abroad was completely missed out on as media houses put the focus solely on the communal angle.

Over the days that followed, Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa issued a clear instruction during one of the media interviews he gave – interviews specifically held on channels and anchors known to fan communal flames.

Yeddyurappa spoke about meeting all religious heads, and seeking their adherence to the lockdown. Anybody (media or individuals) spreading misinformation targeting an entire community would be dealt with rather ‘sternly’ by the government, he said.

Despite the warning, most media houses have continued with their anti-Muslim tirades.

According to political and governance expert Professor Narayana A. of Azim Premji University, the chief minister’s statement was routine and not an exception. “Yeddyurappa stands apart in the BJP because of his association with socialist movements. And the BJP often sends out totally contrasting messages to the different groups they pander to,” he said.

Soon after chief minister’s statement, one of his close aides, Udupi MP Shobha Karandlaje, issued statements against Tablighi Jamaat members, stating they had misbehaved with healthcare staff at a hospital. The claims were later debunked. Another MP from Uttara Kannada, Anant Kumar Hegde, also tweeted equally insinuating statements. With ‘CoronaTerrorism’, ‘Corona Jihad’ and ‘CoronaBombsTablighis’ trending on Twitter, the communal fire in Karnataka was only fuelled further.

Communalism in Kannada newspapers (and news channels) has been growing since the late 1990s, observes author and columnist Sugata Srinivasaraju. “Kannada newspapers, which have never aspired for diverse newsrooms, have a long history of communalism and casteism. It became pronounced, though, in the late 1990s, when the Sangh parivar became determined to aggressively push its ideological agenda. They not only engaged actively with the media but also began to make real investments. It also helped the parivar that around this time a popular leader like Ramakrishna Hegde aligned with the BJP.”

Hegde delivered the Lingayat support base on a platter to them and this created an electorally potent blend of caste pride and Hindutva in the state. The Vijay Karnataka was born at this juncture to counter the half-century-old Prajavani, perceived to have a liberal outlook and an essentially South Karnataka influence. P. Lankesh, who was a true flag-bearer of the secular cause in the media space, also passed away exactly at the turn of the millennium.

“The language movement too by then had embraced a cruder variety of chauvinism. First the newspapers were captured, but all of this got amplified many times over with the advent of news television. The majoritarian interest became a default journalistic code of mainstream Kannada media. Some effort to recover the space remained short experiments. Political parties like Congress or the Janata Dal (Secular) did not resist this shift. Politicians from these parties sought personal concessions but didn’t bother much about the ideological air cover the media had begun to offer the BJP with impunity,” Srinivasaraju adds.

Also read: A Communal Virus and Our Collective Irrationality

By then the progressive journalism had died its death, and so had the movements that kept Karnataka throbbing. Whether it was for language identity in the form of Gokak movement in 1980s, or claiming Belgaum/Belagavi from Maharashtra, Kannada gradually acquired a chauvinistic tone.

Today, a majority of the Kannada media is run by companies/persons with great interest in the ideology of the ruling dispensation. This is how fake news or fabricated news finds traction and validity in the mainstream media.

Star of Mysore, an eveninger that Mysuru had been reading for the last 43 years, called the Muslims (Tablighis) “bad apples”. In an editorial dated April 6, the newspaper said “they should be gotten rid of”, following the examples of Singapore and Israel. The paper faced considerable backlash and issued an apology. Soon after, it stopped publishing its print edition because of the broken newspaper distribution chain. Several newspapers across the country have done this.

These days, the media has chosen to shift between the nomenclature ‘Tablighis’ and ‘super spreaders’, indicating this is an orchestrated effort. A journalist who runs a popular Kannada news channel suggested people violating the lockdown should “commit suicide” instead of affecting others.

The prejudice is not just limited to Muslims; it extends to food culture as well. Segments are created using shots of the general public standing in queues before meat stalls. Programme titles such as ‘should they eat meat even now?’ or ‘can’t they abstain?’ scroll across the screen. This tone changes sometimes, only when a minister like C.T. Ravi is caught on camera buying meat for his family. Suddenly, he is made to be a ‘family man’ who was buying meat for personal consumption.

India’s Coronavirus-Related Islamophobia Has the Arab World Up in Arms

Thanks to anti-Muslim bias in the media and even official messaging over the coronavirus, the intelligentsia in India-friendly Gulf countries has started critically examining the ruling BJP’s attitudes towards Muslims and Arabs.

A pandemic that has claimed the lives of 170,000 people and infected close to 2.5 million people worldwide (at last count), acquired a religion on its arrival on Indian shores.

The spread of the virus has not only created a health emergency in the country but also brought India on the verge of a new kind of polarisation, thanks to the attempts of Hindutva politicians and activists to link the spread of the disease with Muslims. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing parliamentarians via video conferencing on April 9, 2020, compared the situation in the country to a ‘social emergency’ but did not mention how Muslims were being targeted as a result of rumour mongering and fake news spread by news channels and leaders from his own political party.

Amit Malviya, who heads BJP’s IT cell, is one of those posting provocative statements on Twitter. On April 1, 2020 he tweeted saying, ‘Delhi’s dark underbelly is exploding! Last 3 months have seen an Islamic insurrection of sorts, first in the name of anti-CAA protests from Shaheen Bagh to Jamia, Jaffrabad to Seelampur. And now the illegal gathering of the radical Tablighi Jamaat at the markaz. It needs a fix!

On April 6, 2020, BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje claimed that members of Tablighi Jamaat who were admitted to a hospital in Belagavi in Karnataka were spitting, misbehaving with the hotel staff, and dancing and gesturing indecently. Her claim was later denied by the deputy commissioner of the district and hospital authorities. No action was taken against her by her party.

On April 4, 2020, Himachal Pradesh BJP chief Rajeev Bindal claimed that ‘the Centre and state governments are leaving no stone unturned in the decisive fight against COVID-19 but some people, including Tablighi Jamaat, members are moving like human bombs to thwart their efforts’. On April 9, 2020, senior BJP leader and former chief minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis also referred to members of Tablighi Jamaat who were returning from Delhi as ‘human bombs’.

The BJP was clearly using the pandemic to target members of the Tablighi Jamaat – and by extension all Muslims. Which is why Prime Minister Modi’s statement on Twitter on April 19, 2020, came as a surprise to many. He tweeted to say,

‘COVID-19 does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or borders before striking it. Our response and conduct thereafter should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood. We are in this together’.

If the message was aimed at people within India, his choice of medium was odd. The words were taken from an article he wrote in English for the LinkedIn networking website, and intended for a global and not an Indian audience. The timing of Modi’s ‘message’ was perhaps not a coincidence, as it has come in handy for Indian ambassadors in the Gulf dealing with massive local pushback over the various Islamophobic incidents that have occurred across India in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The Organisation of Islamic Conference has also raised concerns about this:

Thanks to anti-Muslim bias in the media and even official messaging over the coronavirus in India, the intelligentsia in India-friendly Gulf countries like Kuwait and the UAE has started critically examining the ruling BJP’s attitudes towards Muslims and Arabs.

A 2015 tweet from BJP MP Tejasvi Surya was dug out and shared by prominent Arab voices. The tweet said, ‘95% Arab women have never had an orgasm in the last few hundred years. Every mother has produced kids as act of sex and not love’.

Surya hurriedly deleted his offensive tweet but unfortunately for the young BJP leader the damage had already been done. A screenshot of his tweet was picked up by activists like Abdur Rahman Nassar from Kuwait, who have a large following on social media, and circulated.

Nassar tagged the PMO and Modi’s personal account and tweeted, ‘Prime Minister…An Indian Member of Parliament accuses Arab women, and we Arabs are asking for his membership to be dropped!!’.

Other tweets from Nassar displayed the full import of the criticism and why the sentiment could not be ignored by the government.

Nassar’s claim that expats from 53 Muslim countries remit $120 billion annually to India had obviously touched a raw nerve. The same sentiment was echoed by Mejbal Al Sharika, a Kuwaiti lawyer and director of International Human Rights. He too tagged a picture of BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, tagged the prime minister’s office and Narendra Modi’s personal account and wrote,

‘Respected Prime Minister, India’s relation with the Arab world has been that of mutual respect. Do you allow your parliamentarian to publicly humiliate our women? We expect your urgent punitive action against @Tejasvi_Surya for his disgraceful comment’.

A closer look at his twitter account reveals that Sharika too has opened a front against the Modi government and has even volunteered to adopt the cause of Indian Muslims before the United Nations Human Rights Council. Here’s a glimpse of his twitter timeline:

Another prominent voice, Saudi Scholar Abidi Zahrani, asked for a list of people who were working in the Middle-East and spreading hatred against Muslims and Islam:

‘I propose to all respected followers to list all militant Hindus who are working in the GCC and spreading hate against #Islam #Muslims or our be loved Prophet Mhmd PBUH under this #hashtag #Send_Hindutva_Back_home show copies of their bio’.

Anger against mistreatment of Muslims in India was seen in statements released by prominent citizens, opinion makers and lawmakers across the Middle-East. Jamal Bahrain, Secretary General of the Arab Parliamentary Initiative and Member of the Global Parliamentary Network asked for the UN and OIC to intervene and stop human rights violations being committed against Muslims:

‘We call on international organizations, especially the United Nations, the Security Council, the Organization of islamic cooperation and all human rights organizations, to intervene immediately to stop the violations committed against our Muslim brothers in India #India’.

Earlier on April 16, 2020, Princess Hend al Qassimi of the Sharjah Royal Family had warned a Twitter user of serious consequences after he put out several tweets targeting Muslims for the spread of COVID-19 in India:

It is unfortunate that Modi’s call for brotherhood and unity between communities may have come because the prime minister and his government fear an economic backlash from wealthy Arab countries. As an Indian citizen, I am grateful for the support that people outside India are offering to the fight for democracy and justice  but I also feel sad that we have to depend on external factors for something as basic as security.

Post Script: If the prime minister and his government are serious about cracking down on fake news and controlling the ongoing mass hysteria against Muslims, perhaps Modi needs to talk about Hindu-Muslim unity in his speeches, If one call from Modi can get people to beat thaalis across the country and switch off lights, why not use his universal popularity for maintaining law and order and peace in the country?