India Archive

Congress-led Chhattisgarh government’s plans to allot government land to Pakistan-based Dawat-e-Islami were scuttled after local BJP leaders opposed any such moves. BJP MLA from Chattisgarh’s capital Raipur, Brijmohan Agrawal had stated in a press conference that CM Bhupesh Baghel’s government is preparing to provide 10 hectares (~25 acres) of land to the radical Islamist organization based out of Karachi to build a ‘community building’ in Raipur.

In a recent development as a part of the DMK government’s attempts to rob temple wealth, HRCE has approved a project to build a fish market near a temple using funds loaned from temples. After the document approval went viral on social media, BJP and Hindu organizations condemned this move questioning why the government needs temple wealth for a secular project.

On January 3, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided the residence of BM Basha, son of renowned Kannada writer and former Ullal MLA late B M Idinabba.

In a move to strengthen the security apparatus of the state, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath is all set to lay the foundation stone of the much-awaited Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Commando Training Centre in Deoband town of Saharanpur District. According to District Magistrate Akhilesh Singh, the official minute-to-minute program of the Chief Minister has not been received yet, but preparations are being made.

The one exodus that doesn’t get much attention is that of Hindus from Punjab who left their homes and properties behind to find safety in Delhi. This exodus was not by choice but forced upon hapless Hindus by Sikh radical Khalistani terrorists led by Bhindranwale. The story of those Hindus who were made refugees in their own country by their people (or so they thought) remains untold.

Eminent Marxist historian Dwijendra Narayan Jha is dead. He was a former professor and chair at the Department of History at Delhi University specializing in the ancient and medieval history of Bharat. His “specialization”, however, was more in the concoction of facts to suit the leftist narrative. In his books, he focused more on imparting the ideology than imparting the facts.

Recently Naseeruddin Shah has come out with a gem of history. He says Mughals are like “refugees” – because they settled here. The Aussies must be kicking themselves. Why didn’t we have a brilliant historian like Shah saheb?! The British too came there as refugees and formed a “syncretic” culture with the indigenous tribes.

Bollywood entertainer Naseeruddin Shah in his recent interview with The Wire’s Karan Thapar referred to the discussion over Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, responsible for demolishing of Hindu temples and forced religious conversion in recent times as ‘separatism’ policy of ‘ruling party’. He then spoke about the recent ‘Dharma Sansad’ that was held in Haridwar where people present there were accused of ‘hate speech'.

One of the platforms used by TMC leader Saket Gokhale to raise funds for his ‘sustenance’ as he filed Rs 10 RTI full time while not holding on to a regular day job, was ‘OurDemocracy.in’. In November 2019, Gokhale tweeted a link to his crowdfunding platform asking people to cough up money because he chose to give up his ‘cushy job’ to ‘fight the BJP/RSS’, which he usually did by filing frivolous RTIs which cost Rs 10.

Angered by inaction against conversion, Hindus of Ganj Basoda threw stones at a Christian school in Madhya Pradesh. The school had allegedly converted 8 poor Hindu children, a video of which went viral on social media. NCPCR had directed the district administration to look into the issue. Some of the locals who were protesting in front of the school reportedly threw stones at the building.