LIVE: Special Congress Party Briefing by Shri @RahulGandhi

There is a tragedy unfolding in our country today, the Govt wants to ignore this tragedy, it wants to misinform people but the truth is that a huge tragedy is unfolding: Shri @RahulGandhi
#RahulGandhiWithFarmers

What we are seeing, in industry after industry be it airports, infrastructure, telecom, retail, across the board, what we are watching is the development of massive monopolies in this country. 3-4-5 people are now owning this country: Shri @RahulGandhi
#RahulGandhiWithFarmers

This country is now owned by a limited small group of people who I term as crony capitalists who have a close relationship with the PM and who provide the PM with media support: Shri @RahulGandhi
#RahulGandhiWithFarmers

Biggest business in India is agriculture, 60% of our people are in agriculture & in terms of value, agriculture is by far the biggest hit. Agriculture is not just what the farm grows, it's the machinery that moves that produce, the structure of how it is sold: Shri @RahulGandhi

Presenting you the 1st Phase Opinion Poll of West Bengal Vidhan Sabha Election 2021 by Bongo Prokash. It's a joint venture by me & @ThePaulSaheb, 2 more such polls will be out in March. Please give your feedback. Constructive criticism will be appreciated trolls will be blocked.

In Coochbehar, BJP is sweeping all the seats except Sitai. Udayan Guha losing, so is Rabindranath. Rajbongshis stay with BJP.

In Alipurduar it's a BJP landslide. BJP maintains it's Lok Sabha strength & adds with recent defection by good organization leaders from TMC.

In Jalpaiguri too BJP sweeps, TMC draws a blank.

In Darjeeling the game becomes interesting. GJM is a divided house now in alliance with TMC. Tamang & Gurung factions heavily divided. GNLF backs BJP. BJP+GNLF ahead in Siliguri, Phansidewa, Naxalbari while GJM marginally ahead in Kalimpong, Kurseong & at the moment in Darjeeling

PAKISTAN-INDIA WATER ISSUES – HOW INDIA STOPPED WATER IN PAKISTAN's CANALS IN 1948

Thread

After partition in 1947, the water system was also bifurcated between Pakistan n India.

India cheated Pakistan when on April 1, 1948, India suddenly n without warning stopped...
1/n

...the supply of waters flowing into Pakistan's Central Bari Doab and Dipalpur Canals.

The boundary award on the partition of the sub-continent had left the headworks of these canals in Indian territory, and in accepting it India had implied her willingness to leave...

2/n

...the historic distribution of common waters undisturbed.

India's action was therefore in flagrant disregard not only of international law n morality, but of her solemn commitments with Pakistan and a gross violation of this country's historical rights over common waters.

3/n

Faced with a threat of utter desolation of millions of acres of fertile land, Pakistan had perforce to sign a document with India in which she agreed to "India's progressively diminishing water supplies to these canals and to the West Punjab government's tapping...

4/n

...alternative resources".

A specific reservation was made in the document with regard to India's claim that she had full property rights over waters flowing into her territory, and could therefore use them as she liked.

The issue was, however, to be examined...

5/n

Bollywood is just a bubble of privileged, tone-deaf hypocrites. You think criticising Modi is activism? You can't even call out a director accused of #metoo. What happened to your political correctness and feminism? Is it only limited to gaslighting Dalits? Shows your hypocrisy

Secondly, if you read history, you will find that Dalits would have a broom attached to their backs by UC rulers so that the land would not be polluted. By portraying a Dalit politician holding a broom, you are glorifying the stereotype of casteist jobs which our ancestors fought

Thirdly, using a casteist slur like untouchable is not clever wordplay by any means. It is just dehumanizing and constitutionally banned. We were outcasts who were not allowed to even touch the same places as UCs. If you don't know our history, don't misuse it. Unlearn casteism

Moreover, the director of the movie is Subhash Kapoor, a man accused of sexual assault. It baffles me how all of Bollywood has shown their casteism in targeting Dalits for criticising the misleading portrayal of themselves, but no one has pointed a finger at the sexual molestor!

Bollywood is just a bubble of privileged, tone-deaf hypocrites. You think criticising Modi is activism? You can't even call out a director accused of #MeToo . What happened to your political correctness and feminism? Is it only limited to gaslighting Dalits? Shows your hypocrisy

A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan will shortly hear a plea by Former CJ of Andhra Pradesh HC Justice V. Eshwaraiah against an order passed by HC directing for an investigation into his private telephone conversation regarding charges of misconduct against sitting SC judge.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appears.

#SupremeCourt @pbhushan1

Sr. Adv. Kapil Sibal states that he’s appearing for the Intervenors and has nothing to say at the moment.

Bhushan narrates the events to the Bench.

#SupremeCourt @pbhushan1 @KapilSibal

Bhishan: How can a private conversation be made a subject of inquiry ? What is the crime in having a private conversation, even if it’s about the conduct of a SC judge ? Without even saying into me, the HC orders an inquiry ? How can that be done ?

#SupremeCourt @pbhushan1

Bhushan: Your Lordship will need to issue notice and stay the inquiry as the inquiry is completely out of order.

#SupremeCourt @pbhushan1 @KapilSibal

Female athletes are still subjected to the equivalent of a sex test, based on whether they appear feminine.

Dutee Chand in her successful appeal against the validity of the IAAF’s hyperandrogegism regulations, the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) originally began investigating her after complaints that she “ran like a

Chand was banned in 2014 after the @WorldAthletics decided that her androgen (testosterone) levels were above the 10 nmol/L permitted by the IAAF’s hyperandrogegism regulations, resulting in her missing the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Androgens, including testosterone, are naturally produced in significant – but varying – levels by both men and women.

Endocrine profiles in 693 elite athletes in the post-competition setting’, found that 16.5% of the ‘male’ athletes had low testosterone levels, and 13.7% of the ‘females’ had high testosterone levels, ‘with complete overlap between the

What is the Gujarat Model of ‘development’? Thread.

1. Gujarat spends less than 2% of its income on education (the norm is 5-6%) with the result that 45% workers in Gujarat are illiterate or studied up to the fifth standard with the quality of education very poor. (The Wire)

2. Public expenditure on health is 0.8% of the state income, well below the norm of 4-6%. Gujarat is decelerating very fast in almost all health indicators.

3. Forty-five percent children in the state are undernourished and the decline of maternal mortality rate has decelerated.

4. Close to 93-94% workers are in informal and traditional sectors with low incomes and low social security.

One of the reasons it attracts businesses is because of the low wage rates, which are comparable to that of Uttar Pradesh.

5. The Gujarat government's cumulative public debt has shot up to an astronomical ₹2,40,651 crore in 2018-19 and estimated to rise to ₹2,66,990 crore in the current financial year, which is ₹62,000 crore more than the total budget of ₹2,04,815 crore.

6. During the Vibrant Gujarat investors’ summits held between 2003 and 2011, MoUs were signed pledging investment totalling ₹40 lakh crore. However, only 8 per cent of the promised investment, amounting to just ₹3 lakh crore actually came.

It really breaks my heart to write this, but Nazmuddin Khan sahib, on whom I wrote a chapter (probably my favourite one) in Remnants, is no more. Born in 1929 in Delhi's Hauz Rani, he passed away just short of 92 years. 1/

We didn't meet often, but when we did, he called me Munni. He was the first person to make me realize that my work was not merely on objects or Partition, but rather on identity and belonging. True belonging to land and home and soil; a belonging for the living and the dead. 2/

While working on his chapter, there were things I was confronted with that I’d never thought of before - things that made me feel small, made me question my privilege, my safety, and the lived difference between nationalism, patriotism and fanaticism. 3/

He may have been an ordinary person who lived an ordinary life, but the lessons from that life were extraordinary and I hope his words reach the far corners of the world to help us become more empathetic and accepting humans. This is his legacy, his hopeful heart. 4/

If you've read his chapter in Remnants -This Bird of Gold, My Land -The Hopeful Heart of Nazmuddin Khan- then you know he was masterful in his memories. If you haven't, then I will tell you that he peppers our conversation with his childhood, stories of going to Viceroy House 5/

"Who likes to fire crackers during Diwali?" asked the teacher.

About half of the nine-ten year olds in the classroom raised their hands.

"You should be ashamed," chided the teacher. "Crackers are harmful to our environment!"

The ones who did not raise their hands felt proud.

By playing Hindutva politics, AAP is targetting Muslims!

The @AamAadmiParty is provoking violence in Delhi. Violence against Muslims. It needs to be said clearly and loudly.

It also needs to be countered strongly, says professor

An AAP spokesperson made allegations that even the Delhi Police has said are untrue!!!

He repeated the claim that the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have now made folkloric: “If we cannot chant Jai Shri Ram in India, will it be chanted in Pakistan?”

He went on to claim that murder of Rinku Sharma in Delhi’s Mangol Puri area on February 10 had a communal motivation!!!

At his press conference, he said that the BJP was unable to protect Hindus in Delhi. “Hindus are not safe in Delhi under the rule of the BJP,” he asserted!!!

Delhi Police, not known for any sympathy for Muslims, made it clear that the death had its roots in a business rivalry and the people accused of killing Sharma were known to him!

The murder was a result of a fight at the birthday party of Sharma’s

It was expected, in keeping with the reality of politics that BJP would leave no stone unturned to give the murder a communal colour & incite hatred & violence against Muslims.

The murdered young man was said to be a member of the Visha Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal. BJP

It's done: The IT Rules, 2021, are officially in play. We cannot stress this enough - this fundamentally changes the Indian internet. Please RT this thread on the Rules and how they bring government control over digital media like never before.
https://t.co/S7K9wnIkvI
1/n

IT Rules affect social media, OTT, and news platforms. The latter 2 have been brought under the Rules for the first time. The Rules make platforms legally liable for not complying with government regulation, hence making user experience fall in line with the same.
2/n

Social media platforms with 50 lakh+ users will now be regulated as Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs) with different obligations than Social Media Intermediaries (SMIs). Government discretion in compliance can lead to discrimination which disempowers small SMIs.
3/n

SMIs are now more answerable to law enforcement, with lesser breathing space around compliance deadlines.

Content takedown after receiving orders: 36hrs
Providing info to law enforcement: 72hrs
Requests to remove sexual content: 24hrs
Redressal by grievance officers: 15 days
4/n

The data retention period for SMIs has been doubled to 6 months for investigative purposes. Data will be preserved even if accounts are deleted. We are challenging this in the Supreme Court because such data retention in the absence of a data protection law is dangerous.
5/n

Some thoughts/excerpts on "I could not be #Hindu" by a former #RSS sevak/worker Bhanwar Meghwanshi, a #Dalit.

The book is really worth reading, just like #Ambedkar's "Annihilation of #Caste".

It is a unique 'testimony' to the RSS's #casteism.

Thread
1/23

Bhanwar has realised, in the end, that establishment of #RSS was also a partly reaction to the rise of #Dalit politics under the aegis of #Ambedkar whose first anti-caste mobilisations (including the Mahad satyagraha and temple entry movements).

2/23

In fact, Deendayal Upadhyaya defended '#casteism' even more explicitly, in Integral Humanism, a text that is still considered as its ideological charter by the RSS and BJP and other RW fringe groups.

Bhanwar experienced this as well.

3/23

4/23

Bhanwar, like so many other Swayamsevaks, joined the RSS at a very young age, mostly to exercise and play traditional games. But he was gradually presented the history and the culture of his society in a manner which made him proud of being a Hindu and angry because...

....of the decline of the sons of the (sacred) soil of Hindustan – which was largely attributed by his teachers to the “Muslim invasions”.

These “gurus” were pracharaks who were almost venerated by the young swayamsevaks.

5/23

@sriram_ET Agree. One point on Bihar though- at least the APMC monopoly repeal had already happened in Bihar well before this law passed at the Union level. So it wouldn’t be an issue anyway. But I totally agree with the broader point- this is a protest concentrated only in one state.

Press Conference of farmer leaders begins.

Farmer leaders on 26th January’s tractor march.
Tomorrow Supreme Court will take some decision.
We will consider the decision.
We have lost more than 121 farmers during protests.

People from Haryana are collecting soil and ghee from Villages.

Kisan will celebrate Republic day with Jawan.
This parade will be taken out on outer ring road.
It will be peaceful.
No weapon and inflammatory speech won’t be allowed.

We won’t disturb Republic day parade on Rajpath.