'Karnataka MLA from Ballari Gali Somashekhara Reddy made communal statements and ‘warned’ Muslims in India against participating in anti-CAA and anti-NRC protests. A video of the MLA making a speech in Ballari during a pro-CAA has gone viral, where he said, “I want to caution those who are protesting… This (the crowd at the pro-CAA rally) is just 5%. If your antics grow, if 100% people come, just imagine what your situation will be.” “Bewakoofs (idiots) from Congress are lying to you,” he continued, “and you’re believing them and coming out onto the streets. Hey, we’re the 80%!
'In a set of communal comments, Telangana BJP MP Dharmapuri Aravind threatened MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi with violence, saying he would “hang him [Owaisi] upside down” and “shave off his beard”. Speaking in Nizamabad, of he is the MP, Aravind claimed that he would “give the beard a promotion” by sticking it on chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. According to The News Minute, the BJP MP made these statements against the Hyderabad MP and the CM in a public meeting because of the duo’s opposition to the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act...'
'With the BJP and the Centre coming in for intense criticism for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the party had begun a campaign asking people to give a missed call to a number to “register” their support for the controversial law. While reports said that the BJP IT cell would also “give a push” to the campaign on social media outlets, the strategy took a rather interesting turn, as it later emerged...
'Gujarat assembly speaker and BJP leader Rajendra Trivedi stirred a controversy when he hailed Brahmins as a community with a different “DNA” than others. He also said that Brahmins have the “birthright” to “give blessings to everyone and pray for the welfare of the whole world.” Addressing the second edition of three-day “Mega Brahmin Business Summit” at Gandhinagar, he said, “We are born as Brahmins and we have the DNA of Brahmin… but we are not hostile to anyone and we also request everyone not to keep hostility with us, too.”...
'At least 100,000 people gathered Saturday in Hyderabad, India’s technology hub, to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a new law they say will strip the country of its secular foundations, maintaining steady pressure on the government as demonstrations entered their fourth week. The protests have drawn massive crowds across India, with more than 200,000 people gathering in Kochi city, in the southern state of Kerala, on New Year’s Day.
'On November 19, 2019, Union minister for tourism Prahlad Singh Patel told parliament that, effectively, there wasn’t any significant impact on tourism in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on account of his government’s scrapping of Article 370 in August, and the prolonged lockdown, restrictions and detentions in the region since then...
'A video purportedly showing BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya threatening government officials went viral on social media here on Friday. In the video, apparently shot during a protest organised by the BJP in Residency area here on Friday afternoon, showed Vijayvargiya saying, "Our Sangh (RSS) leaders are (here), otherwise (we) would have set Indore on fire today." RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other senior leaders are in the city since Thursday for an internal conclave of the organisation...'
'Mustafizur Rahman, a Muslim college student had questioned the educational qualifications of Babul Supriyo and BJP state president Dilip Ghosh in a comment on Supriyo's post against CAA. 'Babul-da (dada) how educated are people like you can be gauged from the fact that your mentor (state president) Dilip Ghosh spots gold in cow milk,' Rahman had said. To this, Supriyo retorted 'Mustafizur Rahaman let me first pack you off to your country, then will send the reply in post card'...'
'Everybody has their ideology, even their own version of truth. Those running the Hindu nationalist blog OpIndia are no different. But if you profess to do journalism, as they do, ideology should not stand in the way of facts and fairness. Ajit Bharti, editor of OpIndia Hindi, disagrees. “We don’t hide. We don’t say we are fair. Nobody is fair today. We are openly on the Right.” They indeed are.
' On 27 December, members of the minority morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra held a press conference in Latur. Its district chief, Afzal Khan, and former mayor Akhtar Shaikh released the following statement at the event: “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) are against the Constitution and against the Muslims. There’s injustice happening to our community.
