Umesh

[Keh Ke Peheno @coolfunnytshirt]

This standup guy knew things 5 years back as to what would happen in future.. 😳

[THE SKIN DOCTOR @theskindoctor13]

The CCTV footage of Prof Doolla catching Sahil Wakode with a mobile phone in exam hall is out.

Now Sahil’s father should file an Atrocities Act case against the inventor of CCTV, the company that manufactured it, the mechanic who installed it and the officials who leaked it, for causing him the mental agony of being denied victimhood and the potential compensation that comes with it.

[Anand Ranganathan @ARanganathan72]

Dear @Javedakhtarjadu. I'm afraid your response is as boring and overloaded as your similes and metaphors. When countered with facts, you shift the goalpost, bring in the RSS, berate the right wing, take refuge in context, cushion the bigotry, and claim Kafirs were Colonialists not Hindus.

I know countering you again is like watering a cactus and praying for leechis, but in the hope that all that knee massaging with Doctor Ortho would have sprouted some neurons, here goes:

You asked for a source because you said the quote was “quite unlike” Azad’s “lifelong sociopolitical stances.” I gave you the source: Calcutta, 27 October 1914, published in Khutbat-e-Azad. The words are his. That should have ended the enquiry. It did not. So let us walk through your new script, line by line.

1. “The khutbats were about Khilafat and British colonialism.”

Yes. That is what I wrote. Maulana Azad was telling Indian Muslims that a Turk’s battlefield thorn must be felt in a Hindustani Muslim’s heart; that Millat-e-Islam is one body; that friendship and enmity are for the religion of Allah. Then he quoted Quran 48:29 and added his own gloss: be extremely hard against disbelievers, extremely kind among yourselves, and do not pass over this as if you had not heard it. You asked for the when and where. You received both. “It was about Khilafat” is not a rebuttal. It is the context in which he said it.

2. “To claim he was quoting this about the Hindus of India will not be true. The Kafir here was the colonialist.”

I did not say the 1914 speech was a municipal circular against the Hindus of Howrah. I quoted what Azad quoted: a Quranic verse about kuffar, and his commentary on unbelief, Tawhid, and hardness toward disbelievers. If Azad had meant “kafir = only the British officer,” he knew Urdu enough to say Angrez. He did not. He used the Book’s word, then told his flock not to skip it.

And if “kafir” in Azad’s mouth was a temporary colonial nickname, kindly explain the 1920 Hijrat fatwa, published in Ahl-e-Hadith of Amritsar, in which he said Indian Muslims had no choice but to migrate, and that those who stayed and kept connection with “the enemy of Islam” would themselves be counted as the enemy of Islam. That is not a lecture on income-tax collectors. That is a theology of the land.

3. “When Ataturk took over, Azad called it a closed chapter and condoned the secular government.”

Men change. Texts do not. If later Azad made peace with the death of the Caliphate, good for the later Azad. It does not unsay 1914, nor the Khilafat years, nor Masala-e-Khilafat, nor the call that any government hostile to Turkey was hostile to Islam, not the belief in the Quranic verse damning the Kafirs. You began by saying the paragraph was unlike his lifelong stances. Lifelong includes the years he spent as a pan-Islamist firebrand. Evolution is not an eraser. It is a timeline.

4. “Read his Calcutta High Court statement. An honour no member of the Mahasabha or RSS was ever given.”

Sedition charges from the Raj are not a unique family heirloom. Tilak got them. Aurobindo got them. Savarkar was given two life terms and sent to Cellular Jail, where the honour included the oil mill, the lash, and years in a cell the size of a cupboard.

And of course, knowing your pitiful knowledge of Indian History, I guess you would not know legendary RSS names like Devipad Chaudhary, Jagatpati Kumar, Anna Saheb Deshpande, Ramakant Keshav, Vasantrao Oak, Narayan Singh, Chandrakant Bhardwaj, Dada Naik Chimur, Baburao Begade, Lala Hansraj, Balaji Raipurkar who participated in our freedom struggle and were jailed or shot.

5. “Azad was in British jails for nine years. Name one from your right wing who can match that.”

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar: roughly a decade in Kala Pani, further years in mainland jails, then thirteen years of internment in Ratnagiri. Sentence on paper: fifty years. Conditions: not Ahmednagar Fort with time to write Ghubar-e-Khatir.

By the way, you might know that your great-great-grandfather Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi was also incarcerated at Kala Pani. What you might not know, or would want to hide, is that he wrote a grovelling mercy petition to the British, pleading to be released.

6. “In 1946 Jinnah refused to shake Azad’s hand. He hated Azad for his patriotism.”

How does this turn “be severe against the kafirs, merciful among themselves” into a sonnet about communal harmony? A man can spend 1946 refusing Partition and still have spent 1914 telling Indian Muslims that their first body is the ummah. Fairness is holding both pages open. What you are doing is hiding the 1914 page and waving the 1946 one like a flag.

7. “Your reference to Rahul Gandhi was unnecessary, I expect decency and class.”

And I expected you to have some sense of humour. The PS was a reminder that this is the second time I have had to fetch your hero’s paperwork. Last time it was Nehru’s India: books banned, editors sacked, films blocked, Majrooh jailed for a couplet.

You lecture me on class after moving from “this cannot be Azad” to “it is Azad but you must read kafir as colonialist” to “anyway he went to jail” to “Jinnah was rude to him” to “please don’t mention Rahul.” That is not class. That is a guided tour of every exit except the text.

Look, Javed sahab, let us end this here. I like you. Doubtless a lot of your work is incredible, truly it is. So in that spirit, permit me to pen an ode to you:

Javed Akhtar ko dekha toh aisa laga, jaise chhal ka nawab, jaise jhoot ki kitaab, jaise dhong ki kiran, jaise adambar ka van, jaise kapton ki baat, jaise pakhand ki raat, jaise janpath mein ho ek jalta diya.

Alvida, Shabba khair. WDTP

[Surajit Dasgupta @surajitdasgupta]

The saddest victim of Tarun Tejpal’s twisted journalism was Bangaru Laxman. Throughout the sting operation, the then-BJP chief was heard saying he had no role to play in defence deals, but if the (disguised) agents so wanted, they could donate to the party fund, with no obligation on the party to offer a return with any kind of favour. People forgot the audio bites; they remembered the visual of Bangaru Laxman accepting wads of cash. Nobody came on camera to offer an explanation of the visual. Bangaru Laxman thereafter led a life of obscurity and died years later without seeing justice done to him. Even today, I don’t see anyone but me recalling what exactly transpired during that sting operation.

[Ramakrishna kompella @jojokompella]

@Binod_Loser Absolutely. But the general feeling is that things have changed. They haven’t. No one in the bureaucracy cares about indian innovation. Legislation doesn’t trickle down.

[Ramakrishna kompella @jojokompella]

I was gonna be quiet but seeing this I felt like I shouldn’t. I run a bootstrapped startup and we imported two Nvidia Jetsons. It’s been held up at customs for two weeks now. Reason? They want us to give them three certificates: EPR, WPC, and BIS. The thing is, it doesn’t apply to us, none of them do. We’re importing them for prototyping and R&D. EPR is an environment certificate for waste, it’s for producers and sellers. It’s exempt for internal use. WPC similarly needs only a self declaration for devices operating in unlicensed bands if they’re for internal use. For BIS, the Nvidia Jetsons are already registered on bureau of indian standards. We’ve filed a dozen responses, we got rejected with no explanation. Just a one liner: customs has rejected your letter, please furnish EPR, WPC, BIS. Or meet the officer directly. Now i need to go meet the customs officer at the port of entry, which I would’ve if I wasn’t traveling all the time.

Building in India is an absolute pain in the ass.

[Kangana Ranaut @KanganaTeam]

Why are you feeling disrespected now? Just because I asked you to walk the talk, you very clearly mentioned that protestor women should not carry the burden of grace, so if I ask you to display the same level of disgrace that the protestors displayed who you passionately support, then why you feel disrespected? Isn’t it hypocrisy? Preeti ji women like you make word feminist feel shallow and hollow. Speaking in English doesn’t make you wise, your argument and reasoning remains hypocritical and superficial also after slyly attacking me, stop playing a victim now, I do respect women but not those who mislead young and naïve children.

[Ankur Singh @AnkurSingh]

April 2010

Naxals killed 76 Jawans in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. Then Home Minister P. Chidambaram offered to resign.

BJP was in Opposition, but asked Chidambaram not to Resign.

Do you know why?

BJP said if Chidambaram quits, Maoists will hail it as their victory. Also, home minister "cannot be seen as retreating".

"We expect him to face the situation boldly. We cannot see the country standing defeated by Maoists"

"Chidambaram should make aspirational statements to boost the morale of the security forces. The BJP will support all the endeavours of the government in its battle to finish the Leftist rebels."

[Keh Ke Peheno @coolfunnytshirt]

This is the most legit reason for Dharmendra Pradhan to resign!

Well said, @kkstau!

[HasnaZarooriHai🇮🇳 @HasnaZaruriHai]

निशाना एक दम स्टीक था 😮😮😮

[Karan Verma @KARAN_author]

Are you ashmed today @Javedakhtarjadu ? Now that your beloved TAHIR has been convicted, will you apologise or show some regret? Let's all Quote RT Javed Akhtar today and ask him!

[Arshdeep Singh Saini @the_lama_singh]

There is only respect and love for Sikhs in India; it is Sikh political and religious leaders that want to project Sikhs as perpetual victims of Hindu India at the behest of Pakistani-sponsored Khalistanis, funded by the West.

[Kishore Vaid 🇮🇳 @KishoreVaid]

I am normally totally aligned with your views Deepika.
Nonetheless I totally disagree with what you have mentioned. The brutality of the Khalistani Terrorists was unprecedented. They made today's Jihadis look like Angels.
You are too young to have experienced Punjab terrorism era.
Old foxes like me have seen it all & there is a grim other side of the story that Sutlaj conveniently overlooked.
BRW Khalra Ji used to address Bhindranwale as "Sant".
What a sham he was, running with the rabbits & hunting with the hounds.
Lastly Gill Sahib deserves a Bharat Ratna. But for this Braveheart Punjab terrorism would have fostered forever.
No offense meant 🙏

[Ganesh @me_ganesh14]

Ravneet Singh Bittu has urged Punjabi Hindus to come forward and tell the world about the massacre of 25,000 Hindus by Khalistani terrorists.

If Hindus don't do it now then more propaganda movie like #Satluj will come and paint brave Cop like KPS Gill as villain.

[Amrit @AmritHallan]

The sentiment has been one-sided. Maybe Punjabi Hindus think that Sikhs are not different from them, but I don't think the sentiment is reciprocated by Sikhs. Since childhood, I have seen that the attitude towards Hindus has been condescending at best. As I mentioned elsewhere, Hindus, especially Brahmins and Lalas, are villains of folklore.

Hindus can never joke about Sikh gurus, but Hindu gods are a fair game in every Sikh household.

I don't know if this is simple racism or what, but there is some deep-rooted hatred that needs to be explored with objectivity, without any emotions, if one really wants to understand the fundamental Sikh attitude towards Hindus.

[Abhijit Iyer-Mitra @Iyervval]

We should brace for a BIG Pakistani terror attack soon. It’s the pattern.

• 43 pak troops killed in Balochistan
• remember the Pahalgam attack was preceded by the Balochistan train attack
• India was blamed for that attack as well
• Pakistan likes to test new found security partners
• remember they carried out the Parliament attack in Dec 2001, just 3 months after 9/11
• this was done to test the reliability of US security guarantees after Pakistan agreed to host the US invasion of Afghanistan
• going against an Islamic country - not popular
• India serves as a useful distraction from domestic failure
• when India retaliates, they can play victim, claim victory & promote Munir to grand supreme marshal

[Arun Bothra 🇮🇳 @arunbothra]

I worked in Punjab as a journalist during the peak of militancy. Later in my career, I headed the Punjab Cell in the CBI, which had, in its past, investigated cases of fake encounters as well as the assassination of Sardar Beant Singh.

Those experiences gave me a rare opportunity to see both sides of that tragic period. They taught me that any honest account of those years must acknowledge both sides of the story.

And that is exactly my concern with Satluj: not what it shows, but what it leaves out. It tells only half the truth; the other half is left unsaid, deliberately, and with a purpose.

The film decontextualizes Jaswant Singh Khalra and the human rights debate from the Pakistan-backed, brutal Khalistani insurgency. This omission is neither an innocent creative choice nor an inadvertent one. And, in my view, the intent behind such a selective portrayal should matter to every Indian.

[Surenddra verma @mrsurendra]

KPS Gill spent last yrs in Vrindavan looking after cows.
He knew Sikh Granth was one big ode to Shri Krishna, Vedant & Vaishnavism.

His ONLY regret in life was not being sent to Kashmir.

He was confident he’d have eradicated terrorism there as he did in Punjab & reversed the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus

Alas..

[Tavleen Singh @tavleen_singh]

Gill was not a blood thirsty crazy. When policemen’s families started being killed by the terrorists he responded with equal brutality. He understood the Jat Sikh better than you do. Without him Punjab would have burned for another decade.

[Sreejan Choudhary @sreejan_c]

That’s collective mankind progress. Individual happiness is not driven by how mankind was before and how it is now because as individuals we have not lived the life other than what we are living today. People who have gone through this journey - coming from difficult backgrounds and then doing well in life - are relatively happier and satisfied because they have experienced both extremes.