Assam CM’s 'Miya' remarks, Mohammad Deepak row, and Mamata Banerjee in SC

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In this episode, we talk about a man who has
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come into the spotlight for stepping in to stop a
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Hindu mob that was harassing a seventy year old man.
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We also break down the key moments from Chief Minister
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Mantha Banaji's appearance before the Supreme Court yesterday where she
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challenged the ongoing Special Intensive Revision. But we begin today
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by talking about how Chief Minister Himanthaswa Sarma has been
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targeting the Muslim community in Assam. Hi, I'm Chashang Barger
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and you're listening to three things the Indian Express News
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show in the leader to the Assembly elections in Assam.
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The rhetoric targeting Bengali origin Muslims in the state, pejoratively
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referred to as Miya's has become increasingly exclusionary and deeply divisive.
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The latest controversy involves Chief Minister Himantha, who recently asked
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BJB workers to file complaints against the inclusion of Bengali
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origin Muslims and voter lists and called on the public
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at large to trouble the community. These remarks come at
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a time when there are allegations of widespread objections being
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filed by third parties against existing voters during the ongoing
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special revision of electoral roles in the state. To understand
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these allegations better and to examine how the Chief Minister
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has been targeting the community, we are joined by the
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Indian Expresses Sokuritabarua, who reports on Assam for the paper Skurita.
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To understand the context behind what Himantha Beswasarma said, we
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should first talk about the ongoing special revision going on
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in Assam, which is different from the Special Intensive Revision
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SIR taking place everywhere else. So start here. Tell us
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what has been happening during this exercise in the state.
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So, Asam is not having an SIL because there has
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been an NRC process which has been done, but it
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has not yet been taken to its logical conclusion. So
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the Election Commission said, okay, what we're going to do
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instead until the NC is done, we will have a
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special revision of the electoral roles. And according to our
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state CEO officials here they say that this is basically
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a modified version of the normal summary revision. So you
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know that there's a continuous summary revision that new voters
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are added every year, dead voters are.
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Removed, People shift are removed.
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So the added component of rigor in the special division
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was that through much of December, the blos we went
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from home to home in their respective areas to physically
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verify whether the voters are there and if there are
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any new voters, they identified them. If they found that,
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you know, voters in the list are dead or if
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they passed away, they flagged these things and after this
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was done, a draft was released, but these changes are
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not incorporated. And following that there was a claims and
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objections process. So during a claims and objections process, people
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can formally go to the election register officers and say
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that okay, such and such as my relative they have
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passed away, so they fill a form and submitted and
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that's the due process that is followed. Or you know,
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I can go to the Election Commission, to the election
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registration officer and fill the relevant form to say that
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I am a new voter. So you fail a form
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for your inclusion. Now there's another form which is there,
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which is the Form seven, which can be filed by
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any person who is from the same constituency. And you
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can object to the inclusion of a person in the
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votalist or you can you know ask for the file
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a complaint for the deletion of somebody from the votalist
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and there are a set of grounds for that, such
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as that the person has died or that they have
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permanently shifted from there, or that they are not Indian
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citizens and so on.
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Right, And this is how blos often get to know
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about these things. You know, whether a person has relocated
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or if they've passed away.
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Yeah, and technically it can be anybody, but oftentimes it's
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like someone from your.
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Family or you know, someone on your behalf.
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So when these complaints are submit by a third party,
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then the people who have been objected to receive notices
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summoning them for hearings. So they are supposed to like
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go for a hearing based on this complaint, which will
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determine whether they remain in the voter list or are removed.
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Okay, and in.
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Those hearings, even the person was objected to them is
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supposed to be present. Now, during the course of this,
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huge numbers of hearing notices went out. In fact, I
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had also counted the number of such complaints in some
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constituencies when alarm was raised over this. For example, in
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this Assembly constituency, called Bolkhittree, which is in Nullbery district
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in Assam. You know, there had been alarm raised about
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like huge numbers of objections. So I went through the
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number of objections and I found that there were a
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total of fifteen thousand, four hundred and ninety objections filed
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in this constituency and the total number of voters are
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two point twenty six lags. So objections had been filed
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against six point eight percent of the electors in the
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voter list, right, so you had these huge numbers of voters,
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you know, people lined up in the hearing centers. And
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I looked up about this a little bit, and you know,
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I did a story about this one particular booths in
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Knockout District where one individual whose name was Vishal Roy
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had filed objections against sixty four people and they were
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all Muslims in this constituency. This is a Muslim majority
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area and constituency. And I spoke to multiple people who
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had been issued notices there and who had gone for hearings.
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The grounds on which objections had been filed against them
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was that they were dead, but they were very much
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alive because I spoke to them and amongst the people
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against whom such false objections had been filed was the
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BLO himself, mister Nurudin, and I spoke to him and
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I asked him who is this person? He said, I
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don't know because there are also partly appointed booth level
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agents who work with the blos to assist them in
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this process. And he said that this individual is not
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any of the blas who has worked with me. He
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said that in his booth, this individual had filed complaints
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against sixty four people on the grounds that they're dead
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or shifted, and all.
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Of these people are very much alive.
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And this is just the case of one polling booth right,
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and such complaints have come from across polling booth. In fact,
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because so many people had turned up for hearings based
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on these complaints in Central Assam's Knagau district, which is
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the Muslim majority district, the DC even suspended hearings in
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three assembly constituencies because he said that there were so
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many people that the infrastructure was not enough to support
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these many people and people are having a really hard time,
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so they suspended it until they could further develop the infrastructure.
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Right, and this has been members from opposition parties, particularly
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the Congress. They started raising alarm bells about this, saying
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that this was an attempt to remove a large number
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of Muslim voters from electoral roles. And this is what
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brings us to Himanta Biswa Sarma's comments. Because he was
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asked about this, reporters confronted him, tell us what exactly
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did he say?
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Okay, so he just you know, set out right, Yes,
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I have ordered it. It BJP workers who are doing it,
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and they're doing it on my directions because with these complaints,
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the term uses MIAs, which is a term that he
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used perjuratively to refer to Bengali origin Muslims of Assam.
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So you know, because of these complaints, they're having to
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run around, they're getting harassed, they're getting troubled, which is
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what everyone should do.
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People should trouble MIAs. It is my duty, my responsibility.
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Like this is me speaking as him to give trouble
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to MIAs and everyone should do it. And then he
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told the reporter that even you know, you all should
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do it. Don't do stories sympathizing with MIAs, you know,
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and we should trouble them in our own ways. If
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Rick shawala, who's a miya asks you for five rupees
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as the fair pay for rupees. We should trouble them
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as much as possible so that they leave the.
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State and go okay.
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So that's the Chief Minister explicitly telling people to harass
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the Muslim community so that they reach a point where
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they are compelled to leave the state.
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Yeah.
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His claim was that the MIAs should know that the
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Assamese nation or the a sames people race, whatever you
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know the word that uses homiyajatti is alive and thriving,
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and that they are resisting against the MIAs and that
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they haven't surrendered.
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So that is why.
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People should harass them in as many ways as possible.
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These were set of statements he made at one function,
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and you know he attends multiple functions in a day
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and he speaks to reporters on the sidelines of these events,
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So every time he was questioned by reporters, he doubled
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down on this. Then he said, oh, this is just
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a special revision exercise. So we are taking efforts to
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ensure that some amount of MIAs can't vote in this election.
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But this is just a provisional But when as and
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when an sire takes place in sam and sire has
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taken place in Bihar or is taking place in Rajasthan,
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West Bengal. So when the sire takes place in Assam,
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we have to get the names of four to five
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like Miyas deleted from the voter roles. In fact, MIAs
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should not even vote in Assam. They should vote in Bangladesh.
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So these were sets of statements that he has made
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which have provoked, you know, understandably, very sharp reactions from
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various quarters across the country at this point of time.
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And Sagurita, here you have individuals filing false complaints against
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these voters, right claiming they're dead or have moved away.
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Surely that's punishable under the law, right.
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Yeah, filing a false objection is a punishable offense. It
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entails up to a year of imprisonment. So after this
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these kind of bulk objections, various district administrations put up
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notices saying that you know, it's wrong, we are going
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to take action against people who are filing falls and
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bulk objections.
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And after these complaints are filed, like you mentioned, people
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are supposed to appear for these hearings. How hard does
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it become for someone to do that.
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So the main issue, of course, like people were troubled
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and they were panicked because of this. The main issue
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is the notice, like the duration, like you know, if
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they told to turn up that day itself, or like
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I spoke to one elderly gentleman who's amongst those people
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and summer falls, notice had been filet he's dead and
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he was traveling in West Bengal at that time, and
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he tried to send his son to appear on his behalf,
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but that was not accepted and the sun was told
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that no, you know, they have to turn up themselves,
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and you know things, so then he had to travel
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back and go.
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So you know, that element is always.
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There again, like I said, these objections, this will be processed.
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In fact, February second, which is the day we are recording,
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is the last date for the disposal of the claims
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and objections and the Electoralist is going to be published
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on tenth February. So we are yet to see the
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extent to which this will be reflected. There is the
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hearings process, which is there right to kind of sift
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through these false allegations and everything. So we will find
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out on February tenth, the extent to which this may
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have affected, or if this is affected, the actual outcomes
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at all.
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And when confronted with these allegations, Himanthabama has of course
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doubled down. But tell us more about how the opposition
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has pushed back on this issue and how far have
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they gone to mobilize support around it.
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So here they obviously the vote sory refrained that we've
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heard across different states is one that has been mobilized
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here as well. And sam Congress President Gord Gogoy has
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also hit out of the election commissions and in fact
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what various opposition leaders are now you know, they're bouncing
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on this to say that, you know, the Chief Minister
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himself has proven in their language that the ECI is
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i quote, you know, a puppet of the BGPR of
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the government, and go Gooy has questioned the silence of
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the ECI because you know, the Chief Minister has made
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these statements.
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So that is where it is.
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We've seen that, you know, this kind of narrative has
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not necessarily helped the opposition and others.
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It's not worked as an electoral strategy.
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So I think they have responded to the statement members
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chief Minister has unconstitutionals on But whether this has any
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bearing as an electoral issue, I'm not very sure.
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And so you know, after the Chief Minister made this statement,
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the Deli based social activist Hushmander, he filed a complaint
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against Sarma. Could you talk about what this complaint says
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and how has the Chief Minister reacted to this.
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So, an fire has not yet been registered at the
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Hostcast Police station in Delhi, and he has referred to
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Sharma's statements as hate speech and he requested that, you know,
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an fire be registered under sections of the BNS that
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relate to promoting enmity and prejudicial to national integration and
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so on. Yeah, so he basically wanted an fire registered
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against these sections. And the Chief Minister in turn, you know,
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when he was asked about this, he hit out and
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he has criticized Hushmander in the past as well. So
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he said that, you know, Hushmander has filed one complaint
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against me. Now just watch, I'm going to file at
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least one hundred complaints against him because he in the
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past has also you know, hit out at Haushmander, accusing
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him of distorting the nic in Assam, and you know
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he's raised allegations like you know that he and colleagues
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helped create fake kin of people so that they could
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claim connections to enable their inclusion in the nic.
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So that's what he said. So far, nothing has happened.
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And now after discussing the targeting of the Bengali Muslim
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community in Assam, we turned to another communally charged controversy
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that recently unfolded in Utra Khand. Now across several states
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including Uttar, Pradesh, chattisgard Madha, Padesh, Gujarat and Assam, members
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linked to the right wing Hindu organization Bajaranngdal have been
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harassing minorities in various ways, from disrupting festive celebrations to
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encouraging boycotts of their businesses. Last week, in Utra Khand,
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a group of such men harassed a seventy year old
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man over the name of his shop. But the situation
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took an unexpected turn when a man named Deepa Kumar
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stepped into intervene. When we spoke to the then expresses
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Ashwari Raj, she walked us through exactly what unfolded.
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So in Kurduar, which is situated in Podigirdval in Draghunt
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On January twenty sixth, the Pa Kumar, who is the
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owner of a gym, was with his friends at a
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shop in the market when he heard the scuffle going
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on next door and he went there to see what
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was happening, and he saw that a seventy year old
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shopkeeper who is also suffering from Parkinson's disease was being
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heckled by a group of five for people.
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This seventy year old man was Vakil Ahmad and the
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group of men were demanding that he changed the name
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of his shop and removed the word Baba from it.
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The shop's name was Baba School Center.
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So the Pa Kumar stood up to the mob.
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So he was asking them why they were insisted on
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asking the Baba to drop the name, and they said
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that it's a Hindu name and the Muslim man had
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no right to associate himself with such a name.
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Very s.
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But the board that they were heckling over already had
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the name of the son of the shopkeeper, so they
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said that they had to give it prominently and they
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should give some other name to the shop. So when
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he intervened, they asked him why he was stepping in
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for someone like the baba, and he said that he
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has been running the shop for thirty years, so why
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would he need to change the name now.
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And this is when they asked him his name, to
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which he replied that it was Muhammad.
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So later on he says that it was a point
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to show that it is the right of every person
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in the country, no matter their religion, to exist freely.
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In a public space. So that was his justification rationale
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for stunning up to the mob.
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Now, the video of the incident was shot by the
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mob itself and this video has since gone viral, and.
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That is when it captured so much attention, and even
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in the Heradon and Haduar, where these groups are even
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more powerful, it started going viral and it circulated in
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their groups and they started posting stories about the need
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to reign in someone like the puck.
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So they have posted.
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Stories about gathering in Kurduar two days from then and
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confronting him about what he had done. And on January
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thirty one, on Saturday, we have videos coming from courte
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door of a large mob of you know, around more
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than fifty people gathering in front of his gym and
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abusing him, hauling such vile abuses about his family, about himself,
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about another friend who was also in the video, vija Rabbath,
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and you know, those Islamophobic words, hate words were used
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by the mob and they were even assembled in front
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of the Baba shop, but it was closed on that day,
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so there was a tension. There was a communal frenzy
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in Codeua on that day. And this was also the
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same day the CM was visiting the town for another
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event and there was already a lot of police protection
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and the police tried to douse the situation, try to
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dispose of the crowd, but they kept gathering in front
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of different areas in the market so as to show their.
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Position to the act of resistance.
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And even the puck and his friend Vijai Rabbath were
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taken to the police station so that they do not
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confront them mob or you know, those situation doesn't get
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out of hand.
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Ashwarya says that since the incident, the police has registered
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three firs in the matter, including one based on the
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complaint filed by the shopkeeper.
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Waki Lemon, and that is against unknown people and that
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was based on the incident happened on January twenty sixth
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and then the police registered another fire on the complaint
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of an SI who was posted when the whole situation
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was happening in Courde War. So even though Deeper himself
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had filed the complaint with the police, they did not
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take cognizance of it. They instead filed an fire on
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the basis of the complaint of their own officer. And
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this fire is particularly interesting because it doesn't name anyone.
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It just says thirty to forty unknown people, and even
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the contents of the fire don't particularly mention anyone. They
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doesn't identify who was the mob, who were the members.
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It just says that there were many people from the
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Radon and Haridwar.
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And the thoughd fire was registered against the Puck and
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his friend Vija Rabat for promoting enmity. And this was
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registered on the complaint of a local in Koduar and
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00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:15.640
he was named in the fire. It's not just a
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nameless complaint, but he was named in the fire, so
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he faces an fire now.
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She says. After the incident took place, the police have
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tightened the security in the area and have been deploying
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officers in large numbers there.
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So when you enter Utra Khan fram Muta Pradesh, Najibabad,
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00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:37.599
you see a lot of barricades. You are screened before
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you enter the area, and then you have to go
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00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:43.279
through the main market where there are multiple barricades they
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00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:46.960
are diverting traffic. And then there is this whole environment
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where the police is trying to diffuse a situation. But
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the police also, you know, when they release press statements
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and when they speak to us, it seems like the
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police also see both of these parties on equal footing.
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You know, both of these are causing equal harm to
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the town. And even in front of the gym, they
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have been screening people who enter the gym. They have
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been deploying a lot of people, a lot of officers
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on the ground. And other than that, when I went
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around Courdua to speak with people and what they felt
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if they extended solidarity, it felt like the people in
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the market and in the neighborhood where Deepuk lives, there
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is little support for him. And whatever support he has been,
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00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.400
you know having, is from the people who already.
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Know him, who are friends of his.
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And when I went to his house, his wife was
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also raising this concern that no one really dropped by
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00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:41.759
to ask if he was feeling all right if there was,
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you know, a lack of security. And now he's also
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gotten the police protection. So I think it feels a
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00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:51.400
bit better now. But the town itself has not responded
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00:20:51.559 --> 00:20:53.960
in support of the pack. They have said that he
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has unnecessarily created a problem.
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He shouldn't have gotten into the dispute.
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It should have been between the Badranggdal and the man,
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the shopkeeper.
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00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:07.640
Now this entire matter has of cause garnered reactions from
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the opposition as well, and which as usual has led
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00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:12.519
to political mudslinging.
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00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:16.960
So Rahul Dantiad tweeted in support of the park.
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00:21:17.079 --> 00:21:20.799
He has spoken about it and Congress here has also
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00:21:20.839 --> 00:21:24.839
stood by him because j Rabert is the youth Congress
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00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:27.359
president in the area in the district.
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But other than that, other leaders have also.
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00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:35.119
Supported extended support to him and BJP has reacted completely differently.
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00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:37.400
BJP has said that this was a.
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00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:41.400
Pre meditated attack, that you know Deepak himself speaking up
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00:21:41.400 --> 00:21:43.920
for the man was a pre meditated move so that
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00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.839
the Congress can have some momentum before the election. And
401
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:51.640
the BJP State president here, Mahindra Bhat he has also
402
00:21:51.720 --> 00:21:54.799
criticized ral Ghandhi for tweeting in support of the park.
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00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:57.359
So we have also seen a lot of incidents in
404
00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:01.720
the Rakhanov late be the murder of Angel Chakma, a
405
00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:06.279
Tripura student, the assault ton Kashmiri shaw sellers, and recently
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00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:10.119
this The Congress is referring to all these incidents to
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00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:14.640
say that or to imply that the situation is too communal,
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00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:18.799
that bgp's engineering these conflicts so that they have popular
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00:22:18.839 --> 00:22:21.680
support of you know, they can ride the communal wave
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00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:22.960
into the elections.
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00:22:27.720 --> 00:22:30.839
And finally we turned to wes Bengal Chief Minister Mantabanaji
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00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:34.920
appearing before the Supreme Court against the Election Commission's Special
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00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:38.720
Intensive revision. The TMC chief has been in the national
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00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:42.039
capital over the past three days where she has stepped
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00:22:42.119 --> 00:22:46.359
up her party's campaign against the Sir. During this visit,
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00:22:46.440 --> 00:22:49.799
she has directly targeted the Election Commission and Chief Election
417
00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:54.279
Commissioner Yanesh Kumar, accusing his officers of being arrogant and
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of lyne.
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On Monday, she had a meeting with Cecyesh Kumar and
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she came out of the meeting said that she has
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boycotted the meeting.
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00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:08.160
That's the Indian expresses Adreman and.
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That Ganesh Kumar was rude to her and was being
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very arrogant, and she used the word that it seemed
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like she was his servant and that he was acting
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00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.400
like a zamindhar. He was treating the Chief Minister and
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00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:23.319
the delegation as his servants. That was day one of
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00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:27.039
Mamtabanaji's day visit in Delhi. Then on day two, which
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00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:30.960
was Tuesday, she held a special press conference at Bangabahan
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00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:33.519
in China Kipuri with around one hundred people who the
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00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:37.880
party had brought from Bengal to Delhi. And these people,
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00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:41.599
the party claims are Saya affected people, so which basically
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00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:43.279
means there are two categories.
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00:23:42.759 --> 00:23:44.519
Of people who've come from Bengal.
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00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:47.640
One is people who've been declared dead under the SIA
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00:23:47.920 --> 00:23:51.519
and two his people whose family members have died during
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00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.599
the SIA process due to pressure. So for example, the
438
00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.759
blos and the officials who've committed suicide or have died
439
00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.559
due to pressure, so they're family members.
440
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:03.279
Now, this was day two, but yesterday, which was the
441
00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:06.839
day three of her visit, was perhaps the most interesting one.
442
00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:11.400
It saw a sitting Chief Minister, probably for the first time,
443
00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:14.000
not only go to the Supreme Court but argue in
444
00:24:14.039 --> 00:24:16.920
a case as a lawyer. So Mamthavanaji has a law
445
00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:20.240
degree from a college in Calcutta. And as for her
446
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:23.240
party people, she did practice law till two thousand and three.
447
00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:26.680
Then she became very very active politicians. She's now a
448
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.839
two term chief minister. She's buying her third term as
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00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:33.160
the Chief Minister of West Bengal. So today what we
450
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:37.400
saw in the Supreme Court was something very unprecedented.
451
00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:38.400
It was very new.
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00:24:38.599 --> 00:24:41.880
It was something that nobody's ever seen that a Chief
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00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:45.000
Minister goes to the court, stands along with her team
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00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:48.079
of lawyers, asked the Chief Justice of India, who was
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00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:51.440
hearing the SII matter, and for time to speak. The
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00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:54.799
Chief Justice of India replied, calling her Madame Mamta that
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00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:57.359
we will give you time and we will give you
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00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:02.240
not five but fifteen minutes. Mamthavani in detail, she leveled
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00:25:02.279 --> 00:25:06.519
a host of allegations which included that micro observers were
460
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.640
being deployed in West Bengal and that was not being
461
00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:13.319
done in other states, that the ECI's main intention is
462
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:15.599
to delete voters and not add voters.
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00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.640
During this SII exercise, in Bengal.
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00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:23.519
There is higher process is only for deletion, not for
465
00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:25.440
inclusion miss mares.
466
00:25:25.480 --> 00:25:27.240
Not only the titles.
467
00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:31.039
Are miss smatch, miss map aren't planned.
468
00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:36.200
Then she has said that officials that are working in
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00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:41.440
Bengal have associations with the BJP. And she also targeted
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the Election Commission of India saying that this process, she says,
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00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:47.960
something that should be done over a longer period of
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00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:50.559
time and not just three months before the election the
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sir process. So essentially her argument to the courte was
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that the court has to intervene and has to do
475
00:25:58.000 --> 00:25:59.200
something too, in.
476
00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:01.039
Her words, save democracy.
477
00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:04.359
She made some other points also, like you know, Bengali's
478
00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:07.720
names have some things like you know, the chategy becomes
479
00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:11.400
a Chattopa Banaji becomes a bundo pad. So these things
480
00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:14.839
she says in the technical AI system is facing problems,
481
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:18.880
is going into logical discrepancies section and that she flagged
482
00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:21.000
as an issue with the SII. And she said that
483
00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:25.079
Bengal was being specifically targeted by the ECI to delete
484
00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:28.599
voters to diminish the chances of the TMC getting a
485
00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:32.480
fair chance in the upcoming state assembly elections in West Bengal.
486
00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:36.880
So that was briefly her arguments in the court on
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her plea. The courte did issue a notice to the
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Election Commission of India asking for their reply on certain
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points and the matter will be heard again on Monday now.
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And interestingly, people in the TMC have already started confirming
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that Mamthavanaji will be present in court as a lawyer
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once again on Monday during the next hearing. And I mean,
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it's a big message to the people of Bengal. And
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the message that the Trinimal Congress is trying to convey
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is that Manta Banerji or they call her Diri, is
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here in Delhi fighting for the people of Bengal for
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the last three or four days that she's been in Deli.
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And this is not a leader who's in the opposition.
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She's a ruling party leader. She is the chief minister.
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So for her to come here and to argue in
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the case, then to go to the EEC, and then
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to hold all these press conferences confront Deli police on
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multiple occasions, it sends a message to Bengal. Now, what
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happens in the elections is a completely different thing. But
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for now, the message that the TNC is trying to
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send to the people of Bengal is that Mamtaalidi is
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fighting for Bengal in Delhi. She's gone to the court
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to fight, She's gone to the CEC, She's gone to
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different forums, press conferences, and that this is a fight
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for Bengali pride and to save democracy.
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You were listening to Three Things by the Indian Express.
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Today's show was written and produced by me Shashang Bargov
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and was edited and mixed by If you like the show,
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