To provoke Hindus during LS polls, Karnataka BJP’s Twitter handle posts fake letter attributed to Cong leader

News Network
April 17, 2019

Bengaluru, Apr 17: In an apparent attempt to mislead and polarize Hindu community on the eve of Apr 18 Lok Sabha polls, Karnataka BJP’s official Twitter handle posted fake letter accusing State Home Minister M B Patil and former Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi of trying to “divide Hindu religion for political gain”.

Shocked over the fake later dating back to 2017, which was in his name, Mr Patil filed a police complaint against the miscreants. "This letter is FAKE. I will be initiating legal action for forgery against those who produced and published it. BJP's desperation is evident. They are wholly relying on fake letters because they have lost the support of people," he tweeted.

A picture of the letter was posted on the BJP’s Twitter page after a Kannada daily, run by a BJP leader, carried a full-page feature based on the letter, which is attributed to the BLDE Association (of which Mr. Patil is chairman) to mislead people. The letter had gone viral when Mr. Patil, who was then the Water Resources Minister, was leading the Lingayat religion movement.

After it surfaced again on Tuesday, Mr. Patil held a press conference in Vijayapura and said it was completely fabricated. He told presspersons that the same letter had been circulated on social media in 2017 in an attempt to defame him. “At the time, I did not take the letter seriously because I thought some mischievous elements might have done it. But now, I will not keep quiet as it has become a major source of spreading canards against me. I will file a complaint and get the cybercrime police investigate the matter and find the truth,” he said. “I am not a person who needs religion for my politics. I believe in Lingayatism and those beliefs made me fight for the separate religion [status]. I don’t need to stoop to this cheap level for political gains.”

The Home Minister also said he would not rest until the case had met its logical end. He then visited the Adarsha Nagar police station in Vijayapura and filed a complaint.

The alleged fake letter seeks the permission and blessings of Ms. Gandhi for “dividing Hindus” as Lingayats and Veerashaivas. The letter also states that Mr. Patil had held a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues and contacted Muslims and Christian organisations, seeking their support to win the general elections in 2019.

A copy of this letter was posted first by the web portal Post Card in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections. It was subsequently removed, with the portal saying its authenticity could not be verified.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 6,2020

Mangaluru, May 6: Amidst delay in repatriation of Kannadigas stuck in Gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the office bearers, the executive committee and members of the Bearys Chamber of Commerce & Industry, its president Mr S M Rasheed Haji and executive committee member U T Ifthikar Ali today (May 6) called on authorities concerned in Dakshina Kannada to persuade them to follow up with the State and Central level authorities.  

The duo met Nalin Kumar Kateel, Dakshina Kannada MP, who immediately contacted Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, over phone and urged him to take up the issue with the external affairs ministry. Mr Joshi told Mr Kateel that efforts are still underway to bring back Kannadigas stranded in Gulf countries. However flights schedules are yet to be finalised.

The duo then met Kota Srinivas Poojary, district in-charge minister, who said that the government is prepared to handle the repatriation flights and passengers. 

The duo also met IAS officer Rahul Shinde, who is in-charge of affairs related to international passengers coming to Dakshina Kannada amid covid-19 crisis. Meanwhile, Zakariya Jokatte, president of Jubail unit of BCCI, spoke to Mr Shindhe over phone.

The official explained that the govt has made elaborate arrangements to conduct medical test of passengers on arrival at the Mangaluru International Airport. 

The passengers will be categorised into A, B and C groups depending on their symptoms and co-morbid conditions. The category A passengers (symptomatic passengers) will be sent to isolation hospitals which may be Covid care centres. Category B passengers (asymptomatic but suffering from co-morbid conditions) will be quarantined at hotels, hostels, guest houses etc. Category C passengers (asymptomatic and healthy) will be home quarantined.

The minister and official also sought BCCI’s cooperation in handling the situation. 

Quarantine accommodation facility 

Yenepoya group has already offered two of their hotels as quarantine accommodation and promised to offer one more.  Entrepreneur U Kanachur Monu and many others too have offered their hotels as quarantine accommodation in Mangaluru. 

District administration has asked Treebo, a hotel aggregator to list such willing facilities on their website.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
June 17,2020

Remember social media memes of Chinese companies exporting #BoycottChina hats and t-shirts to India? This time India’s sensational and saffronite TV anchor Arnab Goswami vindicated those memes by hosting an anti-China debate show which was sponsored by Chinese companies!

While the last night's debate was all about boycotting Chinese products in the wake of massacre of over 20 Indian soldiers by their Chinese counterparts in eastern Ladakh, the show was brazenly promoting Chinese products through advertisement placements. 

During the debate, amongst the flashy headlines, there were two brand sponsorships that appeared: VIVO and Xiaomi. Both companies are giant Chinese multinational corporations. 

Twitter user Nirmala Tai, who was among those who spotted this irony, highlighted two instances during the debate where the logo of one of the brands popped up, and one where Xiaomi was found promoting the Mi 10. 

Many Twitterati used Goswami’s some of the favourite words such as ‘hypocrite’ and ‘anti-national’ to target him. They hit out at his channel for accepting sponsorship deals from Chinese brands at a time when anti-China sentiment is strong in the country.

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News Network
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: In the view of 2nd PUC exams from March 4, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has approved free travel for students from home to exam centre on Monday.

"BMTC has extended free travel facility to all PUC students from their residence to examination centre on production of exam hall/admission ticket," said a press note.

BMTC has been issuing student concessional passes to travel from their residence to college at concessional rates for the benefit of students. 

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