Tag: Shashi Tharoor

  • Indian journalists, opposition leaders ‘targeted by state-sponsored attackers’

    Indian journalists, opposition leaders ‘targeted by state-sponsored attackers’

    Several prominent leaders from India’s opposition parties, including members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), have recently been alerted about potential security breaches concerning their Apple devices.

    Indian National Congress’s Shashi Tharoor and Pawan Khera, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, Trinamool Congress’s Mahua Moitra, and Aam Aadmi Party’s Raghav Chadha are among those who received warning emails from Apple, highlighting the threat of state-sponsored attacks targeting their iPhones.

    The news broke when The Wire, an online publication, revealed that even Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, and Samir Saran from the Observer Research Foundation, were also on the list of individuals who received the warning emails.

    The situation prompted immediate action from various quarters, including the media, with several journalists and opposition leaders reportedly receiving similar notifications from Apple about potential state-sponsored attacks.

    Shashi Tharoor, Pawan Khera, Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Siddharth Varadarajan confirmed the receipt of the warning emails during the late hours of Monday night and early Tuesday morning.

    Tharoor, who noticed the email on Tuesday morning, emphasized the importance of making these threats public, citing the necessity of transparency in safeguarding security. Expressing his concern, Tharoor highlighted the misuse of public funds and the urgent need to address more significant national security threats.

    The situation escalated further when The Wire alleged that the language used in the warning emails was similar to previous alerts from Apple, although this claim could not be independently verified by Newslaundry.

    Tharoor took to Twitter, sharing that the emails were sent from “threat-notifications@apple.com”.

    Mahua Moitra, a member of the Trinamool Congress, later added that individuals within Rahul Gandhi’s office had also been targeted.

    In response to the unfolding events, Apar Gupta, the founder of the Internet Freedom Foundation, provided a detailed analysis emphasizing the importance of not dismissing these alerts as false alarms.

    Seeking clarification from Apple, Newslaundry contacted the company’s official spokesperson, seeking information about the origin of the alleged attacks and the number of affected users. Apple responded, stating that while they do not specifically attribute the notifications to any state-sponsored attackers, the detection process is complex and evolving.

    Notably, the alerts were not limited to India alone, as it was discovered that individuals from nearly 150 countries had also received similar threat notifications from Apple.

    These developments have emerged approximately two years after reports of India’s alleged use of Israeli spyware for targeted surveillance, indicating a continued focus on digital security concerns within the country.

  • After backlash, Islamophobic film ‘The Kerala Story’ changes figures from 32,000 to just three women

    After backlash, Islamophobic film ‘The Kerala Story’ changes figures from 32,000 to just three women

    Indian director Sudipto Sen’s upcoming film ‘The Kerala Story’ has attracted widespread backlash for claiming to represent the stories of 32,000 women from the state who were lured into converting to Islam by Muslim men and then taken to Afghanistan to join militant outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

    The trailer for the movie debuted online on November 3 last year. It opens with the story of Fathima Ba (played by Adah Sharma), who is a Hindu Malayali nurse and claimed to be one of the 32,000 Hindu and Christian women who were abducted and sent to Afghanistan. Since then, the film has been criticized by Indian politicians such as Congress leader and Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan for spreading misinformation that would only further marginalise the Muslims living in India:

    “The film is a bundle of lies. It says 32,000 women were converted and sent to Islamic State-held areas. Its trailer gave enough hints of its content. It is intended to defame the state and community and Sangh Parivar outfits are behind this.”

    Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan released a statement on 30 April where he slammed Sen for pushing the so-called claim of ‘love-jihad’ through the film, a conspiracy theory pushed by Hindutva members which alleges that Muslim men lure Hindu and Christian women through seduction or kidnapping to convert them into Islam. He further accused the filmmaker of threatening religious harmony by “sowing the seeds of communalism” through the debunked claim that 32,000 women were kidnapped from India and handed over to ISIS.

    “In the movie trailer, we see a hoax that 32,000 women in Kerala were converted and became members of the Islamic State. This bogus story is a product of the Sangh Parivar’s lie factory.”

    The central controversy surrounding the film was it’s claim that 32,000 women were forcibly converted to Islam in Kerala and were sent to ISIS, which has been debunked by several credible publications to be untrue. But speaking to India Today, the producer of the film, Vipul Shah, said that the focus was not the numbers, but the fact that forced conversions are still happening throughout India:

    “We don’t want to get into the debate on the numbers, we want to talk about the issue. We want to bring notice to the human tragedy happening in Kerala and in India.”

    Actor Adah Sharma also defended the movie’s false pretext, by telling India Today that she had spoken to the women who inspired the story:

    “I spoke to some of these women. There will be testimony from those who will be brave enough to come in front of cameras.”

    Politicians like Shashi Tharoor have also slammed the filmmakers for spreading misinformation regarding the 32,000 figure, and addressed it in a lengthy Twitter post where he also said that his 2021 tweet was not proof that the allegations of the filmmakers were real:

    “Many are spreading this 2021 tweet of mine as if it undermines my present objections to the trailer & publicity for “The Kerala Story”. Yes, I was approached then by three Kerala mothers and was aware of a fourth, and I was open about my concerns about their daughters’ radicalisation. But four cases are a far cry from the 32,000 that the film-makers are alleging. If there really were so many ISIS female members from Kerala, that would mean double the number when you count their husbands, whereas even Western intelligence sources says the number of ALL Indians in ISIS does not approach three figures. This gross exaggeration and distortion of the Kerala reality is what I am objecting to.”

    In a tweet posted on Monday, Tharoor offered Rs1 crore to anyone who would be able to prove that 32,000 women had been forcibly converted and sent to ISIS.

    ALT News, in an investigative piece, revealed that the director Sudipto Sen had first mentioned the figure on a Youtube channel ‘The Festival Of Bharat” where he talked about how he calculated the final number, with the help of a speech delivered by the former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy:

    “In 2010, former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy put a report in front of Kerala assembly. In front of my camera, he denied that anything had happened. But in 2010, I documented a case where he (Chandy) said that every year approximately 2,800 to 3,200 girls were taking up Islam. Just calculate it for the following 10 years, and the number is around 32,000.”

    When the publication spoke to Sen on the phone, the author Shinjinee Majumder writes, the director claimed that he picked the number up from an article published by ‘The Times Of India”:

    “This figure (32,000) is not mine. It was a piece of news in The Times of India… one thing I can tell you is that Oommen Chandy, the chief minister of Kerala, had placed this number in the state assembly. So this is not my number, I have got all the documents with me.”

    However, no publication quoting such a large number has come to light. But ALT News reports that in 2012, India Today reported the Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy informing the state minister about how 2,667 young women had converted to Islam between 2006 to 2012. Especially, Chandy had said that there was no evidence of forced conversions in the state, and the fears of ‘love jihad’ were baseless.

    When ANI news shared this report with Sen, his response was:

    “Let the intolerance reach a crescendo. I’ll share my data after the film is released. Why should I defeat the cause of my film?”

    Similarly, Kerala Police had also refuted the claims that 32,000 women had been sent to Syria as “totally baseless”.

    While a report published in 2020 by the United States Department of State’s Country Reports on Terrorism said that there were only 66 known Indian-origin fighters associated with ISIS in 2020, of which 34 terrorism cases were related to ISIS and NIA arrested 160 people by the end of September.

    Moreover, The Hindu reported in June 2021 that four Indian women were traced in an Afghanistani prison, who had travelled with their husbands to join the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), and it was unlikely that they would come back to India.

    As a response to the growing backlash, the film trailer has now changed the title description from 32,000 women to just three young girls, as shared by several Twitter users.

    With the film set to release on 5 May and despite calls to authorities to ban the film on grounds of hate speech and misinformation, NDTV reported today that the Indian Supreme Court had refused to entertain a petition to seek a stay on the release of ‘The Kerala Story’ because it had been cleared by the censor board:

    “There are varieties of hate speeches. This film has got certification and has been cleared by the board. It’s not like a person getting on the podium and starts giving uncontrolled speech. If you want to challenge the release of the movie, you should challenge the certification and through appropriate forum”.

  • Kuwaiti parliamentarians demand ban on the entry of India’s BJP members

    Parliamentarians of Kuwait have demanded an immediate ban on the entry of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members into the country.

    Al Sharikal, who is a Kuwaiti lawyer, posted a letter on Twitter addressed to the parliament to stop BJP members from entering Kuwait.

    He wrote, “A group of powerful Kuwaiti parliamentarians have demanded the govt of Kuwait to put an immediate ban on the entry of any member of the ruling BJP of India into Kuwait. We can’t sit back and watch Muslim girls being publicly persecuted they said. Time for the Ummah to unite.”

    This tweet was also reshared by Congress leader, Shashi Tharoor.

    He wrote, “Domestic actions have international repercussions. I hear from friends across the Gulf of their dismay at rising Islamophobia in India &the PM’s unwillingness to condemn it, let alone act decisively against it. “We like India. But don’t make it so hard for us to be your friends”.

    This retweet was highly criticised by the Indian Embassy in Kuwait and dupped as an “anti-national” tweet by a “Pakistani agent.”

    Recently, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also condemned the recent incidents of the genocide of Muslims by the Hindutva groups in India.

    It said, “The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation expresses deep concern over recent public calls for genocide of Muslims by the Hindutva proponents in Haridwar in the State of Uttarakhand and reported incidents of harassment of Muslim women on social media sites as well as banning of Muslim girl students from wearing hijab in the State of Karnataka.”

  • Woman seeks vaccinated groom in viral matrimonial ad

    Woman seeks vaccinated groom in viral matrimonial ad

    A matrimonial advertisement of a woman looking for a vaccinated groom, has gone viral on the internet. In the ad, a 24-year-old self-employed woman claims that she is fully vaccinated and is looking for a man who must also be completely vaccinated. The newspaper-clipping style advertisement went so viral in India that Indian politician Shashi Tharoor tweeted about it, asking, “No doubt the preferred marriage gift will be a booster shot!? Is this going to be our New Normal?”

    The ad also stated that the girl wanted a post graduate, independent, patient, humourous and well-read partner. While the man also seemed too good to be true, the ad was also apparently a fake.

    According to the Indian Express, the ad was ‘launched’ by a man from Goa, to convince people to get the COVID vaccine. Created by Savio Figueiredo, a community pharmacist, the ad had Savio’s original phone number listed and he says that his phone has not stopped ringing since it was posted on Facebook. The 58-year-old man told the Indian Express that he had posted it to raise awareness on Facebook for the vaccine, and someone picked it up, stating it was real and it had gone viral ever since. He says that even if 10 people get vaccinated because of the ad, it is worth the constant ringing of his telephone (possibly from prospective suitors).

    Major cities in India have relaxed the lockdown rules as COVID-19 cases settle down. Pakistan also is reporting a drop in cases with the positivity rate under three per cent for the first time in four months.

  • Shashi Tharoor warns app claiming to teach users to speak English like him

    Shashi Tharoor warns app claiming to teach users to speak English like him

    Shashi Tharoor has given a warning to an app that claimed that they could teach users to speak fluent English like him. Tharoor, a member of the Indian National Congress, is known for using extensive English vocabulary during his speeches and interviews.

    The politician took to Twitter to clarify that he had no link with the app ‘Blackboard Radio’ and did not endorse it in any way.

    “I will take legal action to stop the misuse of my name and image for commercial purposes,” warned Tharoor in the tweet.

    Members of Parliament in India are legally not permitted to endorse any private companies.

    Meanwhile, the Bangalore-based company removed the politician’s face from the Facebook page but users can still download the app.

  • Indian politician requests Pakistani comic Akbar Chaudhry to mimic Imran Khan

    Indian politician requests Pakistani comic Akbar Chaudhry to mimic Imran Khan

    India’s Shashi Tharoor has requested Pakistani comedian Akbar Chaudhry to mimic Imran Khan after enjoying Chaudhry’s hilarious take on the politician’s oratory English skills.

    Read more – Shashi Tharoor all praise for PM Imran

    Tharoor, a member of the Indian National Congress, is known for using extensive English vocabulary during his speeches and interviews. Chaudhry had made a fun video on that and shared a few tips on how people can also speak fluent English like Tharoor.

    The video shows the comedian making a drink out of the Oxford Dictionary and then drinking it. The second tip is to get a ‘blood transfusion’ with the Oxford Dictionary on one side and Tharoor’s speech on the other.

    In the third step, Akbar crushes a dictionary and snorts it. According to the comedian, if these steps are followed, anyone can speak like Tharoor.

    Soon after the comedian’s video went viral on social media, the politician responded and requested him to mimic PM Khan. Tharoor shared the video with a laughing emoji and wrote: “Next one on Imran Khan please!?”

    Speaking about the video, Akbar told The News that his friends from India have told him that the video is a hit on Indian WhatsApp groups.

    When asked about the idea behind the video, Akbar said that he had earlier done a video on “How to Speak English Like a Burger” and had received a lot of positive response on it.

    Akbar said that when that video did very well, he thought about doing similar stuff.

    He shared that almost two weeks ago, he had seen a tweet which joked that this year’s English exam for the Civil Superior Services (CSS) was set by Shashi Tharoor given the extensive and difficult vocabulary used in it.

    “[That’s when] the idea came to me that I can do a video on ‘How to speak English like Shashi Tharoor’,” said Akbar.

    He shared that he has been a big fan of Shashi Tharoor’s usage of the words in the English language.

    The comedian from the improvisational comedy group ‘Lol Waalay’, said that he had been hopeful that his effort would reach Tharoor.

    “Obviously, I didn’t believe it would happen, but somehow lots of people tagged him [Tharoor] in it and he replied,” said Akbar, adding he was “very happy” with the response. 

  • Indian parliamentarian all praise for PM Imran

    Indian parliamentarian all praise for PM Imran

    Indian National Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has praised Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan for remembering the King of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, on his death anniversary, Hindustan Times reported.

    The Lok Sabha member took to Twitter to praise PM Imran for the interest he shows in the history of the subcontinent.

    “One thing I personally know about Imran Khan is that his interest in the shared history of the Indian subcontinent is genuine and far-reaching,” he tweeted.

    “He read; he cares. It is disappointing, though, that it took a Pakistani leader to remember a great Indian hero on his punyathithi,” Tharoor added.

    The tweet came after the premier paid a tribute to Tipu Sultan on his death anniversary on May 4.

    “Today 4th May is the death anniversary of Tipu Sultan – a man I admire because he preferred freedom and died fighting for it rather than live a life of enslavement,” PM Imran had tweeted.