A Raja Adapts to Tihar Jail Routine

Former Telecom Minister Andimuthu Raja is cooling his heels in Tihar jail since last three months for his suspected involvement in 2G Spectrum scam. Though initially his face was wrought with sullenness and shock, now he seems to be much relaxed and adapted to the jail's routine life. He is keeping himself busy with friendly chats with fellow inmates, morning walks and Badminton sessions in the evenings.

The Tihar jail sources say, "Unlike many other high-profile accused stationed in Tihar, Raja seems to have adapted to jail life easily in a short period. Initially, in the first week, he was not talkative or interacting with other inmates, but now he seems to have become friendly with the other inmates in his ward. Most of his new-found friends are serving life sentences and he seems to stick to the routine." A total of 12 of the 14 people chargesheeted by the CBI in the 2G scam, including top bureaucrats and corporates, are lodged in Tihar. Raja is stationed at Jail Number One in Ward Number Nine.

Raja's day begins with a one-hour walk from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. inside the ward premises.  He has become so friendly with the other 14 inmates in his ward that he even shared his home cooked food with them on several occasions. Apart from watching television and reading newspapers and books, Raja also plays badminton with the inmates in the evening. The jail official also said Raja is much more disciplined as compared to others. According to the source, Raja has stopped getting home-cooked food for the past few days. "He is eating jail food and he has complained about its quality. Raja seems hooked to snacks from the Tihar canteen, which he shares with fellow inmates as well," says the source.

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.