New Delhi, Aug 29: A political controversy has erupted over Penguin India’s decision not to publish Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, with BJP leaders dismissing allegations of government interference and a Congress MP claiming that the publisher may have faced “backdoor” pressure from the Centre.

Reacting to the issue in Jaipur, Rajasthan, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the disagreement appeared to be between the author and the publisher and should not be politicised.

“There is some kind of disagreement between the author and the publisher. The publisher has their own prerogative, and the author has their own viewpoint. Instead of bringing it into politics, they could have found another publisher. What is the need to bring the Government of India into this?” Shekhawat said.

In Patna, Bihar Minister Ram Kripal Yadav also said the government had no role in the matter. “A book has been written on the biography of Madam Sonia ji, but it has not been published. The government has nothing to do with it. If the publisher is not publishing it, then the matter concerns the Congress party, the people who wrote the biography and the publishing house. The government has no interference in it,” he said.

BJP leader T.R. Srinivas, speaking in Hyderabad, said the book, titled ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, had generated a major controversy. He questioned the timing of the decision and alleged that the book contained selective references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and China.

“The timing looks political, non-literary,” Srinivas said, alleging that Penguin had objected because “anytime when you publish a book, it has to be factual.”

BJP National Vice President, M. Nagaraja, however, struck a more cautious note. “Regarding Sonia Gandhi’s autobiography, Penguin has already said that they are not publishing it. We have not seen or read the book, so it is too early to comment on it,” he said.

Congress MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh, meanwhile, claimed that the publisher could have faced government pressure. “This is absolutely wrong. No publisher can put pressure on an author. An author has their own views and experiences, which they write about in their book. There must have been pressure from the government on the publisher through the backdoor,” he said.

Earlier on Friday Penguin Random House India announced that it will not publish Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s much-awaited autobiography,’ Belonging: A Journey of Love’.

“Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish ‘Belonging’ because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” the publisher said in a statement.

The publisher also defended its editorial process, saying, “As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact-check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books.”

Jalna, Aug 29: Activist Manoj Jarange Patil on Saturday launched a fresh fast unto death at Antarwali Sarati to press for Maratha reservation, declaring that the community’s three-year struggle is now on the “verge of victory.” He appealed to members of the Maratha community across Maharashtra to step out of their homes, gather at the protest site, and stand united for the cause.

This marks Jarange Patil’s 11th hunger strike. He has reiterated his demand for the issuance of Kunbi certificates to all based on the 58 lakh recorded entries and the approval of certificates previously rejected during caste verification.

Emphasising independence and community solidarity, Jarange Patil remarked, “We have no party, no leader; our caste is our only identity. Marathas must stop relying on the government.”

Calling this the final fight for the rights of future generations, he urged the community not to remain passive, warning that any complacency at this stage could lead to betrayal.

Jarange Patil has demanded immediate distribution of Kunbi caste certificates based on the 58 lakh historical records identified by the Shinde Committee, issuance of caste validity certificates alongside the Kunbi certificates and clarification on the operational framework for issuing validity under the Hyderabad Gazetteer, abolition of the state’s Caste Verification Committees, questioning why such committees exist in Maharashtra when they are not present elsewhere in the country and immediate implementation of Government Orders (GRs) concerning the Satara and Kolhapur princely state records to grant OBC benefits to the Maratha community.

Further, he has demanded unconditional withdrawal of all police cases registered against Maratha protesters across Maharashtra and government jobs and support for the families of individuals who sacrificed their lives during the reservation movement.

Jarange Patil stressed that the agitation would not stop until all demands are fully met by the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

He also urged affluent and influential leaders within the Maratha community to step forward and support the poorer sections during this critical phase of the movement.

Meanwhile, Water Resources Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil arrived in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar anticipating the need for discussions during the strike.

Jarange Patil claims this protest represents the final phase of their struggle. Prior to the hunger strike, Minister Vikhe Patil held a meeting with local officials and claimed that only 0.3 per cent of entries have been rejected, assuring that certificates are being granted to all eligible applicants.

However, rejecting all government claims, Jarange Patil announced that he would proceed with his hunger strike starting Saturday.

“Those who believe they have valid records and possess all required documents as per the government regulations should immediately submit their applications to their respective District Collectors within the next eight days. We will take swift action on them,” stated Vikhe Patil.

Addressing Jarange Patil’s objections regarding two to four specific certificates, Minister Vikhe Patil added that he has requested the Caste Verification Committee to reconsider those cases, while noting that some individuals have approached the High Court, making it a sub-judice matter.

In response to Jarange Patil’s frequent references to the 58 lakh recorded entries, the government provided him with official figures showing that out of 1,431,634 applications received up to August 24, a total of 1,424,634 individuals have already been issued Kunbi certificates. The government claims that only 1,747 applications remain pending across the state, while 5,248 applications have been rejected.

Despite these figures, Jarange maintains his insistence that every individual among the 58 lakh records must be issued a certificate. Officials, however, state that new applications are not being submitted at that scale.

To express solidarity with Jarange Patil’s protest, a meeting of the Maratha community decided to organise a rally of 1,000 autorickshaws from Dharashiv district on Saturday.

Thousands of activists from various parts of the district are expected to join the rally and head toward Antarwali Sarati. With a massive number of rickshaws travelling simultaneously, authorities anticipate potential traffic congestion in and around the Antarwali Sarati area in Jalna district.

New Delhi, Aug 29: The clamour to leave the country and join the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda either in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan has gone down drastically over the last year. While on one hand this is a positive development for India, the other part of the problem is about online radicalisation.

An official said that the trend of Indian youth leaving or trying to leave the country to join the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda had peaked between 2014 and 2023.

However, since 2024 there has been a change in that pattern whereby the number of youth leaving the country or even trying to leave, has gone down drastically.

The data collected and analysed by the Indian Intelligence agencies say that the clamour to leave the country to join these terror groups was highest in South India with Kerala and Tamil Nadu being the leaders.

Currently, the number has come down to almost nil. An Intelligence Bureau official says that while analysing the chat patterns between Islamic State radicalised individuals and their handlers abroad, there are no calls that are made to leave the country.

In fact both the handlers or recruiters of the Islamic State or Al-Qaeda are today encouraging these youth to stay back in the country and carry out activities, the official said.

The Islamic State in particular has completely changed its pattern of operations. Not just in India, it is not encouraging its recruits across the globe to leave the country. This shift in pattern is dangerous, agency officials point out.

The Islamic State wants its recruits to stay back in their respective countries and undertake radicalisation and terror activities.

An official said that this is a deliberate shift in pattern by the Islamic State. It wants to create mini-Islamic States in every country. In fact in India, it is not looking to create a pan-India Islamic State, but is focussing on region specific operations, the official added.

The terror group wants to create Islamic States in every region of the country ranging from the North of the country to the South, the official added.

Another official said that the major focus is however on South India. There has been a surge in online communication especially in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Scores of youth are approached by the Islamic State handlers from across the country. While those in their 20s and 30s have been targeted, the latest strategy to approach teenagers who are in schools and colleges has only added to the headache of the security apparatus.

Counter-terror experts say that the strategy to approach teenagers is a well-thought out one. They want to radicalise these persons as they are of an impressionable age. By the time these people are in their 20s, they are completely radicalised and extremely dangerous, the experts also point out.

Officials say that if one studies the recent investigations that have been conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), it become clear that the Islamic State has focussed largely on Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Interestingly these were the states that reported the highest number of Islamic State recruits that left the country and went to either Syria or Iraq.

Investigators have found that in recent times there have not been cases where recruits are asked to leave the country. Instead the handlers have tried to establish a ‘liberated zone,’ or ‘Al-Sham’ in Padgha where the recruits take an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State.

In recent cases, it has also been found that once the ‘bayath (oath of allegiance)’ is taken, then these persons are part of Zoom lectures, Telegram and WhatsApp channels.

On the face of it for the agencies tracking such lectures, it appears to be just religious study. When they go deep into these events, it becomes evident that these are indoctrination classes during which the participants are prepared to propagate violent Jihad in India.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had reported that around 155 cases were linked to the Islamic State.

The US Department of State estimated that 66 Indian origin fighters were associated with the terror outfit. Of these 21 alone were from Kerala.

These persons had left Kerala to join the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan.

Officials say that the number would have been way higher, but the Indian agencies carried out ‘Operation Chakravyuh’ by which scores of youth were tracked online and stopped from leaving the country.

While the agencies managed to stem to outflow into the Islamic State, the new scenario is a worrying one and the modus operandi has shifted from leave home to stay at home and propagate violent Jihad, an official noted.