High on Hatred they Sought to set Sringeri on Fire
The forces that succeeded in setting fire on Bengaluru by posting inflammatory comments on social media tried to repeat it in Sringeri only to get their fingers burnt. This incident has revealed the Sangh Parivar’s systematic conspiracy to disturb peace and social harmony. It is clear again that the Sangh Parivar and its forces can go to any extent and unleash heinous crimes as part of their agenda to create intolerance, and drive a wedge between people in the name of caste and community. It is now the responsibility of the law enforcement agencies to unravel the networks of these anti-social elements.
Last Wednesday, some miscreants threw a green colour banner on Shankaracharya’s idol in Sringeri. As the colour of the banner was green and the idol belonged to Hindu religion, Sangha Parivar leaders declared that this act has been performed by members of a specific community even before the police could conduct an investigation. Sringeri suddenly became tense. A group of Sangha Parivar members raided the house of an innocent person and assaulted another. In addition to all of this, a sudden protest under the leadership of former minister D. N. Jeevaraj was held in front of the town police station. Anyone with basic education would understand that the banner does not belong to any community or party. But the former legislator did not have the patience to examine this. Instead, by issuing repeated inflammatory statements, he tried to set Sringeri on fire. For him, the need to trigger tension in Sringeri was more important than finding out whether the idol of Shankaracharya was really desecrated. The most dangerous element of his behavior was that during the protest, he referred to the derogatory statements made against Prophet Mohammad and defended it. This shows that the former legislator, maliciously, wanted to trigger in Sringeri the same kind of unrest that some localities in Bengaluru witnessed earlier this week. Though he made the statements right in front of the police station, the police have not yet acted against him. Instead, buckling under the pressure of the Sangh Parivar, they detained an innocent person who had nothing to do with the incident for an entire day.
Though the law is blind, the CCTV in the local mosque was alert and captured the footage of the alleged ‘anti-national, extremist, terrorist’. It showed that a person named Milind Pujari who has links with the Sangh Parivar entered the mosque, took the banner, and threw it on the idol of Shankaracharya. The next morning, citing a headache, he got himself admitted to a hospital. When the CCTV footage revealed the truth, the Sangh Parivar leaders immediately tucked their tails and withdrew into their burrows. At the same time, the police declared that ‘it was an act of a drunkard’ and announced that there is no role of any ‘Sangha’ or party. Let us assume that this was an act of a drunkard. However, in the absence of the CCTV in the mosque, wouldn’t the act have been portrayed as that of a ‘Muslim extremist’? If the real accused was not found, a gang of outlaws would have attacked Sringeri. Innocent people of a specific community would have lost their lives in the riots. The former minister’s statements had dropped such hints.
On a closer examination, it doesn’t appear that the entire episode does not appear to be an act committed by a drunkard. The accused Milind is already facing several cases and has a criminal history. He is not only facing two cases of theft but his links with Sangh Parivar leaders have now come into the open. The drunkard was very well aware that he was entering the mosque. Besides, the act of throwing the banner on the idol of Shankaracharya is not accidental. The fact that he admitted himself into the hospital the next day further strengthens the doubts over the nature of the incident. What then do the din raised by the Sangh Parivar including the former minister indicate? Was the former minister’s group also intoxicated? Was he under the influence of alcohol when he defended the abuse against the Prophet in the presence of police? The police should issue a clarification on this as well.
There is no doubt that the accused Milind Poojari, former minister Jeevaraj, and his team were intoxicated with communal hatred and wanted to create trouble in Sringeri. Therefore, not only Milind Poojari but the former minister who tried to hatch a conspiracy of triggering violence and unrest is also the main accused in the incident. The police must file a case against him as well. At the same time, investigation must be conducted into the links between those responsible for the recent violence in Bengaluru by making derogatory statements against Prophet Mohammad and those in this incident. Otherwise, these evil forces would reign supreme again.
At the same time, it is the duty of the people to be restrained during communally tense situations. The main objective of miscreants is to spread hatred and divide society, and these forces use social media websites and the media extensively to achieve their designs. Therefore, people should show patience when they hear rumours. Attempts aimed at instigating people through inflammatory statements on social media should be handled legally and in democratic ways, thus defeating the designs of these anti-social elements. We need to learn from the incidents in Bengaluru and Sringeri that it is now time for people who want to build a peaceful society to come together in the midst of those who want to destroy it.
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Gopi Thotakura becomes 1st Indian space tourist on Blue Origin's private astronaut launch
Washington, May 19: Gopi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and a pilot, on Sunday became the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission.
Thotakura was selected as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, making him the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
Blue Origin's seventh human flight, NS-25, lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday morning, the company announced on social media.
This mission was the seventh human flight for the New Shepard programme and the 25th in its history. To date, the programme has flown 31 humans above the Karman line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin.
According to Blue Origin, "Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive."
He co-founded Preserve Life Corp, a global centre for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In addition to flying jets commercially, he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot.
A lifelong traveller, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Andhra Pradesh-born Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Other crew members of the flight include Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F Kennedy in 1961 as the nation's first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space.
The rocket booster landed safely a couple minutes prior to the capsule, CNN reported.
During the mission, the crew soared to more than three times the speed of sound. The rocket vaulted the capsule past the Kármán line, an area 100 kilometers above Earth’s surface that is widely recognized as the altitude at which outer space begins — but there’s a lot of gray area, the channel said.
At the peak of the flight, passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness and striking views of Earth through the cabin windows, it added.
During the flight, each astronaut carried a postcard to space on behalf of Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future.
This programme gives students access to space on Blue Origin’s rockets, including an all-digital method to create and send postcards. The Club’s mission is to inspire and mobilise future generations to pursue careers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) for the benefit of Earth.
From an environmental standpoint, nearly 99 per cent of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes.
New Shepard’s engine is fuelled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During the flight, the only byproduct is water vapour with no carbon emissions, the company earlier said.
Blue Origin released the NS-25 mission patch. A few of the symbols embedded include: The Gemini spacecraft represents Dwight’s aerospace training era. The hand lifting of the crew capsule is a nod to his extensive artwork.
The sunrise represents Angel and Schaller’s desire to experience the overview effect. The mountains symbolise Schaller, Thotakura, and Chiron’s passion for climbing and skiing.
Jeff Bezos’ space company had paused its suborbital tourism programme following a liftoff malfunction of the New Shepard rocket. In September 2022, an uncrewed flight of New Shepard ended in flames around a minute after liftoff.
