BJP MP Tejasvi Surya's old controversial tweet on Arab women resurfaces; causes outrage
BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Sunday forced himself to delete one of his earlier tweets after it resurfaced and created waves of outrage on the micro-blogging site. However, the MP’s efforts of deleting the tweet did not do any good to the MP as the screenshots of the tweet are still being widely shared on twitter.
Tejasvi Surya had quoted controversial Pakistani-Canadian Journalist Tarek Fatah in a highly controversial and misogynistic tweet.
The now-deleted tweet read: "95% Arab women have never had an orgasm in the last few hundred years! Every mother has produced kids as act of sex and not love:@TarekFatah."
In the interview with Swarajya, Tarek Fatah had made the statement in response to a question on reforms in the middle east in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring" of 2010.
Mr Surya, 29, is a first-time MP known for his controversial tweets. This one drew comments all the way from the Middle East.
Sources close to Tejasvi Surya say the tweet was attributed to someone else but he was wrongly blamed for making the comment, screenshots of which are still being wildly shared.
"The main point was on female genital mutilation. How is Tejasvi Surya liable for someone else's view? If someone owes an explanation, it is Tarek Fateh," an NDTV report quoted sources close to the BJP MP from Karnataka.
The old tweet was picked up some influential members in the Arab community. Many intellectuals and various members of the royal families too have over the past few days condemned the attacks on Muslims in India and called out instances on Islamophobia.
Pity Ur upbringing @Tejasvi_Surya that respect for women couldn’t be instilled in U despite India having some great female leaders .Please note if someday the govt bestows a foreign ministry to you, avoid travelling to Arab lands. You are not welcome here. This will be remembered pic.twitter.com/KJJlqJL5tR
— Noora AlGhurair (@AlGhurair98) April 19, 2020
@PMOIndia Respected Prime minister @narendramodi India's relation with the Arab world has been that of mutual respect. Do you allow your parliamentarian to publicly humiliate our women? We expect your urgent punitive action against @Tejasvi_Surya for his disgraceful comment. pic.twitter.com/emymJrc5aU
— المحامي⚖مجبل الشريكة (@MJALSHRIKA) April 19, 2020
How dumb are those targeting @Tejasvi_Surya for this? Don't they have basic understanding of what ":" means? He's quoting @TarekFatah ?♀#TejasviSurya pic.twitter.com/wHf3bCwd3A
— Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj (@DeepikaBhardwaj) April 20, 2020
Prime Minister ..
— عبدالرحمن النصار (@alnassar_kw) April 19, 2020
An Indian Member of Parliament accuses Arab women, and we Arabs are asking for his membership to be dropped !!@narendramodi@PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/aQl4XayWZU
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Toll charges across Karnataka to rise by up to 5% from April 1
Bengaluru: Vehicle users across Karnataka will pay higher toll charges from April 1, with rates set to increase by 3–5 per cent as part of the annual inflation-linked revision. The revised fares are expected to be formally notified in the coming days.
A senior official from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was quoted by Decan Herald as saying that the hike is linked to the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and will apply to nearly all toll plazas in the state. Around 10 toll plazas, however, will see revised rates later in the year, from September 1.
The official explained that the increase is calculated in line with the WPI and then rounded off. “If the hike works out to ₹2.5 or more, it will be rounded off to ₹5,” he said.
The Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway which was inaugurated in 2023, will see revised rates in toll plazas of Kaniminike and Sheshagirihalli on the Bengaluru-Mysuru stretch, Bagepalli on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad highway, Sadahalli on the Bengaluru Airport Road, Nangli on the Bengaluru-Tirupati route along with Hulikunte and Nalluru Devanahalli on the Satellite Town Ring Road.
K B Jayakumar, Project Director, NHAI, told Deccan Herald that the revision has been carried out in accordance with the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008. “Toll charges at all public-funded plazas will be increased in accordance with the 2008 Fee Rules. This happens at the start of every financial year,” he said.
He added that in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll plazas where operations commenced before 2008, the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 1997 apply, allowing fare revisions at other times during the financial year. A maximum hike of five per cent is expected.
Jayanth Reddy, a resident of Whitefield who frequently travels to Mysuru for work, told Deccan Herald that has witnessed multiple toll revisions since it became operational and the recurring hikes add to the burden on the costliest routes in the state. “A toll charge of ₹180 for one-way travel is already quite high,” he said.
Travel operators also expressed concern. Santosh, who runs a travel agency, said passengers travelling from Bengaluru to Kerala are particularly affected. “We pass on the entire toll charge to customers. At present, the total toll for a road trip ranges between ₹2,000 and ₹3,000,” he said.
