Indian Human rights activist and author
Joined March 2009
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Do people plan murder, assassination, highjacking. and civil war on Facebook. Twitter or WhatsApp? They do slam authority, corporate sector and governments. The option is silencing the self. Which my conscience does not allow.
@jawharsircar
JohnDayal retweeted
Every decision taken by Gyanesh Kumar has now been reversed. But reversing those decisions raises an even bigger question: If his actions were serious enough to warrant reversal, shouldn't there be consequences for the man responsible?
And more importantly, what if @RitikaChopra__ had never exposed this? What if there had been no public outrage? Would these decisions have ever been reversed?
How many such decisions go unquestioned simply because nobody exposes them?
JohnDayal retweeted
Kolkata: Resist the Attack on the Right to Vote and Democracy.
CPI(ML) Liberation and AIPWA comrades are marching to the Election Commission office in Kolkata, demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of SIR.
The march demands the immediate restoration of voting rights to every voter whose name has been unjustly deleted from the electoral rolls. Elections must be held only after all such voters have been reinstated on the rolls and their right to vote secured.
Scrap SIR, Gyanesh Kumar Must Go!
JohnDayal retweeted
#BREAKING Trinamool Congress tells #SupremeCourt that SIR deletions materially affected election results in #WestBengal.
Sr Adv Kalyan Banerjee says the winning margin in 31 seats was less than the deletions due to SIR adjudication. He says his client lost by 862 votes, whereas the deletions in the constituency were over 5000.
Bandhopadhyay says the vote gap between AITC and BJP was about 32 lakhs, and 35 appeals are pending against deletions.
Bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi tells Bandhopadhyay to file an application.
ECI says the remedy is to file election petitions.
Sr Adv Menaka Guruswamy tells the bench that the appellate tribunals might take 4 years to clear the appeals at the present rate.
JohnDayal retweeted
Dear @PrashantKishor : I want to congratulate you, as a fellow Bihari who cares for his state of Bihar, for being bold and gutsy enough to launch a political party and hit the grassroots, and provide an alternative political idea to change the lives of the people of Bihar.
Irrespective of the election results, a great effort by Jan Suraaj Party. I hope you stay the rough course. Indian politics needs more competitive experimentations. You must treat this as a semi-finals.
Good luck!
JohnDayal retweeted
Who is making India’s voter lists?
The Indian Express reported that 2 Election Commissioners raised red flags about the centralisation of voter list management through ECINET. The EROs - who are the only officials statutorily allowed to delete/add names to the voter list - were NOT being allowed access to the ECINET platform to make changes to the electoral rolls.
The Election Commissioners asked for an audit to check if unauthorised individuals could log in and edit the voter list.
Extremely dangerous implications for our democracy! If voter lists are manipulated, election results can be manipulated.
Watch- youtube.com/watch?v=YBU303uo…
JohnDayal retweeted
Tonight, the American people sent a clear message — they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face.
These results were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country — including in areas once considered long shots. They came from different backgrounds and represented a range of political perspectives, but were united by shared values, a belief in public service, and a commitment to putting the people of their districts and states first.
We also owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of election officials and volunteers from both parties who helped ensure a smooth election and carried out one of the most essential functions of our democracy.
While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future.
JohnDayal retweeted
Madam - in case you haven’t realised you’re an MLA not an MP. You can’t debate in Parliament. Tell Mota Bhai to show up this time. We’ll take him on.
Rahul Gandhi Ji,
OPEN CHALLENGE. 🎤
Come to Parliament. Let’s debate!
1975: Your grandmother imposed the Emergency. Opposition jailed. Press gagged. Democracy strangled.
1984: Your father was Prime Minister when thousands of innocent Sikhs were massacred in Delhi. Congress still cannot escape that bloodstained legacy.
2014 🪷
2019 🪷
2024 🪷
Three consecutive terms.
The fourth is already your biggest nightmare.
Bhaagna mat!
📍 Parliament of India, New Delhi.
No visa required.
JohnDayal retweeted
RETWEETED Supriya Shrinate @SupriyaShrinate
"The Leader of the Opposition, @RahulGandhi, has raised the issue of the dodgy sale of IDBI Bank. For anyone who needs a refresher on the IDBI Bank sale - which smacks of crony capitalism-read on.
▪️IDBI Bank was sold to Canada-based Fairfax Financial Holdings for Rs 52,878 crore at Rs 81 per share
▪️The sale happened after rules were changed mid-process and at a much lower price than the original reserve price of ₹94.42, which was discarded
▪️Initial sealed bids from Fairfax and another entity were below the minimum reserve price of Rs 94.42. Fairfax bids came at Rs 75
▪️Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment changed valuation method, asked Fairfax and another bidder to give new bids
▪️Fairfax revised bid to Rs 81 per share, still well below the original reserve price of Rs 94.42
▪️Modi govt accepted it and also gave some relief on disputed tax claims on IDBI Bank
▪️In January 2019, LIC infused Rs 21,624 crore in IDBI when the bank was placed under the RBI’s strict Prompt Corrective Action framework
▪️LIC’s investment was at an average of ~₹61 per share to acquire a 51% controlling stake
▪️Later that year, LIC pumped in another ₹4,743 crore
▪️LIC’s investment required a special exemption from IRDAI, because normal rules cap an insurer’s stake in a listed company at 15%
▪️Over ₹26,000 crore of policyholders’ savings was used and locked up for years to clean the balance sheet and rescue IDBI Bank, only so that it could be stealthily sold
▪️The govt and LIC have been reduced to minority holders with no board seats
▪️Modi Govt’s internal note says this sale was necessary because the govt is under fiscal stress due to high energy prices, lack of FDI inflows and the falling Rupee
▪️The justification for the change of rules and methodology was made by citing General Financial Rules for the sale of government physical assets (not shares)
▪️It cited the Railway Stores Code on auctioning scrap: "Bids lower than the reserve prices may, however, be accepted by the Depot Officer where found expedient provided the Depot Officer doing so records his reasons in writing."
▪️IDBI Bank’s Gross NPA was at 31.78% in September 2018. The bank posted losses for 13 consecutive quarters accumulating to about ₹41,800 crore
▪️IDBI Bank entered RBI’s PCA in May 2017 and exited PCA on 10 March 2021 after the December 2020 results showed a turnaround
▪️IDBI Bank’s
FY25 profit: ₹7,515 crore
FY26 profit: ₹9,513 crore•
Total business crossed ₹6.27 lakh crore by September 2026
▪️▪️But the questions that remain unanswered:
🔺Why did the govt change the bidding rules after shortlisting and opening sealed bids, without starting the process from scratch?
🔺New bidders might have wanted to participate under the changed rules, why were they denied a chance?
🔺Why was the second bidder’s identity kept hidden on national-security grounds?
🔺Why should policyholders’ savings be used to clean up assets which are then monetised and made to appear like a distress exit than a transparent market sale?
🔺Finally, why must a bank which has turned profitable be sold at much lower valuation - actually sold at all?
▪️▪️The IDBI sale proves yet again that public and policyholder money absorbs the losses, revives the asset which is then cleaned up and sold without transparency to a bidder of govt’s choice - keeping norms at bay and changing rules midway. It also raises the important question of why must an asset which has turned profitable be sold, especially at lower valuation?
Source: BusinessWorld’s investigative report by Palak Shah"
JohnDayal retweeted
BREAKING: SWEET REVENGE! The Navy Admiral who Pete Hegseth fired DEFEATS her MAGA opponent to win a House seat in South Carolina — cementing the blue tsunami with a poetic flourish!
This is just too beautiful...
Democrat Nancy Lacore, a 35-year Navy veteran who rose through the ranks from helicopter pilot to become Chief of Navy Reserve, was fired in August of 2025 amid Hegseth's purging of high-ranking women in the military. While no official reason was given, the deeply misogynistic Hegseth has not been coy about his caveman belief that only testosterone-injecting men should serve.
Lacore has now defeated Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt to seize a seat that was formerly held by MAGA lunatic Nancy Mace who launched a failed bid for the governor's mansion this year.
Lacore has not been shy about criticizing Hegseth's disastrous mismanagement of the Defense Department, particularly his failed Iran War.
"Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified Secretary of Defense that we have ever had, and he is doing significant damage to our military that it will really take decades to undo," she said, adding that he "needs to go."
The most beautiful irony here? Congresswoman Lacore could soon be voting with the rest of the Democratic majority in the House to impeach Pete Hegseth. We have subpoena power starting in January, so we'll be able to uncover all of the gross negligence and rampant criminality that he's overseen.
Ain't karma grand?
Please ❤️ and share if you support impeaching Pete Hegseth!
JohnDayal retweeted
Yes indeed ..salute to young courageous Sohit Mishra who chose to confront rather surrender. Taking risk at this young age is quite daring.
JohnDayal retweeted
So a courageous NDTV journalist refused to "create a ruckus" at Rahul Gandhi's press conference and preferred to resign instead. Salutes to the young man who also exposed the godi media game at its crassest
JohnDayal retweeted
ReportersWithoutBorders (@RSF_inter) profile on 33 “press freedom predators” - who targeted journalists & media outlets, have one thing in common: A hatred of press freedom.
The weapons may differ but goals are the same: to silence independent voices.
rsf.org/en/2026-press-freedo…
JohnDayal retweeted
🚨MASSIVE BREAKING : The Hindu Just drop HYDROGEN BOMB on Traitor Gyanesh & Dictator Modi🔥
(MUST Read & Share)
In one Delhi seat, 572 forms were filed by BJP agents to delete voters. ALL of them against Muslims.
→ Mustafabad, northeast Delhi. The highest number of Form 7 (voter deletion) applications in Delhi: 843 objections since August 31.
→ Of the 597 forms filed by third parties, 96% name BJP booth agents (BLAs) as the "objector".
→ 572 of these forms target only Muslim voters, across 24 parts of the seat.
→ In one booth, 28 voters were marked "absent/shifted" or "dead". When reporters checked, all 28 were living at their addresses, with valid ID proof.
→ One 76-year-old was marked "dead". He is alive.
→ ECI's own rule says one person can file max 10 such forms. One BJP agent alone filed 42. Ten agents filed 30+ each.
→ The voters say they got no notice. Many didn't even know the person who filed against them.
Now connect the dots.
ECI capped Form 7 at 10 per person to stop exactly this kind of bulk deletion.
BJP agents simply ignored the cap, and nobody stopped them.
Living people declared dead. Families living at the same address for 20+ years declared "shifted".
And only one community's names on the list.
This is not a clean-up of the voter list. It's alleged targeting by religion.
And Gyanesh Kumar's ECI is watching silently.
Bro, imagine...
You've lived in the same house for 20 years. Your kids were born there.
One day a neighbour tells you, "Your name is on the deletion list. Someone said you've shifted."
You've never even heard the name of the person who filed it.
Your old father, sitting right next to you, has been declared dead on paper.
Now you have to run to offices, show documents again, and prove that you exist.
All this, just to keep the one right a poor man has in this country: his vote.
That's not SIR. That's selective voter deletion.
Gyanesh, your own rule says 10 forms max. How did one BJP agent file 42?
Why are living people being declared dead?
Modi, if you're so confident of winning, why delete voters by religion? 🔥🔥🔥
JohnDayal retweeted
Fine work @the_hindu
🚨MASSIVE BREAKING : The Hindu Just drop HYDROGEN BOMB on Traitor Gyanesh & Dictator Modi🔥
(MUST Read & Share)
In one Delhi seat, 572 forms were filed by BJP agents to delete voters. ALL of them against Muslims.
→ Mustafabad, northeast Delhi. The highest number of Form 7 (voter deletion) applications in Delhi: 843 objections since August 31.
→ Of the 597 forms filed by third parties, 96% name BJP booth agents (BLAs) as the "objector".
→ 572 of these forms target only Muslim voters, across 24 parts of the seat.
→ In one booth, 28 voters were marked "absent/shifted" or "dead". When reporters checked, all 28 were living at their addresses, with valid ID proof.
→ One 76-year-old was marked "dead". He is alive.
→ ECI's own rule says one person can file max 10 such forms. One BJP agent alone filed 42. Ten agents filed 30+ each.
→ The voters say they got no notice. Many didn't even know the person who filed against them.
Now connect the dots.
ECI capped Form 7 at 10 per person to stop exactly this kind of bulk deletion.
BJP agents simply ignored the cap, and nobody stopped them.
Living people declared dead. Families living at the same address for 20+ years declared "shifted".
And only one community's names on the list.
This is not a clean-up of the voter list. It's alleged targeting by religion.
And Gyanesh Kumar's ECI is watching silently.
Bro, imagine...
You've lived in the same house for 20 years. Your kids were born there.
One day a neighbour tells you, "Your name is on the deletion list. Someone said you've shifted."
You've never even heard the name of the person who filed it.
Your old father, sitting right next to you, has been declared dead on paper.
Now you have to run to offices, show documents again, and prove that you exist.
All this, just to keep the one right a poor man has in this country: his vote.
That's not SIR. That's selective voter deletion.
Gyanesh, your own rule says 10 forms max. How did one BJP agent file 42?
Why are living people being declared dead?
Modi, if you're so confident of winning, why delete voters by religion? 🔥🔥🔥
JohnDayal retweeted
The Public Impeachment of Gyanesh Kumar:
My Speach on Voting Rights
Full Speech link 👇
youtu.be/tx3TmAz8f4I
JohnDayal retweeted
Let's all boycott @Hostinger, and those who use it should move away from Hostinger as a service. 1984, gandi and njalla are much more secure services. There are many other hosting providers which don't bend to censorship the way @Hostinger did. I'm happy to help people who want to move away from @Hostinger and other such services which make no attempt to resist censorship.
PUBLIC STATEMENT BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA
On the arbitrary takedown of paranjoy.in by Hostinger following legal notices from Indiabulls founder Sameer Gehlaut
October 31, 2026
On the morning of October 28, 2026, my website paranjoy.in and all its associated subdomains, including media.paranjoy.in and adanifiles.paranjoy.in, were abruptly taken offline by our web hosting provider, Hostinger (HOSTINGER operations, UAB). The website, registered twelve years ago, serves as an online archive of my work over several decades as a journalist, author, publisher, and maker of documentary films and music videos
Hostinger gave no prior intimation, warning, or opportunity to respond before suspending the entire hosting account. When my colleague contacted Hostinger “Support” at 6:48 AM on October 28, a hosting “specialist” stated that the suspension was triggered by an abuse report for "Fraud/Scam" and declared that "unsuspension is not negotiable in this case."
This sudden shutdown of an entire repository under the label "Fraud/Scam" happened just days after Sameer Gehlaut, founder of the Indiabulls group, served me with an ex parte court order demanding the removal of a single article published more than seven years on Newsclick.in.
For over six years, Indiabulls and Shri Gehlaut have pursued legal action over this report and I have consistently defended our journalistic report in court. Here is the timeline:
· March 11, 2020: Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited filed a criminal defamation complaint (CC No. 1765/2020) before the Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, against NewsClick, its Reader's Editor Urmilesh, co-author of the article Sourodipto Sanyal, NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha, and me over an article published on the website on September 30, 2019.
· June 6, 2025 and July 9, 2025: More than five years after the complaint was filed, a Judicial Magistrate at Patiala House Courts passed an order on June 6, 2025, dropping proceedings against Shri Purkayastha while issuing summons to the remaining four accused, including me, under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. A formal summons was issued on July 9, 2025, for appearance on July 30, 2025.
· August 27, 2026: Counsel for Shri Gehlaut, sent me a legal notice demanding the takedown of the article within 24 to 48 hours, claiming that a status report by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police had altered the factual position.
· September 2, 2026: My counsel sent a reply pointing out concerns with the legal notice
· October 24, 2026: Indiabulls Nests Limited (Plaintiff No. 1) and Sameer Gehlaut (Plaintiff No. 2) obtained an ex parte ad interim injunction from the Court of one of the District and Sessions Judges, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, in Civil Suit No. 529/2026 (Indiabulls Nests Ltd. & Anr. v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors.), in which I am arrayed as Defendant No. 19. The order directed the removal and de-indexing of the article on paranjoy.in (listed as Item A-33 in Schedule A).
· October 25, 2026 (10:13 AM IST): Advocates representing Indiabulls Nests Limited and Sameer Gehlaut, emailed me the October 24 court order and suit documents, demanding immediate deletion and written confirmation of compliance.
· October 26, 2026 (11:33 PM IST): Sameer Gehlaut personally sent an email from his official address (sameer@indiabulls.com) demanding the immediate deletion of the URL from paranjoy.in and threatening to move the court under Order XXXIX Rule 2A of the Code of Civil Procedure if I did not comply, noting that the matter is next listed on December 18, 2026. While I was in the process of challenging the order dated 24.10.2026 before higher forums, on the same day, advocates representing Shri Gehlaut submitted a court order takedown complaint to Google LLC.
· October 28, 2026 (3:16 PM IST): Google Search Console sent an automated notice ([WNC-598900]) informing me that Google was blocking the specific URL paranjoy.in/article/the-maze… from appearing in search results on google.co.in.
The Lumen Database record of this complaint (Notice ID: 101001876) reveals the scale of the takedown request. The complaint targeted 52 URLs on websites across major national and international news organisations, including The Economic Times, Business Standard, The Caravan, The Daily Pioneer, Business Today, Deccan Herald, ET Now, Financial Express, Livemint, Moneycontrol, Moneylife, NDTV Profit, The New Indian Express, Outlook Business, The Quint, Quartz, and NewsClick, along with posts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Scribd.
Most of these reports on major corporate news websites remain accessible online. In fact, Item 39 on the Lumen takedown list is the original September 30, 2019 article published on NewsClick.in: newsclick.in/The-Maze-of-Pol…, which remains live and accessible as of now.
Yet, in the case of paranjoy.in, the entire domain and every website hosted on my account were wiped off the internet.
Hostinger's Baseless "Fraud/Scam" Claim and Demand for Accountability
Hostinger did not cite the Patiala House Courts order when it suspended my account on October 28, 2026. Instead, its representative claimed that the hosting account was permanently suspended due to an abuse report for "Fraud/Scam".
This allegation is demonstrably false:
1. VirusTotal Security Analysis: Independent domain checks conducted on October 28, 2026, at 7:48 AM and 7:54 AM on VirusTotal confirm that 0 out of 92 security vendors flagged paranjoy.in or media.paranjoy.in as malicious, phishing, or fraudulent. VirusTotal explicitly categorises paranjoy.in under "news and media".
2. Google Safe Browsing Status: Checks on the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic tool at 7:55 AM and 7:56 AM on October 28, 2026, for both paranjoy.in and adanifiles.paranjoy.in returned the status: "No unsafe content found".
My website paranjoy.in does not sell financial products, solicit funds for commercial schemes, or engage in any activity that could remotely be classified as a scam. It is a repository of public-interest journalism, books, documentary films, and investigative reports built over a lifetime of work. By acting on a fabricated "Fraud/Scam" abuse report without a single verification check or prior notice to the domain owner, Hostinger has allowed its abuse-reporting mechanism to be weaponised to censor an independent journalist.
Even where a court order directs the removal or de-indexing of a specific URL, a web hosting provider has no legal or ethical justification to pull down an entire domain and hundreds of unrelated articles, archives, and subdomains without notice.
I demand immediate answers and accountability from Hostinger:
1. Who submitted the false "Fraud/Scam" abuse report against paranjoy.in, and on what exact date and time was it received?
2. What internal verification did Hostinger's abuse team conduct before classifying a 12-year-old journalism portal as a "Fraud/Scam" site, especially when 92 security vendors on VirusTotal and Google Safe Browsing show zero malicious or unsafe content?
3. Why was no prior notice, warning, or copy of the complaint sent to me before suspending the entire hosting account?
4. On what basis did Hostinger's specialist declare that the suspension of an entire archive of journalistic work is "not negotiable"?
While my legal advisers are in the process of taking appropriate steps in court regarding the ex parte order dated October 24, 2026, and the wholesale suspension of my website, this backdoor censorship through web hosting providers sets a dangerous precedent for the independence of the media and freedom of expression as enshrined in Article (19)(1)(a) of the Constitution of India as a fundamental right of every citizen of India.
Yours sincerely
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Independent Journalist, Author, Publisher and Maker of Documentary Films and Music Videos
JohnDayal retweeted
AISA President Neha Bora delivered a sharp indictment of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during the INDIA bloc's mock impeachment, asserting that his appointment breached Supreme Court guidelines and accusing the ECI of systematically erasing 13.3 crore voters through illegal modifications to Form 6 and software manipulations.
Video: PTI
