by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Amulya Ganguli,
There will probably be a mixed reaction in the secular camp to Rahul Gandhi’s temple-hopping in Gujarat.
To some, it may seem to be a negation of the Congress’s vaunted secular credentials and that, too, by the great grandson of the man who championed the concept of keeping the state separate from religion in independent India.
To others, it was probably a tactical move to deprive the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of an opportunity to project the Nehru-Gandhis, and their party, as anti-Hindu, a propaganda ploy which the saffron brotherhood has been using for many years along with the depiction of “Raul Maino” as someone who is not an Indian at all.
If BJP MP Subramanian Swamy is to be believed, Rahul is a Catholic and a UK citizen. It was perhaps necessary, therefore, for the Congress president to counter such charges from a party which can apparently go to any lengths to tarnish an opponent. Hence Rahul’s assertion that he is a devotee of Lord Shiva and does not need anyone’s permission to visit temples.
That may not have stopped one BJP Chief Minister, Gujarat’s Vijay Rupani, from asking why doesn’t Rahul go to the Akshardham temple in Delhi which is not far from his house and another, Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath, to say that his posture in the temple precincts was like someone offering namaz, the Muslim form of prayer.
However, whatever his tireless critics may say, the BJP may be compelled to be somewhat more careful in future in its endeavours at character assassination.
It is possible that Rahul’s temple visits, along with his silence on the condition of the Muslims in Gujarat, have been in response to senior Congress leader A.K. Antony’s observation in his report on the 2014 election results that the perception of minority appeasement continues to hobble the Congress.
At the same time, Rahul has to realise that his visits to temples cannot be a one-time affair. He will have to continue with these excursions irrespective of whether elections are being held or not. Otherwise, he will expose himself to the politically damaging conclusion that his visits were indeed no more than tactical manoeuvres intended to rob the BJP of a political point during a crucial battle.
Rahul’s trips to temples cannot be like his earlier practice of slumming when he used to spend a night in a Dalit hut with a bottle of mineral water.
Arguably, it may be advisable for him to change tack by visiting the places of worship of other religions as well. That will be in sync with Mahatma Gandhi’s preference for readings from the scriptures of all religions at his prayer meetings to underline India’s composite culture.
Visits to mosques, churches, gurdwaras and synagogues, along with going to temples, may be interpreted as too palpably showy and pretentious, especially by a person who has not been noticeably religious-minded till the Gujarat elections.
But it has to be remembered that the Congress is up against a party which regards itself as a monopolistic wholesaler in the business of projecting Hinduism and, therefore, the latter’s ploys can only be countered by taking the matter of flaunting faith to a different and higher level.
It is possible that the BJP will be flummoxed by its adversary visiting the shrines of all religions because it is something which the party of cultural nationalism — one nation, one people, one culture — will never be able to do lest it should undermine its Hindu supremacist agenda.
However, demonstrating devotion to all religions will be widely recognised as typical of non-communal Hindus who have always regarded secularism as a celebration of all faiths, attending midnight mass on Christmas eve and visiting dargahs as that of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer in large numbers.
As the Antony report pointed out, the Congress’s mistake was that it deviated from the country’s long-standing syncretism and focussed on pandering to Muslim sentiments. This approach may have been understandable in the aftermath of partition when the Muslims felt lost because of the departure for Pakistan of the community’s tall leaders like Mohammed Ali Jinnah and the collapse of organisations like the Unionist Party in Punjab and Krishak Praja Party in Bengal which were based on Hindu-Muslim amity.
Since the Muslims consequently turned to the Congress as their only hope, the party apparently decided to treat them as its special responsibility. That this policy worked satisfactorily is evident from the BJP remaining in the margins of national politics till the early 1990s.
However, it was the Congress’s inability to counter the whipping up of communal sentiments by the Hindutva lobby over the Ram temple issue from the 1990s which helped the BJP to make political gains.
Arguably, Rahul’s temple trips are a belated exercise to blunt the BJP’s tactic of pretending to be the sole custodian of Hinduism. But this opportunistic “soft” Hindutva line doesn’t seem to have worked in Gujarat if the exit polls are to be believed. It is time, therefore, for him to change tack and embrace other religions as well.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA)
Mumbai : The Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) on Friday urged all opposition leaders, including Congress President-elect Rahul Gandhi, to extend their support for the proposed Muslim family law.
In a letter to Gandhi and other major Opposition parties, the BMMA founders – Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Niaz – said that although the Supreme Court has struck down ‘Triple Talaq’ in its judgement last August, other issues like ‘nikah halala’, polygamy, age of marriage, custody of children, etc, remain unaddressed.
The BMMA has been actively raising these issues to end the legal discrimination and demanding justice and equality in family matters which are orthodox, patriarchical and male-dominated, they said.
The males have stonewalled all attempts towards reforms in the Muslim Personal Law and Muslim women have been denied their Quranic rights as as well as their rights as equal Indian citizens.
“Among all Muslim countries in the world, such as Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and even Bangladesh and Pakistan in our neighbourhood have codified personal laws governing marriage and family matters. But Indian Muslim women have been denied protection of law,” said Soman and Niaz.
They pointed out a 2015 research study where 92.1 percent of all Muslim women sought a total ban on oral/unilateral divorce and 91.7 percent opposed polygamy, while 83.3 percent felt that codification of Muslim family law would help Muslim women get justice.
In its grassroots work in different parts of India, the BMMA has found that just as Hindus, Christians and Parsis have their own personal laws and Muslims must also have a similar personal law ensuring equality and dignity to their womenfolk.
The two activists said that this can be achieved either through amendments to the Shariat Application Act, 1937 and Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, or by enacting a completely new Muslim Personal Law with the desired reforms.
The BMMA has already prepared a draft on this based on Quranic tenets concerning age of marriage, mehr, talaq, polygamy, maintenance, custody of children, etc, which in consonance with the Constitution.
The draft suggests that the minimum marriage age for girls and boys be 18 and 21 respectively, consent of both sides without force or fraud for marriage, minimum ‘mehr’ to be equivalent to one full annual income of the groom to be paid at the time of solemnising ‘nikaah’.
Besides, the BMMA draft says talaq’should precede a mandatory arbitration over a 90-day period and polygamy should be declared as illegal, while ‘halala’ and ‘muta marriage’ should be made punishable offences.
On children, it seeks that both the mother and father be declared as natural guardians of the child, and custody of children be based on the best interests and decision of the child.
Similarly in property matters, the Quranic shares to be applied while making will or clearing debts for ensuring justice to the women.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Mashqoor Ahmad
Aligarh : Mashqoor Ahmad Usmani from Bihar has been elected as the next students union president of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), varsity officials said on Tuesday.
Usmani, who hails from Darbhanga, polled 9,071 votes and defeated his nearest rival Ajay Singh by 6,719 votes.
Singh is the grandson of former Uttar Pradesh minister and BJP legislator from Barauli Thakur Dalveer Singh. He got 2,353 votes. Abu Baqar stood third with 2,192 votes.
The results were announced after midnight. An official announcement will be made later in the day.
Sajjad Rathar was elected the Vice President and Mohammad Fahad bagged the secretary’s post.
A total of 18,200 students voted on Monday to elect the new leaders.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
(Dec 11 is Dilip Kumar’s 95th birthday)
By Vikas Datta,
Debuting on screen in British India, appearing in some of Indian cinema’s greatest classics and still present — over eight decades later — in the hearts of a vast multitude of fans with whom he remains connected over social media, Dilip Kumar is not just Bollywood’s oldest living star but also an Indian institution.
The “Tragedy King” — who excelled at broad comedy too — could play a prince or a peasant with equal ease, display profound intensity or a jaunty nonchalance with the same skill. Dilip Kumar, who turned 95 on Monday, is someone who repeatedly reinvented himself as both an actor and a person.
“Taqdeeren badal jaati hai, zamana badal jata hai, mulkon ki tareekh badal jaati hai, Shahenshah badal jaate hai, magar is badalti huyi duniya mein mohabbat jis insaan ka daman thaam leti hai, wohi insaan nahi badalta,” he said, as Prince Salim in one of his most memorable roles. And this might describe Dilip Kumar’s own long, inspiring life — but not his acting.
For, over two decades after masterfully playing the rebellious son facing off a stern and dutiful father in “Mughal-e-Azam” (1960), he could take up the latter role in “Shakti” (1980) with the same intensity, though not the bombast of Prithviraj Kapoor.
That was the calibre of Mohammed Yousuf Khan, alias Dilip Kumar, a natural actor using the “method system” before it was even named, in a career lasting over half a century.
A Pathan boy who got personally picked by then reigning Bollywood diva Devika Rani to debut opposite her in “Jwar Bhata” (1944), he went on to become the “tragedy king” of Bollywood’s first trinity — where he outlived and, arguably, outperformed Raj Kapoor’s naivety and Dev Anand’s cheerful insouciance. All subsequent superstars — from Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan — would owe him a debt.
But there was more to his career than we know.
For one, the “shy 22-year-old son of a Pathan fruit merchant”, born and raised in Peshawar, played a Muslim in only one of his 60-odd films — in “Mughal-e-Azam”, while the Abdul Rahim Khan of “Azaad” (1955), was a guise for Kumar alias Azaad — and he was more likely to play characters named Shankar, or Ram and Shyam, Vijay or Kundan.
Above all, he “single-handedly refined histrionics” and refined acting “to an art form of exalted brilliance”, says his wife Saira Banu in her introduction to his memoirs “Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow”.
And this was despite having no plans of joining the profession, but was believed — by his grandmother especially — to be destined for fame, following a faqir’s prediction. Then his father Ghulam Sarwar’s decision to shift his business and family near then Bombay in the late 1930s and his own independent streak, all in their way led to Yousuf Khan becoming Dilip Kumar.
Far too many remember him for his “brooding” roles. But while he performed these with a restrained and refined subtlety, from the fatal modern triangle of “Andaz” (1949) to the pre-modern “Devdas” (1955) or even “Yahudi” (1957) set in Ancient Rome, down to “Mashaal” (1984) and “Karma” (1986), he had a much varied palette.
If he could play the lovelorn Prince Salim, he could also be the bouncy and swashbuckling Jai Tilak of “Aan” (1952) or the outgoing Yuvraj in “Kohinoor” (1960), match portrayals of the rustic Gungaram of “Ganga Jamuna” (1961) or Sagina Mahto (in both the eponymous Bengali film and its Bollywood remake, 1974) with those of city slickers like ebullient prankster Vijay Khanna of “Leader” (1964) or the rich, spoiled twin Sanjay in “Bairaag” (1976).
Dilip Kumar also symbolised newly-independent India in all its diversity and promise of a bright future, showcased in films like “Naya Daur” (1957), as Lord Meghnad Desai argues in “Nehru’s Hero: Dilip Kumar in the Life of India” (2004).
If he did so in films, so did he in his personal life. Saira Banu informs that her husband could give a mellifluous azaan or quote from the Quran, but also from the Bhagvad Gita and the Bible, celebrates Diwali with the same fervour as Eid; he had also, as Sheriff of Bombay in the 1980s, presided over the breaking of the arduous 30-day fast of Jain children.
And he had no airs. My father Vijay Datta, who worked for liquor company Mohan Meakins, recalls Dilip Kumar, as a director, was a frequent visitor to the plants at Ghaziabad, Solan and Lucknow, where he would cheerfully interact with all in chaste Urdu or “theth” Punjabi and was remarkably self-effacing.
It has been a “Suhana Safar” for Dilip sahab and we pray for many more happy and healthy years for him.
(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Anand Singh,
New Delhi/Patna : The NIA, which arrested suspected LeT operative Abdul Naeem Sheikh from Uttar Pradesh last month, has summoned a District Transport Officer (DTO) of Bihar for his alleged links with the terrorist, an official said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Sheikh alias Nomi, 37, on November 28 from Charbagh bus stand in Lucknow in a joint operation with the Uttar Pradesh Police’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).
The NIA official, on condition of anonymity, told IANS they have summoned a DTO officer, identified as Diwakar Jha, posted in Bihar’s Buxar district, for questioning over his alleged links with Sheikh.
According to the NIA official, Jha had inaugurated Sheikh’s coaching centre in Bihar’s Gopalganj district in 2015, when he was posted there.
The official said the anti-terror probe agency has recovered some pictures of Jha with Sheikh.
Sheikh, who is said to have done a recce of army and power installations in Jammu and Kashmir, was caught after he applied for a passport under a fictitious name.
The NIA official said that security agencies stumbled upon a lead to Sheikh after a man complained that his address was being used by the LeT operative for his passport.
“He had applied for a passport on the address of Sarraj Ahmed, a resident of Gopalganj’s Jungalia area in Ward No 19.”
“But before he could get his passport in hand, Ahmed approached police and complained about it,” the official said.
“He got his Pan card and Aadhaar card, which were also made on the same address under the name of Sheikh Sohail Khan,” the official said.
“Sheikh resided in Gopalganj till March 2017,” he added.
Sheikh was hiding in Bihar’s Gopalganj district by changing his name after escaping from the custody of central agencies in August 2014.
The suspected LeT operative was wanted by security agencies in various cases, including the Mumbai train attacks of 2006-2007.
He was earlier nabbed by security agencies at that time and was under trial. In August 2014, he managed to give the slip to security agencies and escaped when he was being taken from Dum Dum Central jail (Kolkata) to Mumbai to appear in court. He fled while the train was passing through the thick forests of Chhattisgarh.
After fleeing from custody, Sheikh established a new sleeper cell under instruction from his LeT handler Amjad, the official said.
The case has been handed over to the NIA for further probe.
On December 2, the NIA has arrested a youth leader Dhannu Raja from Gopalganj for his alleged links with Sheikh.
Sheikh is also an accused in the Aurangabad arms haul case and was arrested by the West Bengal police in 2007 while entering India from Bangladesh along with two Pakistanis and one Kashmiri.
Security agencies have dubbed Sheikh as “David Coleman Headley” as he had been following in his footprints and did reconnaissance of similar areas.
Pakistani-American Headley is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his involvement in terror activities and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks of 2008.
(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in )
—IANS
