by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World, News, World

New York : 28th Sep, As India and Pakistan addressed the world this morning from the podium at the United Nations General Assembly, thousands of Indian Americans, Kashmiris, and US rights groups protested against Narendra Modi over his government’s clampdown on Kashmir outside the UN headquarters in New York.
The Coalition Against Fascism in India (CAFI), who organised the protest, said in a press release that Modi is “orchestrating a pogrom of hate and violence against Muslims and Dalits in India,” and is “disenfranchising over seven million Kashmiris”. The Modi government had “rendered nearly two million people stateless in Assam and is building detention centres to imprison them,” they said referring to the NRC exercise.
The protest was attended by many leading activists and academics including prominent historian and academic professor Audrey Truschke and Sunita Vishwanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights.
Calling Hindutva “a bigoted political ideology with many victims”, Truschke said she opposes the government because of the fact that India’s religious minorities had faced increasing disenfranchisement and violence under Modi’s tenure. The government had condemned the media, institutions and anyone who questioned his actions, his power and his ideology. She said that Hindutva supporters openly admire Hitler and they supported the treatment meted out to Jews by Hitler in Germany.
“The Modi government has been clear in its message that criticising, or even merely accurately describing, Hindutva comes with increasing risks, which makes the scale and diversity of the current protests all the more astonishing. I urge global leaders to listen, not only to Modi but to those he has not yet managed to silence,” Truschke said.
The national general secretary of the Indian American Muslim Council, Mohammad Jawad, said that the Modi government followed the RSS’s Hindutva ideology which was responsible for all atrocities and lynchings against minorities. “We are not anti-India or anti-Hindu. We are only demanding basic human rights that the Constitution of India guarantees for all citizens,” he said.
Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of Hindus for Human Rights, said that the government was destroying Indian democracy in the name of Hinduism. “As Hindus, as Indians, and as people of conscience, we say ‘Not In Our Name’,” Viswanath said.
Hawk Newsome, chairman of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, said, “We stand united against governments that exploit the most vulnerable.”
James Sues, executive director at the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in New Jersey, said that the Modi government had “illegally stripped” the people of Kashmir of their autonomy. “We call on world leaders of conscience to reject the fascist agenda of Mr Modi and the BJP and stand with the marginalised minorities of India,” Sues said.
CAFI has demanded that the Modi government restore Article 370, end Kashmir’s “military occupation” and respect Kashmiris’ right to decide their own future. It has also demanded the repeal of the Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, the termination of the National Register of Citizens and an end to the lynchings of Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis.
The organisation also called for the freeing of political prisoners like Professor G.N. Saibaba and those in the Bhima Koregaon case and has demanded the withdrawal of “false cases” against anti-caste activists such as Anand Teltumbde.
The protest was co-sponsored by the Alliance for a Democratic and Secular South Asia, Hindus for Human Rights, India Civil Watch and Indian American Muslim Council. The protest has also been endorsed by several organisations and groups including Black Lives Matter (Greater New Y0rk), Democracy, Equality and Secularism in South Asia (DESSA), Winnipeg; India Civil Watch (ICW-Canada) and the Jewish Voice for Peace NYC.
The day before, members of the Sikh and Patidar community had demonstrated outside the UN headquarters in New York when Modi was delivering a speech on Sustainable Development at a special UN summit. The protesters, under the banner of Sikhs for Justice, alleged human rights violations in Punjab and demanded a referendum in 2020 for a separate Khalistan.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions, Politics

Mamata Banerjee
By Amulya Ganguli,
For a leader who enjoys a huge majority in the state assembly and faces virtually no credible challenge from her opponents, Mamata Banerjee is surprisingly insecure.
Her uncertainty about her political position could be seen in the violence unleashed by her party men during the panchayat elections last summer when 16,000 of the 50,000 seats went uncontested by the opposition parties apparently because the ruling Trinamool Congress activists scared away all her adversaries.
The Supreme Court had expressed shock over the absence – forced or otherwise – of the Trinamool Congress’s opponents in the polls. Now, the Calcutta High Court is considering her trepidations about the proposed Rath Yatras of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While an earlier judgment rejected the state government’s plea for banning the Yatras by saying that a threat of violence as argued by the government has to be “real, not imaginary or a likely possibility”, a subseauent verdict has favoured a closer look at what the intelligence agencies are saying.
There is little doubt, however, that Mamata Banerjee nowadays regards the BJP as a greater political threat than either the Congress, which has 42 seats in the assembly against the Trinamool Congress’s 213 in the 295-member House, or the Left which has 32. The BJP, in contrast, has three.
What is clearly worrying the Chief Minister is the jump in the BJP’s vote share from three per cent in 2013 to 23 per cent in a by-election this year where it secured the second place, relegating the Congress-Left combine to the third place. Moreover, a survey has predicted the BJP’s emergence as the principal opposition party in the state.
Behind the BJP’s rise is the perception that Mamata Banerjee is rather too lenient towards the Muslims as they comprise 28 per cent of the population. In addition, there is the longstanding problem of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, who are called “termites” by BJP president Amit Shah.
The Chief Minister’s fear probably is that the proposed Rath Yatras will raise the issue of the “termites” and call for a headcount of the “ghuspetiyas” (infiltrators) under the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal, similar to the enumeration that has already been carried out In Assam.
Reports suggest that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) foot soldiers are currently active in West Bengal with their propaganda in favour of an NRC on the grounds that if urgent steps are not taken, “then the Bengali Hindus will be aceannihilated”, as an RSS functionary has said.
The state government’s fears about the Rath Yatras are probably based on the fact that the processions taken out by the BJP on the occasion of Navratri with “weapons” in March had led to sporadic communal clashes, although they were not as serious as in neighbouring Bihar.
Although most people in West Bengal will consider Amit Shah’s boast of the BJP winning 22 of the 42 parliamentary seats in the state in 2019 as an instance of hyperbole, Mamata Banerjee cannot afford to take the “threat” lightly, for a rise in the BJP’s number of Lok Sabha seats from the present two with three runners-up will be a blow not only to her political prestige, but also to the state’s self-cultivated Leftist-“progressive” image.
An improved performance by the BJP will also undercut the Trinamool Congress leader’s national ambition as one of the architects of the anti-BJP mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) at the national level and of herself as a possible prime ministerial candidate.
As it is, the violence during the panchayat elections had shown her in poor light. Now, if the BJP Rath Yatras attract sizeable crowds, she will be even more on the defensive.
For a doughty fighter, who had routed the well-trenched Marxists, pushing them into a corner from where they are finding it difficult to emerge, the ascendancy is unthinkable of a north Indian party of vegetarian, cow-worshipping “Hindi-wallahs”, who revere a north Indian god like Ram, as a new member of the Trinamool Congress, who was earlier in the BJP, has said.
Arguably, Mamata Banerjee’s combative instincts are fired up when she has a battle on her hands. But the problem is that her party men are not among the most disciplined. Since many of them have switched to the Trinamool Congress from the Marxist communist party, they have a “history” of being violent.
But it is the BJP which will gain if the party is seen to be specifically targeted. As of now, the judiciary is with her, but she will be on a weak wicket if she tries too deseperately to stop what is undoubtedly the democratic right of an opposition party to take out Yatras. Her desperation can also be construed as a sign of being scared.
(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

Ravi Nair, Executive Director of South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, (SAHRDC), delivering inaugural speech in the Convention on “NRC, Citizenship and Dissent” in New Delhi.
Issue of NRC’s Constitutional validity diverted
By Pervez Bari, Maeeshat.in,
New Delhi: In a resolution passed in a Convention on “NRC, Citizenship and Dissent” conducted by the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, (NCHRO), it has been demanded to give Amnesty to 4 million people in Assam, who have been left out of the draft of NRC, (National Register of Citizens), and treat them as Indian Citizens by including them in it; to drop Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016; to stop discrimination on the basis of religion and language; to withdraw terming people as ‘D’ voters as it is unconstitutional; to release the victims incarcerated in Detention Camps.
While in another resolution also adopted at the conclusion of the convention it was demanded to stop arbitrary arrests and to release immediately arrested activists viz. Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Naulakha, Vernon Gonsalves, revolutionary poet Varavara Rao (Hyderabad), lawyer and author Arun Ferreira. The resolution demanded to repeal the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act known in short as UAPA.
The overall message that emanated at the conclusion of the convention was that people should come forward and join hands to defeat the fascist designs of the Central and state governments under the BJP. Speakers in the convention by and large concurred that on the NRC issue people must gird up their loins to hit the street as the matter could not be left only at the discretion of the apex court.
The convention was held here on September 23, 2018 in the India International Centre. A host of prominent thinkers, rights activists and Assamese representatives put forth their views while discussing the issues about Assam NRC and arbitrary arrests of activists and intellectuals from across the country. Prof. A. Marx, chairperson of NCHRO, delivered the welcome address.
Three persons presented papers in the convention while others spoke their mind extempore. Adv. A.R. Sikdar, Convener of D’ Voters Legal Aid Committee, NCHRO Assam Chapter), paper was titled: “On the Citizenship and Human Rights Violation in Assam”. While Aminul Haque, State General Secretary, NCHRO Assam Chapter, presented paper on “Note on Preparation / Updation of NRC”, and retired Prof. V.K. Tripathi’s (IIT, Delhi), paper was on “Citizenship issue in Assam: Sons & Daughters of the soil rise together”.
The convention was concerned that the publication of the draft NRC in Assam, is an effort to make millions of people in Assam stateless on the dubious argument that they have no identity papers. Many people born and brought up in the state do not make into the NRC. This looks like a pilot project of the BJP and there are indications that it may use it to divide people on the basis of language or religion on the eve of 2019 general election.
The speakers in the convention raised the strong voice against the Central and state governments under the BJP regime, which have been arresting and imprisoning people who oppose them in different parts of the country. And, it also asserted that the aim of such arrests is to create a sense of fear among the general public by arbitrary arrests, shootouts, spreading of false stories about terrorists and Maoists and using the repressive laws like UAPA and other so-called security laws.
Issue of Constitutional validity of NRC diverted
Meanwhile, Ravi Nair, Executive Director of South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, (SAHRDC), in his inaugural speech of the Convention alleged that the Supreme Court has diverted the real issue on Assam NRC and directed the authorities to give a second chance to those whose names not included in the final to prove their citizenship.
Nair lamented that the questions first drafted by the two-bench of the apex court to determine the issue of Constitutional validity of the NRC exercise has been sidetracked. Astonishingly the lawyer fraternity has not raised their eyebrows and remained a mute spectator the way Supreme Court has arbitrarily jumped the process and come to a thing which was to come much later.
Recalling late socialist leader, Ram Manohar Lohia’s quote: “Zinda qaumein Kisi mudde ke liye panch saal intezaar nahi kiya karteen”, Nair said the people need to hit the streets as without this struggle one cannot compel the parliament and government for decisions. He further quoted: “Jeena Hai to Marna Seekho, Qadam Qadam par Marna Seekho”.
Questioning the NRC exercise, retired Prof. V.K. Tripathi (IIT, Delhi), said the 2003 amendment (Section 3) in the Citizenship Act 1955 in 2003 says anyone (i) born between 1950 and 1987, irrespective of the citizenship of the parents, is Indian by birth; (ii) born between 1987 and 2003, is Indian if one parent is Indian citizen. The NRC must take this into account. The Indians who go abroad and work for few years get the citizenship of that country. As such we must accord at least the same right to people whose generations have lived here. In fact the borders are made porous for the working classes, he added.
Manisha Bhalla, a senior Journalist who was part of Fact Finding Team which visited Assam for 15 days before the publication of 2nd Draft of NRC, said the state is currently stalked by insecurity, uncertainty and trauma. There is grave possibility of huge fissures which will decisively impact the social and political fabric of this sensitive and strategic border state of Assam in the Northeast of India in the days to come.
Ms Bhalla said the crisis is centred on two issues: the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill first tabled in Parliament on July 15, 2016. The BJP backs the Bill. It is being vehemently opposed by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and its political front, the Atom Gina Parisad (AGP), which is in alliance with the ruling regime led by the BJP in the state. The NRC is backed by both the BJP and the AGP.
Ms Bhalla revealed Prafulla Mahanta, founder-president of AASU and twice chief minister of the state, told the fact finding team in Guwahati on June 29: “The AGP will break the alliance with the BJP if it pushes the Citizenship Amendment Bill.”
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, seeks to change the classification of “illegal migrants‟. The Bill will amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to “illegal migrants‟ from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, who are of Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Jain, or Christian origin. Muslims, or its various sects and communities, are not included in this Bill, including those who are facing persecution in Pakistan, such as the Shias and Ahmediyas.

Manisha Bhalla, a senior Journalist, addressing the NCHRO convention.
D-voter
Ms Bhalla informed that the concept of D-voter is only found in Assam. The concept of “D-Voter‟ is completely illegal. It has no place in the Indian Constitution. There can be citizens and non-citizens but not doubtful citizens.
Earlier, it was the complainant who used to bear the burden of proof, but, now, the burden of proof has shifted on to the accused. People complain that they have not received notices. Most have no access to internet. If, thereby, they miss the hearing, since they have not got a documentary/written notice, they can be declared “D-Voter‟ ex-parte.
“In majority of the cases, we found people being declared foreigners ex-parte. And therefore, they end up languishing in jails in the name of detention camps. We also found that people were declared foreigners but they have not been provided with a copy of the judgement so that they can challenge the verdict in superior courts”, Ms Bhalla stated.
E.M. Abdul Rahiman, National Executive Council Member, Popular Front of India, was of the view that until and unless the people of Assam rise to the occasion to fight out the NRC issues nothing can be done. It is not only Assam issue as it is wider matter of citizenship which may later on affect other states also. There should be a network support system within Assam to help out the aggrieved people, whose names have been excluded from the draft of NRC, to overcome the gigantic problem. It is not a humanitarian crisis but a social and political problem created by vested forces. A political agenda can only be defeated by a very vibrant, sensible and active movement which is missing in Assam at present, he opined.
Prof. Apoorvanand of Delhi University while putting forth his views, said BJP’s intentions are not any secret as its president Amit Shah dubbing all the 4 millions as “ghuspetiay’( infiltrators) which is against the ruling of the Court. He said BJP chief’s statement cannot be taken lightly as he is not a fringe leader and holds considerable clout. Recalling the speeches of Narendra Modi during run up to 2014 general election, he said first they (BJP) coined “Bangladeshi” term and now” Ghuspaitiay” as BJP’s policies will push the country on the path of disintegration. He said now demands for NRC are being raised in whole of the north east.
It is not Indian but Assamee nationalism
Dr. Tasleem Ahmad Rehmani, National Secretary of SDPI, said Assam NRC is purely a political issue to deprive Muslims and tribals from political power. He revealed that the inhabitants of Assam are not interested and concerned about Indian nationalism but their focal point is Assamee nationalism.
When the movement started the people of Assam wanted all non-Assamese, linguistic and religious, to be driven out of the state. However, Dr. Rehmani said, with the entry of saffron brigade in the political scenario in Assam and other N-E states the ongoing controversy with connivance was given a communal colour making it a Hindu-Muslim issue. He said myopic policies of RSS and BJP are pushing India towards disintegration with North Eastern states drifting away from the Indian nationalism
Aminul Haq, State general secretary, NCHRO Assam Chapter, also said the local staff involved in NRC exercise was inspired by Assami nationalism sentiments. It is an effort to make millions of people in Assam stateless on the dubious argument that they have no identity papers, he added.
Haq said with huge anomalies in the final draft of NRC lakhs of genuine Indian Citizens had not got equal opportunities in verification process. Many of the officers engaged for NRC duties misuse their quasi judicial power to exclude maximum names from the final draft. This happened mostly in the name of scrutiny (special verification and quality check). After the publication of final draft when excluded applicants want to know the causes of their exclusion as per the norms of NRC, the grassroots level officers could not give them proper reply. In many cases they give some absurd and arbitrary replies to their queries. In maximum cases the excluded applicants couldn’t be satisfied with the answers given by the NRC authorities.
Meanwhile, Dr. Abul Bashar (State president, NCHRO Assam Chapter), and Adv. A. Mohammed Yusuff (National Secretary, NCHRO), Adv. Amit Srivastav (Programme Convener, NCHRO), and Ashok Kumari (Delhi Chapter president, NCHRO) also spoke in the convention.
Swati Sinha (Joint Convener, NCHRO) conducted the proceedings while Adv. Ansar Indori, State General Secretary, NCHRO Delhi Chapter proposed a vote of thanks.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the commencement of submission of claims and objections on inclusion of names in Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft from September 25.
A bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said that the claims backed by 10 identity documents allowed by the court will continue for 60 days from the said date.
“We are doing this as a matter of concession,” the court said, citing recommendation by state coordinator Prateek Hajela and the Union of India.
“The process of receipt of claims and objections will now begin on and from September 25 and will remain open, tentatively, for 60 days effective from September 25”, the court added.
“We make it clear that insofar as filing of claims and objections are concerned it will be open for the claimants to rely on any one or more of the following 10 documents,” the court said.
On left-out five identity documents, the order said “… the issue is kept open till such time that… Project Coordinator Prateek Hajela offers his views/comments with regard to the statements made in the affidavit of the Union of India dated September 17.”
The court said that it was “putting on hold” the five identity documents. These will be open for consideration at a later stage after assessment of ground realities 30 days after commencement of filing of claims, it added.
The 10 documents that can be relied on for submitting claim for inclusion in the NRC list are land documents, permanent residence certificate, life insurance policy of LIC, any licence/certificate issued by any government authority, documents showing service/employment under government/PSU, bank/post office account, birth certificate issued by competent authority, educational certificate issued by board/university and record/processes of judicial or revenue court.
The five identity documents excluded for now are ration card, extract of NRC of 1951; extract/certified copy of electoral rolls up to midnight of March 24, 1971; refugee registration certificate issued up to March 24, 1971; and ration cards issued by competent authority with official seal and signature up to March 24, 1971 (midnight).
The court said that Hajela would offer his views on the “permissibility of introduction of any one or more of the (five identity) documents, at this stage of the updation process, in the light of the changed stand of the Union of India.”
The 10 identity documents are out of the 15 suggested by the state coordinator that around 40 lakh people can produce to stake claim for inclusion in the register.
As Attorney General K.K. Veugopal questioned exclusion of the five documents, Justice Nariman said: “We find these five documents can be manufactured and the “possibility of the misuse of documents is enormous.”
The Attorney General said that the “legacy and the family tree can also be bought.”
The court said: “We have not shut the door. At this stage we are going to receive the documents and review the situation after 30 days. After that, we can re-open for review the question and give them another 30 days.”
Those who have one of the 10 permitted documents can file claims and others can wait, the court said as the Attorney General said that the certified copy of the electoral rolls is a statutory document and can’t be fudged.
The Attorney General sought to know the court’s rationale of not sharing Hajela’s report submitted to the court earlier on recommendations for permitting second chance to leftout persons based on 15 identity documents.
“There is some material in the report which is not in public interest. Their disclosure will impede further course of action. We have to protect the officer (Hajela),” said Justice Gogoi.
As Venugopal said that the report was safe if given to the government, Justice Gogoi said: “Is there any doubt about the safety of the document? If not more, it is as safe.”
It said that the Attorney General’s request for a report copy wil be considered on October 23, adding that “we are of the view that having regard to the sensitive nature of some of the information contained therein which may affect the entire exercise undertaken and also the exercise that may be required to be undertaken by the Court the said report/reports should remain in the custody of the Court for the present.”
Asking Hajela to give his views on the issues flagged by the Centre and others, the court directed him not to share any information pertaining to the ongoing NRC updation with any executive, legislative or judicial authority of the state without court permission.
The matter will be heard next on October 23.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics

Raghubar Das
By Brajendra Nath Singh,
Ranchi : With BJP deciding to focus on identity issues in the coming elections, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das says there is need for a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in his state also to check infiltration from Bangladesh because Hindus have become a minority in some districts.
He also favours job reservations on the basis of economic backwardness and called for a consensus on the issue.
“We will take all Bangladeshis out one by one. There is no doubt about it. In Pakur, Hindus are now in a minority. Bangladeshis are more than 50 per cent in Pakur while the numbers have increased significantly in Sahebganj, Godda and Jamtara districts. We will implement NRC in Jharkhand,” Das told IANS in an interview during a visit organised by the BJP’s Good Governance Cell.
The Jharkhand government has approached the union Home Ministry in this regard and is waiting for its response for initiating the exercise.
The Chief Minister accused the political parties of patronising Bangladeshi infiltrators across the state and said the issue needs to addressed at the earliest.
“It is very unfortunate that Congress has been doing votebank politics even after 67 years of our independence. All these problems are due to Congress’ votebank politics. They did politics for breaking the country while we (BJP) are doing politics to unite the country,” he said.
He alleged that Sahebganj, Pakur, Godda and Jamtara are the worst-hit districts where hundreds of illegal migration of Bangladeshi infiltrators has taken place in Jharkhand.
Seeking job reservations on the basis of the economic criteria, the chief minister demanded a national-level discussion on the issue to evolve a consensus.
“I am in favour of reservation on the basis of economic condition. In society, everybody is not rich. It is not that all those belong to upper caste are rich. I am in favour of it. There are poor people in every society. The issue needs to be discussed and a consensus needs to be evolved, he said.
The Chief Minister also backed the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ but rejected any advancing of dates for the Assembly polls in Jharkhand along with the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Assembly polls are scheduled in Jharkhand six months after the Lok Sabha polls.
“I am also in favour of one nation, one election. The Prime Minister has given a call for debate on the issue. An atmosphere in its favour must be created by debate and discussion. It is not that we want and they want. It’s a matter of consensus. It needs to be passed by parliament. If a consensus is evolved, there may be simultaneous polls of Lok Sabha and Assemblies in 2024, he said.
Asked whether he would go for Assembly polls together with Lok Sabha polls, he said: our election will be at its scheduled time and Lok Sabha elections will be at its scheduled time. There are no ifs and buts. Why would I go for early polls. My condition is not bad.”
The Chief Minister said that there would be no impact of the grand alliance in 2019 and claimed that the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would again emerge victorious.
“Whether it is alliance or grand alliance (mahagathbandhan), we are not worried at all. Can oil and water mix together? Even when you mix oil and water together they will still separate. Our focus is on strengthening the organisation. We have a leadership like Modiji, on whom the people of the country have strong faith.”
(Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted brajendra.n@ians.in)
—IANS