tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25970111666563369852024-03-15T16:17:23.672-07:00Dilip Simeon's blogIt has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow human beings: M. K. Gandhi / People all seek to know what they do not know yet; They ought rather seek to know what they know already-Zhuang Zhou / If a person ain't careful; they can make a profession out of revenge: Godless, TV serial
NB: Explore my blog by clicking'LABELS' & 'ARCHIVE' on the top LEFT PANEL. You can also use the SEARCH function on top. Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1082125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-72889344044150762372022-07-10T05:06:00.001-07:002022-07-10T05:06:04.442-07:00Javed Anand: The vishwaguru fantasy<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB:</b> The Sangh Parivar is obsessed with the goal of rectifying history. They are still fighting with the Mughals; still dreaming of military glory while the world burns. At some point people will understand that Akhand Bharat and Hindu Rashtra are mutually incompatible ideals, but in the meantime millions will suffer the cruelties and injustice of communal hatred and violence. Communal politics and each and every variety is disguised atheism, it only wears the mask of religion. But some lessons come very late. <b>DS</b><br /><br /><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rss-chief-mohan-bhagwat-vishwaguru-remarks-7978655/">Javed Anand: The vishwaguru fantasy</a><br /><br />So which is the real Mohan Bhagwat? The one who, while addressing swayamsevaks at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on June 2, advised Hindus not to go looking for a ‘Shivling’ in every mosque? Or the one who in the course of the same speech squarely blamed Indian Muslims for repeatedly testing the patience of Hindus with their provocative words and deeds? Hindu society does not accept any form of extremism, he asserted, while claiming that the same cannot be said of Indian Muslims. So is the victim being named the accused?<br /><br />Forget the ugly reality of today’s hate-filled, conflict-torn India where Hindutva’s zealots are forever opening new fronts to hound and hurt Indian Muslims. Welcome to the make-believe, fantasy world of the RSS chief. What is today known as Hindu religion, we are told, is the very same “world religion”, “religion for all humanity” enunciated by India’s rishi-munis in ancient times. The essence of this world religion lies in love for all, unity in diversity, respect for all forms of worship and faith, believing in and practicing “manavta, sabka saath, sabka vikaas”. Haven’t we heard that before?<br /><br />The world today, said Bhagwat, is in urgent need of a universal vision and the hour is near for India to step forward and guide the world, be the “vishwaguru”. For this to happen people of India (religion no bar) have to come together. That should not be difficult. Though the form of worship of Indian Muslims may be “foreign”, they remain our “blood relations”, share the same ancestry and heritage, said the RSS chief. Equivocation? Hope still for Indian Muslims?<br /><br />Unfortunately for Bhagwat, by their derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed, the BJP’s now-suspended spokesperson, Nupur Sharma, and the expelled head of the media cell of the party’s Delhi unit, Navin Kumar Jindal have ruined the whole show. The self-proclaimed “vishwaguru” is currently having a hard time convincing the world that it in fact respects all religions. Is all talk of “world religion”, the tall claim of Hindu exceptionalism and the vishwaguru proclamation nothing but jumlas?<br /><br />Sharma’s remarks incidentally had hit the headlines several days before Bhagwat’s Nagpur meeting. His homilies would perhaps have carried some credibility had he named Sharma and castigated her in his speech for her “un-Hindu” conduct. But then, be it Sharma or Yati Narsinghanand or numerous others of their ilk, the RSS chief never takes names, sticks to generalities that offend none. With governments of 15 Muslim majority countries demanding an official apology from the BJP-led government of India, the offending remarks were sought to be wished away as coming from “fringe elements.” A tacit admission that the fringe now occupies the Centre?<br /><br />Perhaps the bruised and battered Muslim community should nonetheless be grateful for small mercies, be thankful to the RSS chief for asking Hindus not to go looking for a Shivling in every mosque in the country. On the current Gyanvapi mosque dispute Bhagwat has opined that it is among the few temples which are of special significance (vishesh shraddha) to Hindus. It would be best if the two sides sat together and arrived at an amicable solution, failing which both sides must unreservedly respect the verdict of the courts. The RSS chief added that “contrary to its nature”, the organisation got involved in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement for “certain historical reasons” but it does not intend to be part of any such movement now. The question remains: where will the RSS stand when “others” launch a movement or the Modi-government decides to repeal the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991? (Bhagwat made no reference to the Act in his speech).<br /><br />In any case, the mandir-masjid dispute is not the only one that plagues current day India. In the past eight years of the Modi-led government, Hindutva’s hate factory has developed the fine art of forever manufacturing new issues to target Muslims. Far from acting to contain the menace, forget others, even the Prime Minister (a former RSS pracharak) effectively supports the hate-Muslims agenda with his dog-whistles from time to time. Only the willfully blind will fail to see that thanks to Hindutva’s unrelenting 24/7 propaganda Muslims today are hated as never before. And to any form of Muslim resistance to the unceasing assaults against the community, be it the BJP government at the Centre or in the states, the default response now is UAPA, NSA, sedition charge and the bulldozer.<br /><br />While Bhagwat is feeding us the vishwaguru fantasy, reputed international organisations including Genocide Watch are warning of an impending genocide of Indian Muslims. In December last year, at a meeting of the RSS-VHP inspired Dharam Sansad, Hindu religious leaders publicly called for the genocide of Indian Muslims. Till date, neither the RSS chief nor the Prime Minister of India has said a word in condemnation of this open incitement of to mass murder. Such deafening silence on a matter of life and death makes one wonder whether the RSS chief inhabits a parallel universe or is he feeding us a lie.<br /><br />In February 2018, the RSS chief made a stunning statement at a meeting of the organisation in Muzaffarpur: “Preparing an army takes six to seven months but we [RSS cadres] will be battle ready in two-three days...this is our capability and discipline that marks us apart.” An impressive army, no doubt. Could it be his case that none from his mammoth countrywide network of the RSS-spawned sangh parivar has anything to do with unceasing attacks on the minority community, or with Hindutva’s Hate Factory’s ongoing, ever intensifying hate-Muslims, hate-Islam campaign? Isn’t all this happening under the watch of the BJP governments at the Centre and the states? What else is the BJP but the political wing of the RSS?<br /><br />Recall the popular TV ad some years ago in which Amitabh Bachchan tries to hoodwink a little boy into parting with his soft drink bottle. The boys response: “<i>Aap mujhe ulloo samajhte hain</i> (Do you think I am a fool?) Similar is the feeling of Indian Muslims in response to Bhagwat’s homilies on manavta et al which run parallel to Hindutva’s continuing onslaught on the community.<br /><br /><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rss-chief-mohan-bhagwat-vishwaguru-remarks-7978655/">https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rss-chief-mohan-bhagwat-vishwaguru-remarks-7978655/</a><br /><br />(The writer is convener, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy and co-editor, Sabrang India online).</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="gmail_default" style="color: blue;"><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></i></div><div><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy.html">Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy support free speech; condemn hate speech, death threats / Media coverage of IMSD Statement</a></span></u></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><br /></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/prashant-bhushan-another-arresting.html">Prashant
Bhushan: Another ‘Arresting’ Judgment in Favour of BJP and Narendra Modi</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/javed-anand-on-rss-reassurances-to.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Javed Anand: On RSS reassurances to Muslim, deeds matter more than words</span></span></a></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/08/javed-anand-human-question-why-silence.html">Javed
Anand - A human question - why the silence over the mass crimes being committed
in Iraq in the name of Islam? // Ahmad Rashid - The new Taliban</a></span></span></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/javed-anand-what-is-at-stake-in-hijab.html"><span lang="EN-US">Javed Anand: What is at stake in the
hijab issue</span></a></span></u><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/08/javed-anand-ms-wadud-we-are-ashamed.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Javed
Anand - Ms Wadud, we are ashamed</span></a></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-good-news-karnataka-belur-temple.html">The good news - Karnataka: Belur temple continues
tradition of starting festival with Quran recitation / Hindus protected mosque
during Ramnavmi procession in Bihar / ‘This is Hindustan’: Hindu woman
protected Muslim shopkeepers during riots in Rajasthan</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/08/vyapam-whistleblower-anand-rai.html"><span lang="EN-US">Vyapam
whistleblower Anand Rai questions why the RSS has deserted him</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-emperors-masks-apolitical-rss-calls.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls
the shots in Modi sarkar</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-law-of-killing-brief-history-of.html">The law of
killing - a brief history of Indian fascism</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-instigator-how-ms-golwalkars.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Instigator: How MS Golwalkar’s virulent ideology
underpins Modi’s India. By HARTOSH SINGH BAL</span></span></a></span><u style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p></div><div style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div class="adm" style="margin: 5px 0px;"><div class="ajR h4" id="q_34" style="background-color: #e8eaed; border-radius: 5.5px; border: none; clear: both; color: #500050; cursor: pointer; font-size: 11px; line-height: 6px; outline: none; position: relative; width: 24px;"></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-62306791491270940092022-07-07T07:38:00.004-07:002022-07-07T07:38:40.781-07:00Prashant Bhushan: Another ‘Arresting’ Judgment in Favour of BJP and Narendra Modi<span style="font-family: verdana;">The arrest of human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and R.B. Sreekumar, the former additional director general police, by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad on the basis of a first information report (FIR) that copiously draws on the Supreme Court judgment in the Zakia Ehsan Jafri case is patently malafide.<br /><br />The arrest came close on the heels of the Supreme Court judgment dismissing the challenge by the widow of late Congress leader Ehsan Jafri, to the closure report filed by the special investigation team (SIT), thereby discarding the allegations of a larger conspiracy by high state functionaries, in the Gujarat riots of 2002. The arrest <a href="https://theprint.in/india/amit-shah-lashes-out-at-teesta-setalvad-after-sc-dismisses-plea-challenging-clean-chit-to-pm-modi/1011513/">was preceded</a> by home minister Amit Shah’s coming down heavily on Setalvad, accusing her of giving baseless and false information about the Gujarat riots, soon after the Supreme Court’s clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<br /><br />The Supreme Court judgment gratuitously slams not only Zakia Jafri but also Setalvad and others by its totally unwarranted and incriminating remarks, <a href="https://thewire.in/law/supreme-court-order-teesta-setalvad">saying</a>, “All those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law.” <span style="background-color: #ffe599;">Such an order is unprecedented for a constitutional court that is tasked as the cu</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: #ffe599;">stodian of people’s fundamental rights and is mandated to be a neutral arbiter of justice at the highest level. It is appalling for the Supreme Court to openly prod the authorities to bring to book those who fearlessly and selflessly undertook a difficult battle against the State and police authorities at all levels of the judiciary for many years, with the hope to bring justice to the victims of the 2002 Godhra riots.</span><br /><br />A former Congress MP, Ehsan Jafri, <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/gulberg-society-2002-gujarat-ehsan-jafri-verdict">was killed</a> by a mob in the first wave of violence in Gujarat in 2002, along with 68 others when the Gulberg Society was attacked by a mob. He was killed despite his frantic calls for help to various police and state officials and a few minutes after <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-it-is-important-to-remember-ehsan-jafri-7795207/">he was visited</a> by the commissioner of police, Ahmedabad, who had assured him protection.<br /><br />Since then, his wife has been seeking a fair investigation to bring to justice those who were allegedly complicit in the riots that led to her husband’s death and especially those who were in charge of the state administration at that time.....</span><p><a href="https://thewire.in/law/zakia-jafri-case-supreme-court-favour-bjp-narendra-modi"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://thewire.in/law/zakia-jafri-case-supreme-court-favour-bjp-narendra-modi</span></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/sc-order-on-zakia-jafris-appeal-illegal.html" style="font-family: verdana;">Kamini Jaiswal: SC order on Zakia Jafri's appeal 'illegal, unconstitutional and violates every tenet of law' / Eminent Citizens Write To CJI to clarify Zakia Jafri judgment</a></p><div><br /></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/karnataka-high-court-judge-threatened.html">Karnataka
High Court judge threatened for questioning the functioning of Anti Corruption
Bureau</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/07/photos-emerge-of-udaipur-killers-links.html">Photos
Emerge of Udaipur Killer’s Links to BJP Leaders</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/debunking-myth-only-17-political.html"><span lang="EN-US">Debunking a Myth: Only 17 Political
Parties Of 105 In EC List Got Electoral Bonds.</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2018/01/an-ex-cm-commits-suicide-in-2016.html">An
ex-CM commits suicide in 2016, alleging corruption in the high judiciary - no
probe. A judge in a sensitive case dies a mysterious death. India's pliant
media covers it up. What Does the SC Judges’ protest mean for this situation?</a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/11/purushottam-agarwal-nehrus.html">Purushottam Agrawal - Nehru's Spectacularly
Indian Vision and the Wrath of the RSS</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/05/on-jawaharlal-nehrus-52nd-death.html"><span lang="EN-US">On
Jawaharlal Nehru's 52nd death anniversary, watch scenes from his funeral
procession // Apoorvanand - Forged in adversity: Attacks on Jawaharlal Nehru's
legacy will only strengthen his legacy</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-44263531509475730252022-07-02T20:33:00.005-07:002022-07-02T20:33:39.149-07:00Photos Emerge of Udaipur Killer’s Links to BJP Leaders<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #282828; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Riyaz Attari, the man who filmed himself brutally murdering a tailor in Udaipur named Kanhaiyal this week to avenge an alleged insult to the Prophet, was described by a local Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader as a “dedicated worker of the BJP” in a Facebook post less than two years ago.</span></span></p><p class="_yeti_done" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #282828; letter-spacing: 0.2px; line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Irshad Chainwala and Mohammad Tahir are influential members of the Rajasthan State BJP Minority Morcha and the RSS-promoted Muslim Rashtriya Manch and their Facebook timelines have photographs of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2184922718390130&set=pb.100006172690805.-2207520000..&type=3" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #b71c1c; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Attari posing next to the BJP’s leader in the Rajasthan assembly Gulab Chand Kataria</a> and senior Udaipur BJP leader Ravindra Shrimali (<em style="box-sizing: inherit;">see below</em>). Other posts show Attari attending BJP events wearing a party scarf and being garlanded by Chainwala and Tahir...</span></p><p><a href="https://thewire.in/security/as-photos-emerge-of-udaipur-killers-links-to-bjp-leaders-party-moves-to-damage-control-mode"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://thewire.in/security/as-photos-emerge-of-udaipur-killers-links-to-bjp-leaders-party-moves-to-damage-control-mode</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;">Bharat Bhu</span></u><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;">shan: New Bharatiya Janata
Party's troubled road ahead / Sickular Libtard: Nupurgate and after</span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/what-veneration-of-gandhis-killer-says.html">What the Veneration of Gandhi’s Killer Says
About India. By Yasmeen Serhan</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/aao-secular-secular-khelein.html">Aao, secular secular khelein</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/some-uncomfortable-thoughts-on-urban.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some uncomfortable thoughts on 'urban naxals'</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/11/rss-and-modi-brazenly-intimidating.html" target="_blank">RSS and Modi brazenly
intimidating the Supreme Court</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/bharat-bhushan-it-suits-rss-to-allow.html">Bharat Bhushan: It suits the RSS to allow
BJP to encourage defections from other parties</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/01/some-information-for-israelis-and-rest.html">Some information for Israelis (and the rest
of us)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/swati-chaturvedi-it-was-bjp-who-made-it.html">Swati Chaturvedi: It Was BJP Who Made It
Mamata vs Modi. Too Far</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/anand-k-sahay-idea-behind-capturing.html">Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing
power in any kind of way: fair or foul</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/11/modi-says-congress-committed-sin-of.html">Modi says Congress committed 'sin' of
partition // The Non-politics of the RSS</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-supreme-court-gandhi-and-rss.html" target="_blank">The Supreme
Court, Gandhi and the RSS</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-political-function-of-modern-lie.html">Alexandre Koyré The Political Function of
the Modern Lie</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-emperors-masks-apolitical-rss-calls.html">The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls
the shots in Modi sarkar</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/10/tears-give-way-to-rage-in-sunpedh.html"><span lang="EN-US">Tears
give way to rage in Sunpedh village, CBI to investigate Dalit killing</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Asim Ali - Collective surrender The story
of New India is not being written by Narendra Modi alone<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Society of the
Spectacle / '<b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">इमेज</span></b>' - 'Image': A
Poem on Deaths in the Age of Covid</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Communalism in Modern India:
A Theoretical Examination (1986)<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/kuldeep-kumar-short-history-of-rss-and.html"><span lang="EN-US">KULDEEP
KUMAR - A Short History of the RSS and BJP’s Double Standard on Sedition</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/question-that-stays-with-me-ravish.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="HI">एक</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">बात</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">हमेशा</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">ज़हन</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">में</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">सवाल</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">खड़े</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">करती</span><span lang="HI">
</span><span lang="HI">है</span> A question that stays with me... / Ravish
Kumar's Speech at Berkeley (2019)</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue; font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-6810486929953737242022-06-14T19:13:00.080-07:002022-06-15T03:57:01.787-07:00Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy support free speech; condemn hate speech, death threats / Media coverage of IMSD Statement<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB</b>: To this timely statement I will add just one observation directed at all those groups and individuals who seem to derive their meaning of life via abuse, hatred, machismo and what in north India we call <i>rangdaari</i>. I have commented on this useless controversy <a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/bharat-bhushan-new-bharatiya-janata.html">here</a> - read it if you can still engage in rational conversation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Can all spokespersons of the ruling party and its allies - not to mention other devotees of the Almighty - please try and get pleasure out of the small things in life? Eat some mangoes, or ice cream. Enjoy the company of friends and loved ones, unless they too have gone over the cliff-edge of communal lunacy. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ladies and gentlemen, you are a pathetic disgrace. If this is your religion, your patriotism, your nationalism, all I can say is God help us. Put a lid on it. <b>DS</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>IMSD support free speech; condemn hate speech, death threats</u></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy
(IMSD) deplores the divisive and hate-driven politics behind the statements
made by the now-suspended spokesperson of the BJP, Nupur Sharma, but it
unequivocally condemns the threats to her life. IMSD also strongly condemns Al
Qaeda for threatening retaliatory terror acts.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">IMSD believes that democracy is inconceivable without the freedom of
speech, a freedom that is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. All healthy
democracies however make a clear and principled distinction between the right
to free speech and a bar on hate speech that impinges on the right to life and
dignity of the marginalised. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">The right to free speech includes the right to critical, rational enquiry
and healthy criticism of all forms of religious beliefs and practices. In a
democratic state, there should be no place for any law on blasphemy as it has a
chilling effect on free speech. We thus categorically oppose the demand by
certain Muslim/ Islamist/ Hindu/ Hindutva organizations for a blasphemy law in
India. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">The right to criticism includes the right to offend, as also the right of
those offended to protest in peaceful and lawful ways. But the offended have no
right to silence the offender: no god, gods, goddesses, prophets or saints may
be invoked to justify the killing of fellow humans. We once again reiterate
that any threat made to the life and liberty of Nupur Sharma is highly
condemnable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While fully supporting freedom of
expression, IMSD believes that in highly polarised and communally charged
societies such as India today is, hate speech must not be confused with free
speech. At a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dharam Sansad</i> last
December Hindu religious leaders openly called for the genocide of Indian
Muslims. International organisations including Genocide Watch have warned that
India is on the brink of a genocidal bloodbath. But India’s Prime Minister
continues to remain silent on the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 6.0pt; margin: 6pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">The recent United States Commission for
International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) 2022 annual report on India is a case
in point. It says: “Religious freedom conditions in India are taking a drastic
turn downward, with national and various state governments tolerating
widespread harassment and violence against religious minorities.” </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoCommentText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">Although Muslim persecution has a long history in
this country, the past eight years have been relentless with everyday threats
of targeted violence, </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">fear and intimidation, which has seen members
of their community lynched in public and these killings celebrated, been
repeatedly taunted, humiliated, hurt, incarcerated on bogus charges, lynched
under the watch of the RSS-blessed, BJP-led governments at the Centre and in
several states. </span></span></p><p class="MsoCommentText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">Hindutva’s Hate</span><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"> Factory is working
24/7 to demonise Indian Muslims, vilify them and a complicit electronic media
offers a ready platform for daily mud-slinging, verbal warfare under the
pretence of debate. IMSD would also like to call out the so-called Islamic
scholars who are bringing a disrepute and playing with the safety and security
of Muslims by participating in such prefixed TV debates. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">The over dozen governments from
Muslim-majority countries which have now expressed outrage over the insult to
the Prophet have been conspicuous by their total silence in the last eight
years, and earlier, despite repeated attacks on Indian Muslims, including the
recent call for genocide. IMSD is not the least surprised because these very
governments have no respect for human rights and freedom of expression.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">We
demand that these governments mend their ways, promote fundamental rights and
freedoms of all citizens, in their own countries and across the globe. </span><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;">It is
rather rich for these despotic regimes to teach us lessons in secularism and
pluralism. But what can one say when our own government has created this
unfortunate situation? Clearly the Modi government's hardline Hindutva brand of
politics has undermined India's international standing and respect among the
comity of nations.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We appeal to all sections to maintain peace and
religious harmony. We appeal to Muslims in particular, not to get swayed by the
rhetoric of Islam in danger. The ongoing protests have already consumed
precious lives and going by the past actions of the government, it will
deplorably be followed by mass arrests and demolitions. Those who are howling
from the pulpit will escape and burden of proof, as always, will be on the
shoulders of the poor Muslims. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let us resolve not to listen to anyone who is
stoking our fear and insecurity. The Constitution is enough to reclaim our
rightful place in the republic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana;">Javed Anand</b></p><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Convener</b>, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.imsd.in&source=gmail&ust=1655344414828000&usg=AOvVaw0US9hNeLxybyDdfgq89lOr" href="http://www.imsd.in/" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank">www.imsd.in</a></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Trustee</b>, Citizens for Justice and Peace<br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Co-editor</b>, Sabrang India Online - <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.sabrangindia.in&source=gmail&ust=1655344414828000&usg=AOvVaw3pYBXKP8yqHLCSb6UT8JaW" href="http://www.sabrangindia.in/" target="_blank">www.sabrangindia.in</a></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-family: verdana;">*************************************************************</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="background-color: #fcff01; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat Bhushan: New BJP's troubled road ahead / Sickular Libtard: Nupurgate and after<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-family: verdana;">*************************************************************</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Media coverage of IMSD Statement</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IMSD condemns hate-driven politics, opposes
calls for blasphemy law<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/imsd-condemns-hate-driven-politics-opposes-calls-for-blasphemy-law-7967835/">https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/imsd-condemns-hate-driven-politics-opposes-calls-for-blasphemy-law-7967835/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indian Muslims group supports free speech;
condemns hate speech, death threats<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://sabrangindia.in/article/indian-muslims-group-supports-free-speech-condemns-hate-speech-death-threats">https://sabrangindia.in/article/indian-muslims-group-supports-free-speech-condemns-hate-speech-death-threats</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mumbai Muslim leaders, intellectuals slam
‘hate speech, death threats’ (IANS)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.andhram.com/national/mumbai-muslim-leaders-intellectuals-slam-hate-speech-death-threats/">https://www.andhram.com/national/mumbai-muslim-leaders-intellectuals-slam-hate-speech-death-threats/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.truescoopnews.com/newsdetail/mumbai-muslim-leaders-intellectuals-slam-hate-speech-death-threats">https://www.truescoopnews.com/newsdetail/mumbai-muslim-leaders-intellectuals-slam-hate-speech-death-threats</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.newkerala.com/news/2022/78363.htm">https://www.newkerala.com/news/2022/78363.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://ommcomnews.com/india-news/mumbai-muslim-leaders-intellectuals-slam-hate-speech-death-threats">https://ommcomnews.com/india-news/mumbai-muslim-leaders-intellectuals-slam-hate-speech-death-threats</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=968456">https://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsDisplay?newsID=968456</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Muslim body condemns threats to suspended
BJP leader Nupur Sharma<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/muslim-body-condemns-threats-to-suspended-bjp-leader-nupur-sharma/ar-AAYqzC7">https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/muslim-body-condemns-threats-to-suspended-bjp-leader-nupur-sharma/ar-AAYqzC7</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">‘Nupur Sharma’s remarks are also wrong and
threats to her’, more than 100 personalities condemned ‘Bulldozer Raj’<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://hindustannewshub.com/india-news/nupur-sharmas-remarks-are-also-wrong-and-threats-to-her-more-than-100-personalities-condemned-bulldozer-raj/">https://hindustannewshub.com/india-news/nupur-sharmas-remarks-are-also-wrong-and-threats-to-her-more-than-100-personalities-condemned-bulldozer-raj/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://morningexpress.in/nupur-sharmas-remarks-are-also-wrong-and-threats-to-her-more-than-100-personalities-condemned-bulldozer-raj/">https://morningexpress.in/nupur-sharmas-remarks-are-also-wrong-and-threats-to-her-more-than-100-personalities-condemned-bulldozer-raj/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://countercurrents.org/2022/06/imsd-supports-free-speech-condemns-hate-speech-death-threats/" title="Permalink to IMSD supports free speech; condemns hate speech, death threats">IMSD
supports free speech; condemns hate speech, death threats</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://countercurrents.org/2022/06/imsd-supports-free-speech-condemns-hate-speech-death-threats/">https://countercurrents.org/2022/06/imsd-supports-free-speech-condemns-hate-speech-death-threats/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IMSD condemns hate-driven politics, opposes
calls for blasphemy law<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://viraltrunk.com/imsd-condemns-hate-driven-politics-opposes-calls-for-blasphemy-law/">https://viraltrunk.com/imsd-condemns-hate-driven-politics-opposes-calls-for-blasphemy-law/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Prophet remark row: Muslim body condemns
threats to suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/prophet-remark-row-muslim-body-condemns-threats-to-suspended-bjp-leader-nupur-sharma-23231521">https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumbai-news/article/prophet-remark-row-muslim-body-condemns-threats-to-suspended-bjp-leader-nupur-sharma-23231521</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IMSD condemns hate-driven politics, opposes
calls for blasphemy law<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://fdtbio.online/imsd-condemns-hate-driven-politics-opposes-calls-for-blasphemy-law/">https://fdtbio.online/imsd-condemns-hate-driven-politics-opposes-calls-for-blasphemy-law/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IMSD condemns threats to Nupur Sharma, says
about ‘bulldozer raj’…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.edules.com/2022/06/13/imsd-condemns-threats-to-nupur-sharma-says-about-bulldozer-raj/">https://www.edules.com/2022/06/13/imsd-condemns-threats-to-nupur-sharma-says-about-bulldozer-raj/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">IMSD Co-Convener Slams Gulf Nations For
'Hypocrisy' Amid Protests Against Nupur Sharma's Prophet Remark<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVD1GifKv0\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tVD1GifKv0\</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy
condemned threats received by Nupur Sharma bulldozer raj- IMSD condemns Nupur
Sharma’s threats, said about ‘bulldozer raj’…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://qanswer.in/nupur-sharma-controversy-indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy-condemned-threats-received-by-nupur-sharma-bulldozer-raj-imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-threats-said-about-bulldozer-raj/">https://qanswer.in/nupur-sharma-controversy-indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy-condemned-threats-received-by-nupur-sharma-bulldozer-raj-imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-threats-said-about-bulldozer-raj/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span><span lang="EN-IN">‘</span><span lang="EN-IN">नूपुर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">शर्मा</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">टिप्पणी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">भी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">गलत</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">और</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">उन्हें</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">मिलने</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">वाली</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">धमकियां</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">भी</span><span lang="EN-IN">’, 100 </span><span lang="EN-IN">से</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">ज्यादा</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">शख्सियतों</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">ने</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> ‘</span><span lang="EN-IN">बुलडोजर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">राज</span><span lang="EN-IN">’ </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">निंदा</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/india/imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-she-is-receiving/articleshow/92186447.cms">https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/india/imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-she-is-receiving/articleshow/92186447.cms</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://worrydot.com/2022/06/14/javed-akhtar-on-nupur-sharma-row-imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-she-is-receiving-%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0-%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE/">https://worrydot.com/2022/06/14/javed-akhtar-on-nupur-sharma-row-imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-she-is-receiving-%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%81%E0%A4%B0-%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN">आईएमएसडी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">ने</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">नुपुर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">शर्मा</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">टिप्पणी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">और</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">उन्हें</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">मिल</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">रही</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">धमकियों</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">निंदा</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://hindi.theprint.in/india/imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-she-is-receiving/340509/">https://hindi.theprint.in/india/imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-she-is-receiving/340509/</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.ibc24.in/country/imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-he-is-receiving-945577.html">https://www.ibc24.in/country/imsd-condemns-nupur-sharmas-remarks-and-threats-he-is-receiving-945577.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN">इंडियन</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">मुस्लिम्स</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">फॉर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">सेकुलर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">डेमोक्रेसी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">ने</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">नूपुर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">शर्मा</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">को</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">मिल</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">रही</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">धमकियों</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">निंदा</span><span lang="EN-IN">, </span><span lang="EN-IN">जानें</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">क्या</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">कुछ</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">कहा</span><span lang="EN-IN">?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.indiatv.in/india/national/nupur-sharma-controversy-indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy-condemned-threats-received-by-nupur-sharma-bulldozer-raj-2022-06-13-857393">https://www.indiatv.in/india/national/nupur-sharma-controversy-indian-muslims-for-secular-democracy-condemned-threats-received-by-nupur-sharma-bulldozer-raj-2022-06-13-857393</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN">IMSD News : </span><span lang="EN-IN">अख्तर</span><span lang="EN-IN">, </span><span lang="EN-IN">शाह</span><span lang="EN-IN">, </span><span lang="EN-IN">आजमी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">सहित</span><span lang="EN-IN"> 100 </span><span lang="EN-IN">शख्सियतों</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">ने</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> 'Bulldozer Raj </span><span lang="EN-IN">की</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">निंदा</span><span lang="EN-IN">, </span><span lang="EN-IN">नुपुर</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">से</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">जताई</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span><span lang="EN-IN">नाराजगी</span><span lang="EN-IN"> <br />
<br />
<a href="https://janjwar.com/national/imsd-news-100-people-including-javed-akhtar-nasiruddin-shah-shabana-azmi-condemned-yogi-bulldozer-raj-opposed-blasphemy-law-today-breaking-news-latest-news-in-hindi-latest-news-live-taza-khabar-today-news-821936">https://janjwar.com/national/imsd-news-100-people-including-javed-akhtar-nasiruddin-shah-shabana-azmi-condemned-yogi-bulldozer-raj-opposed-blasphemy-law-today-breaking-news-latest-news-in-hindi-latest-news-live-taza-khabar-today-news-821936
</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #fcff01; font-family: verdana;">************************************</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/10/anna-politkovskaya-award-shared-by.html"><span lang="EN-US">Anna
Politkovskaya Award shared by Pakistani Activist and Gauri Lankesh</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/raghu-karnad-indian-liberals-must-die_13.html"><span lang="EN-US">RAGHU
KARNAD: Indian Liberals Must Die. Gauri Lankesh and the vernacular Indian left</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-eloquence-of-silence-choice-is.html"><span lang="EN-US">The
eloquence of silence - The choice is between speaking up and keeping quiet. By
Samantak Das</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/journalist-gets-threat-for-criticising.html"><span lang="EN-US">Journalist
gets threat for criticising a Modi Govt scheme. Is reminded of Gauri Lankesh's
fate</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/07/gauri-lankeshs-kannada-news-website.html"><span lang="EN-US">Gauri
Lankesh’s Kannada news website banned by Facebook?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/edward-snowden-everything-going-great.html"><span lang="EN-US">Edward
Snowden - Everything Going Great: Bad Faith, Worse News and Julian Assange</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/03/anushka-baruah-what-ramjas-teaches.html">Anushka Baruah - What Ramjas teaches // MSU
Baroda Cancels Workshop on Caste citing Ramjas incident: Protest by Indian
Cultural Forum Collective</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/essay-by-ak-ramanujan-censored-by-dus.html">The essay by AK Ramanujan censored by DU's
Academic Council</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-k-ramanujan-works-dropped-from-new-du.html">A K Ramanujan works dropped from new DU
syllabus</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-01-06/pune/28323621_1_bori-bhandarkar-oriental-research-institute-islamic-india">Sambhaji Brigade vandalised the Bhandarkar
Institute in Pune in 2004</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/javed-anand-what-is-at-stake-in-hijab.html"><span lang="EN-US">Javed
Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/08/javed-anand-ms-wadud-we-are-ashamed.html">Javed Anand - Ms Wadud, we are ashamed</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/javed-anand-on-rss-reassurances-to.html"><span lang="EN-US">Javed
Anand: On RSS reassurances to Muslim, deeds matter more than words</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/petition-re-suspension-of-academic-in.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Suspension
of academic in Kerala because he talked about fascism and Sangh Parivar</span></span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-42999608517739892552022-06-12T20:19:00.001-07:002022-06-12T20:19:44.091-07:00Totally illegal, says ex-CJ of Allahabad High Court; bulldozer cases in limbo / Owaisi's questions for Yogi govt<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB</b>: Our honourable senior judges may kindly let us know if they have totally abandoned their constitutional duty to exercise oversight on the actions of the executive. In face of their silence, may we assume that this kind of hooliganism by the Yogi government will be allowed to continue with impunity? Should we also assume that they do not consider the illegal destruction of citizens homes to be a serious matter worthy of judicial cognisance? Are we to assume that the Indian Constitution has been suspended for the duration of this RSS/BJP government? What should we do? Pray? <b>DS</b><br /><br />The bulldozer brought in by the Uttar Pradesh government in Prayagraj on Sunday to raze the house of Mohammad Javed is part of a familiar playbook: the issue is under substantive challenge in three courts, the Supreme Court, Allahabad High Court and the Madhya Pradesh High Court. And in all three, the cases are in a limbo. The bulldozing of houses, under the pretext of alleged violations of the state’s municipal and urban planning laws, has been challenged before the courts as a violation of fundamental rights and due process. In many cases, notices are issued but the demolition is timed with a protest and a particular section is targeted giving the subject no time to appeal.<br /><br />“This is totally illegal. Even if you assume for a moment that the construction was illegal, which by the way is how crores of Indians live, it is impermissible that you demolish a house on a Sunday when the residents are in custody. It is not a technical issue but a question of rule of law,” former Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Govind Mathur told The Indian Express Sunday.</span><p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/totally-illegal-says-ex-cj-of-allahabad-high-court-bulldozer-cases-in-limbo-7966462/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://indianexpress.com/article/india/totally-illegal-says-ex-cj-of-allahabad-high-court-bulldozer-cases-in-limbo-7966462/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/socrates-if-whole-is-ailing-part-cannot.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Socrates:
If the whole is ailing the part cannot be well / Ajit Prakash Shah: Darkness at
noon, felled by the judiciary</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/as-bulldozers-raze-down-jnu-student-s-house-owaisi-has-a-question-for-yogi-govt-101655037327388.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Owaisi's questions for Yogi govt</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Asaduddin Owaisi,
chief of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), on Sunday reminded
the <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/bulldozer-on-mafia-will-continue-vows-cm-yogi-day-after-protests-rock-up-over-prophet-remarks-101654964695697.html" target="_blank">Yogi Adityanath</a>-led Uttar Pradesh government about people
who have been accused of serious crimes, but had their houses safe, while a
vocal Muslim’s home is being brought down.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Hyderabad MP’s
statement came in the wake of the UP administration launching a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/demolition-notice-at-welfare-party-leader-s-house-after-prayagraj-violence-101655010696730.html" target="_blank">“bulldozer drive”</a> following violent protests in parts
of the state against remarks on Prophet Mohammad by now-sacked BJP leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Owaisi also expressed
his solidarity with former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student
leader <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-bulldozer-drive-in-up-shashi-tharoor-asks-cm-yogi-under-what-law-101655029463689.html" target="_blank">Afreen Fatima</a> whose house was demolished in
Prayagraj.”What happened to Modi’s & Yogi’s sympathy for Muslim women?” he
wrote in a Twitter post. Her father, Javed Mohammad, has been named as a key
conspirator of Friday's violence.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/videos/news/as-bulldozers-raze-afreen-fatima-s-house-in-prayagraj-oppn-question-yogi-govt-101655058497699.html">As
bulldozers raze Afreen Fatima's house in Prayagraj, oppn question Yogi govt</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/death-knell-for-rule-of-law-karti-chidambaram-after-bulldozers-out-in-up-101655009194291.html">'Death
knell for rule of law': Karti Chidambaram after bulldozers out in UP</a></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/lucknow-news/akhilesh-slams-yogi-govt-over-bulldozer-drive-wonders-what-kind-of-justice-is-this-101655032333694.html"><i><span style="font-family: times;">Those
who created unrest have security, but...’: Akhilesh slams Yogi govt over
bulldozer drive</span></i></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Referring to Ashish
Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra ‘Teni’, who has been accused of
running his car over four farmers and a journalist in Uttar Pradesh’s <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/topic/lakhimpur-kheri" target="_blank">Lakhimpur
Kheri </a>few months ago, Owaisi said, “Teni’s son is accused of killing 5
people. SC has cancelled his bail. But his house is safe.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He also spoke about
how controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand, accused of making 'inflammatory'
speeches on multiple occasions, and his accomplices are roaming freely, and
policemen ‘carrying out custodial torture” are been awarded by the government.
However, being a vocal Muslim has become “a crime” under the current regime, he
added.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/as-bulldozers-raze-down-jnu-student-s-house-owaisi-has-a-question-for-yogi-govt-101655037327388.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/as-bulldozers-raze-down-jnu-student-s-house-owaisi-has-a-question-for-yogi-govt-101655037327388.html</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/ramachandra-guha-supreme-court-must.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ramachandra Guha: Supreme Court must reflect on its calling as defined by the Constitution - and the direction it is taking</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/ramachandra-guha-unmaking-of-india.html">Ramachandra
Guha: The unmaking of India</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/ramachandra-guha-gandhi-said-rss-was.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ramachandra
Guha: Gandhi said RSS was ‘communal with a totalitarian outlook’ – and that’s
still true</span></a></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-message-and-appeal.html">A message and an appeal</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/ramachandra-guha-why-attack-young.html">Ramachandra Guha: Why attack young
Kashmiris for a crime committed by someone else? // This Student Helped
Evacuate Hundreds Of Kashmiris After Pulwama</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/rss-organisations-in-dehradun-force-two.html">RSS organisations in Dehradun force two
colleges to say they won’t admit Kashmiris</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/meet-the-21-year-old-who-helped-evacuate-hundreds-of-kashmiris-to-safety_in_5c6dc23ee4b0f40774cba4ac?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage">This Student Helped Evacuate Hundreds Of
Kashmiris After Pulwama</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/our-men-didnt-die-so-someone-could.html">Our Men Didn’t Die So Someone Could Spread
Communal Hatred: CRPF</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/naeem-akhtar-aftermath-of-pulwama-marks.html">Naeem Akhtar: The aftermath of Pulwama
marks the retreat of political engagement with Kashmir // Mukul Kesavan:The
road to ruin</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/peoples-alliance-for-democracy-and.html">People’s Alliance for Democracy and
Secularism (PADS) condemns mob violence against Kashmiri students and traders</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/kashmiri-pandit-who-helped-stranded.html">Kashmiri Pandit who helped stranded
Kashmiri Muslims After Pulwama. By Betwa Sharma</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/10/manmohan-singh-signals-congress-shift.html"><span lang="EN-US">Do our leaders want to certify political
assassination?</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/04/anil-nauriya-manufacturing-memory.html"><span lang="EN-US">ANIL NAURIYA: Manufacturing Memory</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/09/ayush-chaturvedi-main-gandhi-ke-saath.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ayush Chaturvedi: Main Gandhi ke saath hun // Samar
Halarnkar: In the time of Godse, a search for Hindus who will stand with Gandhi</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/10/rabindranath-tagores-essay-on-cult-of.html">Rabindranath
Tagore's essay on the cult of the nation</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><br /></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><br /></u></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-48130618422657247542022-06-06T02:37:00.007-07:002022-06-06T02:38:44.980-07:00What the Veneration of Gandhi’s Killer Says About India. By Yasmeen Serhan<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Imagine an America in the not-so-distant future. A right-wing populist politician has just been reelected president of the United States, stirring a wave of ethnonationalism not seen since the Trump presidency. Amid the country’s nativist turn, a cult of personality forms around John Wilkes Booth, the actor who fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre just days after the end of the Civil War. Members of the president’s party hail Booth as a champion of the Confederate cause. Statues and memorials are erected in his honor. Although the president still pays lip service to Lincoln and his legacy, he is politically aligned much more closely with Booth.</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the United States, this is a futurological fantasy, but in India a similar scenario is a reality: The man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India’s independence movement and the country’s most revered figure, is celebrated today—by some, at least—as a national hero. Nathuram Godse, who shot Gandhi to death on January 30, 1948, and was hanged the following year, has been hailed by Hindu nationalists, including some members of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/national/martyr-s-day-hindu-mahasabha-pays-tribute-to-nathuram-godse-news-50334">a martyr</a> and <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/lok-sabha-elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019-nathuram-godse-a-patriot-says-bjp-s-pragya-thakur/story-uq5EU9OWje7r5tmORd7UsK.html">a patriot</a>. Statues and memorials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/world/asia/india-gandhi-nathuram-godse.html">have been erected</a> in his honor. Even Godse’s birthday, May 19, is <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/may/19/hindu-mahasabha-celebrates-nathuram-godses-birth-anniversary-at-its-office-in-gwalior-2145467.html">celebrated</a> by groups such as the right-wing political party Hindu Mahasabha as a kind of holy day.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This year, that day
happened to fall on the press night for </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ-t_wGuJqo" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank"><i>The
Father and the Assassin</i></a><span style="font-family: verdana;">, a new play at the National Theatre in London
about the life of Godse by the Indian playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar. That a
show about the man who killed Gandhi would open today in an international city
speaks to the transformation of a figure once reviled, if even remembered, into
an ascendant avatar of Hindu nationalism and its hold over present-day India.</span></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Godse subscribed to
the teachings of the Indian politician and political activist Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar, whose <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/05/hindu-nationalism-narendra-modi-india-election/590053/" target="_blank"><i>Hindutva</i> ideology</a> articulated an Indian
identity inextricably tied to the Hindu faith. Godse was also a member of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu-nationalist paramilitary organization
founded in 1925 that seeks the creation of a Hindu <i>rashtra</i>, or
“nation.” This idea of India posed a direct challenge to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/05/narendra-modi-india-religion-hindu-nationalism/630169/" target="_blank">the secular and inclusive vision</a> of the country
championed by Gandhi and India’s other founding fathers. Godse believed that
Gandhi had betrayed Hindus by acquiescing to the partition of India (which led
to the creation of Muslim-majority Pakistan) and acceding to Muslim demands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“Once you get to know
my story,” says Shubham Saraf in the role of Godse at the National Theatre,
“then you’ll understand me.” In a larger perspective, to understand Godse’s
reputation today is to get to know India itself, and see how it has changed. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The lionization of
Godse in India today would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago. In the
aftermath of Gandhi’s assassination, Godse and his co-conspirators were
condemned as traitors. The organizations with which Godse was affiliated were
vilified and, in the case of the RSS, even temporarily banned. “The cause for
which he stood suddenly became discredited,” Kapil Komireddi, the author
of </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, told me.
By killing the nation’s </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Bapu</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">, or “father,” “Godse was perceived as
an evil and a monster,” he said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This toxicity would
stick into the 1980s, when the RSS’s political wing, the now-ruling BJP, was
formed. Until that point, “no respectable Indian wanted to touch the RSS,”
Audrey Truschke, a historian of South Asia at Rutgers University, told me. But
as the BJP became more popular, Hindu-nationalist policies slowly began
creeping back into currency, culminating in the election of Modi in 2014. While
Modi continues to <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/martyrs-day-mahatma-gandhi-january-30-2022/article38348896.ece" target="_blank">pay tribute</a> to Gandhi, whose legacy still holds
enormous soft power in India and around the world, Modi’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/05/hindu-nationalism-narendra-modi-india-election/590053/" target="_blank">Hindu-nationalist policies</a> and worldview are more in
tune with Godse’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/05/narendra-modi-india-religion-hindu-nationalism/630169/" target="_blank">Read: The Hinduization of India is nearly complete</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“You will always
remain a footnote,” one of the prison guards goads Godse in the play, as he
awaits trial for Gandhi’s murder. Footnote no more: The rehabilitation of Godse
is now visible across the country in the form of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/world/asia/india-gandhi-nathuram-godse.html" target="_blank">statues</a>, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/states/story/20171204-madhya-pradesh-nathuram-godse-temple-hindu-mahasabha-1092724-2017-11-24" target="_blank">temples</a>, and <a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/godse-gyan-shala-hindu-mahasabha-opens-study-centre-dedicated-to-nathuram-godse-in-mp-s-gwalior/705569" target="_blank">memorials</a>. The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which is
governed by the BJP, even made a bid to rename the city of Meerut after Godse
(though it ultimately <a href="https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/meerut-nathuram-godse-nagar-name-will-not-change-up-government-573743" target="_blank">failed</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">What little is known
about Gandhi’s killer, however, suggests that the Hindu-nationalist symbol he
has become bears little resemblance to the man he actually was. Chandrasekhar
wrote Godse in <i>The Father and the Assassin</i> as neither an
ideologue like Savarkar nor a political giant like Gandhi. Rather, Godse
emerges as an impressionable young man questing for a sense of purpose in a
country undergoing immense change. He eventually found that calling in an
ideology of jingoism and hate, which the play suggests was rooted in a phobia
about being seen as weak or effeminate because his parents had initially raised
him as a girl, fearing that he would otherwise share the fate of three older
male siblings who had died in infancy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today, Godse “is
presented as a nationalist, as someone who was very much concerned about Hindu
interests, but the reality was completely different,” Dhirendra K. Jha, the
author of <i>Gandhi’s Assassin: The Making of Nathuram Godse and His Idea
of India</i>, told me. Far from being deeply religious or patriotic, Jha
argued, Godse was loyal only to the RSS and its extremist aims. The group did
not repay his loyalty after the assassination - attempting to distance itself by
claiming that Godse was no longer a member. Even Godse adopted this party line,
though Jha said that archival records <a href="https://thewire.in/books/rss-godse-gandhi-assassin-dhirendra-jha-book-excerpt" target="_blank">tell a different story</a>. The disgrace and disavowals seem a
long way from India today, where some BJP politicians have gone out of their
way to <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/south/godse-supporter-wins-election-in-tamil-nadu-on-bjp-ticket-1084128.html" target="_blank">express their admiration</a> for Godse.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The question of
Nathuram Godse’s real identity is, in a sense, irrelevant. As with most <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/11/guy-fawkess-misunderstood-legacy/601336/" target="_blank">political symbols</a>, their utility has little to do with how
closely they cleave to historical accuracy. “The appeal of Godse doesn’t rely
so much on Godse,” Komireddi said. “The appeal of Godse really rests in the
appeal of Modi and the kind of country India is becoming.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/06/godse-cult-gandhi-assassin-india/661154/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/06/godse-cult-gandhi-assassin-india/661154/</span></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-supreme-court-gandhi-and-rss.html" target="_blank">The Supreme Court, Gandhi and the RSS</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u style="background-color: white;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/aao-secular-secular-khelein.html&source=gmail&ust=1654594028805000&usg=AOvVaw0EnMfZbL4ZDBxfdEC_795K" href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/06/aao-secular-secular-khelein.html" style="color: blue;" target="_blank"><span>Aao, secular secular khelein</span></a></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2012/03/report-of-commission-of-inquiry-into.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-abolition-of-truth_29.html">The Abolition of truth</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><div><br /></div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/11/rss-and-modi-brazenly-intimidating.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;">RSS and Modi brazenly intimidating the Supreme Court</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/bharat-bhushan-it-suits-rss-to-allow.html">Bharat Bhushan: It suits the RSS to allow BJP to encourage defections from other parties</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/01/some-information-for-israelis-and-rest.html">Some information for Israelis (and the rest of us)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/swati-chaturvedi-it-was-bjp-who-made-it.html">Swati Chaturvedi: It Was BJP Who Made It Mamata vs Modi. Too Far</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/anand-k-sahay-idea-behind-capturing.html">Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/11/modi-says-congress-committed-sin-of.html">Modi says Congress committed 'sin' of partition // The Non-politics of the RSS</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-emperors-masks-apolitical-rss-calls.html">The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls the shots in Modi sarkar</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-72381298452118837242022-06-02T22:12:00.016-07:002022-06-02T22:17:01.307-07:00 Express editorial: Troubling questions about law and order in the Kashmir Valley<span style="font-family: verdana;">The killing of yet another Kashmiri Pandit in Budgam district of Kashmir Valley is a disturbing development, and further evidence that the J&K administration has been unable to prevent such targeted killings. Last month, a Kashmiri Pandit was injured when militants shot at him in Kulgam. Before that, another killing shook a small Rajput community that has been living in south Kashmir for years.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">On Thursday, the person targeted was Rahul Bhat, a young revenue department official, who had moved to the Valley under a two-decade old Central employment scheme for Kashmiri Pandits whose families had left during the 1990 exodus. Shockingly, he was shot by his two assailants in the government office where he worked. Last October, after a spate of attacks on Kashmiri Pandits and migrant workers, the J&K police had claimed to have killed the “masterminds” behind the attacks.<br /><br />However, it has been clear for several years that a policy that focuses on “elimination” of militants alone is not working. Militancy in Kashmir is a revolving door that produces more recruits for each one that is killed in an encounter. That these killings are being carried out by local boys is well known. The police have said there is an increasing presence in the Valley of “foreign” militants — that usually means they are from Pakistan — and that they are pushing young Kashmiris to carry out these killings.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Last month, after more such killings, the police said they would launch night patrols in remote villages where non-migrants lived in order to prevent attacks on soft targets. But how much protection can a stretched police force provide to individuals or groups is the question that Kashmiri Pandits who seek to return to the Valley have been asking....</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/budgam-kashmiri-pandit-killing-police-7916268/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/budgam-kashmiri-pandit-killing-police-7916268/</span></a></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-kashmir-files.html"><span lang="EN-US">The
Kashmir Files</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/05/bharat-bhushan-stuffing-separatists-in.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat
Bhushan - Stuffing separatists in jail: A muscular Kashmir policy will fail</span></a></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/anil-nauriya-targeting-kashmirs-leaders.html">Anil Nauriya:
Targeting Kashmir’s leaders / Not a Muslim vs the rest issue - the
Destruction of a Historic Party-Understanding Kashmir and the National
Conference Experience (2002)</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-superflous-people-rahul.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Superflous people - review of 'Our Moon has blood clots'</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/01/kashmir-16-yrs-on-wandhama-victims.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmir - 16 yrs on, Wandhama victims ...</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/03/kashmiri-pandit-sangharsh-samiti-press.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti Press Release ...</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/06/june-4-kashmiri-pandits-stage-protest.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmiri Pandits Stage Protest March in Srinagar</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/04/mansoor-anwar-on-comrade-abdul-sattar.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Mansoor Anwar on Comrade Abdul Sattar Ranjoor</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/p-b-mehta-what-attacks-against.html"><span lang="EN-US">P. B.
Mehta: What the attacks against minorities in Kashmir reveal</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2016/02/what-is-to-be-undone.html">What is to be
Undone</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/01/dhrubo-jyoti-30-years-of-pandit-exodus.html"><span lang="EN-US">Dhrubo
Jyoti - 30 years of Pandit exodus: Night of terror that prefaced years of exile</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/10/we-fear-for-400-kashmiri-pandit.html"><span lang="EN-US">We Fear
For the 400 Kashmiri Pandit Families in South Kashmir: Sanjay Tickoo</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/when-hindu-is-killed-in-kashmir-all.html"><span lang="EN-US">When a
Hindu is killed in Kashmir, all Kashmiri Muslims must condemn it, just as all
Hindus must condemn lynching of Muslims anywhere in India - Sanjay Tickoo</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/08/rashmi-singh-migrant-workers-in-valley.html"><span lang="EN-US">Rashmi
Singh - Migrant Workers in the Kashmir Valley</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/quratulain-rehbar-year-on-kashmiri-mans.html"><span lang="EN-US">Quratulain Rehbar: A Year On, Kashmiri Man’s Family
Despairs His Continued Incarceration Under PSA</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/09/history-archive-communist-party-of.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Communist Party of India Report (1950) - Imperialist aggression in
Kashmir</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/10/high-court-of-jammu-and-kashmir-upholds.html"><span lang="EN-US">High
Court of Jammu & Kashmir upholds Sanjay Tickoo's petition for
protection of religious places and castigates communal versions of nationalism</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/sankarshan-thakur-splintered-vision.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sankarshan
Thakur: Splintered vision</span></span></a></div><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/p-b-mehta-with-eyes-wide-open-were.html">P. B. Mehta: With eyes wide open, we’re
hurtling into an abyss / In Jahangirpuri, bulldozers leave trail of despair</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/manoj-joshi-india-will-come-apart-if.html"><span lang="EN-US">Manoj
Joshi: India will come apart if secular contract is torn / Harish Khare: The
Real Import of Satya Pal Malik's Warning About Narendra Modi</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/03/press-release-commemorating-two-years.html">Press Release: Commemorating Two Years of
the Northeast Delhi Communal Riots</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/shyam-saran-communal-virus-runs-riot.html"><span lang="EN-US">Shyam
Saran: Communal virus runs riot - Attacks on minorities may lead to
irreversible fragmentation of Indian Union</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/your-silence-emboldens-hate-voices.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your
silence emboldens hate voices: Faculty, students of IIMs to PM</span></span></a></span><u><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p></div><div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-24092395274253135482022-05-22T21:23:00.004-07:002022-05-22T21:23:43.737-07:00Bharat Bhushan: Autonomous Hindutva could devour both India and the BJP <p><span style="font-family: verdana;">With the rapid
radicalisation of sections of Hindu society, the <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/hindutva" target="_blank">Hindutva</a> project
has become dangerously autonomous. It is no longer possible to see it only as
an electoral strategy of the <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/bharatiya-janata-party" target="_blank">Bharatiya Janata Party</a> (BJP). Today one does not need
to even presume the direct hand of the BJP or the <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh" target="_blank">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh</a> behind Hindutva’s every
move. Its exponential social growth may have placed it beyond their control.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a formally secular
India, religion indeed seems to have become the opium of the people. When Marx
described religion as “the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a
heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the
people,” he spoke of it as a panacea that people invented to provide personal
solace to deal with the unpleasantness of social life. Indians seem to be
drugging themselves with religion when they should be fighting to overcome the
conditions of their miserable existence. Modernising societies try to
ameliorate living conditions by making them less tedious by reinventing their
economies to make them humane, by measures such as reducing the working week,
ensuring fair wages, improving working conditions, providing social security to
the unemployed and infirm.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In India by
contrast, <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/hindutva" target="_blank">Hindutva</a> is a mass distraction from the transformative
social agenda that the country needs. It is reinventing religion not as “the
heart of a heartless world”, but as an avenging and vindictive force. The
rising ambient temperature of religious hatred has converted ordinary people
into activists planting saffron flags atop mosques, shouting provocative
slogans against the minorities, taking threatening religious processions
brandishing swords and trishuls, becoming amateur historians and archaeologists
discovering temples buried under <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/mosques" target="_blank">mosques</a> and
willing to set right ‘historical’ wrongs.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Their reference point
is “Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them'' (co-authored by Arun Shourie, Harsh
Narain, Jay Dubashi, Ram Swarup and Sitaram Goel). Organisations like “Reclaim
Temples” list over 1800 temple sites that were destroyed and <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/hindutva" target="_blank">Hindutva</a> social
media rail against the BJP for not doing enough to reclaim these sites. This ‘research’ is
neither carried out by the BJP nor sponsored by it. But it is an intellectual
instrument available to Hindutva activists who will use it to construct
narratives that push the BJP towards an agenda that it may be hesitant to take
up as the ruling dispensation. There is little doubt now that Hindutva forces
will seek the restoration of at least some of their iconic temple sites. The
BJP may not be able to resist them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">That the institutions
of democracy will facilitate this development also seems likely. There was a
time when the official apparatus of Indian democracy had been carefully
secularised – those associated with extremist organisations of the Left and the
Right were carefully excluded at the stage of hiring using Intelligence Bureau
reports about their political leanings. Today in most institutions, including
the judiciary, ideological colours are worn with pride. Judges in local courts
are opening historical disputes with potential to cause social instability in
Mathura or Kashi. Noticeably, Supreme Court judges have junked the political
neutrality that was de rigueur. While he was still in service, Justice Arun
Mishra, described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an “internationally acclaimed
visionary” and a “versatile genius”, while another serving judge, Justice M R
Shah, celebrated him as “our most popular, loved, vibrant and visionary
leader”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perhaps the visible
shift within the judiciary has encouraged Hindutva forces to use legal
processes to further their claims to mosque sites. Now no one can say they are
taking the law into their hands. They are aware that the Constitutional path
itself is an evolving one. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of
1991 is meant “to prohibit the conversion of any place of worship and to
provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship
as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected”.
However, Justice D Y Chandrachud’s comment while transferring the Gyanvapi
Mosque dispute to the jurisdiction of a district judge could be opening new
ways for interpreting this law. He said, “the ascertainment of a religious
character of a place, as a processual instrument, may not necessarily fall foul
of the provisions of Sections 3 and 4 (of the Places of Worship Act)”. It
strikes at the core objective of the Act and could conceivably pave the way for
repealing it, should the Executive and Parliament so desire.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The minorities in
India will have no option but to deal with the ruling BJP if disputed sites
start getting reclaimed with judicial facilitation. The problems will escalate
when the 14% Muslim population of India is asked to give up their mosques,
Eidgahs and other sites peacefully. They have no leader to negotiate for them
and little political clout. No national party represents them. Even regional
political parties which seek their votes are known to play safe when it comes
to Hindutva sentiments. Unlike in the pre-Partition days, Muslims have no
pan-India leader representing them. Nor are they a monolithic community across
the country. Any peaceful negotiation for the few big temples claimed by
Hindutva forces will, therefore, necessarily be from a position of weakness –
and may turn out to be a dialogue preliminary to surrendering contested sites.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is the BJP prepared
for the fact that such closing of doors on the minority community could
radicalise sections of its youth? If this happens will there not be a backlash
from the already radicalised Hindutva forces? Are there any far-sighted
statesmen in India today who can predict how this will affect the security and
stability of India?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nevertheless, it is
clear that the rise and spread of Hindutva’s avengers endangers the BJP’s own
stability. Should the BJP try to moderate its own Hindutva because of
governance concerns or its political alliances or even to deflect international
criticism, it is possible that other political outfit(s) with a more hardline
majoritarian agenda, could push it aside.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/autonomous-hindtuva-could-devour-both-india-and-the-bharatiya-janata-party-122052300133_1.html&source=gmail&ust=1653365546529000&usg=AOvVaw3lErF6Q1pQIVbR2XNjDcfL" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/autonomous-hindtuva-could-devour-both-india-and-the-bharatiya-janata-party-122052300133_1.html" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.business-standard.<wbr></wbr>com/article/opinion/<wbr></wbr>autonomous-hindtuva-could-<wbr></wbr>devour-both-india-and-the-<wbr></wbr>bharatiya-janata-party-<wbr></wbr>122052300133_1.html</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/bharat-bhushan-incitement-to-violence.html">Bharat
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<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/cutlet-for-cutlet.html">Cutlet for Cutlet</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
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revelations emerge // Opposition Parties Say it's Time for Investigation in
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Agrawal - Absurdity of epic proportions: Are people aware of the content in
Jayasi's Padmavat? / Mukul Kesavan - Rajputs redux: Padmini's long afterlife</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/12/satyashodhak-sanskrutik-manch.html">Satyashodhak Sanskrutik Manch: Purushottam
Agrawal's lecture: <span lang="HI">अगर</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">आज</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">कबीर</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">होते</span><span lang="HI"> - </span>Agar
Aaj Kabir Hote December 12, 2015</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/05/purushottam-agrawal-lost-in-translation.html">Purushottam Agrawal - Lost in translation</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/06/rip-comrade-satyapal-dang-homage-to.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="HI">सत्यपाल</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">डांग</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">को</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">याद</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">करते</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">हुए</span><span lang="HI">.. </span><span lang="EN-US">RIP comrade Satyapal Dang - homage to
a great man</span></span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-39431622604090412172022-05-13T19:04:00.011-07:002022-05-13T19:18:20.381-07:00Sondeghar village of Maharashtra: Hindus and Muslims signed a 100-year agreement to stop riots<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sondeghar is a small
village in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. The place the inhabitants is
barely one thousand. Folks of all castes
and religions stay collectively on this village. The village has
unanimously taken a historic resolution in order that there needs to be no
spiritual or communal dispute. Folks of all religions
collectively within the village have made an settlement of 100 years to keep up
communal concord. When incidents of communal rigidity are coming to the fore in
some components of the nation, a call of Sondeghar village is being extremely
appreciated.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Why did the village
settle? </b>Abdullah Nandgaonkar,
a instructor from the village says, “Sane Guruji used to cross the river on
this village on his approach from Palgad to AG Excessive College in Dapoli.
Later he gave a message that spreading love on the earth is the true faith.
We’re his. We’re transferring ahead with the assistance of the given
inspiration.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The villagers say that
they’ve made this unity settlement in order that the peace of their village
isn’t disturbed and the unity stays intact. The particular factor is that the
folks of Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist religions on this village have unanimously
handed this settlement. Sondeghar is a really
lovely village filled with pure magnificence. This village is constructed on
the confluence of three rivers. These embrace the Palgad river, the river in
Vanishi and a river within the village.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sondeghar Gram
Panchayat has put up a board of unity treaty close to the doorway of the
village. Seeing this, folks passing by the street are discussing. Sanjay Khanwilkar,
chairman of the village’s Tant Mukti Samiti, mentioned in a dialog with the
BBC, “The spiritual setting within the nation has turn into very unhealthy. We
the folks of the village got here collectively and made a peace settlement in
order that our village isn’t affected by this unhealthy spiritual setting. We
have now taken a constructive step with the assistance of Palgad Beat Police
Inspector Vikas Pawar.”…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://newsleadindia.com/sondeghar-village-of-maharashtra-hindu-muslims-signed-a-100-year-agreement-to-stop-the-riots/?utm_source=pocket_mylist"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://newsleadindia.com/sondeghar-village-of-maharashtra-hindu-muslims-signed-a-100-year-agreement-to-stop-the-riots/?utm_source=pocket_mylist</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-good-news-karnataka-belur-temple.html"><span lang="EN-US">The good
news - Karnataka: Belur temple continues tradition of starting festival with
Quran recitation / Hindus protected mosque during Ramnavmi procession in Bihar
/ ‘This is Hindustan’: Hindu woman protected Muslim shopkeepers during riots in
Rajasthan</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/enemies-in-love.html"><span lang="EN-US">Enemies
in Love</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/03/leon-fink-socialized-love-in-face-of.html">Leon Fink - Socialized Love in the Face of
Pandemic // Why the coronavirus could be the tipping point in reshaping the
global economy</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/this-is-one-of-those-gestures-that.html"><span lang="EN-US">This is
one of those gestures that a person remembers for the rest of their life</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/07/akshaya-nath-this-tamil-nadu-village.html"><span lang="EN-US">Akshaya
Nath: This Tamil Nadu village lived in darkness for over 35 days to help a
sparrow</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/10/a-baby-woke-up-from-coma-and-smiled-at.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A baby woke up from a coma and smiled at
his dad. Now his family is raising money to save his life</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-68219758759770557972022-04-27T20:14:00.005-07:002022-04-30T00:08:31.633-07:00Your Silence in the Face of Enormous Societal Threat Is Deafening: Former Civil Servants to Modi<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">More than 100 former
civil servants have said that the recent instances of “hate violence against
[India’s] minority communities, particularly Muslims” represent
the “subordination of the fundamental principles of our constitution and
of the rule of law to the forces of majoritarianism”, accusing the state of
being “fully complicit” in this process.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a letter to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, the former civil servants – under the banner of the
Constitutional Conduct Groupe – said the “frenzy of hate filled destruction”
that the country is witnessing is not just targeting minorities, but the
constitution itself. Though they criticised the prime minister’s silence on
these incidents as ‘deafening’, they hoped that he would “call for an end to
the politics of hate that governments under your party’s control are so
assiduously practising”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Former Delhi Lt
Governor Najeeb Jung, former National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon,
ex-foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, former home secretary G.K. Pillai and
former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s principal secretary T.K.A. Nair are
among the 108 signatories to the letter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“As former civil
servants, it is not normally our want to express ourselves in such extreme
terms, but the relentless pace at which the constitutional edifice created by
our founding fathers is being destroyed compels us to speak out and express our
anger and anguish,” the letter said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The escalation of
“hate violence” against the minority communities, particularly Muslims, in the
last few years and months across several BJP ruled states like Assam, Delhi,
Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand “has
acquired a frightening new dimension”, they said….<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://thewire.in/rights/narendra-modi-civil-servants-communal-violence-silence-defeaning"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://thewire.in/rights/narendra-modi-civil-servants-communal-violence-silence-defeaning</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/former-civil-servants-write-to-pm-take.html"><span lang="EN-US">Former
Civil Servants Write to the PM: ‘Take Effective Action Now’ / The BJP Can Be
Defeated but the RSS Project Remains</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/04/former-civil-servants-protest-selection.html"><span lang="EN-US">Former Civil Servants Protest Selection of Terror Accused
as Lok Sabha candidate by BJP</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Communalism in Modern India:
A Theoretical Examination (1986)</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-open-letter-to-citizens-of-india-by.html"><span lang="EN-US">AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF INDIA by 106
senior retired government officers: INDIA DOES NOT NEED THE CAA-NPR-NRIC</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/05/safoora-zargar-why-did-india-jail.html"><span lang="EN-US">Safoora Zargar: Why did India jail a pregnant
student during Covid-19? By Geeta Pandey</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/tishani-doshi-out-of-breath.html"><span lang="EN-US">TISHANI
DOSHI: Out of Breath</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/there-should-be-no-clampdown-on.html"><span lang="EN-US">Suhas
Palshikar: A monumental failure of governance // ‘There should be no clampdown
on information, people can voice grievances on social media’: Supreme Court</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-3931621359836834512022-04-24T23:09:00.065-07:002022-04-30T00:09:05.287-07:00Narayani Gupta: The problem with cherry-picking facts from history<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB</b>: A timely reminder of the vulnerability of historiography to ideology. There are some among us who wish to 'rectify' history; whose resentment at the past can never be satiated, neither by revising textbooks nor by bulldozing the homes of the poor. Their emotional affliction is best described by Friedrich Nietzsche:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN">The will cannot will
backwards… That time does not run backward, that is his wrath; ‘that which was’ is the name of the
stone he cannot move. And so he moves stones out of wrath and displeasure, and
he wreaks revenge on whatever does not feel wrath and displeasure as he does.
Thus the will, the liberator, took to hurting; and on all who can suffer he
wreaks revenge for his inability to go backwards. This, indeed this alone, is
what revenge is: the will’s ill will against time and its ‘it
was.’ </span></i><i style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-IN">“Verily, a great folly dwells in our will; and it has become a curse for
everything human that this folly has acquired spirit</span></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-family: verdana;">: Thus Spake Zarathustra<i>. </i>Thanks are due to Professor Narayani Gupta for this article. <b>DS</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In my younger days, if
we wanted to comment on any article in a newspaper, we rattled off a short
letter to the editor on our typewriter. Now there are journalists whose
comments are in the form of an article as long as the one under discussion.
Many of them can only be described as clones of Humpty Dumpty, confident that
“When I use a word, it means exactly what I want it to mean, no more, no less”.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A recent example is
that of an article by S Y Quraishi (<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hate-speech-constitutional-democracy-7869837/">‘Calling
out hate’,</a> April 15) and the comment that followed. Noting the
alarming reports of hate speeches in the social media, Quraishi wrote, “It is
at the root of many forms of violence that are being perpetrated and has become
one of the biggest challenges to the rule of law and to our democratic
conscience.” He lists those who can act firmly and swiftly - during elections
it is the Election Commission that must act, and in the “non-election” months
the state has the power to act by using provisions of the Indian Penal Code,
and the Representation of the People Act. The sense of urgency in his article
was palpable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There was a rejoinder
to Quraishi in The Indian Express (<a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/face-the-facts-on-communal-violence-in-india-jahangirpuri-clash-delhi-7879251/">‘Ignorance
isn’t bliss’,</a> April 21). Balbir Punj, the writer, says in the
second paragraph that Quraishi’s “arguments are drearily familiar, facts dodgy,
and conclusions delusional”. Punj adds: “Quraishi’s article has little to do
with the anatomy of hate or its ongoing malignancy”. Quraishi was not
dissecting the emotion of hate, he was criticising the inaction of the Election
Commission and the courts, in the context of hate-speeches made by individuals
over the last year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Punj begins his piece
on a breathless note: “Hate and bigotry feed on each other. They germinate and
flourish on a toxic diet of divisive and schismatic ideologies and polarising
creeds that discriminate against human beings on the basis of colour, region,
gender, faith - and divide them between believers and non-believers - ranging
the chosen ones against the idolatrous”. The strapline was “Understanding trail
of hate in India requires honest examination of its origins”. Eleven of the 15
paragraphs in the essay deal with this trail.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">History as a
discipline is about time, place and people. Teachers of history
compartmentalise themselves into sections of time and of place/region. Not so
the non-historian. Punj writes, “For aeons, India has had syncretic traditions,
inspired by the Vedic aphorism “ekam sad [sic] vipra bahudha vadanti” (there is
only one truth and learned persons call it by many names). In September 2020, a
16-member committee was set up by the Ministry of Culture to study the origin
and evolution of Indian culture, “dating back to around 12,000 years ago”. It
held two meetings and vanished from the scene. That’s a cautionary tale.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bhakti and Sufi cults
have been for long described as “syncretic”. Punj does not associate Sindh with
its great Sufi tradition, but with bin Qasim’s conquest in 712 CE and the
coming of Islam — “as Chach Nama, a contemporary Arab chronicle states, [he]
introduced the practice of treating local Hindus as zimmis, forcing them to pay
jizya… ‘Hate’ and ‘bigotry’ thus made their debut in India, which was hitherto
free from this virus”. It is worth locating
and browsing through translations of the Chach Nama, for its accounts of the
attitude of the Arab rulers of Sindh towards the Hindu population and their
places of worship. A natural outcome of this beginning was the enduring
presence of Sufi orders in Sindh.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The simplest — but not
wholly ethical — way to substantiate an argument is by cherry-picking. From
8th-century Sindh the author moves to 11th-century north India. He writes of
Mahmud of Ghazni who “took a vow to wage jihad every year against Indian
idolators”. (I tried to locate a source for this, and came up only with one —
an earlier article by Punj, on July 12, 2019). Ghaznavi’s exact contemporary,
Rajendra Chola, was in the same period raiding Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. In
Indian school textbooks Ghaznavi has always been an “invader”, the Cholas were
“conquerors”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The next eight
centuries are omitted, and the trail moves down to Malabar (the Moplah
Rebellion of 1921), then north and east India (the Partition tragedies of
1946-8), the “decimation” of Hindus in neighbouring countries (no dates) and
people in Spain and Sweden. He proceeds to ask a
rhetorical question “Can laws or police fight hate?” And this article was
published a day after the BJP-run
civic body let the bulldozers raze homes in Jahangirpuri “in the face of the
Supreme Court order” as the Indian Express headline stated on the same day as
Punj’s article!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Punj’s narrative could
be described in his own words - “charged reactions, punctuated with
half-truths, deliberate omissions and tailored narratives, offer no real
solution” [to what?]. This is followed by a line which I find extremely
difficult to decipher - “pusillanimity to face facts will only exacerbate the
situation and give egregious results.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/s-y-quraishis-on-hate-speech-and-indian-political-culture-of-cherry-picking-facts-from-history-7885481/">https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/s-y-quraishis-on-hate-speech-and-indian-political-culture-of-cherry-picking-facts-from-history-7885481/</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/partha-chatterjee-no-one-not-even.html"><span lang="EN-US">Partha
Chatterjee: No one, not even Indians, can claim to be part of an ancient nation</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Communalism in Modern India: A Theoretical Examination (1986)</span></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/allah-bakshs-death-anniversary-may14.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Allah Baksh's death anniversary: May 14; 2021. By Anil Nauriya</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/sumit-guha-lectures-on-asia-europe-and.html">Sumit Guha
lectures on Asia, Europe and America in the Making of 'Caste'</a></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/03/sumit-guha-glimpsed-in-archive-and.html">Sumit Guha -
Glimpsed in the Archive and Known no More: One Indian Slave’s Tale</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/06/book-review-sumit-guhas-new-book-on.html"><span lang="EN-US">Book review: Sumit Guha's new book on the history of
caste</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/jairus-banaji-on-history-of-indian.html">Jairus Banaji on
the history of Indian capitalists; and the BJP's ongoing assault on basic human
rights</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/05/extracts-from-b-r-ambedkars-book-on.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ambedkar on
Pakistan</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2018/09/oxford-universitys-contemporary-south.html">Oxford
University's Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme comments on Venkat
Dhulipala</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/strike-breaking-or-refusal-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Strike-breaking or the Refusal of Subalternity?
Ethnicity, Class & Gender in Chota Nagpur: The Tatanagar Foundry Strike of
1939</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/03/democracy-and-workers-movements-stories.html"><span lang="EN-US">Democracy and workers' movements - stories from
Jamshedpur</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/04/manimugdha-s-sharma-subhas-chandra-bose.html"><span lang="EN-US">Manimugdha S Sharma - Subhas Chandra Bose wanted
ruthless dictatorship in India for 20 years</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/05/on-jawaharlal-nehrus-52nd-death.html">On Jawaharlal Nehru's 52nd death
anniversary, watch scenes from his funeral procession / Attacks on Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy will only strengthen his legacy</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/jawaharlal-nehrus-57th-death-anniversary.html">Jawaharlal Nehru's 57th death anniversary /
‘<span lang="HI">हिंद</span><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span lang="HI">के</span><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span lang="HI">जवाहर</span>’ <span lang="HI">का</span><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span lang="HI">जाना</span>…</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/anil-nauriya-july-1-2021-is-centenary.html">Anil Nauriya: July 1, 2021 is the Centenary
of the Dharwar Firing</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/09/apoorvanand-netaji-bose-or-nehru-which.html">Apoorvanand -
Netaji Bose or Nehru? Which one did Bhagat Singh believe was the greater
revolutionary? // Bhagat Singh (1928): <b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">नये</span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">नेताओं</span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">के</span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">अलग</span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">-</span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">अलग</span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-language: HI; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span></b><b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">विचार</span></b></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/03/apoorvanand-why-bhagat-singh-was-not.html">Apoorvanand -
Bhagat Singh was not the ultimate militant nationalist he's made out to be</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/01/mukulika-banerjee-remembering-bacha.html">Mukulika Banerjee
- Remembering 'Bacha Khan': The beleaguered legacy of 'Frontier Gandhi' – Khan
Abdul Ghaffar Khan</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/one-hundredth-anniversary-of-all-india.html"><span lang="EN-US">One hundredth anniversary of the all India hartal
against the Rowlatt Act</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-80653181247834926922022-04-20T21:02:00.032-07:002022-04-20T22:49:19.485-07:00P. B. Mehta: With eyes wide open, we’re hurtling into an abyss / In Jahangirpuri, bulldozers leave trail of despair<p> <span style="font-family: verdana;">Anyone who has ever
genuinely immersed themselves in Ramcharitmanas will recognise the singular
poignancy of one moment in the Sundarkand where Hanuman meets Sita. Until that
point the story is hurtling towards disaster. Sita has been abducted. Ram is
distraught and unsure of himself. But the moment Hanuman meets Sita is the
point at which the epic turns; the confidence that order will be restored reappears.
Hanuman drops Ram’s ring from the tree. Sita experiences contradictory
emotions: Joy at recognition of the ring; fear about what its presence might
mean. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">(In Tulsidas’s rendition: Harsha vishaad hridya akulani). Sita is
thinking many things. Suddenly Hanuman’s words of reassurance break out as he
identifies himself. In all musical renditions, whether by Channulal Mishra or
the underrated version by Mukesh, the gentle line “madhur vachana bole Hanumana
(Hanuman spoke, his words like honey)”, always stops you in your tracks. Its
power is not just the simple poetry but the magical calm it produces, an almost
irresistible effect that, for a moment at least, bathes you in gentle
reassurance and bliss. That moment is itself the deliverance from all worry,
and from evil.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is a measure of our
perversion as a society that Ram and Hanuman are now tropes to prepare the
ideological groundwork for pogroms. The communal frenzy that has accompanied
Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti, spread across several cities, should leave us
in no doubt about the direction in which India is headed. On the surface, the
narrative circulating in society is simple “Hindus were taking out processions
celebrating festivals. We were asserting our right. We got pelted by stones or
worse. The minorities are responsible for this. It shows Hindus are not safe
nor do they have space in their own country”. And then the ominous “We need to
get rid of them.” This narrative is designed to feed the most contrived sense
of Hindu victimhood. This is an old playbook.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/jahangirpuri-mcd-anti-encroachment-drive-residents-despair-7879119/?utm_source=newzmate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbrief&pnespid=AeI36UQD8z0KhVqG5M7ZDBpIpQA1xLRztwlKHqBYK4LKZp5kZA5C5_DQk8kHWfmVqz1xlZEg">In Jahangirpuri, bulldozers leave trail of despair: ‘What have they proved with this?’</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What should give us
nightmares is this. The simple fact is that this narrative is very widespread.
All the arguments that we used about majoritarian communalism in India no
longer hold. Its logic is no longer merely instrumental (as if that is not bad
enough), that will pass with election cycles. It is no longer episodic where we
can take reassurance that it will somehow pass of its own accord. It is not
local in nature, but has taken on a national character.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The orgies of hate and
prejudice are not aberrations. They are now the norm. They are the norm because
the highest levels of political authority, including the prime minister, by
silences or dog whistles, condone it. They are the norm because elites openly
spout it, without shame. They are the norm because being communal in some ways
has become almost a necessary condition of political advancement and is fast
becoming the default common sense of civil society.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But what is more
ominous is this. Think of what might happen to a society whose dominant religious
sensibility literally inverts everything of value. Religion has often been
misused and put to grossly perverse and violent uses. But can you think of
another occasion in the history of modern Hinduism where everything sacred has
become ominous, forms of worship have become fearsome, singing and text
weapons, acts of public piety menacing, a sense of community murderous, and any
talk of decency or civilisation constraining? That is the fearsome image the
organised mobs that masquerade as religious processions now evoke. Let us be
very clear.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This new form of Hinduism you are seeing unfolding is not an
expression of genuine pride and piety. It is meant to be a raw assertion of
power and violence to intimidate minorities. It is meant to literally extract reaction
(even one photograph will do), that can be used as a pretext to construe all
minorities as a threat. The number of seemingly well- meaning people for whom
stone-throwing on threatening processions can become a vindication of the
deepest prejudices against minorities is truly alarming. It is the one factoid
they are looking for to sustain their insidious lie that Hinduism will not be
safe unless minorities are shown their place if not erased. This was the
mission and the aggressive processions accomplished that. It sustains the
insidious lie that the murderous perversion of modern Hinduism, now sustained
by state power, is entirely reactive; a belated self-assertion against a
minority that dominates us, rather than what it is: Increasingly a drive to violence
and cruelty.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Writing on communalism
has become a futile act. Who is it addressed to? Certainly not the state whose
ideological practices and power fuel the crisis in the first place. Not civil
society, because there is not much of civil society left. Not religious groups.
To the votaries of new Hinduism, the only discourse of communalism that matters
is one they can use in a discourse of revenge.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To Muslims, what reassurance can
we now give that asymmetry of numbers, state power and ideological zeal will
not be used in a project of their cultural erasure? Those who claim to be
secular are bulldozed by the lie that secularism is minority appeasement. To
those who want to speak the language of human dignity beyond the vortex of
communal identification? Is anybody left in that camp? To the Opposition
parties who have no courage of conviction or a grammar of politics that can
combat majoritarianism?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There is a comforting
fallacy out there that somehow a pragmatic, instrumental logic will at some
point assert itself over the politics of Hindutva: <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/everyday-explainers/what-are-wholesale-price-index-consumer-price-index-inflation-rates-7820831/">Inflation</a> and
unemployment will show up the cracks. But this communalism is not always rooted
in material conditions. The fact that hordes of young men are seeking
vindication and self-esteem through a public display of collective narcissism
and violence suggests that communalism is now so deep that even social
discontent has to express itself in the language of communalism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Almost all the
preconditions for widespread pogrom-type violence are now in place in India.
You almost dread the thought that India has reached a point where the question
is not “if” but “when.” What else would you call the widespread acceptance of
vile prejudice, the dismantling of any semblance of conscience, the alignment
of the state with majoritarian power, the complete effacement of the individual
by imposed communal identification, the self-justification of the majority that
has cloaked itself as the victim, the total contempt for rights, the
glorification of violence, the search for the slightest pretext for revenge,
and the radical othering of minorities?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Even Hanuman Jayanti
is not the deliverance from evil but us hurtling into it, with eyes wide open.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Source: <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/new-hinduism-acceptance-prejudice-majoritarian-power-contempt-glorification-of-violence-7879227/?utm_source=newzmate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbrief&pnespid=XaQ36EFL6T4dlkyOsoOKGEIXqRxpzbd48x1TAqcBbprKqyuYdHvpyrRLz_wnPsFdGdI8E5ao">Indian Express</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/jahangirpuri-mcd-anti-encroachment-drive-residents-despair-7879119/?utm_source=newzmate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbrief&pnespid=AeI36UQD8z0KhVqG5M7ZDBpIpQA1xLRztwlKHqBYK4LKZp5kZA5C5_DQk8kHWfmVqz1xlZEg" style="font-family: verdana;">Jahangirpuri - bulldozers leave trail of despair: ‘What have they proved with this?’</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">One was selling cold
drinks to police until yesterday. Another had been running a store in the
building where he was born 40 years ago. A third was saving up for the
festival. None had any prior notice, none were given the right to respond — all
were scrambling Wednesday evening to pick up the pieces of <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/supreme-court-stalls-jahangirpuri-demolition-bulldozers-roll-on-7878156/">what
was left.</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Just hours earlier, as
two CRPF officers took position atop Akbar’s home in <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/supreme-court-stalls-jahangirpuri-demolition-7877969/">Jahangirpuri</a> and
complained about the harsh sun, the 35-year-old shop owner had immediately
split a red flex board into two to make a temporary sun shade. “All I asked was
whether the encroachment drive will damage my shop and they promised me it was
against scrap dealers,” Akbar said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/jahangirpuri-bulldozers-7879181/">Due
process lies at heart of citizens’ rights. A bulldozer ran over it in
Delhi</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Barely an hour later,
all that a bulldozer left of his small shop was squashed cigarette packets and
cold drinks covered in dust. And all that this family of four was left with was
an earthen piggy bank with coins and spare notes…</span>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Source: <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/jahangirpuri-mcd-anti-encroachment-drive-residents-despair-7879119/?utm_source=newzmate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbrief&pnespid=AeI36UQD8z0KhVqG5M7ZDBpIpQA1xLRztwlKHqBYK4LKZp5kZA5C5_DQk8kHWfmVqz1xlZEg">Indian Express</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/bharat-bhushan-communal-djinn-and.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat Bhushan: Communal djinn and the vanishing State</span></a></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-good-news-karnataka-belur-temple.html"><span lang="EN-US">The good
news</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/enemies-in-love.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Enemies
in Love</span></span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/bharat-bhushan-incitement-to-violence.html">Bharat
Bhushan - Incitement to violence: When will Supreme Court take note?</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/founders-made-clear-i-was-political.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Ashoka University: Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s
letter and my comment DS</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/samar-halarnkar-lights-begin-to-wink.html">Samar
Halarnkar: The lights begin to wink out in India’s democracy</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/partha-chatterjee-no-one-not-even.html">Partha Chatterjee: No one, not even
Indians, can claim to be part of an ancient nation</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk78807204"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/suhas-palshikar-bhoomi-pujan-of-new.html"><span lang="EN-GB">Suhas Palshikar: Bhoomi pujan of the new republic //
Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Political colonisation of Hinduism</span></a><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/anand-k-sahay-idea-behind-capturing.html"><span lang="EN-GB">Anand
K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/sankarshan-thakur-compliant-and.html"><span lang="EN-US">Sankarshan
Thakur - Compliant and complicit: Indians are living the funereal carnival of
their own dispossession</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/bharat-bhushan-entire-political-science.html">Bharat Bhushan - 'Entire political science'
lesson: Peoples' power trumps people in power</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/bharat-bhushan-save-election-commission.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat Bhushan - Save the Election
Commission: Common electoral roll can wait</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/bharat-bhushan-frontier-of-warfare.html"><span lang="EN-US">Bharat
Bhushan: Frontier of warfare? Wrong to securitise civil society discourse</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/ashoka-university-correspondence-on.html">Ashoka University: Correspondence on
Professor P. B. Mehta's Resignation</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-9058831383072187992022-04-17T22:36:00.043-07:002022-04-18T00:04:36.024-07:00Bharat Bhushan: Communal djinn and the vanishing State <p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB</b>: It would appear that the ruling dispensation known as the Sangh Parivar wishes communal hatred to become widespread and <a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/asim-ali-collective-surrender-story-of.html">'spontaneous'</a>. Contrary to their expectations however, this push towards violently imposed homogeneity is not a step toward national unity but a recipe for disintegration and the end of the Indian Union as a law-governed state. Those officials who are looking the other way while all this goes on, are not only in dereliction of their duty but actively complicit in the ongoing </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">criminal enterprise.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><b style="font-family: verdana;">DS</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The djinn has escaped from the bottle and is rampaging across India as
the <i>hijab </i>row segues into objections against the use of
loudspeakers for <i>azaan</i> (call for prayer) and the cacophony
merges with Ram Navami violence. In Aligarh and Varanasi, chanting of <i>Hanuman
Chalisa</i> outside mosques five times a day competes with prayer timings
for Muslims. Raj Thackeray has threatened to replicate this in <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/maharashtra" target="_blank">Maharashtra</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It seems clear that in
the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindutva social forces have
decided to push ahead with their maximum agenda. Minorities will constantly be
kept insecure and their religious and cultural practices will have to conform
to the wishes of the majority. Where possible, this agenda is couched in the
idiom of constitutionality and law - the <i>hijab</i> issue was posited
as one of school uniform, azaan is questioned on grounds of noise pollution
norms, etc. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However, extra-legal means are plentifully evident with the
planting of saffron flags on mosques or the bid to disturb Muslim prayers by
reciting <i>Hanuman Chalisa</i>. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">It would be erroneous
and hasty to link this upsurge to the electoral needs of a particular party.
That would suggest it was just a conspiracy of certain individuals and
organisations or that the State was using them as its instrument. Such
explanations are grossly inadequate.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The agenda of Hindutva
social forces is autonomous of any party’s political needs. The <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/bharatiya-janata-party" target="_blank">Bharatiya Janata Party</a> (BJP), although a political
front of the <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/rashtriya-swayamsevak-sangh" target="_blank">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh</a> (RSS), does not control
and define the activities of the RSS. Nor is the activity of the RSS
coterminous with the BJP’s tenure in power. It would not give up its agenda if
the BJP lost power. The RSS also does not dictate the agenda of the Hindutva
social forces inspired by it, or function as their front organisation. Each
entity creates the environment for the birth of others. As they mutate and
adapt to local issues and conditions, they retain their basic genetic material.
Today no one can prove that the Ram Navami riots or recitation of <i>Hanuman
Chalisa</i> outside mosques was orchestrated by a single conductor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Who could be these
foot-soldiers of Hindutva forces with time on hand to travel to nearby mosques
to read the <i>Hanuman Chalisa</i> five times a day? They possibly
come from a large population of the unemployed who feel powerless, unimportant,
and have little or no money.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to the
Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the Labour Participation Rate
(LPR) in March 2022 (at 39.5 per cent) was lower than that during the second
wave of Covid in June 2021 (39.6 per cent) and the average LPR for April-June
2021 (40 per cent). Despite the absence of a Covid wave and far less
restrictions on mobility, the CMIE notes: “The labour force shrank by 3.8
million during March 2022 to 448 million. This is the lowest labour force in
eight months since July 2021. Employment shrank by 1.4 million to 396 million
in March 2022 which was the lowest level since June 2021.” This means that
while the working-age population has continued to grow, job opportunities have
not expanded simultaneously and there has been an absolute shrinkage in
employment opportunities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The youth unemployment
rate is also food for thought. According to a study by Ashoka University and
CMIE, India’s youth labour force (which includes “unemployed but willing to
work and actively looking for employment”) has shrunk by 22 per cent between
January-March 2016 (134 million) and October-December 2021 (104.3 million). It
warned of the impact of low employment generation for youth on social
stability.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to the
latest Periodic Labour Force Survey for April-June 2021, a quarter of the youth
(15 to 19 years) in 22 states surveyed is unemployed (25.5 per cent). While
youth unemployment was in double digits in the states surveyed, it was
considerably higher in the states where communal incidents had taken place – MP
(34 per cent), UP (24.7 per cent), Rajasthan (35.2 per cent), Chhattisgarh (40
per cent), and Jharkhand (34.2 per cent). Hindutva social forces may well be
tapping into this vast reserve of unemployed youngsters. Success may depend on
a mix of circumstances, especially the stand taken by state governments – for
example, Kerala (with the highest youth unemployment rate at 47 per cent) has
been less communalised than, say, Gujarat (11.6 per cent).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Although there is no
direct evidence that unemployed youth are drawn into furthering the communal
agenda, in recent times they have erupted in job-related agitations for
reservations and inclusion in OBC lists. Astounding numbers of job applications
for even the lowest-paid government jobs and increased suicides among the
unemployed are other indicators of the great strain that this section of the
population is under. The government was taken aback when massive protests by
youth broke out in Bihar and in parts of eastern <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/uttar-pradesh" target="_blank">Uttar
Pradesh</a> in January this year over alleged discrepancies in the Railway
Recruitment Board (Non-Technical Popular Categories) examination, in which over
700,000 candidates were shortlisted for just 35,000 posts!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">There could also be
other sections of society that join in the ostensibly religious push to put the
minorities in their place. But communalism increasingly serves another purpose
-- mass distraction, taking attention away from issues of jobs and livelihood
while ostensibly giving a sense of power and meaning to the lives of those
excluded from society’s economic activities. This suits the State, which is
unable to fulfil the employment aspirations of this generation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the growing
communal imbroglio, however, the State has inexplicably taken a backseat.
Although the ruling dispensations at the Centre and in some states are also
busy ‘othering’ the minorities, it is difficult to claim that they are
consciously in step with mushrooming popular communal initiatives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Could they be turning
a blind eye because they cannot control these communal forces? Their response
to these initiatives is to treat them at most as a local law-and-order problem.
Even if the political leadership is opposed to the anarchist methods of
Hindutva’s subalterns, perhaps it is doing nothing for fear of being unable to
control them. What will then remain of its carefully cultivated branding of a
'strong' government?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/communal-djinn-and-the-vanishing-state-122041800118_1.html&source=gmail&ust=1650341348985000&usg=AOvVaw3xYnQg2dcxQdn8TA1EKrCO" href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/communal-djinn-and-the-vanishing-state-122041800118_1.html" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.business-standard.<wbr></wbr>com/article/opinion/communal-<wbr></wbr>djinn-and-the-vanishing-state-<wbr></wbr>122041800118_1.html</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-good-news-karnataka-belur-temple.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The
good news - Karnataka: Belur temple continues tradition of starting festival
with Quran recitation / Hindus protected mosque during Ramnavmi procession in
Bihar / ‘This is Hindustan’: Hindu woman protected Muslim shopkeepers during
riots in Rajasthan</span></a><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Asim Ali - Collective surrender The story
of New India is not being written by Narendra Modi alone<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/some-uncomfortable-thoughts-on-urban.html"><span lang="EN-US">Some
uncomfortable thoughts on 'urban naxals'</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/shyam-saran-communal-virus-runs-riot.html"><span lang="EN-US">Shyam
Saran: Communal virus runs riot - Attacks on minorities may lead to
irreversible fragmentation of Indian Union</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/your-silence-emboldens-hate-voices.html"><span lang="EN-US">Your
silence emboldens hate voices: Faculty, students of IIMs to PM</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html">Society of the Spectacle / '<span lang="HI">इमेज</span>' - 'Image': A Poem on Deaths in the Age of
Covid</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/manoj-joshi-india-will-come-apart-if.html"><span lang="EN-US">Manoj
Joshi: India will come apart if secular contract is torn / Harish Khare: The
Real Import of Satya Pal Malik's Warning About Narendra Modi</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">काशी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">विश्वनाथ</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मंदिर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">महंत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">ने</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">योगी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">पर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">लगाया</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">बड़ा</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आरोप</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">सुनकर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">रह</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">जाएंगे</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">हैरान</span><span lang="EN-US">!</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Hannah
Ellis-Petersen: Statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian
community / Sunita Viswanath: How do we break the cycle of religious violence
in South Asia? / Mukul Kesavan - Magic and mayhem: The death cult at Haridwar</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/sunita-viswanath-why-i-feel-need-to.html">Sunita Viswanath: Why I feel the need to
bring my Hinduism to the streets</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/sunita-viswanath-i-refuse-to-cede.html">Sunita Viswanath - I refuse to cede
Hinduism to those who want to make India a Hindu rashtra</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/public-appeal-by-hindus-for-human.html">Public Appeal by Hindus for Human Rights,
USA</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/sunita-viswanath-why-is-indian-media.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sunita Viswanath: Why is the Indian Media
Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the Republic Day Story?</span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/bharat-bhushan-burden-of-bigotry-may.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat
Bhushan: Burden of bigotry may break Indian democracy's back</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/bharat-bhushan-incitement-to-violence.html">Bharat Bhushan - Incitement to violence:
When will Supreme Court take note?</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/bharat-bhushan-save-election-commission.html">Bharat Bhushan - Save the Election
Commission: Common electoral roll can wait</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/bharat-bhushan-frontier-of-warfare.html"><span lang="EN-US">Bharat
Bhushan: Frontier of warfare? Wrong to securitise civil society discourse</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/yann-philippin-sale-of-french-rafale.html">YANN PHILIPPIN - Sale of French Rafale jet
fighters to India: how a state scandal was buried</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-64081835045023632692022-04-12T05:21:00.006-07:002022-04-12T05:21:44.960-07:00मौन मोदी के नाम भारत के मन की बात #SakshiJoshi<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBoI5YHbqY"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><b>मौन मोदी के नाम भारत के मन की बात</b></span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our contributors are our viewers. Please Support independent journalism so we can bring you unbiased news without any pressure. Subscribe to SAKSHI JOSHI on youtube and facebook, like and share our video reports. comment more and more to expand its reach.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBoI5YHbqY"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBoI5YHbqY</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">follow me on Twitter : @sakshijoshii</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">@SsatyamevJayte</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SakshiJoshi...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/sakshijoshi85/</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Instagram: https://instagram.com/sakshijoshi85?i...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/nine-things-bjp-leaders-said-recently.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About
the Pandemic / Sakshi Joshi: Oxygen tanker <span lang="HI">ड्राइवर</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">ने</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">खोल</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">दी</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">पोल</span>, <span lang="HI">किसानों</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">के</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">ख़िलाफ़</span><span lang="HI"> </span><span lang="HI">दुष्प्रचार</span></span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">संयुक्त</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">किसान</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोर्चा</span><span lang="EN-US"> : </span><span lang="EN-US">श्री</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">नरेंद्र</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">प्रधानमंत्री</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">भारत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">सरकार</span><span lang="EN-US"> - </span><span lang="EN-US">राष्ट्र</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">नाम</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आपका</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">संदेश</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">और</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आपके</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">नाम</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">किसानों</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">का</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">संदेश</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-37999335690305428512022-03-28T02:40:00.056-07:002022-03-29T08:32:30.426-07:00The Kashmir Files <p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>NB:</b> Here are two reviews of The Kashmir Files, with different interpretations. Readers are welcome to their own conclusions. Since this is a matter I have spoken and written about for many years, I attach below a selection of my posts beneath the reviews, without further comment. <b>DS</b></span></p><p><a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/the-kashmir-files-cinema-as-testimony-news-186885"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Kashmir Files: Cinema As Testimony. Siddhartha Gigoo</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/k-files-impact-kashmiri-pandit-interests-take-a-back-seat-122032800173_1.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">K-Files impact: Kashmiri Pandit interests take a back seat. Bharat Bhushan</span></a></p><p><span style="background-color: #ffe599; font-family: verdana;">(The second article may be inaccessible, so I attach the text beneath the list of posts - <b>DS</b>)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">*********************************************</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Posts from my blog</b></span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2016/02/what-is-to-be-undone.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">What is to be Undone</span></a><span style="color: #2b00fe;">: </span><span style="background-color: #ffe599;"><i>(This post is about the February 2016 student meeting on Kashmir in JNU that led to a major controversy and police cases)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/01/kashmir-16-yrs-on-wandhama-victims.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #2b00fe;">Kashmir - 16 yrs on, Wandhama victims ...</span></a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-superflous-people-rahul.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Superflous people - review of 'Our Moon has blood clots'</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2015/03/kashmiri-pandit-sangharsh-samiti-press.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmiri
Pandit Sangharsh Samiti Press Release ...</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-other-kashmiri-dissenters.html">The Other Kashmiri Dissenters </a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://kashmiroralhistory.org/">Kashmir Oral History</a></span></span></p><div><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/06/june-4-kashmiri-pandits-stage-protest.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmiri
Pandits Stage Protest March in Srinagar</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/prominent-kashmiri-pandit-businessman.html"><span lang="EN-US">Prominent
Kashmiri Pandit businessman shot dead in Srinagar</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/03/dinanath-nadim-kashmirs-forgotten-poet.html">Dinanath
Nadim - Kashmir's forgotten poet by Mohan K. Tikku</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/03/kashmir-conversations-on-exile-panel.html">Kashmir:
Conversations on Exile. Panel discussion on Friday March 10</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br />
<a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2016/02/mubashir-mir-between-sanghi-separatists.html">Mubashir
Mir - Between Sanghi & Separatists: an alternate perspective from Kashmir</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2015/04/aarti-tikoo-singh-digvijay-singh-is.html">Aarti
Tikoo Singh: Digvijay Singh is lying about the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/06/yoginder-khandari-on-plight-of-non.html"><span lang="EN-US">Yoginder Khandari on the plight of Non-Migrant
Kashmiri Pandits / Hindus living in Kashmir Valley</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/04/in-solidarity-with-all-kashmiri.html">'In
solidarity with all Kashmiri students': An appeal by a group of Kashmiri
Pandits</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/when-hindu-is-killed-in-kashmir-all.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">When a Hindu is killed in Kashmir, all Kashmiri Muslims must condemn it, just as all Hindus must condemn lynching of Muslims anywhere in India - Sanjay Tickoo</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/04/mansoor-anwar-on-comrade-abdul-sattar.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Mansoor Anwar
on Comrade Abdul Sattar Ranjoor</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/10/p-b-mehta-what-attacks-against.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">P. B. Mehta:
What the attacks against minorities in Kashmir reveal</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/01/dhrubo-jyoti-30-years-of-pandit-exodus.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Dhrubo Jyoti -
30 years of Pandit exodus: Night of terror that prefaced years of exile</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/10/we-fear-for-400-kashmiri-pandit.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">We Fear For
the 400 Kashmiri Pandit Families in South Kashmir: Sanjay Tickoo</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/08/rashmi-singh-migrant-workers-in-valley.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Rashmi Singh -
Migrant Workers in the Kashmir Valley</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/quratulain-rehbar-year-on-kashmiri-mans.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Quratulain
Rehbar: A Year On, Kashmiri Man’s Family Despairs His Continued Incarceration
Under PSA</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/09/history-archive-communist-party-of.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Communist
Party of India Report (1950) - Imperialist aggression in Kashmir</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/10/high-court-of-jammu-and-kashmir-upholds.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">High Court of
Jammu & Kashmir upholds Sanjay Tickoo's petition for protection
of religious places and castigates communal versions of nationalism.</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/10/sanjay-tickoos-open-letter-to-omar.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Sanjay Tickoo's Open
Letter to Omar Abdullah ...</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/05/everyones-darling-merajuddin-shah.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">‘Everyone's
Darling’: Merajuddin Shah, The Kashmiri Killed At A Checkpoint</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/06/sualeh-keen-on-exodus-of-kashmirs.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Sualeh Keen on
the exodus of Kashmir's Pandits</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/01/siddhartha-gigoo-to-die-while-dreaming.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">SIDDHARTHA GIGOO -
To Die While Dreaming of return ...</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/01/kashmir-16-yrs-on-wandhama-victims.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmir - 16
yrs on, Wandhama victims await justice</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/01/rahul-pandita-there-are-no-goodbyes.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Rahul Pandita
- There are no goodbyes</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/01/rahul-pandita-tombstones-do-not-remain.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Two articles
on the Pathribal fake encounter case </span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/01/samar-halarnkar-demands-justice-for.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">Samar
Halarnkar demands justice for the victims of Pathribal</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/02/mohammad-yousuf-tarigami-cpim-mla-j.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Mohammad
Yousuf Tarigami, CPI(M) MLA, J&K: ‘Serious dialogue need of the hour’</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/comrade-satyapal-dang-lessons-of-punjab.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Comrade
Satyapal Dang: Lessons of Punjab have Relevance for Kashmir</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/search/label/Sampradayikta%20Virodhi%20Andolan">Sampradayikta
Virodhi Andolan</a> :Documents</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/bharat-bhushan-kashmir-valley-has.html" target="_blank">Bharat Bhushan: The Kashmir valley has rejected PM Narendra
Modi's 'Gram Swaraj'</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/kashmiri-pandit-sangarash-samiti-fast.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Kashmiri
Pandit Sangarash Samiti Fast-unto-Death enters day 7</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/05/dont-allow-self-styled-leaders-to.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">'Don't allow
self-styled leaders to oppose resettlement of Kashmiri Pandits' 'No one has the
right to dictate anyone’s return to their own home,' write a group of Kashmiri
Muslims</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/bharat-bhushan-cracks-appear-in.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">BHARAT
BHUSHAN: Cracks appear in Kashmiri political class as govt seeks middle ground</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/06/sanjay-tickoo-given-political-backlash.html" style="font-family: verdana;" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #2b00fe;">Sanjay Tickoo:
‘Given the political backlash, no Pandit can or will return to Valley’</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-message-and-appeal.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;">A message and an appeal</span></a></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; margin: 0cm;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #2b00fe;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/ramachandra-guha-why-attack-young.html" target="_blank">Ramachandra Guha: Why attack young Kashmiris for a crime
committed by someone else?</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/rss-organisations-in-dehradun-force-two.html" target="_blank">RSS organisations in Dehradun force two colleges to say they
won’t admit Kashmiris</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/meet-the-21-year-old-who-helped-evacuate-hundreds-of-kashmiris-to-safety_in_5c6dc23ee4b0f40774cba4ac?utm_hp_ref=in-homepage" target="_blank">This Student Helped Evacuate Hundreds Of Kashmiris After
Pulwama</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/our-men-didnt-die-so-someone-could.html" target="_blank">Our Men Didn’t Die So Someone Could Spread Communal Hatred:
CRPF</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/naeem-akhtar-aftermath-of-pulwama-marks.html" target="_blank">Naeem Akhtar: The aftermath of Pulwama marks the retreat of
political engagement with Kashmir // Mukul Kesavan:The road to ruin</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/02/peoples-alliance-for-democracy-and.html" target="_blank">People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) condemns
mob violence against Kashmiri students and traders</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/kashmiri-pandit-who-helped-stranded.html" target="_blank">Kashmiri Pandit who helped stranded Kashmiri Muslims After
Pulwama. By Betwa Sharma</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/08/anil-nauriya-targeting-kashmirs-leaders.html" target="_blank">Anil Nauriya: Targeting Kashmir’s leaders (2005) // Not a
Muslim vs the rest issue - the Destruction of a Historic Party-Understanding
Kashmir and the National Conference Experience (2002)</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/03/express-editorial-it-will-hurt.html" target="_blank">Express editorial: It will hurt democracy if Balakot leaves
behind only the patriotism test // Nationalism Is Being Used To Divide People:
Pratap Bhanu Mehta</a></span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><b style="background-color: #fcff01;">************************************* </b><p></p><div><a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/k-files-impact-kashmiri-pandit-interests-take-a-back-seat-122032800173_1.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">K-Files impact: Kashmiri Pandit interests take a back seat. Bharat Bhushan</span></a></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It would seem against
common sense to say that the controversial film Kashmir Files may have done
more harm than good to the cause of <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/kashmiri-pandits" target="_blank">Kashmiri
Pandits</a>. The hosannas being sung for this propaganda film need to be
fact-checked for the impact it is likely to have.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A few conversations
with the Pandits who stayed back in the Valley and Hindus in Jammu are
sufficient to suggest that the more widely this film is seen in J&K, the
more <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/kashmiri-pandits" target="_blank">Kashmiri Pandits</a> will be isolated and find it even
harder to return to the Valley. Those who stayed on or returned under the
special resettlement scheme of the Manmohan Singh government are likely to
experience greater insecurity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some Kashmiri Pandits,
especially in Jammu, had angered Muslim Kashmiris by distributing sweets when
the special status of the state of J&K was abrogated in 2019. Barely had
that anger eased, when old wounds have been reopened by the film. They feel betrayed
that Kashmiri Pandits, are lending credence to the film’s storyline which
besides other cinematic lies, exaggerates the killings (4,000 as opposed to 667
recorded by Kashmiri Pandit organisations) and portrays Kashmiri Muslims as
blackguards.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Valley’s residents
claim that the worst impact of the film will be on the generation that grew up
after the departure of large numbers of <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/topic/kashmiri-pandits" target="_blank">Kashmiri
Pandits</a> three decades ago. They are unaware of the composite social
fabric of Kashmir which was destroyed by militancy. The film, they feel, will
make these 16 to 21-year-olds even angrier and this is the age-group from which
militancy gets it new recruits. Their parents feel unable to influence their
thinking and wonder if neighbours will be able to protect the miniscule number
of Kashmiri Pandits who remain, as some of them did during the 1990 exodus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the Valley, the
film is being screened in Badami Bagh Cantonment, the headquarters of the
Chinar Corps, where soldiers have been watching it in large numbers. The
propaganda consequences of the film on the psyche of the soldiers who have to
deal with Kashmiri Muslims on a daily basis can only be imagined. If this is
being facilitated by the army authorities then one wonders what purpose it
serves.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The perception in the
Valley is that the ruling dispensation in Delhi is not really bothered about
the security of Kashmiri Pandits. Local residents point to the killing of the
respected local Kashmiri Pandit pharmacist, Makhanlal Bindroo in the high
security zone of Srinagar and the shooting of two non-Muslim school teachers in
the city in broad daylight. These were described by the Director General of
Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh as “an attempt to defame the local Muslims of
Kashmir” and aiming “to attack and damage the age-old tradition of communal
harmony and brotherhood in Kashmir.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now, precisely the
same objective is being achieved by the active promotion of the film by Central
and state governments controlled by Bharatiya Janata Party. If the social
fabric of Kashmir, barely on the mend, is again torn apart by raking up old
wounds, anger will be triggered against non-Muslims. The militants may find it
difficult to target people outside J&K but there are easier targets nearer
home. “They will not go to Delhi. They will kill me first,” a Kashmiri Pandit
in the Valley quipped with resignation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">While in Jammu, the
common perception is that the film will lead to the consolidation of the
Hindu-vote this assumption looks shaky on closer examination. The Hindus of
Jammu are not a homogeneous lot. The Dogras resent the ethnic superiority they
sense from the Pandits who they say have kept up friendships with Kashmiri
Muslims rather than establish relations with the communities in Jammu. The few
Dogra-Kashmiri Pandit inter-marriages that have taken place are looked at
askance. Kashmiri Pandits who have traditionally been better educated, also
present competition for the Dogras as they tend to get better jobs in the local
administration.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Against this local
history of the two communities, it is shallow to assume that a film about the
suffering of Kashmiri Pandits will bring them together in sympathy. In fact,
other refugees who came to Jammu feel the state has done far less for them in
terms of compensation, education, employment facilities, and the grant of
all-India quotas. These include the descendants of families who came in 1947 as
refugees to Jammu after the massacres of non-Muslims in Mirpur (20,000 Hindus
and Sikhs), Muzaffarabad (18,000 slaughtered), Bhimber (about 5,000) and
Rajouri (7,000) among other places by Pakistani soldiers, irregulars and local
Muslims. Their grudge is that the film promotes one set of refugees while
failing to recognise the suffering of others.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It is a historical
fact that the biggest massacre was that of Muslims between 14 October to
November 1947. Up to 100,000 Muslims were killed in Jammu while 200,000 Muslims
migrated to Pakistan in that two-month period alone. Call it “whataboutry” but
there is a palpable lack of sympathy for Kashmir Pandits among Jammu residents.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The film neither
benefits the Kashmiri Pandits nor heals old wounds. It will instead deepen
social divisions in both the Valley and in Jammu. Its official sponsorship
suggests that when most Kashmiri Pandits and their children have moved on (and
that is not to deny the grave injustice they have suffered), hatred will be
ignited in their next generation and the wound kept festering. Party interest
has clearly overtaken national interest -- keeping hatred of the minority
community alive also keeps politics that thrives on it flourishing. The people
of J&K have the ability to see this but common sense seems an uncommon
resource amongst those lapping up the hatred in the rest of India.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">(The writer is an
independent journalist based in Delhi. He was in J&K recently)<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-61399198768702630002022-03-01T22:16:00.007-08:002022-03-01T22:16:47.545-08:00Press Release: Commemorating Two Years of the Northeast Delhi Communal Riots <p><span style="font-family: verdana;">This February marks
two years of the communal carnage that shook several localities of Northeast Delhi.
To mark the carnage, and take forward the much-needed discourse on the lives of
the victims, a group of concerned citizens and organisations - comprising
National Federation of Indian Women (NIFW), All India Democratic Women’s
Association (AIDWA), Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), People’s Union of
Civil Liberties (PUCL), United Against Hate (UAH), and Karwan -e -Mohabbat -
came together on February 26, 2022, to organise a People’s Tribunal. The
Tribunal brought together survivor families and individuals from Northeast
Delhi, field experts, and lawyers to testify before a Jury composed of people
who have had long experience in their respective fields.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was a day-long,
closed-door event that saw a series of discussions on five key themes:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Impact of State
Apathy in Northeast Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Testimonies of
Families from Northeast Delhi<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Medical Cases and
State Response<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">- Police Investigation
and the Riots<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">- </span></b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Compensation - Access, Amount, Framework<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Jury comprised
former Indian ambassador Deb Mukharji, former Home Secretary (Ministry of Home
Affairs of India) Gopal Pillai, historian Mridula Mukharji, senior journalist
and researcher Pamela Philipose, and former member of Planning Commission of
India and writer Syeda Hameed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jury Findings<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. In spite of
adequate intelligence and warning indicators of heightened tensions and
threats, the Delhi Police failed to take adequate measures to prevent the
spreading of the riots. Once the violence broke out, the Delhi Police along
with acts of omission and commission, allowed the riots to continue for a
longer period. Taking no action against the mobs perpetrating the violence, and
letting victims fend for themselves more often than not, this only resulted in larger
casualties, more suffering and harassment and greater property damages.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. Widespread
instances of police misconduct have been noted. From harassing victims and innocent
citizens by various means including large-scale arrests, refusing to arrest and
take action against ‘powerful’ people implicated in inciting violence,
corruption and attempts at extortion; misusing of technology to frame people,
to biased and unjust chargesheets, the police have been even more complicit in
the violence. And this has not been highlighted by the media - especially those
mainstream - over the past two years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. There has been a
lack of proper and transparent investigation, and a biased approach leading to lack
of credibility in the overall investigative process. These were also brought
out by innumerable adverse comments of the Courts during this period. Hundreds
of innocent people, including victims, have been in jail on what seem to be
completely trumped-up charges.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. The Delhi Government
failed miserably in providing adequate relief to victims of the violence. It
has also not been able to prevent harassment and fair investigation of
riot-related cases over the last two years.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. Precious little has
been done by the state to bridge the communal divide created and widened by the
riots. This has led to insecurity and ghettoization with people moving into mono-religious
neighbourhoods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">6. The compensation
scheme drafted and provided by the state government has been blanket and discriminatory.
While a policeman’s death was offered more than Rs. 1 crore, the death of an ordinary
victim of the violence was given only Rs. 10 lacs. Furthermore, a child’s death
was allocated merely Rs. 5 lacs according to the scheme. These blatant and arbitrary
discrepancies have been pointed out repeatedly and need to be questioned
further.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">7. It is noted that
the most amount of legal support provided to survivors of the violence have been
by young and community-based lawyers. The state has done little to nothing to
provide free legal aid to them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jury
Recommendations<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">1. A Judicial
Commission of Enquiry headed by a Retired Judge of the Supreme Court must be set
up immediately to inquire into the riots. The impunity enjoyed by the state and
non-state actors can only be challenged through setting up of such a commission
of enquiry with members who have stature and credibility among the affected
communities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2. The Delhi
Government must immediately set up an Empowered Group to look into all cases of
inadequate and delayed compensation. The process of assessing the claims and
giving compensation must be completed within 3 months. The Empowered Group must
also take into account the hardships faced by riot survivors over the last two
years because of the faulty compensation scheme of March 2020 and recompense
them for the same. The Empowered Group must have members from Northeast Delhi
who understand the political-economy of the area and can effectively engage
with the community.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">3. The use of
predictive policing must be brought under a regulatory framework. A sharp rise
in the use of predictive policing including facial recognition technology which
was used by the Delhi Police to round up those they framed as instigators of
violence is based on a fallacious assumption that the algorithms ensured
bias-free investigations. There are influential research studies pointing to
the bias built into its very design in order to deliver pre-determined outcomes.
The use of such technology must come with a guarantee of a proper regulatory framework.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. The State and
Central governments must have programs for rebuilding employment opportunities
for riot survivors who lost their livelihoods and provide them with crucial livelihood
support (for example e-rickshaws, sewing machines, technical training and equipment).<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">5. Both the Central
and the State governments must make efforts to prevent communal violence in
future by taking steps toward building communal harmony and preventing further ghettoisation.
Rebuilding of mutual trust and relationships is necessary for the long-term coexistence
of all communities. Attempts must be made to bring back the people who have
left their homes so that distress sale of properties can stop. While members of
the civil society have taken on the responsibility of rebuilding trust, schools
- especially government schools – could be important sites of promoting
communal harmony by ensuring participation in activities from children of all
communities. There must be workshops for teachers on how they can counter feelings
of hatred and otherising among children.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">6. All instances of
neglect and delay in treatment of serious injuries of riot victims, some of which
resulted in death or permanent disability at government hospitals must be
probed by the Judicial Commission of Enquiry. They must also look into the
alleged communal bias of the doctors and hospital staff. The State Government
must ensure that adequate and free medical care is provided to the riot victims
so that their treatment can continue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">7. State and Central
Governments must remedy the disruption of education of young people. An assessment
and evaluation, with the cooperation of civil society organisations working in
the field of education, must be done of instances of youth dropping out of
school to earn a living. Bridge courses must be organised for those willing to
re-join schools. It is important to ensure retention of girl students in
schools to avoid early marriage.</span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Press coverage:</b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://theprint.in/india/2020-northeast-delhi-riots-group-presents-fact-finding-report-suggests-corrective-measures/852777/&source=gmail&ust=1646286355927000&usg=AOvVaw2UjDbaJ1KwkeT0JY2_b3DR" href="https://theprint.in/india/2020-northeast-delhi-riots-group-presents-fact-finding-report-suggests-corrective-measures/852777/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">https://theprint.in/india/<wbr></wbr>2020-northeast-delhi-riots-<wbr></wbr>group-presents-fact-finding-<wbr></wbr>report-suggests-corrective-<wbr></wbr>measures/852777/</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2022/mar/01/delhi-riots-group-presents-fact-finding-report-suggests-corrective-measures-2424832.html&source=gmail&ust=1646286355927000&usg=AOvVaw2QzHo8755WgSDjTZd1oNXI" href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2022/mar/01/delhi-riots-group-presents-fact-finding-report-suggests-corrective-measures-2424832.html" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">https://www.newindianexpress.<wbr></wbr>com/cities/delhi/2022/mar/01/<wbr></wbr>delhi-riots-group-presents-<wbr></wbr>fact-finding-report-suggests-<wbr></wbr>corrective-measures-2424832.<wbr></wbr>html</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/bias-finger-at-delhi-police-on-communal-violence-of-february-2020/cid/1853982&source=gmail&ust=1646286355927000&usg=AOvVaw1hSuDph_rGlXJNlw3eC2OF" href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/bias-finger-at-delhi-police-on-communal-violence-of-february-2020/cid/1853982" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">https://www.telegraphindia.<wbr></wbr>com/india/bias-finger-at-<wbr></wbr>delhi-police-on-communal-<wbr></wbr>violence-of-february-2020/cid/<wbr></wbr>1853982</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white;" /><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/victims-suffering-yet-to-end-even-2-years-after-ne-riots-report/articleshow/89908314.cms&source=gmail&ust=1646286355927000&usg=AOvVaw1lwlPNEMAWBrnL9pJh6GSZ" href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/victims-suffering-yet-to-end-even-2-years-after-ne-riots-report/articleshow/89908314.cms" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">https://timesofindia.<wbr></wbr>indiatimes.com/city/delhi/<wbr></wbr>victims-suffering-yet-to-end-<wbr></wbr>even-2-years-after-ne-riots-<wbr></wbr>report/articleshow/89908314.<wbr></wbr>cms</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">**********************</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/02/yogendra-yadav-delhi-riots-neither.html"><span lang="EN-US">Yogendra
Yadav: Delhi riots neither designed nor conspiracy. It’s far more dangerous /
Modi’s Reckless Politics Brings Mob Rule to New Delhi / HC judge who pulled up
Delhi police over failure to register FIR's against BJP leaders is transferred</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-49136426137130227282022-02-22T01:50:00.005-08:002022-02-22T01:51:42.942-08:00Police in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh accused of unlawful killings<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">According to police in
the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, it was suicide. The young Muslim man they
had brought into their custody had, out of despair, killed himself in the
police station toilets. But, as photos of the scene emerged, so too did
suspicions. The 22-year-old man, Altaf, was 165cm (5ft 5in) tall and weighed 60kg (9.5
stone), but the toilet tap he had supposedly hanged himself from was just 76cm
off the ground and made of flimsy plastic. And why, as the police later claimed
in court, was the CCTV in the police station mysteriously not working that day?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Family and friends
tell a very different story: that Altaf, a Muslim man living in the town of
Kasganj, was in love with and planned to marry a Hindu girl. That powerful
local Hindu vigilante groups <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/21/they-cut-him-into-pieces-indias-love-jihad-conspiracy-theory-turns-lethal">opposed
to interfaith unions</a> found out and reported him to the police. And
that on 9 November 2021, Altaf was arrested and tortured to death in police
custody and his family pressured to keep quiet.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“The police murdered
my son and then gave me money to say he was depressed and took his own life,”
says Altaf’s father, Chand Miya, an illiterate mason who has taken the case to
the state high court. “But I will not stay quiet, I want justice.” Last Friday, the
courts ordered Altaf’s body to be exhumed and a new postmortem examination to
be carried out….</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/22/uttar-pradesh-elections-hindu-nationalist-yogi-adityanath-police-accused-unlawful-deaths-muslims-dalits"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/feb/22/uttar-pradesh-elections-hindu-nationalist-yogi-adityanath-police-accused-unlawful-deaths-muslims-dalits</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/10/pratap-bhanu-mehta-serial.html"><span lang="EN-US">Pratap
Bhanu Mehta: Serial authoritarianism picks out targets and tires out challenges</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/socrates-if-whole-is-ailing-part-cannot.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Socrates:
If the whole is ailing the part cannot be well / Ajit Prakash Shah: Darkness at
noon, felled by the judiciary</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="tab-stops: 167.4pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html">Society of the
Spectacle / '<b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">इमेज</span></b>' - 'Image': A
Poem on Deaths in the Age of Covid</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="tab-stops: 167.4pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-broken-middle.html"><span lang="EN-US">The Broken Middle - on the 30th anniversary of 1984</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/gujarati-poet-parul-khakkar-blames.html">Gujarati Poet
Parul Khakkar Blames 'Naked King' for Corpses Floating in the Ganga</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/avay-shukla-lest-we-forget.html">Avay Shukla: LEST
WE FORGET</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">काशी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">विश्वनाथ</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मंदिर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">महंत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">ने</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">योगी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">पर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">लगाया</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">बड़ा</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आरोप</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">सुनकर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">रह</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">जाएंगे</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">हैरान</span><span lang="EN-US">!</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian
community / How do we break the cycle of religious violence
in South Asia? / Magic and mayhem: The death cult at Haridwar</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/sunita-viswanath-why-i-feel-need-to.html">Sunita Viswanath: Why I feel the need to
bring my Hinduism to the streets</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/sunita-viswanath-i-refuse-to-cede.html">Sunita Viswanath - I refuse to cede
Hinduism to those who want to make India a Hindu rashtra</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/public-appeal-by-hindus-for-human.html">Public Appeal by Hindus for Human Rights,
USA</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/sunita-viswanath-why-is-indian-media.html"><span lang="EN-US">Sunita
Viswanath: Why is the Indian Media Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the
Republic Day Story?</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/mrinal-pande-land-where-no-one-speaks.html"><span lang="EN-US">Mrinal
Pande: A land where no one speaks truth to power</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/siddhartha-deb-unravelling-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Siddhartha
Deb: The unravelling of a conspiracy: were the 16 charged with plotting to kill
India’s prime minister framed?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-judiciary-is-defence-of-innocent-or.html"><span lang="EN-IN">The
Judiciary is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought...</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/father-stan-swamy-id-rather-suffer.html"><span lang="EN-US">Father
Stan Swamy: I’d rather suffer, possibly die if things go on as it is</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/pinjra-tod-activist-natasha-narwals.html">Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal's father
dies of Covid day before her bail hearing // That Monday will not come, Judge
Sahib</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-grateful-nation.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A
Grateful Nation</span></span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-30817485977884800722022-02-19T22:25:00.008-08:002022-02-19T22:47:18.346-08:00Sunita Viswanath: Hindus for Human Rights to Keep Lobbying US Congress, Govt against India's Treatment of Muslims<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a 30-minute interview with Karan Thapar
for The Wire, Sunita Viswanath explained why her organization played a lead
role, alongside 16 other civil society organisations in the US, in lobbying the
US Congress against the treatment of Muslims and minorities in India on the
12th and 26th of January. She said she did this because “the world needs to
understand something is wrong in India … India is on a very dangerous path”. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Speaking further about the two Congressional briefings on India’s treatment of
Muslims which she organised, she said: “We are US citizens. We have the power
to influence and move US lawmakers and the Biden Administration to speak out.”
She added, “it hasn’t happened enough”.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>See / hear the interview</b>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7I5KlJbhLA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7I5KlJbhLA</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/sunita-viswanath-why-is-indian-media.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why is the Indian Media Erasing Hindus for Human Rights from the Republic Day Story?</span></span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">काशी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">विश्वनाथ</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मंदि</span></a></span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">र</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">महंत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">ने</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">योगी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">पर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">लगाया</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">बड़ा</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आरोप</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">सुनकर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">रह</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">जाएंगे</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">हैरान</span><span lang="EN-US">!</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/02/javed-anand-what-is-at-stake-in-hijab.html">Javed
Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/08/javed-anand-ms-wadud-we-are-ashamed.html">Javed Anand - Ms Wadud, we are ashamed</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/javed-anand-on-rss-reassurances-to.html"><span lang="EN-US">Javed
Anand: On RSS reassurances to Muslim, deeds matter more than words</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/petition-re-suspension-of-academic-in.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Suspension
of academic in Kerala because he talked about fascism and Sangh Parivar</span></span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian
community / How do we break the cycle of religious violence
in South Asia? / The death cult at Haridwar</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/sunita-viswanath-why-i-feel-need-to.html">Sunita Viswanath: Why I feel the need to
bring my Hinduism to the streets</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/sunita-viswanath-i-refuse-to-cede.html">Sunita Viswanath - I refuse to cede
Hinduism to those who want to make India a Hindu rashtra</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/public-appeal-by-hindus-for-human.html">Public Appeal by Hindus for Human Rights,
USA</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p>
</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-30800908996513418992022-02-17T21:01:00.003-08:002022-02-17T21:01:25.986-08:00Javed Anand: What is at stake in the hijab issue<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Secularists must
support rights of Muslims in an increasingly Islamophobic world, but they
should be wary of strengthening the Muslim right in the process. To make sense of the
contradictory voices within the community of secular-minded Indians on the
raging hijab controversy, we would do well to recall a decades-old remark, in
another context, of the US-based “Indian philosopher of language and mind”,
Akeel Bilgrami: Sometimes who is saying it is as important as what is being
said.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the one hand are a
large majority of secularists - women’s organisations, independent feminists,
political parties - along with Muslim religious and political leaders, as also
some secular-minded Muslim women and men, who see in the attempt of some
pre-university colleges in BJP-ruled Karnataka to bar the wearing of hijab
in classrooms as yet another attempt by Hindutva forces to impose their
majoritarian agenda on the minorities. In full-throated support of the
agitating Muslim girls, they believe they are defending the Muslim women’s
constitutional right to freedom of religion, right to education, right to
freedom of choice.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">On the other hand, are the relatively fewer voices of Muslim
women and men at pains to point out that all the Quran asks of Muslim men and
women is that they dress “modestly” and “decently”. Neither the hijab nor the
full-body burqa has anything to do with the fundamental tenets of Islam.
Included among these voices are those of Zeenat Shaukat Ali (Islamic scholar,
author of The Empowerment of Women in Islam), Ghazala Wahab (author of Born a
Muslim: Some truths about Islam in India), Zakia Soman (co-convener, Bhartiya
Muslim Mahila Andolan), Shabnam Hashmi (Anhad), many members of Indian Muslims
for Secular Democracy (IMSD). It is a view they share with a host of
modern-day, internationally renowned scholars of Islam, both women and men…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/karnataka-udupi-muslim-right-what-is-at-stake-in-hijab-issue-7778969/" style="font-variant-ligatures: no-contextual;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/karnataka-udupi-muslim-right-what-is-at-stake-in-hijab-issue-7778969/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/javed-anand-on-rss-reassurances-to.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Javed Anand: On RSS reassurances to Muslim, deeds matter more than words</span></span></a></span></u></p><p><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/essay-by-ak-ramanujan-censored-by-dus.html">The essay by AK Ramanujan censored by DU's
Academic Council</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2004-01-06/pune/28323621_1_bori-bhandarkar-oriental-research-institute-islamic-india"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sambhaji Brigade vandalised the Bhandarkar
Institute in Pune in 2004</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2013/08/javed-anand-ms-wadud-we-are-ashamed.html"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span>
Javed Anand - Ms Wadud, we are
ashamed</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/petition-re-suspension-of-academic-in.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Suspension
of academic in Kerala because he talked about fascism and Sangh Parivar</span></span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Google Sans, Roboto, RobotoDraft, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-26045266643023103542022-02-10T01:31:00.012-08:002022-02-11T21:24:28.171-08:00Sankarshan Thakur: Splintered vision<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is the twentieth
anniversary of the making of Narendra Modi and the Gujarat Model. It was this
month twenty years ago that triggered the marinade of horror, hatred and gore
that has served up this sizzled nation called New India where it is possible for
zealotry to hound a young girl for her choice of apparel, for venom to fetch
you a vice-chancellorship and for odium to create a public discourse on whether
Shah Rukh Khan’s act of prayer was actually a ruse for spitting on Lata
Mangeshkar’s mortal remains. It is necessary to recall and commit to memory the
Gujarat of 2002 and the thereafter because we are probably only mid-stream in
its momentous aftermath. We must know the nature of what came to unfold twenty
years ago, if only so we are better able to negotiate this tide that has taken
our affairs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">To anyone paying
attention, it would have been evident that 2002 was not a contest to retain the
Gujarat assembly, it was the beginning of his assault on New Delhi. In a skewed
but probably telling sense, he had already raised the bar of competition higher
than any other Indian chief minister would; he was not in a contest with
locals, he had pitted himself against Pervez Musharraf - “Mian Musharraf” was
his chosen address - and was waging a campaign to protect the nation from such
threats as the then Pakistani dictator. Here, clearly and for all to see, was
an architect of fractures who could dream but a splintered design, who could
deal but in fear and its detritus. Here was a man striding divisions, driving
them deeper, infusing them with the diabolical iridescence of hate and
bitterness. Here was a man quite unabashed about what he was up to. Here was a
man so focused on his distorted vision, he couldn’t care for correctness,
political or otherwise. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The recurrent horrors enacted in Gujarat that year were
nothing but a natural reaction to the carnage of Godhra; if tempers were such
they spilled into murder and mayhem, it was only a measure of the depth of
public shock and anger. The relief camps had to be shut and the refugees sent
back to their charred and sundered homes because the government was not
interested in any more charity, not certainly for baby-making factories; the
victims could go and turn their five into twenty-five and twenty-five into six
hundred and twenty five but his government was not subsidizing them. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Chief
Election Commissioner - a man called J.M. Lyngdoh at that time - had to be
flayed not because he takes decisions that are inconvenient and unpalatable but
because his first name is James and, therefore, he must be deep in some dark
conspiracy with the Vatican and Sonia Gandhi. Here was a man who didn’t like
mincing words. In fact, he often revealed a crowbar where his tongue should lie
and he didn’t like apologizing for putting it to use. The more he can do to
annoy and affront, the better off he is, the more villainous he looks to some,
the more heroic he begins to feel. The more some people reviled him, the more
others raved about him. Censure was fodder to his cannons, he would court more
and more of it so he could keep his guns blazing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">He is the classic
anti-image, his stature is determined by his adversary. The more the opposition
to him, the more he can feed and fatten on it. There is nothing that pleases
him more than the charge of being anti-Muslim. The more the minority gets
ranged against him, the more the majority consolidates behind him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Accuse Narendra Modi
of being a Hindutva battle-crier and he would respond like you had paid him a
compliment. That would be like telling Ariel Sharon he is anti-Palestinian or
Slobodan Miloševic that he is a Serb ultranationalist. Those are the badges they
want to wear. That’s the badge Modi wants on his chest, it’s been his ticket
past the turnstiles into power, and remains his essential lease document. He
has a killer’s instinct for power and a hunter’s will to pursue it. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What’s
more, he has a razor-sharp sense of the hour and how to make it his own. When
passenger coach S-6 was set afire at Godhra junction late February, he seized
the opportunity. He saw in a single flash of that incendiary moment a road map
to new vainglory although the maxim it ran on was a very old and established
one, used by many astute practitioners of power before him - that dividing is a
handy principle to rule by.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Post-Godhra, Modi was
a man transformed. Suddenly, he was no longer besieged in the crumbling
fortress left behind by the Keshubhai Patels; he was out raiding, charging; he
was bellicose and daring. He was unafraid to embrace whatever he saw profit in.
What was tragedy, Modi converted into opportunity; he picked up the flames from
Godhra and blazed a new trail with cold determination.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Gujarat of 2002
was the premiere of later enactments. It is when peddling prejudice began not
to be a thing of shame, it is when brandishing bigotry from the public stage,
and profiting from it, began to be a thing of pride. It is when the thing of
Indian hating Indian to the degree that one Indian was ready to lynch the other
and brag about it became a thing of fashion. That’s where we began this journey
to unabashed worship of debased ideologues and assassins. The show isn’t over
yet, its protagonist is only warming up. Keep watching, if only because
shutting your eyes will not ease the abomination of what we have become.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/splintered-vision-gujarat-2002-was-the-premiere-of-later-enactments/cid/1851097"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/splintered-vision-gujarat-2002-was-the-premiere-of-later-enactments/cid/1851097</span></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/sankarshan-thakur-compliant-and.html" style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US">Sankarshan Thakur - Compliant and complicit: Indians are living the funereal carnival of their own dispossession</span></a></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/09/a-pre-history-of-post-truth-east-and.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A
pre-history of post-truth, East and West. By MARCI SHORE</span></a><u><span style="color: blue; mso-themecolor: hyperlink;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/anand-k-sahay-idea-behind-capturing.html" style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB">Anand K. Sahay: The idea behind capturing power in any kind of way: fair or foul</span></a></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/08/partha-chatterjee-no-one-not-even.html">Partha Chatterjee: No one, not even
Indians, can claim to be part of an ancient nation</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk78807204"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/suhas-palshikar-bhoomi-pujan-of-new.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk78807204;"><span lang="EN-GB">Suhas Palshikar: Bhoomi pujan of the new republic //
Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Political colonisation of Hinduism</span></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk78807204;"><u><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk78807204;"></span>
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/there-should-be-no-clampdown-on.html" style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US">Suhas
Palshikar: A monumental failure of governance // ‘There should be no clampdown
on information, people can voice grievances on social media’: Supreme Court</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/11/suhas-palshikar-disenfranchising-other.html"><span lang="EN-US">Suhas Palshikar - Disenfranchising The ‘Other’ //
Ajaz Ashraf interviews Ashis Nandy on the future of India</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/04/george-lakey-on-capitalism-public.html"><span lang="EN-US">Public
Health-The Nordic Model</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/yann-philippin-sale-of-french-rafale.html">YANN PHILIPPIN - Sale of French Rafale jet
fighters to India: how a state scandal was buried</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/anne-michel-and-simon-piel-rafale-case.html"><span lang="EN-US">Anne
Michel and Simon Piel - Rafale case: Fresh moves towards a corruption
investigation</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk92200040"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/03/bharat-bhushan-scania-scandal-need-to.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200040;">Bharat Bhushan - Scania Scandal: Need to step up to
the challenge</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk92200040;"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/ramachandra-guha-unmaking-of-india.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ramachandra
Guha: The unmaking of India</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk77409911"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/swati-chaturvedi-it-was-bjp-who-made-it.html"><span lang="EN-GB">Swati
Chaturvedi: It Was BJP Who Made It Mamata vs Modi. Too Far</span></a><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/shyam-saran-communal-virus-runs-riot.html"><span lang="EN-US">Shyam Saran: Communal virus runs
riot - Attacks on minorities may lead to irreversible fragmentation of Indian
Union</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/your-silence-emboldens-hate-voices.html"><span lang="EN-US">Your silence emboldens hate voices:
Faculty, students of IIMs to PM</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html">Society
of the Spectacle / '<span lang="HI">इमेज</span>' - 'Image': A Poem on Deaths in the Age of
Covid</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/manoj-joshi-india-will-come-apart-if.html"><span lang="EN-US">Manoj Joshi: India will come apart
if secular contract is torn / Harish Khare: The Real Import of Satya Pal Malik's
Warning About Narendra Modi</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US">काशी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">विश्वनाथ</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मंदिर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">महंत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">ने</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">योगी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">पर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">लगाया</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">बड़ा</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आरोप</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">सुनकर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">रह</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">जाएंगे</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">हैरान</span><span lang="EN-US">!</span></span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Hannah
Ellis-Petersen: Statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian
community / Sunita Viswanath: How do we break the cycle of religious violence
in South Asia? / Mukul Kesavan - Magic and mayhem: The death cult at Haridwar</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/sunita-viswanath-why-i-feel-need-to.html">Sunita Viswanath: Why I feel the need to
bring my Hinduism to the streets</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/sunita-viswanath-i-refuse-to-cede.html">Sunita Viswanath - I refuse to cede
Hinduism to those who want to make India a Hindu rashtra</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/public-appeal-by-hindus-for-human.html">Public Appeal by Hindus for Human Rights,
USA</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/sunita-viswanath-why-is-indian-media.html"><span lang="EN-US">Sunita
Viswanath: Why is the Indian Media Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the
Republic Day Story?</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing">
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-46082156832121853612022-01-30T03:49:00.005-08:002022-01-30T03:49:56.479-08:00Sunita Viswanath: Why is the Indian Media Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the Republic Day Story?<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Our board member
Sravya Tadepalli moderated the briefing and opened with the words, “As a Hindu
and part of a religious tradition that believes all human beings are inherently
divine, I believe it is my religious duty to speak out when oppressed people
face atrocities. As an Indian American, I feel a special obligation to stand up
for democracy in both nations. Many Indian Americans share my feeling. As
Americans, we have the power to take foreign policy measures that can make a
substantive difference in promoting human rights abroad and empowering
grassroots activists.” </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why is it that the
only Hindu organiser of the briefing is being left out of the coverage and the
brickbats are saved for a Muslim cosponsor and the only Muslim speaker? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://thewire.in/media/why-is-the-indian-media-erasing-hindus-for-human-rights-from-the-republic-day-story"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Why is the Indian Media Erasing 'Hindus for Human Rights' from the Republic Day Story?</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Hindus for Human
Rights is a US-based advocacy organisation. Along with 16 diverse
organisations, we organised a congressional briefing on January 26, the Indian
Republic Day, to educate American elected officials about the decline of
democracy and human rights in India. Through our bi-weekly
congressional briefings, we are raising global awareness of the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/asia/india">growing threats</a> of Hindu
extremism towards Indian minorities. Our hope is that India will be pressured
to respect its own constitution and protect the rights of minorities. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This new year was rung
in with terrifying and explicit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArDu3mrEEbw&t=1s&ab_channel=HindusforHumanRights">calls
for a genocide</a> against Muslims by Hindu religious leaders in the holy
city of Haridwar. Christmas Day saw the <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/seven-incidents-across-india-where-the-hindutva-brigade-disrupted-christmas-celebrations">targeting
of churches</a> all across India by Hindutva mobs who broke Jesus statues
and threatened violence. Perhaps because these alarming incidents made the
international news, our congressional briefings in 2022 have been making waves. The Indian media has
gone crazy attacking our Republic Day briefing in its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-dURteVND4&ab_channel=HindustanTimes">own
inimitable way</a>. And we know we’ve hit a nerve because the Indian government
has made a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-vibrant-democracy-dont-need-certificate-from-others-mea-to-hamid-ansari-us-lawmakers/articleshow/89186702.cms">statement</a> denouncing
our briefing. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most of the mainstream
Indian media coverage singled out one of the 17 co-sponsors, the Indian
American Muslim Council (IAMC); and the only Muslim speaker, former
Vice-President Hamid Ansari for its attacks. The allegations being levelled
against both IAMC and Ansari are baseless and outrageous. What is on display is
outright Islamophobia…</span></p><p><a href="https://thewire.in/media/why-is-the-indian-media-erasing-hindus-for-human-rights-from-the-republic-day-story"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://thewire.in/media/why-is-the-indian-media-erasing-hindus-for-human-rights-from-the-republic-day-story</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/blog-post.html"><span lang="EN-US">काशी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">विश्वनाथ</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मंदिर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">के</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">महंत</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">ने</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">मोदी</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">योगी</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">पर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">लगाया</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">बड़ा</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">आरोप</span><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US">सुनकर</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">रह</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">जाएंगे</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US">हैरान</span><span lang="EN-US">!</span></a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/sunita-viswanath-why-i-feel-need-to.html">Sunita
Viswanath: Why I feel the need to bring my Hinduism to the streets</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/sunita-viswanath-i-refuse-to-cede.html">Sunita
Viswanath - I refuse to cede Hinduism to those who want to make India a Hindu
rashtra</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/public-appeal-by-hindus-for-human.html">Public
Appeal by Hindus for Human Rights, USA</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></u></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><u><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></u></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/mrinal-pande-land-where-no-one-speaks.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mrinal
Pande: A land where no one speaks truth to power</span></span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/socrates-if-whole-is-ailing-part-cannot.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Socrates: If the whole is ailing the part cannot be well / Ajit Prakash Shah: Darkness at noon, felled by the judiciary</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/shyam-saran-communal-virus-runs-riot.html"><span lang="EN-US">Shyam Saran: Communal virus runs riot - Attacks on minorities may lead to irreversible fragmentation of Indian Union</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/your-silence-emboldens-hate-voices.html"><span lang="EN-US">Your silence emboldens hate voices: Faculty, students of IIMs to PM</span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html">Society of the Spectacle / '<span lang="HI">इमेज</span>' - 'Image': A Poem on Deaths in the Age of Covid</a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/manoj-joshi-india-will-come-apart-if.html"><span lang="EN-US">Manoj Joshi: India will come apart if secular contract is torn / Harish Khare: The Real Import of Satya Pal Malik's Warning About Narendra Modi</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/bharat-bhushan-incitement-to-violence.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat Bhushan - Incitement to violence: When will Supreme Court take note?</span></span></a></span></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/12/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of.html" style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US">Hannah Ellis-Petersen: Statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian community / Sunita Viswanath: How do we break the cycle of religious violence in South Asia? / Mukul Kesavan - Magic and mayhem: The death cult at Haridwar</span></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-31331454534974095502022-01-22T01:35:00.008-08:002022-01-22T02:02:17.774-08:00Avay Shukla: A LETTER THAT DIMINISHES THE INDIAN FOREIGN SERVICE<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you're wondering
how deep the rot has set into our society, and how autonomous the
radicalisation of even the educated sections has become, you have to look no
further than the open letter written by 32 assorted retired IFS officers on the
5th of this month in response to an appeal by more than 100 veterans (including five retired service Chiefs) to the President and Prime Minister.
This latter missive was an appeal for action to stop the kind of
genocidal speeches made at the Haridwar Dharm Sansad on the 19th of December,
2021. Incidentally, similar appeals have been made by other eminent citizens,
including the alumni and students of at least two IITs, a group of Supreme
Court lawyers to the Chief Justice, and at least two retired judges of the
Supreme Court itself.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let's
call the former lot of IFS blokes the G-32, since they have made their political
affiliations quite clear now and it's not too difficult to surmise who could
have prompted them to take umbrage at this appeal and to perform this most
undiplomatic genuflection to the great anarch. What did surprise me,
however, is the petty cliches and vitriol in their language, the calumny and
contempt, for if there's one art diplomats are known for it is the turn of
phrase, the ability to pick the mot juste.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But when veterans and retired
chiefs are branded as "a group of activists" and as "known leftists
with sympathies for Maoists", and when their action is ascribed to "frustration at not having...recognition and award after superannuation"
and is described as an " investment in a potential political change at the
centre", you know the IFS has lost its marbles and is in dire need of a
serious revamp and what the Chinese would euphemistically term
"re-education." But not this lot, because they already appear to have
been re-educated by the BJP's IT Cell and Arnab Goswami. For it takes an
extraordinary degree of cognitive dissonance to accuse people of the caliber of
Lt. Gen. Vijay Oberoi, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Admiral Arun Prakash and Major
General S.G. Vombatkere of lack of morality and dubious motives.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am at a
total loss to comprehend what part of the veterans' letter could have offended
the G-32 to make them discard their gin and tonic and canasta and take up
cudgels against reason and sanity. For this letter nowhere blames the govt. for
the Haridwar incitements, it instead expresses dismay at the govt's inaction
and " urges leaders of ALL ( emphasis mine) political parties to condemn
these calls for what is tantamount to genocide of Muslims."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Something, by
the way, which even the Supreme Court appears to have agreed with because it
has taken notice of a petition by Anjana Prakash, Senior Advocate and retired
judge of the Patna High Court, and issued notice to the Center and the
Uttarakhand govt. The G-32 also appears to have ignored the fact that the
veterans have addressed their letter to not only the govt. but also to the CJI,
the service chiefs and leaders of all major political parties. It is not
intended " to bring odium to the Modi govt." as our former
Ambassadors seem to presume but is a call for it ( and all other stake holders
of our democracy ) to act before it is too late….</span></p><p><a href="http://avayshukla.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-letter-that-diminishes-indian-foreign.html?m=1"><span style="font-family: verdana;">http://avayshukla.blogspot.com/2022/01/a-letter-that-diminishes-indian-foreign.html?m=1</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/avay-shukla-lest-we-forget.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Avay Shukla: LEST WE FORGET</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/shyam-saran-communal-virus-runs-riot.html"><span lang="EN-US">Shyam Saran: Communal virus runs
riot - Attacks on minorities may lead to irreversible fragmentation of Indian
Union</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">
</span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2022/01/your-silence-emboldens-hate-voices.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Your silence emboldens hate voices:
Faculty, students of IIMs to PM</span></span></a></span><u><o:p></o:p></u></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/rihanna-and-greta-prompt-mea-outburst.html"><span lang="EN-US">Rihanna
and Greta prompt an MEA outburst — and a hashtag firestorm</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/09/avay-shukla-acts-of-god-and-follies-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Avay
Shukla: Acts Of God And Follies Of Man</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/kunal-kamra-and-elasticity-of-justice.html"><span lang="EN-US">Kunal
Kamra and the Elasticity of Justice. By Avay Shukla</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/avay-shukla-fine-art-of-losing-friends.html"><span lang="EN-US">Avay
Shukla: THE FINE ART OF LOSING FRIENDS</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/avay-shula-are-farmers-making-delhi.html"><span lang="EN-US">Avay
Shukla - ARE THE FARMERS MAKING DELHI IRRELEVANT ?</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/02/reflections-of-american-living-in-india.html"><span lang="EN-US">Reflections
of an American living in India...</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/socrates-if-whole-is-ailing-part-cannot.html"><span lang="EN-IN">Socrates:
If the whole is ailing the part cannot be well / Ajit Prakash Shah: Darkness at
noon, felled by the judiciary</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="tab-stops: 167.4pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/society-of-spectacle-image-emperors.html">Society of the
Spectacle / '<b style="mso-ansi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="HI">इमेज</span></b>' - 'Image': A
Poem on Deaths in the Age of Covid</a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="tab-stops: 167.4pt;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-broken-middle.html"><span lang="EN-US">The Broken Middle - on the 30th anniversary of 1984</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/gujarati-poet-parul-khakkar-blames.html">Gujarati Poet
Parul Khakkar Blames 'Naked King' for Corpses Floating in the Ganga</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p>
<br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-73426382185360074082021-12-31T20:56:00.000-08:002021-12-31T20:56:06.729-08:00Citizens, armed forces veterans write to President, PM Modi on hate speech / Aditi Mittal: Deafening silence in a year of hate speech<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Five former chiefs of
the armed forces and a number of other prominent citizens including bureaucrats
have written a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister <a href="https://indianexpress.com/about/narendra-modi/">Narendra Modi</a> on
the <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/it-is-dangerous-to-ignore-haridwar-hate-speech-7697137/">recent
incidents of hate speeches</a> and urged them to take appropriate
measures. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In a letter, the group
of over 100 people also referred to the communal comments </span><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/haridwar-meet-seeks-weapons-for-hindus-war-on-muslims-ex-bjp-spokesperson-among-speakers-7686714/" style="font-family: verdana;">made
at an event in Haridwar</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> recently and condemned “in no uncertain terms”
such “incitement” to violence.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“We cannot allow such
incitement to violence together with public expressions of hate – which not
only constitute serious breaches of internal security but which could also tear
apart the social fabric of our nation,” they said in the letter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/hate-speech-india-veterans-pm-modi-president-kovind-7700817/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://indianexpress.com/article/india/hate-speech-india-veterans-pm-modi-president-kovind-7700817/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/aditi-mittal-writes-deafening-silence-a-year-of-hate-speech-7700596/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Aditi Mittal: Deafening silence in a year of hate speech</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">2021 was a year of
speech – free speech, hate speech, funny speech — and a year of silence. I grew
up during India’s Mile sur mera tumhara era. My grandparents were all too
familiar with the horrors of Partition and they often spoke of the riots that
followed — about neighbours who told on each other to rioters and about
identifying family members in piles of bodies. They talked of “divide and
rule”, an insidious British policy that was meant to keep us fighting among
ourselves so that we would not pay attention to the poor state of affairs in
which we were living. They recounted how years of poisoning the minds of people
against each other had exploded as a bomb, the shrapnel of which flew around us
for years and the wounds from which took decades to heal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the refugee colony
of Mumbai where they ended up, they promised themselves they would never live
in a world where we dehumanised one another. The British might have forsaken
us, but we would not forsake each other, they insisted. They would never
passively watch their country burn. Never again. In the India they chose to
live in, we constantly flooded into every neighbourhood house with vessels full
of food to celebrate festivals, offer condolences, and watch out for each other
in need….<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/aditi-mittal-writes-deafening-silence-a-year-of-hate-speech-7700596/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/aditi-mittal-writes-deafening-silence-a-year-of-hate-speech-7700596/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/04/former-civil-servants-protest-selection.html"><span lang="EN-US">Former Civil Servants Protest Selection of Terror
Accused as Lok Sabha candidate by BJP</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-open-letter-to-citizens-of-india-by.html"><span lang="EN-US">AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITIZENS OF INDIA by 106
senior retired government officers: INDIA DOES NOT NEED THE CAA-NPR-NRIC</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/05/safoora-zargar-why-did-india-jail.html"><span lang="EN-US">Safoora Zargar: Why did India jail a pregnant
student during Covid-19? By Geeta Pandey</span></a></span><span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/am-glad-i-went-ramachandra-guha.html"><span style="color: #44177c;">‘Am glad I went’: Ramachandra
Guha explains why he joined CAA protests</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #323232;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/jab-hindu-muslim-raazi-to-kya-karega.html"><span style="background: white; color: #44177c;">Jab Hindu
Muslim raazi / to kya karega Nazi</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/split-wide-open-india-is-at-risk-of.html"><span style="color: #44177c;">The split wide open: India is
at risk of alienating allies by citizenship programme</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: #323232;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/pratap-bhanu-mehta-discrimination-not.html"><span style="color: #44177c;">Pratap Bhanu Mehta:
Discrimination, not justice</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/12/muslims-have-150-countries-to-go-to.html">The real tukde-tukde gang</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="color: #323232;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2016/03/battle-for-soul-of-india-by-prem.html"><span lang="EN-US">Battle for the Soul of India BY PREM SHANKAR JHA</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/prem-shankar-jha-shadow-of-haren.html">Prem Shankar Jha:
The Shadow of Haren Pandya’s Case Lies Long Over Justice Arun Mishra</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/comrade-satyapal-dang-lessons-of-punjab.html"><span lang="EN-US">Comrade Satyapal Dang: Lessons of Punjab have
Relevance for Kashmir</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-75607654245500325542021-12-27T05:47:00.016-08:002021-12-27T05:53:43.272-08:00Hannah Ellis-Petersen: Statue smashed in spate of attacks on India’s Christian community / Sunita Viswanath: How do we break the cycle of religious violence in South Asia? / Mukul Kesavan - Magic and mayhem: The death cult at Haridwar<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Festive celebrations
were disrupted, Jesus statues were smashed and effigies of Santa Claus were
burned in a spate of attacks on India’s Christian community over Christmas.Amid growing
intolerance and violence against India’s Christian minority, who make up about
2% of India’s population, several Christmas events were targeted by Hindu right
wing groups, who alleged Christians were using festivities to force Hindus to
convert.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In recent years,
Christians have increasingly faced harassment around Christmas but this year
saw a notable surge in attacks. In Agra in Uttar
Pradesh, members of right wing Hindu groups burned effigies of Santa Claus
outside missionary-led schools and accused Christian missionaries of using
Christmas celebrations to lure people in....</span></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/27/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of-attacks-on-indias-christian-community"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/27/jesus-statue-smashed-in-spate-of-attacks-on-indias-christian-community</span></a></p><p><a href="https://religiondispatches.org/how-do-we-break-the-cycle-of-religious-violence-in-south-asia/?fbclid=IwAR3JLuBW5C6PTTnrfsoDw3ohjdhpgTFl0qSpxNZU30_llLGzZT8beV7SbZY"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sunita Viswanath: How do we break the cycle of religious violence in South Asia?</span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Over the last few
months, South Asia has been caught in yet another cycle of religious
violence.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">In October, Muslim
extremist mobs in Bangladesh inflicted serious </span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/19/bangladesh-hindus-protest-deadly-religious-violence" style="font-family: verdana;">violence</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> against
the country’s Hindu minority during its most important festival, Durga Puja.
The trigger? A Facebook post showing the Qur’an being placed on an image of a
Hindu deity. To some Muslims, this offensive post justified </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/15/world/asia/15bangladesh-muslim-hindu-violence.html" style="font-family: verdana;">attacks</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> on
Hindu shops, temples, and homes across Bangladesh. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The violence didn’t
stop here, though. In the neighboring Indian state of Tripura, Hindu extremist
groups protesting the Bangladesh violence engaged in <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59047517">retaliatory attacks</a> on
the state’s Muslim minority.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sadly, it’s all too
common for religious violence in South Asia to be spurred by incidents of
“religious offense” or “blasphemy.” Strengthened by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48204815">colonial-era laws</a> which
make religious offense a crime, sometimes punishable by death, citizens often
take matters into their own hands, leading to a bloody cycle of violence and
global headlines of mob violence and lynchings. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;">For those of us in the
South Asian diaspora, these headlines are painful to read. For some of us, our
friends and family back home are under threat. But unfortunately, not everyone
agrees on how to break free from this cycle…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><a href="https://religiondispatches.org/how-do-we-break-the-cycle-of-religious-violence-in-south-asia/?fbclid=IwAR3JLuBW5C6PTTnrfsoDw3ohjdhpgTFl0qSpxNZU30_llLGzZT8beV7SbZY"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://religiondispatches.org/how-do-we-break-the-cycle-of-religious-violence-in-south-asia/?fbclid=IwAR3JLuBW5C6PTTnrfsoDw3ohjdhpgTFl0qSpxNZU30_llLGzZT8beV7SbZY</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/magic-and-mayhem/cid/1844823"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mukul Kesavan: Magic and mayhem The death cult at Haridwar</span></a></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The gathering at
Haridwar last week called itself a Dharma Sansad. It was, in fact, <i>Hindutva</i>’s
natural answer to a LitFest, a HateFest. <i>Hindutva</i>, as Aakar Patel
has recently reminded us, has no politics, no economics, no worthwhile books,
no view of the world separate from its consuming hatred of Muslims in
particular and minorities in general. <i>Hindutvavadis</i> produce
hate in the same way as writers produce literature. Ergo, a conclave of<i> Hindutva</i>’s
godmen will be a platform to peddle the only product majoritarianism can
produce: hatred.<br />
<br />
Swami Prabodhanand Giri, the president of the Hindu Raksha Sena, had a plan of
action that he wanted to share. “And I’ll tell you what preparations those are.
I will make myself clear, this is the solution, and if you follow this
solution, then the path is made for you... in Myanmar, Hindus were being chased
away. The politicians, government and police were just standing and watching.
They started by killing them by cutting their necks, and not only this, but
they began to cut them in the streets and eat them. The people watching thought
we are going to die, we are not going to live.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“This is our state
now. You have seen this at the Delhi border, they killed Hindus and hung them.
There is no more time, the case now is that either you prepare to die now, or
get ready to kill, there’s no other way.<i> This is why, like in Myanmar,
the police here, the politicians here, the army and every Hindu must pick up
weapons and we will have to conduct this cleanliness drive (safai abhiyan).
There is no solution apart from this</i> [italics added].”…<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/magic-and-mayhem/cid/1844823"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/magic-and-mayhem/cid/1844823</span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/vineetha-mokkil-open-letter-to-modi.html"><span lang="EN-US">VINEETHA
MOKKIL - An Open Letter to Modi Bhakts in America: Your God has Feet of Clay
and Blood on His Hands</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/mukul-kesavan-kumbh-vs-corona-logic-of.html"><span lang="EN-US">Mukul
Kesavan - Kumbh vs Corona The logic of Hindu nationalism / Milind Murugkar: The
political project of Hindutva is up against many contradictions</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/ramachandra-guha-unmaking-of-india.html"><span lang="EN-US">Ramachandra
Guha: The unmaking of India</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/sunita-viswanath-why-i-feel-need-to.html">Sunita Viswanath: Why I feel the need to
bring my Hinduism to the streets</a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/06/sunita-viswanath-i-refuse-to-cede.html"><span lang="EN-US">Sunita
Viswanath - I refuse to cede Hinduism to those who want to make India a Hindu
rashtra</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/public-appeal-by-hindus-for-human.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Public Appeal by Hindus for Human Rights,
USA</span></a></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Cambria",serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2597011166656336985.post-69269690360448526652021-12-05T20:44:00.023-08:002021-12-06T21:26:31.669-08:00 Church leaders condemn attacks on Christians in Karnataka / A Week Since Attack On Karnataka Church, No Arrests, Vigilantes Roam Freely / Catholic school in Madhya Pradesh vandalised<p><span style="font-family: verdana;">SHILLONG, Dec 5: Following the concerted
attacks on churches, nuns and priests and the forcible entry of Hindu right
wing activists into places of worship in different parts of the country, the
Archbishop of Shillong, Rev. Victor Lyngdoh on Sunday strongly condemned the
attacks against Christians as unwarranted.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB">
It may be mentioned that recently a group of Bajrang Dal activists allegedly
disrupted a prayer meeting at Jesus Prayer Hall in Belur town, Karnataka. This
was in response to the exhortation by RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat that
conversions were changing the demographics of India, especially the
Northeastern states. </span>“We strongly condemn religious persecution,
injustice, and intolerance in the country. I urge all those in authority to
intervene and take necessary steps to stop all forms of religious
persecutions,” Rev. Lyngdoh said.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/attack-on-churches-in-karnataka-by-bajrang-dal-no-arrests-worrying-trend-2637567">A Week Since Attack On Karnataka Church, No Arrests, Vigilantes Roam Freely</a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bhopal/catholic-school-in-madhya-pradesh-vandalised-by-hindu-groups-7659955/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Catholic school in Madhya Pradesh vandalised</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Archbishop of Shillong said that this
great nation believes in God, and we pray to God for love, peace and
brotherhood. Rev Lyngdoh said: “In a secular country like India, this is not
expected because the strength and unity of this nation is Respect, Justice and
Peaceful co-existence of every citizen.”</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Meanwhile, the Khasi Jaintia Christian Leaders’ Forum (KJCLF) expressed its
strong displeasure against the hounding and persecution of followers of the
Christian faith in Karnataka and other places, and condemns the groups and
organisations that perpetrate these heinous acts against the rights of all
citizens in our country. KJCLF secretary, Rev. EH Kharkongor said, “The KJCLF conveys its support and
succour to the fellow believers who are victims of these dreadful acts, and
calls upon the governance and authorities in the States and in the country to
be sentinels of justice and provide protection to all citizens of our free
nation.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p><a href="https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/12/06/archbishop-church-leaders-condemn-attacks-on-christians-in-karnataka/"><span style="font-family: verdana;">https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/12/06/archbishop-church-leaders-condemn-attacks-on-christians-in-karnataka/</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="color: #0000ee; text-decoration-line: underline;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Bharat Bhushan: Burden of bigotry may break Indian democracy's back</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><div>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-judiciary-is-defence-of-innocent-or.html"><span lang="EN-IN">The
Judiciary is the Defence of the Innocent. Or so we thought...</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/father-stan-swamy-id-rather-suffer.html"><span lang="EN-US">Father
Stan Swamy: I’d rather suffer, possibly die if things go on as it is</span></a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/pinjra-tod-activist-natasha-narwals.html">Pinjra Tod activist Natasha Narwal's father
dies of Covid day before her bail hearing // That Monday will not come, Judge
Sahib</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-grateful-nation.html"><span lang="EN-US">A
Grateful Nation</span></a></span><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a name="_Hlk88200376"></a><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/09/javed-anand-on-rss-reassurances-to.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;">Javed Anand: On RSS reassurances to Muslim, deeds matter
more than words</span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"></span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/gujarati-poet-parul-khakkar-blames.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;">Gujarati Poet Parul Khakkar Blames 'Naked King' for
Corpses Floating in the Ganga</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"></span><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/05/avay-shukla-lest-we-forget.html"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;">Avay Shukla: LEST WE FORGET</span></a><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk88200376;"></span>
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/wanted-immediate-justice-in-bhima.html"><span lang="EN-IN">WANTED:
Immediate Justice in the Bhima-Koregaon Conspiracy. By Cedric Prakash</span></a></span><span lang="EN-IN"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/06/govt-wants-to-cage-women-who-speak.html"><span lang="EN-US">Govt
wants to cage women who speak against it, say Narwal & Kalita as they and
Asif Tanha walk free / Delhi HC criticises 'wanton, frivolous use of UAPA by
the State' / P.B. Mehta: Has the blackbox of UAPA finally been opened?</span></a></span><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/11/bharat-bhushan-frontier-of-warfare.html"><span lang="EN-US">Bharat
Bhushan: Frontier of warfare? Wrong to securitise civil society discourse</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2021/04/election-commission-responsible-for.html"><span lang="EN-US">Election
Commission responsible for spreading Covid-19, should probably be booked for
murder: Madras HC // Bharat Bhushan on the departing CJI: Good riddance</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/10/soutik-biswas-rare-pictures-of-last-10.html" style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-US">Soutik
Biswas: Rare pictures of the last 10 years of Gandhi's life</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2017/02/love-at-work-mahatma-gandhis-last.html" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">Love at work - Mahatma Gandhi's Last Struggle</span></a></span> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9udojiGnwA4&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">The Compass We Lost</span></a></span> : The Raza Foundation - Gandhi Matters:13, October 4, 2019<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/08/question-that-stays-with-me-ravish.html"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="HI">एक</span><b><span lang="HI"> </span></b><span lang="HI">बात</span><b><span lang="HI"> </span></b><span lang="HI">हमेशा</span><b><span lang="HI">
</span></b><span lang="HI">ज़हन</span><b><span lang="HI"> </span></b><span lang="HI">में</span><b><span lang="HI"> </span></b><span lang="HI">सवाल</span><b><span lang="HI">
</span></b><span lang="HI">खड़े</span><b><span lang="HI"> </span></b><span lang="HI">करती</span><b><span lang="HI"> </span></b><span lang="HI">है</span> A question that
stays with me... / Ravish Kumar's Speech at Berkeley (2019)</span></a></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2020/12/ramachandra-guha-gandhi-said-rss-was.html">Ramachandra Guha:
Gandhi said RSS was ‘communal with a totalitarian outlook’ – and that’s still
true</a></span><u><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span lang="EN-GB"><a href="https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.com/2019/06/secularism-in-house-of-god.html"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: verdana;">SECULARISM IN A HOUSE OF GOD</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Cambria",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com