Demanding the Government of India to stop communal violence, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) has condemned the violence all over the country during the Rama Navami celebrations.
“Any kind of violence during Ram Navami processions should be strongly condemned and should be stopped. Religious leaders should come forward and publicly oppose such acts and urge their followers to stop religious activities from being hijacked by anti-social elements to incite violence. We believe the recent Rama Navami violence at various places was not spontaneous but pre-planned aimed at polarisation. It was failure of our intelligence and police department as they not only failed to act in time but also remained mute spectator in some places,” said JIH Vice President Salim Engineer while addressing media persons at JIH Headquarters on April 6.
He added, “It is challenging to comprehend why religious procession must choose a route and pass in front of other sacred sites. The police and administration should deny such permission and never allow them to follow such routes as precautionary measures. They should be stopped if it is intended to incite communal conflict or disturb communal amity.”
While addressing media persons at a press meet cum Iftar party, the JIH leader applauded the Rajasthan High Court decision in the 2008 Jaipur bomb blasts case, in which the court overturned the decision of the trial court that had previously sentenced to death to the four accused in the case. He added, “The ruling raises some important questions that the accused have been found not guilty suggests that the actual criminals are still at large.” He also demanded from the Government to form a new committee to look into and find the real perpetrators of the bomb blast and punish the policemen who had framed these innocents then.
The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Centre’s order disallowing MediaOne, a Malayalam news channel, from having its broadcasting licence renewed was applauded by the JIH Vice President as a historic judgement not only for MediaOne but for the freedom of the press. He said, the Kerala-based TV station is well-known for giving the voiceless a platform and persistently bringing up problems that benefit the oppressed and the underprivileged. The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier refused to provide it security clearance. Prof. Salim agreed with the Supreme Court’s findings that “the state is using national security as a tool to deny citizens remedies that are given by law.” Prof. Salim believed that the government would refrain from curbing the freedom of the press. It will further strengthen democracy and improve our ranking in the Press Freedom Index.
Engineer Salim also expressed concern over the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which claimed that more than 66% of the total income of seven national parties in 2021-22 came from unknown sources like electoral bonds.
While expressing concern over the unwillingness of the government to debate the Adani-Hindenburg report, he said it is difficult to understand why the government does not want a discussion on the issue in Parliament and is refusing to agree to the demand to constitute a JPC for probing the Adani affair.