In Kolkata, at an anti-terrorism conference held by Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind on 5 November, community leaders regretted the haste with which madrasas had been branded as ‘terror hubs’ in the aftermath of the 2 October Burdwan blast. Maulana Mahmud Asad Madani, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s general secretary, defended the madrasas and said that if there is anything suspicious about the institutions, we will help shut them down and get the guilty arrested.
“Investigating agencies have a duty to suspect. But till they have gathered proof on the matter, they should not leak such information. Their first mistake is that they have leaked on the basis of suspicion. Four months later, they will say that there is nothing. But the damage is done. It will be a small news item then, while right now, it’s a headline,” he said.
‘ARE MUSLIMS JOINING BJP WILLINGLY OR BEING COERCED INTO’, ASKS JIH CHIEF
The BJP’s recent claim that Muslims are joining the party in large number in West Bengal and elsewhere in the country drew a sharp reaction from Jamaat-e-Islami Hind’s national president who said it needs to be looked into if they are doing so “willingly”. Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Omari, while addressing a press conference on 6 November, said: “Muslims across the country might be joining the BJP but it also needed to be seen if they were joining willingly or are being coerced or enticed into doing so by promises of wealth and ranks in the party.”
Maulana Omari was also critical of the attempt by the political parties to “malign the entire Muslim community” in the light of the October blast in Burdwan. “They are trying to prove that all the madrasas were training grounds for terrorists. No Muslim supports those behind the blast. The administration must look into the incident, book offenders and punish them. No Muslim will protest against that,” he said.
‘MODI’S POLICIES ARE ANTI-POOR, ANTI-DEMOCRACY’
Social activist and author Ram Puniyani came down heavily on the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what he called the anti-democratic postures. Delivering the keynote address at the inaugural of the seminar on M N Vijayan’s world of thoughts at Thiruvananthapuram on 7 November, he said that while the Prime Minister was expected to be the first among the equals, Modi was the first, second, third and last. He said while Modi calls for moratorium on communal violence, his ‘brothers and sisters’ in the Sangh Parivar were spreading violence. “He speaks the language of concern for the poor. But his policies are anti-poor,” Puniyani said.
Puniyani alleged that many Indian media institutions were owned and controlled by business houses close to the Prime Minister. He alleged that symptoms of fascism were already there.
POETS GATHER AGAINST ‘CORPORATE LOOT AND FASCISM’
Reviewing the increasing communal riots and corporate loot under the reign of Narendra Modi-led-government after 16 May 2014, people from every section of society are expressing resentment and concern over the degrading situation. On 9 November, some poets assembled at a programme at CPI office in Lucknow to express their anxiety over what they called fascism and corporate loot. The programme was organised jointly by Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, Jan Sanskriti Manch, IPTA and Journalist Union for Civil Society on “Poem: after 16 May”. Different poets presented their poems and expressed their concern regarding the prevailing situation in the country.
U.P. ONLY STATE WITHOUT ANY URDU MEDIUM SCHOOL
Speaking at a seminar marking International Urdu Day organised by Jauhar Foundation on 9 November, Dr. M. Iqtedar Husain Farooqi expressed his surprise and dismay that in spite of the fact that U.P. has the largest number of Urdu speaking persons in India, there is not even a single Urdu Medium High School in the State.
On the other hand states like Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka, Telangana, Bihar and West Bengal have a large number of Govt. run Primary and Secondary Urdu Medium Schools which have helped the minorities increase literacy rate. In Delhi too, dozens of such schools are run by the Municipal Corporation and the Sate. Dr. Farooqi hoped that U.P. Government will look into this anomaly and redress the issue.
FINAL ARGUMENT IN HASHIMPURA MASSACRE CASE
A Delhi court on 28 October began the final arguments in the 27-year old Hashimpura massacre case. The special prosecutor, based on circumstantial and direct evidence, argued for prosecution of 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) for allegedly killing about 42 Muslim men. Special Prosecutor Satish Tamta began his argument on circumstantial evidence of kidnapping of the Muslim men from Meerut’s Hashimpura Mohalla. He based his argument on testimonies of 14 witnesses to the incidents at Hindol Canal and Upper Ganga Canal Murad Nagar, where wounded persons and bodies were recovered.
The prosecutor also argued that reports of Central Forensic Science Laboratory and a ballistic expert show that a depression was found in the truck due to a “projectile”, which indicates shooting inside the vehicle.
COURT QUASHES POLICE’S FINAL REPORT IN KHALID MUJAHID CASE
The police faced setback once again in Khalid Mujahid case. CJM Brijendra Tripathi of Barabanki court has rejected the final report of police regarding those who were involved in custodial death of Khalid Mujahid and directed to get the case reinvestigated by a high level police officer and inform the court about it within two months. After the mysterious death of Khalid Mujahid, Zaheer Alam Falahi, Khalid Mujahid’s uncle, had filed a case against 42 cops including former DGP Vikram Singh. The police had attached the report during the investigation but Mr. Falahi termed it as self-created and filed a case against it.
SAFFRON FORCE BEHIND COMMUNAL INCIDENTS IN WEST UP: FACT-FINDING REPORT
While releasing a fact-finding report consisting of 32 pages entitled “West UP: A New Laboratory of Communal Fascism” on communal incidents in West UP, Marxist-Lenin Communist Party of India (CPIML) has cautioned that communal atmosphere is being created pre-planned by Sangh Parivar and BJP fanning minor incidents and rumour. As a result of that, whole UP is burning of communal riots. After releasing the report, Ram Ji Roy, State secretary of CPIML, Mohammed Salim, Member of Central Parliamentary Board and Tahira Hasan expressed these views before the media. The report also exposed corporate and communal fascism.
ABORTION TILL 24 WEEKS MAY BECOME LEGAL SOON
The ministry of health and family welfare’s maternal health division has proposed to amend the existing Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, to allow abortion until the 24th week of pregnancy, a report said on 1 November. The proposed Act, which will be called the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2014, has been put up on the website of the health ministry for people to review till November 10, after which the draft will be finalised.
In February 2013, the National Commission for Women, after reviewing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971, recommended to the Union Health Ministry that abortions till the 24 weeks of pregnancy may be allowed.
CELLPHONES, INDECENT CLOTHES BEHIND SPURT IN RAPES: UP COPS
Police officers in Uttar Pradesh believe that “mobile phone culture, bad influence of western culture and indecent dressing sense among women” are some of the reasons behind the spurt in rape cases. Surprisingly, their bizarre-sounding observations are not based on a casual aside, but form part of a reply to a right to information (RTI) query submitted to the office of the director general of police in the state capital.
RTI activist Lokesh Khurana had sought information on the number of rapes in each district of the state, measures taken by the administration to curb the menace, number of arrests made and the possible reasons behind the spurt. In their replies, most of the police stations in the state termed rape as a social problem and a direct result of changing social norms.