By TCN News,
New Delhi: Muslim students organizations condemned the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010 that was approved today by Union Cabinet, and demanded its immediate withdrawal, saying the move will increase the commercialization of education.
“The HRD Minister Kapil Sibal views that the bill if passed in parliament would be a revolution larger than the one in the telecom sector. This statement itself shows that the bill will be a green signal for tough competitions in the ‘education industry’ to earn large profits, said Shahnawaz Ali Raihan, National Secretary of Students Islamic Organization of India.
“The biggest problem faced by the Indian society is that higher education is reachable only for those who fall in the right hands of economic affordability and so a large section of Indian society has been marginalised. The bill if implemented will only help to intensify the current state of affairs. Commercialization of education had ruined many Indians and replaced talents by “capitation fee”. SIO is also apprehensive of the invasion of western culture, ethics and values along with the western universities,” Raihan said.
“Inviting foreign universities with red carpet will further increase the commercialization of education. Foreign universities are not coming to provide free educational service for the rural background and poor students. They are bringing the education as a commodity for sale. Everybody should be aware of it,” said Md Anisujjaman, General Secretary, Campus Front of India.
India has enough resources. The government should utilize and improve its own facilities. Foreign universities will only be the industry of manufacturing feudal and capitalist class in the Indian society. It will corrupt Indian education system, he further said.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Top Indian institutes not scared of foreign universities
New Delhi: Higher educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs, on Tuesday hailed the government's go ahead for a bill to allow entry of foreign education providers in India and sought to allay any threat posed by the institutions from abroad.
After the Cabinet approved the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, these institutions appeared upbeat about prospects of entry of foreign universities in India.
"At the level of IITs, we welcome such a move. We have no apprehension about the entry of such institutions," said Prof Gautam Baruah, Director IIT Guwahati.
As apprehensions have been raised over the possibility of IIT and IIM faculty joining the foreign institutions, he said, some faculty may join them but majority would prefer to continue with the IITs.
"Money is not the only matter which would attract the faculty. A right environment is important. It takes huge time and effort in setting up a institute of IIT standards. It will take years for them to come to that level," he said.
"There may be some faculty who will join the foreign institutions. But that will not be an issue," Baruah added.
IIM Lucknow Director Prof Devi Singh said it is a good move and will help bring internationally reputed education providers to India.
"It is important that the foreign institutions entering India offer the same degrees and diplomas that they are offering back home. This will help ensure that the certification provided by them in India will have the same value internationally as their current qualification," Singh said.
They need to follow the same curriculum and quality of education which they provide in their own countries, he said.
Delhi University Vice Chancellor Prof Deepak Pental said there is nothing to worry about the entry of foreign institutions to India.
"This will help Indian institutions to come up to global education standard. Indian institutions have better human resource and government is supporting quiet well," he said.
Pental did not rule out some faculty joining the foreign institutions.
"But I do not see very big research taking place in the new foreign institutions to be set up in India. Most of them may come in subjects like management and law. I do not think they will be interested to come in Science and Technology," Pental said.
Private institutions like Indian School of Business welcomed the move.
"We have always believed that the best public policy for improving educational institutions is to enable and encourage competition. The introduction of this bill allowing FDI into India seems to be a step in the right direction," said Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB.
"I am not aware of the details of the bill, but would hope that the provisions applicable to foreign universities are also extended to Indian Institutions of high calibre, and that we have a level, competitive, growth oriented playing field," he said.
Foreign Universities like Yale has welcomed the move of the government.
"It will increase quality and access in the Indian education system. It is an opportunity programme for the foreign universities," George Joseph, assistant secretary for International Affairs of Yale University, has said.
Though Yale has no immediate plan for setting up a campus here, it has entered into more than 50 collaborations in India and is interested for more such partnerships, said Joseph, who is currently visiting the country.
After the Cabinet approved the Foreign Educational Institution (Regulation of Entry and Operation) Bill, 2010, these institutions appeared upbeat about prospects of entry of foreign universities in India.
"At the level of IITs, we welcome such a move. We have no apprehension about the entry of such institutions," said Prof Gautam Baruah, Director IIT Guwahati.
As apprehensions have been raised over the possibility of IIT and IIM faculty joining the foreign institutions, he said, some faculty may join them but majority would prefer to continue with the IITs.
"Money is not the only matter which would attract the faculty. A right environment is important. It takes huge time and effort in setting up a institute of IIT standards. It will take years for them to come to that level," he said.
"There may be some faculty who will join the foreign institutions. But that will not be an issue," Baruah added.
IIM Lucknow Director Prof Devi Singh said it is a good move and will help bring internationally reputed education providers to India.
"It is important that the foreign institutions entering India offer the same degrees and diplomas that they are offering back home. This will help ensure that the certification provided by them in India will have the same value internationally as their current qualification," Singh said.
They need to follow the same curriculum and quality of education which they provide in their own countries, he said.
Delhi University Vice Chancellor Prof Deepak Pental said there is nothing to worry about the entry of foreign institutions to India.
"This will help Indian institutions to come up to global education standard. Indian institutions have better human resource and government is supporting quiet well," he said.
Pental did not rule out some faculty joining the foreign institutions.
"But I do not see very big research taking place in the new foreign institutions to be set up in India. Most of them may come in subjects like management and law. I do not think they will be interested to come in Science and Technology," Pental said.
Private institutions like Indian School of Business welcomed the move.
"We have always believed that the best public policy for improving educational institutions is to enable and encourage competition. The introduction of this bill allowing FDI into India seems to be a step in the right direction," said Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB.
"I am not aware of the details of the bill, but would hope that the provisions applicable to foreign universities are also extended to Indian Institutions of high calibre, and that we have a level, competitive, growth oriented playing field," he said.
Foreign Universities like Yale has welcomed the move of the government.
"It will increase quality and access in the Indian education system. It is an opportunity programme for the foreign universities," George Joseph, assistant secretary for International Affairs of Yale University, has said.
Though Yale has no immediate plan for setting up a campus here, it has entered into more than 50 collaborations in India and is interested for more such partnerships, said Joseph, who is currently visiting the country.
‘Mainstream’ Media, They did it once again
By Mahtab Alam, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: On 7 March 2007, when more than 5000 activists of Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham (TMMK) marched to Parliament from various parts of the state to demand reservation for Muslims in government services and educational institutions, they could not make news for mainstream media at all as the march was completely blacked out. Three years down the line situation seems not to have changed. Yesterday, there were several rallies on Muslim issues here but ‘mainstream’ newspapers have just buried the news.
Jantar Mantar of Delhi, considered to be the barometer of Indian Democracy and the only authorized space in the national capital to put forward people’s demand on various issues, witnessed a historic scene yesterday. Thousands of people and dozens of organization, coming from different parts of the country rallied for reservation for Muslims and implementation of recommendations of both Sachar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commission. But for mainstream media it was not the ‘news’ hence you will either find complete blackout or marginal reporting with misleading touch in today’s papers.
The Times of India in its 36-page issue could not spare even a single column to cover any of rallies, dharna and protests organized to demand Muslim reservation. While counterpart Hindustan Times, in its 38-page edition could only make it on page 16 with heading “Post-women’s bill: Huge Muslim rally for quota”. However, it writes in a confusing way: “Backed by prominent MPs opposed to women reservation bill, hundreds of backward Muslims and Christians on Tuesday demanded quota in jobs and education”.
Joining Times of India, both The Pioneer and The Asian Age spread over 16 and 36 pages respectively could not spare even a tiny space to inform their readers about demands of Muslims. The Statesman in 20-page edition only bothered to publish a small picture of protest demanding Minority Character of Jamia Millia Islamia. The Indian Express did the same, and that too on its page number 23 of 26-page newspaper.
Among the lesser read, both The Hindu and tabloid Mail Today comparatively gave more space. But The Hindu covered only Dharna for Minority Character of Jamia Millia Islamia and Mail Today felt happy covering only Popular Front of India’s march to Parliament.
Hindi newspapers, not lagging behind their English counterparts reported the events with same ‘zeal’. In fact, Hindi papers took lead in not covering. Dainik Jagaran and Amar Ujala, most read papers of Hindi did not cover the events. Like Times of India, the same group’s paper Nav Bharat Times blacked out the news. Dainik Hindustan, following the pattern of group’s English paper Hidustan Times gave a marginal coverage. While Jansatta, one of the progressive but less read Hindi daily covered the events comparatively better, Hindi daily Nai Duniya only worried to publish small news demanding minority character of Jamia. However, Rashrtriya Sahara Hindi daily did it well.
What is most startling, even Urdu dailies did not cover the events prominently. Rashtriya Sahara, largest selling Urdu daily did not mind it publishing on front pages. The events could only find space on page number 8 and 9. Lesser known and read Sahafat and Hamara Samaj Daily made it on front pages. However, on the whole even in Urdu dailies the events got lesser attention, of course not up to their importance.
Interestingly, in almost every daily petty incident of clash in Jamia Nagar between Asif Mohd Khan, local MLA and Parwez Hashsmi, former MLA and Rajya Sabha MP has been over reported. In fact, some of the newspapers blew it out of proportion. Times of India reported curfew like situation giving heading – Jamia Nagar tense after MP, MLA groups clash and Dainik Jagaran reported, Clash between MP and MLA in Jamia Nagar, disturbances at Police Station. Urdu dallies also followed the line. What is more interesting, the people of Jamia Nagar heard about the ‘rioting and tension’ through the newspapers only. Even this writer, who lives not more than 500 hundred meters from MP’s residence and crosses both his residence and Police station at least twice in a day is ‘informed’ by newspapers only!
New Delhi: On 7 March 2007, when more than 5000 activists of Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazagham (TMMK) marched to Parliament from various parts of the state to demand reservation for Muslims in government services and educational institutions, they could not make news for mainstream media at all as the march was completely blacked out. Three years down the line situation seems not to have changed. Yesterday, there were several rallies on Muslim issues here but ‘mainstream’ newspapers have just buried the news.
Jantar Mantar of Delhi, considered to be the barometer of Indian Democracy and the only authorized space in the national capital to put forward people’s demand on various issues, witnessed a historic scene yesterday. Thousands of people and dozens of organization, coming from different parts of the country rallied for reservation for Muslims and implementation of recommendations of both Sachar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Commission. But for mainstream media it was not the ‘news’ hence you will either find complete blackout or marginal reporting with misleading touch in today’s papers.
The Times of India in its 36-page issue could not spare even a single column to cover any of rallies, dharna and protests organized to demand Muslim reservation. While counterpart Hindustan Times, in its 38-page edition could only make it on page 16 with heading “Post-women’s bill: Huge Muslim rally for quota”. However, it writes in a confusing way: “Backed by prominent MPs opposed to women reservation bill, hundreds of backward Muslims and Christians on Tuesday demanded quota in jobs and education”.
Joining Times of India, both The Pioneer and The Asian Age spread over 16 and 36 pages respectively could not spare even a tiny space to inform their readers about demands of Muslims. The Statesman in 20-page edition only bothered to publish a small picture of protest demanding Minority Character of Jamia Millia Islamia. The Indian Express did the same, and that too on its page number 23 of 26-page newspaper.
Among the lesser read, both The Hindu and tabloid Mail Today comparatively gave more space. But The Hindu covered only Dharna for Minority Character of Jamia Millia Islamia and Mail Today felt happy covering only Popular Front of India’s march to Parliament.
Hindi newspapers, not lagging behind their English counterparts reported the events with same ‘zeal’. In fact, Hindi papers took lead in not covering. Dainik Jagaran and Amar Ujala, most read papers of Hindi did not cover the events. Like Times of India, the same group’s paper Nav Bharat Times blacked out the news. Dainik Hindustan, following the pattern of group’s English paper Hidustan Times gave a marginal coverage. While Jansatta, one of the progressive but less read Hindi daily covered the events comparatively better, Hindi daily Nai Duniya only worried to publish small news demanding minority character of Jamia. However, Rashrtriya Sahara Hindi daily did it well.
What is most startling, even Urdu dailies did not cover the events prominently. Rashtriya Sahara, largest selling Urdu daily did not mind it publishing on front pages. The events could only find space on page number 8 and 9. Lesser known and read Sahafat and Hamara Samaj Daily made it on front pages. However, on the whole even in Urdu dailies the events got lesser attention, of course not up to their importance.
Interestingly, in almost every daily petty incident of clash in Jamia Nagar between Asif Mohd Khan, local MLA and Parwez Hashsmi, former MLA and Rajya Sabha MP has been over reported. In fact, some of the newspapers blew it out of proportion. Times of India reported curfew like situation giving heading – Jamia Nagar tense after MP, MLA groups clash and Dainik Jagaran reported, Clash between MP and MLA in Jamia Nagar, disturbances at Police Station. Urdu dallies also followed the line. What is more interesting, the people of Jamia Nagar heard about the ‘rioting and tension’ through the newspapers only. Even this writer, who lives not more than 500 hundred meters from MP’s residence and crosses both his residence and Police station at least twice in a day is ‘informed’ by newspapers only!
Do we need a Muslim party?
Shaik Ahmed Ali
"Delimitation makes Muslims a force." This was the headline of a leading English daily of Hyderabad which claimed that the delimitation process has made Muslims a dominant force in 15 Lok Sabha seats of the State and a deciding factor in 40 assembly constituencies.
There were several other media reports explaining how the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies may benefit the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. Such stories, of course, increased the enthusiasm among the Muslim voters. Many political pundits predicted that 2009 general elections would see an increase in the number of Muslim representatives in the elected bodies. The election process began and ended. But as always, Muslims remained where they were five years ago. The number of Muslim MLAs remained 11 while the representation in the Lok Sabha got reduced from two in 2004 to only one now.
This time major parties nominated very few Muslims as their candidates for both the Assembly and Lok Sabha. This was not unusual. Muslim constitutes over 10 per cent of the state's total population and there should be at least 29 Muslim candidates from each party, if it has to be proportionate to their population. But no party considers this fact citing secularism as the reason. Surprisingly, this rule is applied only for the Muslims. Scheduled Castes and Tribes already have political reservation and the parties nominate adequate number of candidates from the Backward Classes and OBCs. But they avoid giving tickets to Muslims.
A basic analysis of general elections since 1952 shows that all parties together have ensured that the political representation of Muslims either remain static or do not cross a specific figure, both in the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha.
Since 1952, the Congress always nominated 15 or less candidates in all 13 assembly elections. The TDP was much worse in giving tickets to Muslims and since 1984 it nominated less than 10 Muslims in all the elections. The CPI and CPM never fielded more than one Muslim candidate in all the elections. This time too, all major parties implemented the same policy. For assembly elections, the Congress nominated 11 Muslims; TDP just 7 and TRS-3 and the CPI and CPM fielded one Muslim each. For a change, this time BJP fielded four Muslims. But the Praja Rajyam tried to change the trend by nominating 14 Muslims for the Assembly.
Despite this, of 23 districts, there was not a single Muslim candidate representing any major party in seven districts of Adilabad, Ranga Reddy, Warangal, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari and West Godavari. Further, nine districts had only one Muslim candidate representing a major political party.
The parties adopted a similar approach for the Lok Sabha. Of 569 candidates who contested for 42 Lok Sabha seats in the State, only 50 were Muslims. Of them, 22 contested as independents. While 10 seats were reserved for SC/STs, there was no Muslim candidate in 12 out of 32 general Lok Sabha seats in the State. Therefore, Muslims contested from only 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The prominent political parties -- Congress, TDP, TRS and Praja Rajyam together fielded only 11 Muslim candidates. While Congress fielded only one Muslim candidate, the TRS and the TDP fielded two Muslims each. The Praja Rajyam gave Lok Sabha tickets to six Muslims. But a majority of their candidates were either new to the electoral politics or lacked the potential to win the elections. As a result, no body from these parties got elected to the Lok Sabha.
On the other side, all major parties stood for a particular community, though covertly. The Congress for Reddys, TDP for Kammas, Praja Rajyam for Kapus and TRS for Velamas. The Congress gave tickets to 88 Reddys, compared to 66 by the Grand Alliance of TDP, TRS & Left Parties and 42 by the Praja Rajyam. The Grand Alliance nominated 46 Kammas, as against 16 by the Congress and 11 by the Praja Rajyam as their candidates. The Praja Rajyam selected 37 Kapus, as against 14 by the Congress and only eight by the Grand Alliance.
This insufficient nomination would have almost finished the Muslim representation in the elected bodies. But the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen saved the situation. Though the MIM contested from only one Lok Sabha and 8 assembly segments in Hyderabad, except from one assembly segment, it won all the seats. Unlike past elections, this time MIM had tough opposition from its rivals led by Editor of Siasat Daily Zahed Ali Khan who contested as TDP candidate. The TDP, Left Parties and the Majlis Bachao Tehreek jointly tried to capture the MIM's citadel, but failed. MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi not only retained his seat, but increased the MIM's tally in assembly from 5 in 2004 to 7 this time.
MIM's victory indicates that the Muslim community believes in a Muslim party. The MIM has been winning the elections since 1960. The party won 19 out of 30 seats in the municipal corporation in 1960. Its leader Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi got elected to the assembly for the first time in 1962. The party continuously retained the seat in future elections. Salahuddin Owaisi got elected to the Lok Sabha from Hyderabad in 1984 and the party is retaining the seat for the last 25 years. In subsequent elections, the MIM increased its representation to 5 MLAs. Except for 1994, when the Majlis won only one assembly seat, it never lost any election.
On the other side, the Muslim MLAs belonging to other parties were never sure of their victory. Their parties either did not re-nominate them or they lost elections. For instance, despite the Congress sweeping the polls, both the Muslim ministers of Congress -- Mohammad Ali Shabbir and Md. Fareeduddin -- lost the election this time. Interestingly both were elected in 2004 from the seats - Kamareddy and Zahirabad - where the Muslim population was below 10 per cent. But this time Shabbir Ali lost from Kamareddy apparently due to polarisation of voters. Fareeduddin's constituency Zahirabad became a reserved constituency and therefore, he was shifted to Amberpet seat in Hyderabad. His candidature apparently polarised the voters resulting in the victory of BJP candidate Kishan Reddy. This time three candidates of Congress Syed Ahmedullah from Cuddapah, M.S.Basha from Madanapalli and Mastan Vali from Guntur got elected. TDP's candidate Abdul Ghani too got elected from Madanapally. All these constituencies have a sizeable number of Muslim voters.
The 2009 elections in Andhra Pradesh have shown that Muslims failed to take any advantage of delimitation. At one side, the political parties failed them, on the other, the trend of not voting for candidates belonging to other castes or religion, ensured that less number of Muslims enter the legislative assembly and parliament. In these circumstances, the MIM was destined to gain. When all other parties are trying to promote their castes, I think, it was not wrong if the MIM talks about the Muslims.
The election statistics since 1952 show that the political parties were never serious about nominating Muslim candidates. Besides constantly changing the candidates or their constituencies, the Congress kept on reducing the number of Muslim nominees. TDP showed very little interest in nominating Muslim candidates and fielded only two candidates for Lok Sabha -- Lal Jaan Basha and Yousuf Ali in the last 26 years of its formation.
The major political parties want the Muslims to vote for them. But they don't want the largest minority group to become a political power. Six per cent Reddys or the five per cent Kammas are sending more than 50 candidates to the state assembly for the last several decades, but the parties ensured that the number of Muslims MLAs remain below 15. Though the polarisation of voters is a dangerous trend, but it will at least ensure that economically backward communities like the Muslims get adequate representation in the legislative bodies. So far, the MIM has proved that Muslim can not only win, but also retain seats. When other parties are not serious about the political empowerment of Muslims, then I think, in a democratic set-up a Muslim party is the only answer to the continued political discrimination against the community.
"Delimitation makes Muslims a force." This was the headline of a leading English daily of Hyderabad which claimed that the delimitation process has made Muslims a dominant force in 15 Lok Sabha seats of the State and a deciding factor in 40 assembly constituencies.
There were several other media reports explaining how the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies may benefit the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. Such stories, of course, increased the enthusiasm among the Muslim voters. Many political pundits predicted that 2009 general elections would see an increase in the number of Muslim representatives in the elected bodies. The election process began and ended. But as always, Muslims remained where they were five years ago. The number of Muslim MLAs remained 11 while the representation in the Lok Sabha got reduced from two in 2004 to only one now.
This time major parties nominated very few Muslims as their candidates for both the Assembly and Lok Sabha. This was not unusual. Muslim constitutes over 10 per cent of the state's total population and there should be at least 29 Muslim candidates from each party, if it has to be proportionate to their population. But no party considers this fact citing secularism as the reason. Surprisingly, this rule is applied only for the Muslims. Scheduled Castes and Tribes already have political reservation and the parties nominate adequate number of candidates from the Backward Classes and OBCs. But they avoid giving tickets to Muslims.
A basic analysis of general elections since 1952 shows that all parties together have ensured that the political representation of Muslims either remain static or do not cross a specific figure, both in the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha.
Since 1952, the Congress always nominated 15 or less candidates in all 13 assembly elections. The TDP was much worse in giving tickets to Muslims and since 1984 it nominated less than 10 Muslims in all the elections. The CPI and CPM never fielded more than one Muslim candidate in all the elections. This time too, all major parties implemented the same policy. For assembly elections, the Congress nominated 11 Muslims; TDP just 7 and TRS-3 and the CPI and CPM fielded one Muslim each. For a change, this time BJP fielded four Muslims. But the Praja Rajyam tried to change the trend by nominating 14 Muslims for the Assembly.
Despite this, of 23 districts, there was not a single Muslim candidate representing any major party in seven districts of Adilabad, Ranga Reddy, Warangal, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East Godavari and West Godavari. Further, nine districts had only one Muslim candidate representing a major political party.
The parties adopted a similar approach for the Lok Sabha. Of 569 candidates who contested for 42 Lok Sabha seats in the State, only 50 were Muslims. Of them, 22 contested as independents. While 10 seats were reserved for SC/STs, there was no Muslim candidate in 12 out of 32 general Lok Sabha seats in the State. Therefore, Muslims contested from only 20 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The prominent political parties -- Congress, TDP, TRS and Praja Rajyam together fielded only 11 Muslim candidates. While Congress fielded only one Muslim candidate, the TRS and the TDP fielded two Muslims each. The Praja Rajyam gave Lok Sabha tickets to six Muslims. But a majority of their candidates were either new to the electoral politics or lacked the potential to win the elections. As a result, no body from these parties got elected to the Lok Sabha.
On the other side, all major parties stood for a particular community, though covertly. The Congress for Reddys, TDP for Kammas, Praja Rajyam for Kapus and TRS for Velamas. The Congress gave tickets to 88 Reddys, compared to 66 by the Grand Alliance of TDP, TRS & Left Parties and 42 by the Praja Rajyam. The Grand Alliance nominated 46 Kammas, as against 16 by the Congress and 11 by the Praja Rajyam as their candidates. The Praja Rajyam selected 37 Kapus, as against 14 by the Congress and only eight by the Grand Alliance.
This insufficient nomination would have almost finished the Muslim representation in the elected bodies. But the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen saved the situation. Though the MIM contested from only one Lok Sabha and 8 assembly segments in Hyderabad, except from one assembly segment, it won all the seats. Unlike past elections, this time MIM had tough opposition from its rivals led by Editor of Siasat Daily Zahed Ali Khan who contested as TDP candidate. The TDP, Left Parties and the Majlis Bachao Tehreek jointly tried to capture the MIM's citadel, but failed. MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi not only retained his seat, but increased the MIM's tally in assembly from 5 in 2004 to 7 this time.
MIM's victory indicates that the Muslim community believes in a Muslim party. The MIM has been winning the elections since 1960. The party won 19 out of 30 seats in the municipal corporation in 1960. Its leader Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi got elected to the assembly for the first time in 1962. The party continuously retained the seat in future elections. Salahuddin Owaisi got elected to the Lok Sabha from Hyderabad in 1984 and the party is retaining the seat for the last 25 years. In subsequent elections, the MIM increased its representation to 5 MLAs. Except for 1994, when the Majlis won only one assembly seat, it never lost any election.
On the other side, the Muslim MLAs belonging to other parties were never sure of their victory. Their parties either did not re-nominate them or they lost elections. For instance, despite the Congress sweeping the polls, both the Muslim ministers of Congress -- Mohammad Ali Shabbir and Md. Fareeduddin -- lost the election this time. Interestingly both were elected in 2004 from the seats - Kamareddy and Zahirabad - where the Muslim population was below 10 per cent. But this time Shabbir Ali lost from Kamareddy apparently due to polarisation of voters. Fareeduddin's constituency Zahirabad became a reserved constituency and therefore, he was shifted to Amberpet seat in Hyderabad. His candidature apparently polarised the voters resulting in the victory of BJP candidate Kishan Reddy. This time three candidates of Congress Syed Ahmedullah from Cuddapah, M.S.Basha from Madanapalli and Mastan Vali from Guntur got elected. TDP's candidate Abdul Ghani too got elected from Madanapally. All these constituencies have a sizeable number of Muslim voters.
The 2009 elections in Andhra Pradesh have shown that Muslims failed to take any advantage of delimitation. At one side, the political parties failed them, on the other, the trend of not voting for candidates belonging to other castes or religion, ensured that less number of Muslims enter the legislative assembly and parliament. In these circumstances, the MIM was destined to gain. When all other parties are trying to promote their castes, I think, it was not wrong if the MIM talks about the Muslims.
The election statistics since 1952 show that the political parties were never serious about nominating Muslim candidates. Besides constantly changing the candidates or their constituencies, the Congress kept on reducing the number of Muslim nominees. TDP showed very little interest in nominating Muslim candidates and fielded only two candidates for Lok Sabha -- Lal Jaan Basha and Yousuf Ali in the last 26 years of its formation.
The major political parties want the Muslims to vote for them. But they don't want the largest minority group to become a political power. Six per cent Reddys or the five per cent Kammas are sending more than 50 candidates to the state assembly for the last several decades, but the parties ensured that the number of Muslims MLAs remain below 15. Though the polarisation of voters is a dangerous trend, but it will at least ensure that economically backward communities like the Muslims get adequate representation in the legislative bodies. So far, the MIM has proved that Muslim can not only win, but also retain seats. When other parties are not serious about the political empowerment of Muslims, then I think, in a democratic set-up a Muslim party is the only answer to the continued political discrimination against the community.
Why Women's Reservation Bill is Anti-Muslim?
The empowerment of one group leads to the weakening of another. That's one of the basic principles of Indian politics. The passing of Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha is another such step. Once it crosses all hurdles, the Bill will certainly empower Indian women, in general. But it will also prove to be a death knell for the Muslim politics.
Of 543 Lok Sabha seats, 84 are already reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 47 for Scheduled Tribes. Once 33 per cent of the total seats are reserved for women, the Muslim leaders will be left with very few seats to contest and win. The intelligentsia argues that Muslim women can contest and win from the reserved seats. But the chances of active participation of Muslim women in politics look remote.
India failed to produce a single Muslim women leader at the national level since independence. Of 549 women Lok Sabha members only 18 were Muslims. In six Lok Sabhas (1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th and 12th), there was no Muslim woman MP. Their number never crossed three. In the present Lok Sabha, there are three Muslim woman members. None of them have won election on their own.
Malda MP Mausam Benazir Noor is the niece of former union minister ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury. Kairana MP Tabassum Begum is the widow of powerful Muslim BSP MP Munawar Rana and Sitapur MP Qaiser Jahan is the wife of Sitapur's sitting BSP MLA J.Ansari.
Former Muslim women MPs too had similar profile. This shows that Muslim women need to belong to successful political families to win elections. Since there are very few successful Muslim politicians in India, the chances of Muslims women getting elected even from the reserved seats are very less. Once implemented, the Women's Reservation Bill will uproot the already under-represented Muslim politics from the country. To get a larger picture, let's have a glimpse of Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha.
Of 543 members in the 15th Lok Sabha, only 28 are Muslims. According to 2001 Census, Muslims constitute about 13.8 per cent of the total population. But their representation in the present Lok Sabha is just 5.16 per cent of the total elected members. These numbers have more or less remained the same since independence.
Though every general election saw the rise or political empowerment of a caste or community, but Muslims remained where they were in 1947. Despite changing political situations, favourable circumstances, emergence of new political groups, alignment and re-alignment of pro-Muslim entities, they could never win even 50 Lok Sabha seats in the country.
In 1952 as many as 21 Muslims got elected; there were 24 Muslim MPs in 1957; 23 in 1962; 29 in 1967; 30 in 1971; 34 in 1977; 49 in 1980; 46 in 1984; 33 in 1989; 28 in 1991; 28 in 1996; 29 in 1998; 32 in 1999; 36 in 2004 and out of 543 elected members only 28, or just 5.16 per cent, are Muslims in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009.
These figures give an impression that Muslims too are getting their share of power in the Indian democracy. However, this impression is partially correct. Simple analysis of election data reveals that Muslim representation was confined to only a few states. Of 35 states and Union Territories, Muslims got elected only from 5 states in all general elections held since 1957. Put together, Muslims were elected from 18 states including two union territories. No Muslim got elected from the remaining 17 states.
There seems to be no place for Muslim politics in Gujarat. Of 26, Muslims were not able to a win a single seat since 1984, much before the rise of Hindutva or hatred wave.
Of 7400-and-odd Lok Sabha constituencies that went to poll since 1957, Muslims were able to win only 449 seats. But the Muslim politics revolved around only 130 seats. Out of 449 seats, Muslims were able to retain just 26 seats for more than five times. While 7 seats have been retained by Muslim candidates five times, six other seats were retained 4 times and 19 seats each were won by Muslim candidates twice and thrice. However, as many as 53 seats had a Muslim MP only once.
Of 449, almost half of them -- 224 -- won the elections on Congress ticket. However, after touching a high of 31 MPs in 1984, their numbers never crossed 12 in the last seven elections. In 1989, 1991 and 1996, they remained static at 12. In 1998 elections, they dipped to 7. In 1999 and 2004, it increased to 10 while in 2009, the number of Muslims elected on Congress ticket rose to 12.
Similarly, no other political party was able to ensure fair representation to the Muslim community. For instance, the Telugu Desam Party gave ticket to only three Muslims in the 25 years of party's existence and only one of them - Lal Jaan Basha -- got elected to Lok Sabha once.
These statistics clear shows that no political party was fair with Muslims. They never allowed a Muslim to grow as a leader at the national level. Denial of tickets to the sitting MPs or abrupt change in constituency was the common strategy adopted by almost all the parties to crush the Muslim leadership.
Under these circumstances where the conventional leadership was suppressed time and again, it is impossible for the Muslim women to contest and win elections even from the reserved seats. The Women's Reservation Bill will only ensure that a few existing Muslim MPs lose the opportunity to represent the community in future Lok Sabhas.
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/shaikahmedali/2200/61628/why-womens-reservation-bill-is-antimuslim.htmlShaik Ahmed Ali
Of 543 Lok Sabha seats, 84 are already reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 47 for Scheduled Tribes. Once 33 per cent of the total seats are reserved for women, the Muslim leaders will be left with very few seats to contest and win. The intelligentsia argues that Muslim women can contest and win from the reserved seats. But the chances of active participation of Muslim women in politics look remote.
India failed to produce a single Muslim women leader at the national level since independence. Of 549 women Lok Sabha members only 18 were Muslims. In six Lok Sabhas (1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th and 12th), there was no Muslim woman MP. Their number never crossed three. In the present Lok Sabha, there are three Muslim woman members. None of them have won election on their own.
Malda MP Mausam Benazir Noor is the niece of former union minister ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury. Kairana MP Tabassum Begum is the widow of powerful Muslim BSP MP Munawar Rana and Sitapur MP Qaiser Jahan is the wife of Sitapur's sitting BSP MLA J.Ansari.
Former Muslim women MPs too had similar profile. This shows that Muslim women need to belong to successful political families to win elections. Since there are very few successful Muslim politicians in India, the chances of Muslims women getting elected even from the reserved seats are very less. Once implemented, the Women's Reservation Bill will uproot the already under-represented Muslim politics from the country. To get a larger picture, let's have a glimpse of Muslim representation in the Lok Sabha.
Of 543 members in the 15th Lok Sabha, only 28 are Muslims. According to 2001 Census, Muslims constitute about 13.8 per cent of the total population. But their representation in the present Lok Sabha is just 5.16 per cent of the total elected members. These numbers have more or less remained the same since independence.
Though every general election saw the rise or political empowerment of a caste or community, but Muslims remained where they were in 1947. Despite changing political situations, favourable circumstances, emergence of new political groups, alignment and re-alignment of pro-Muslim entities, they could never win even 50 Lok Sabha seats in the country.
In 1952 as many as 21 Muslims got elected; there were 24 Muslim MPs in 1957; 23 in 1962; 29 in 1967; 30 in 1971; 34 in 1977; 49 in 1980; 46 in 1984; 33 in 1989; 28 in 1991; 28 in 1996; 29 in 1998; 32 in 1999; 36 in 2004 and out of 543 elected members only 28, or just 5.16 per cent, are Muslims in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009.
These figures give an impression that Muslims too are getting their share of power in the Indian democracy. However, this impression is partially correct. Simple analysis of election data reveals that Muslim representation was confined to only a few states. Of 35 states and Union Territories, Muslims got elected only from 5 states in all general elections held since 1957. Put together, Muslims were elected from 18 states including two union territories. No Muslim got elected from the remaining 17 states.
There seems to be no place for Muslim politics in Gujarat. Of 26, Muslims were not able to a win a single seat since 1984, much before the rise of Hindutva or hatred wave.
Of 7400-and-odd Lok Sabha constituencies that went to poll since 1957, Muslims were able to win only 449 seats. But the Muslim politics revolved around only 130 seats. Out of 449 seats, Muslims were able to retain just 26 seats for more than five times. While 7 seats have been retained by Muslim candidates five times, six other seats were retained 4 times and 19 seats each were won by Muslim candidates twice and thrice. However, as many as 53 seats had a Muslim MP only once.
Of 449, almost half of them -- 224 -- won the elections on Congress ticket. However, after touching a high of 31 MPs in 1984, their numbers never crossed 12 in the last seven elections. In 1989, 1991 and 1996, they remained static at 12. In 1998 elections, they dipped to 7. In 1999 and 2004, it increased to 10 while in 2009, the number of Muslims elected on Congress ticket rose to 12.
Similarly, no other political party was able to ensure fair representation to the Muslim community. For instance, the Telugu Desam Party gave ticket to only three Muslims in the 25 years of party's existence and only one of them - Lal Jaan Basha -- got elected to Lok Sabha once.
These statistics clear shows that no political party was fair with Muslims. They never allowed a Muslim to grow as a leader at the national level. Denial of tickets to the sitting MPs or abrupt change in constituency was the common strategy adopted by almost all the parties to crush the Muslim leadership.
Under these circumstances where the conventional leadership was suppressed time and again, it is impossible for the Muslim women to contest and win elections even from the reserved seats. The Women's Reservation Bill will only ensure that a few existing Muslim MPs lose the opportunity to represent the community in future Lok Sabhas.
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/shaikahmedali/2200/61628/why-womens-reservation-bill-is-antimuslim.htmlShaik Ahmed Ali
The mirage of Muslim reservation
Shaik Ahmed Ali
Exactly 12 days after India achieved independence, the Scheduled Castes and the Muslims were given political reservation. Following a debate on 'Report on Minority Rights', they were classified as 'minorities' and the Constituent Assembly passed a bill giving them reservation proportionate to their population. The next day, some members intelligently brought an amendment to the bill stating that the SCs were part of the Hindu community.
A day after the bill was passed (on 28th August 1947), Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a member of Constituent Assembly, objected to the use of word 'minority' for 'Muslims'. "I refuse to accept Muslims to be a minority. Now you say you have done away with this communalism. Are we not calling a minority to refer only to Muslims? The Muslims refuse to be called a minority if parties are formed on political line," he said. Maulana was not allowed to speak further on the subject as the bill was already discussed and passed.
However, two years later, Muslims were removed from the list of reservation beneficiaries. While the SCs, who were technically members of the 'Hindu community', are reaping the benefits of reservation till date, the Muslims are forced to live with just the tag of being a 'minority'.
After showing it a mirage of reservation immediately after independence, the political parties continued to lure this 'minority' community by promising reservations of a different kind, especially before elections. In some cases, the parties boldly replaced the word 'minority' with the Muslims. The Congress party promised 5 per cent reservation to the Muslim community in education institutions and government jobs before 2004 general elections. After coming to power the YSR Government tried to fulfill the promise. But the policy was struck down by the courts in 2005.
Later, it referred the matter to a Backward Classes Commission which recommended reservation for 15 economically and socially backward 'castes' of Muslims. On 23rd July 2007, the Andhra Pradesh Government passed a legislation giving four per cent reservation to the identified 'castes' under BC-E category. However, a seven-member constitutional bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down this legislation too on three different grounds.
It is surprising that the legal department of the Andhra Pradesh Government has failed twice to identity the lacunae in the legislation. Or may be, the politicians want to keep the Muslim reservation issue alive for every election, and therefore, they implemented imperfect orders. At the time of drafting of legislation itself, some experts have questioned the very existence of 15 'castes' within the Muslim community as Islam does not endorse casteism.
My surname is 'Shaik' and it does not represent any 'caste'. But, as per the law (which has been struck down now), I was eligible for reservation. There was no mechanism in place to check whether a Muslim really belonged to the identified caste, if it really existed. But such factors were not taken into consideration by the government.
Further, not many Muslims were convinced with the legislation as it had the potential to split the community. In future, Shias, Sunnis or Mehdivis would have demanded categorisation of reservation as it is being demanded now by the Malas and Madigas of Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh. Though some Muslims enjoyed the reservation benefit in the last two years, but for all others it is still a mirage.
Now the West Bengal Government is showing a similar mirage of 10 per cent quota in employment for the Muslim community under the OBC category. Since the government is still in the process of identifying the educationally, socially and ecumenically backward Muslims, it is not yet certain whether this promise would be fulfilled before the 2011 assembly elections.
While the Andhra Pradesh Government is preparing to contest the High Court order in the Supreme Court, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi came up with a bigger mirage of promising 12 per cent reservation to Muslims in the proposed Telangana state.
There is no dispute that a majority of Muslims are still backward, but they should stop chasing the mirages. The four per cent or even 10 per cent reservation would only confine the Muslims, and I believe they would not try hard to get a share in the remaining 96 or 90 per cent of share that they deserve to get as Indians.
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/shaikahmedali/2200/61513/the-mirage-of-muslim-reservation.html
Exactly 12 days after India achieved independence, the Scheduled Castes and the Muslims were given political reservation. Following a debate on 'Report on Minority Rights', they were classified as 'minorities' and the Constituent Assembly passed a bill giving them reservation proportionate to their population. The next day, some members intelligently brought an amendment to the bill stating that the SCs were part of the Hindu community.
A day after the bill was passed (on 28th August 1947), Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a member of Constituent Assembly, objected to the use of word 'minority' for 'Muslims'. "I refuse to accept Muslims to be a minority. Now you say you have done away with this communalism. Are we not calling a minority to refer only to Muslims? The Muslims refuse to be called a minority if parties are formed on political line," he said. Maulana was not allowed to speak further on the subject as the bill was already discussed and passed.
However, two years later, Muslims were removed from the list of reservation beneficiaries. While the SCs, who were technically members of the 'Hindu community', are reaping the benefits of reservation till date, the Muslims are forced to live with just the tag of being a 'minority'.
After showing it a mirage of reservation immediately after independence, the political parties continued to lure this 'minority' community by promising reservations of a different kind, especially before elections. In some cases, the parties boldly replaced the word 'minority' with the Muslims. The Congress party promised 5 per cent reservation to the Muslim community in education institutions and government jobs before 2004 general elections. After coming to power the YSR Government tried to fulfill the promise. But the policy was struck down by the courts in 2005.
Later, it referred the matter to a Backward Classes Commission which recommended reservation for 15 economically and socially backward 'castes' of Muslims. On 23rd July 2007, the Andhra Pradesh Government passed a legislation giving four per cent reservation to the identified 'castes' under BC-E category. However, a seven-member constitutional bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down this legislation too on three different grounds.
It is surprising that the legal department of the Andhra Pradesh Government has failed twice to identity the lacunae in the legislation. Or may be, the politicians want to keep the Muslim reservation issue alive for every election, and therefore, they implemented imperfect orders. At the time of drafting of legislation itself, some experts have questioned the very existence of 15 'castes' within the Muslim community as Islam does not endorse casteism.
My surname is 'Shaik' and it does not represent any 'caste'. But, as per the law (which has been struck down now), I was eligible for reservation. There was no mechanism in place to check whether a Muslim really belonged to the identified caste, if it really existed. But such factors were not taken into consideration by the government.
Further, not many Muslims were convinced with the legislation as it had the potential to split the community. In future, Shias, Sunnis or Mehdivis would have demanded categorisation of reservation as it is being demanded now by the Malas and Madigas of Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh. Though some Muslims enjoyed the reservation benefit in the last two years, but for all others it is still a mirage.
Now the West Bengal Government is showing a similar mirage of 10 per cent quota in employment for the Muslim community under the OBC category. Since the government is still in the process of identifying the educationally, socially and ecumenically backward Muslims, it is not yet certain whether this promise would be fulfilled before the 2011 assembly elections.
While the Andhra Pradesh Government is preparing to contest the High Court order in the Supreme Court, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi came up with a bigger mirage of promising 12 per cent reservation to Muslims in the proposed Telangana state.
There is no dispute that a majority of Muslims are still backward, but they should stop chasing the mirages. The four per cent or even 10 per cent reservation would only confine the Muslims, and I believe they would not try hard to get a share in the remaining 96 or 90 per cent of share that they deserve to get as Indians.
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/shaikahmedali/2200/61513/the-mirage-of-muslim-reservation.html
Muslim MPs tell TCN why they oppose women quota bill
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
If the Women Reservation Bill is passed by Parliament in its present form, not only Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out but there will be zero representation of Muslim community in legislatures at national and state levels. Three eminent and vocal Muslim Members of Parliament, Ejaz Ali, Sabir Ali (two were suspended from Rajya Sabha on the issue last week) and Asaduddin Owaisi talked to Mumtaz Alam Falahi of TwoCircles.net to say why they are opposing the bill which will give 33% seats to women without any sub-quota for Muslim or other backward community women.
Why are you opposing the Women Reservation Bill?
Ejaz Ali, Member of Rajya Sabha, from Bihar (JD-U): We are opposing this because this has been prepared with particular aims and objectives. Though they say they want women’s empowerment through this bill, in fact they want dominance of dominant sections of the society both in Parliament and state legislatures. Parliament and Legislatures should represent all sections of the society. At present, 60% of Members of Parliament are capitalists, 20-22% belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Rest 17-18% belong to the downtrodden section of the society including OBCs and Muslims. Muslims constitute about 15-20% of the population and OBCs 52% of the population. Muslims are just 5% in Parliament and none from the community is in several state assemblies. OBCs and Muslims deserve political reservation. Mandal Commission had recommended political reservation for OBCs, but the government has done nothing. At least 27% seats should be reserved for OBCs (which consist of backward sections of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others) in the Parliament.
Sabir Ali, Member of Rajya Sabha, from Bihar (LJP): Through this bill, only women of creamy layer people and politicians will get elected because today without money and muscle power one can’t get elected to the Lok Sabha. When today it is difficult for Muslim men (as the community lacks money and muscle power as a whole) to get elected, how will their women reach Lok Sabha? The bill will bring Muslim representation in the House to zero. We are not against women reservation as per se, but we want quota for Muslim women in it.
Asaduddin Owaisi, Member of Lok Sabha from Hyderabad (MIM): We are not against political empowerment of women as such. We are against the present bill which does not talk about political representation of the most deprived sections of the society. If reservation is to be given it should be given to the most deprived sections of the society who have never been represented in the Lok Sabha or state assemblies. In the last 15 Lok Sabhas 7906 persons were elected, out of which only 14 were Muslim women while in total 542 women were elected. The representation of Muslim women is very abysmal and apathetic. That’s why we say if you are creating a quota for women, there must be a portion for Muslim women.
What portion of 33% quota for women should be given to Muslim women?
Ejaz Ali: This should be according to their population.
Sabir Ali: Quota to Muslim women should be proportionate to their population.
Asaduddin Owaisi: We want a reasonable percentage because when there are already reservation for SC and ST and now 33% for women, how will Muslims be elected to Lok Sabha?
Do you think Muslim community is ready to push their women towards politics?
Ejaz Ali: Some ulema have said Muslim women should not go to politics. I don’t think this is a good suggestion. Our history of Islam says that women have never been kept out of activities of the society. They have been involved in the activities in Hijab. In Hijab they can come to Parliament, Assembly and Panchayat. They have taken part in Islamic wars.
Sabir Ali: I don’t think there is any restriction on Muslim women for going to politics. In the time of Prophet they have taken part in wars. Hijab is not compulsory, at least covering face. They can come in politics. They need to be educated.
Asaduddin Owaisi: Why not. My experience in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh is testimony to this. There is nothing wrong for Muslim women to come into politics. There are many Muslim corporators of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen in Hyderabad who wear Hijab. They are very modest in their way and at the same time, they are working very hard in solving people’s problems. I don’t think religion stops them from representing people and solving out their problems.
Do you think by this bill Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out?
Ejaz Ali: Yes, 100% sure. Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out.
Sabir Ali: Yes, there is conspiracy to wipe out Muslim male political leadership.
Asaduddin Owaisi: It is not that Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out. In fact we will not have any sort of political representation in the Lok Sabha. To say that male Muslim political leadership will be wiped out is an understatement. That’s what we are worried about. I am not arguing because of this fear. I am not against women reservation. I just want that a portion of this should be reserved for Muslim women also. The concept of reservation is that it should be given to those who are not adequately represented.
Though my party is part of UPA, we will not support the bill at all if it is brought to the Lok Sabha in its present form. We will do whatever needs to be done keeping in view the national consequences. I have made it clear to main political leaders of UPA that I will not support the bill in its present form.
http://twocircles.net/2010mar16/muslim_mps_tell_tcn_why_they_oppose_women_quota_bill.html
If the Women Reservation Bill is passed by Parliament in its present form, not only Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out but there will be zero representation of Muslim community in legislatures at national and state levels. Three eminent and vocal Muslim Members of Parliament, Ejaz Ali, Sabir Ali (two were suspended from Rajya Sabha on the issue last week) and Asaduddin Owaisi talked to Mumtaz Alam Falahi of TwoCircles.net to say why they are opposing the bill which will give 33% seats to women without any sub-quota for Muslim or other backward community women.
Why are you opposing the Women Reservation Bill?
Ejaz Ali, Member of Rajya Sabha, from Bihar (JD-U): We are opposing this because this has been prepared with particular aims and objectives. Though they say they want women’s empowerment through this bill, in fact they want dominance of dominant sections of the society both in Parliament and state legislatures. Parliament and Legislatures should represent all sections of the society. At present, 60% of Members of Parliament are capitalists, 20-22% belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Rest 17-18% belong to the downtrodden section of the society including OBCs and Muslims. Muslims constitute about 15-20% of the population and OBCs 52% of the population. Muslims are just 5% in Parliament and none from the community is in several state assemblies. OBCs and Muslims deserve political reservation. Mandal Commission had recommended political reservation for OBCs, but the government has done nothing. At least 27% seats should be reserved for OBCs (which consist of backward sections of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and others) in the Parliament.
Sabir Ali, Member of Rajya Sabha, from Bihar (LJP): Through this bill, only women of creamy layer people and politicians will get elected because today without money and muscle power one can’t get elected to the Lok Sabha. When today it is difficult for Muslim men (as the community lacks money and muscle power as a whole) to get elected, how will their women reach Lok Sabha? The bill will bring Muslim representation in the House to zero. We are not against women reservation as per se, but we want quota for Muslim women in it.
Asaduddin Owaisi, Member of Lok Sabha from Hyderabad (MIM): We are not against political empowerment of women as such. We are against the present bill which does not talk about political representation of the most deprived sections of the society. If reservation is to be given it should be given to the most deprived sections of the society who have never been represented in the Lok Sabha or state assemblies. In the last 15 Lok Sabhas 7906 persons were elected, out of which only 14 were Muslim women while in total 542 women were elected. The representation of Muslim women is very abysmal and apathetic. That’s why we say if you are creating a quota for women, there must be a portion for Muslim women.
What portion of 33% quota for women should be given to Muslim women?
Ejaz Ali: This should be according to their population.
Sabir Ali: Quota to Muslim women should be proportionate to their population.
Asaduddin Owaisi: We want a reasonable percentage because when there are already reservation for SC and ST and now 33% for women, how will Muslims be elected to Lok Sabha?
Do you think Muslim community is ready to push their women towards politics?
Ejaz Ali: Some ulema have said Muslim women should not go to politics. I don’t think this is a good suggestion. Our history of Islam says that women have never been kept out of activities of the society. They have been involved in the activities in Hijab. In Hijab they can come to Parliament, Assembly and Panchayat. They have taken part in Islamic wars.
Sabir Ali: I don’t think there is any restriction on Muslim women for going to politics. In the time of Prophet they have taken part in wars. Hijab is not compulsory, at least covering face. They can come in politics. They need to be educated.
Asaduddin Owaisi: Why not. My experience in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh is testimony to this. There is nothing wrong for Muslim women to come into politics. There are many Muslim corporators of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen in Hyderabad who wear Hijab. They are very modest in their way and at the same time, they are working very hard in solving people’s problems. I don’t think religion stops them from representing people and solving out their problems.
Do you think by this bill Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out?
Ejaz Ali: Yes, 100% sure. Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out.
Sabir Ali: Yes, there is conspiracy to wipe out Muslim male political leadership.
Asaduddin Owaisi: It is not that Muslim male political leadership will be wiped out. In fact we will not have any sort of political representation in the Lok Sabha. To say that male Muslim political leadership will be wiped out is an understatement. That’s what we are worried about. I am not arguing because of this fear. I am not against women reservation. I just want that a portion of this should be reserved for Muslim women also. The concept of reservation is that it should be given to those who are not adequately represented.
Though my party is part of UPA, we will not support the bill at all if it is brought to the Lok Sabha in its present form. We will do whatever needs to be done keeping in view the national consequences. I have made it clear to main political leaders of UPA that I will not support the bill in its present form.
http://twocircles.net/2010mar16/muslim_mps_tell_tcn_why_they_oppose_women_quota_bill.html
Bangladesh sending a male Taslima as Dy High Commissioner in Kolkata?
By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: Some Muslim intellectuals of West Bengal have jointly sent a letter to Bangladesh Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina urging her not to send to India a controversial Bangladesh writer – who is known for his blasphemous writings – as Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, India because such appointment will be against the public interest and against the interest of Government of Bangladesh.
“From several reliable sources we came to know that the Govt of Bangladesh is considering writer Salam Azad as possible candidate for the post of deputy High Commissioner to India,” the letter says.
“Bangladesh is a sovereign country, and we being citizen of a different country have no say in its matter of recruitment of able candidates for any governmental post. However we would like to bring in your kind notice some information regarding Salam Azad. He in his numerous writings has brought several blasphemous charges against the savior of humanity Muhammad Sallalah Ho Alaiho Sallam. Being Muslims these views are totally unacceptable. "Vanga Matt" Salam Azad's book that was published from Kolkata is full of false accusation, slander, defamation against the Holy Prophet of Islam,” the signatories to the letter said.
They include Dr Usman Ghani, ex-HoD, Islamic History, Calcutta University, Mohd Shahidullah, Retd Principal, Ali Ahmed Raza College, Ahmed Hasan Imran, General Secretary, Muslim Council of Bengal, Abdur Rauf, editor, Chaturanga, Taha Sididqi Peerzada, Phurphura Shareef, Shah Alam, General Secretary, Amanat Foundation and Md Qamruzzaman, All Bengal Minority Youth Federation.
In his other books like "Chukti Uttar prabatta Chatagram", "Shasti bahini o Shanti Chukti", "Ethnic Cleansing", "Bangladeshe Bippono Sonkha loghu", "Why Hindus left Bangladesh". He claims minorities of Bangladesh has gone through unspeakable torture, injustice, ethnic cleansing, execution by the hands of military and citizens alike. Unbiased sources clarify these charges are baseless, the letter reads.
These types of writing may cause serious disruption to the ongoing dialogue between Indian & Bangladesh.
“We know your beloved and globally respected father the late Mujibur Rahaman was named "Banga Bandhu" or friend of Bengal. Like him you have high regard for communal tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Mujibur Rahman wished to deliver humanitarian message of Islam in English and Bengali through the "Islamic Foundation".
“From the above discussion it is clear that appointing Salam Azad as deputy high commissioner is against the public interest and against the interest of Govt of Bangladesh.”
“Hope you will kindly reconsider the appointment and take appropriate measures respectively. May Bangladesh reach new heights under your leadership.”
New Delhi: Some Muslim intellectuals of West Bengal have jointly sent a letter to Bangladesh Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina urging her not to send to India a controversial Bangladesh writer – who is known for his blasphemous writings – as Deputy High Commissioner in Kolkata, India because such appointment will be against the public interest and against the interest of Government of Bangladesh.
“From several reliable sources we came to know that the Govt of Bangladesh is considering writer Salam Azad as possible candidate for the post of deputy High Commissioner to India,” the letter says.
“Bangladesh is a sovereign country, and we being citizen of a different country have no say in its matter of recruitment of able candidates for any governmental post. However we would like to bring in your kind notice some information regarding Salam Azad. He in his numerous writings has brought several blasphemous charges against the savior of humanity Muhammad Sallalah Ho Alaiho Sallam. Being Muslims these views are totally unacceptable. "Vanga Matt" Salam Azad's book that was published from Kolkata is full of false accusation, slander, defamation against the Holy Prophet of Islam,” the signatories to the letter said.
They include Dr Usman Ghani, ex-HoD, Islamic History, Calcutta University, Mohd Shahidullah, Retd Principal, Ali Ahmed Raza College, Ahmed Hasan Imran, General Secretary, Muslim Council of Bengal, Abdur Rauf, editor, Chaturanga, Taha Sididqi Peerzada, Phurphura Shareef, Shah Alam, General Secretary, Amanat Foundation and Md Qamruzzaman, All Bengal Minority Youth Federation.
In his other books like "Chukti Uttar prabatta Chatagram", "Shasti bahini o Shanti Chukti", "Ethnic Cleansing", "Bangladeshe Bippono Sonkha loghu", "Why Hindus left Bangladesh". He claims minorities of Bangladesh has gone through unspeakable torture, injustice, ethnic cleansing, execution by the hands of military and citizens alike. Unbiased sources clarify these charges are baseless, the letter reads.
These types of writing may cause serious disruption to the ongoing dialogue between Indian & Bangladesh.
“We know your beloved and globally respected father the late Mujibur Rahaman was named "Banga Bandhu" or friend of Bengal. Like him you have high regard for communal tolerance and peaceful coexistence. Mujibur Rahman wished to deliver humanitarian message of Islam in English and Bengali through the "Islamic Foundation".
“From the above discussion it is clear that appointing Salam Azad as deputy high commissioner is against the public interest and against the interest of Govt of Bangladesh.”
“Hope you will kindly reconsider the appointment and take appropriate measures respectively. May Bangladesh reach new heights under your leadership.”
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Zooming Indian auto industry needs more road space to grow
By Sushma Ramachandran, IANS,
The Indian automobile industry has come under global focus, ranking second only to China as the fastest growing market in the world. The spate of new launches by the auto majors and rising sales graphs over the past few months indicate that the fiscal stimulus seems to have worked wonders for this industry.
Demand started growing in September last year when sales by major manufacturers rose to record levels during the festival season. The pace continued to gain momentum, despite rising fuel prices, and the auto industry became a major driver of growth in India.
Automobile production seems to have done its bit to ensure that overall growth of the manufacturing sector was significantly higher in 2009. Latest data shows this industry grew 46 percent, giving an impetus to manufacturing, which shot up by 18.5 percent in December 2009.
This, in turn, led to industrial output rising by 16.8 percent during the month. Overall, India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is now expected to reach a higher-than-expected 7.5 percent during 2009-10, despite the downturn in agriculture.
One of the important aspects of growth in the auto sector is the resulting expansion in availability of jobs. Both two-wheeler and four-wheeler companies have over the years spawned a wide range of ancillary units to meet their component requirements.
The spurt in demand for automobiles has also stepped up demand for auto components and other related industries that provide employment in large numbers in both rural and urban areas. One can presume that revival of demand for two-wheelers and passenger cars has also ensured job growth.
At the global level, the resurgence in the automobile industry ensures India continues to retain its rising status as one of the world's largest growing markets. Little wonder then that new models are being churned out even by foreign auto majors like General Motors that have filed for bankruptcy.
Even luxury market manufacturers like Mercedes and Porsche are scrambling for a share of the Indian pie by rapidly launching new models in this country. The latest launch by Ford of the Figo in the entry level segment follows a host of other new models being unveiled by other manufacturers who are now trying to get a toehold in all categories of passenger cars. With production being ramped up by nearly all players, India is also emerging as an export hub for cars being supplied to the Asian region.
One must not forget two-wheelers that have a high demand in both rural and urban areas. Motorcycle sales shot up during 2009 by 19 percent and major players like Honda are making higher investments to expand existing units.
India is currently the second largest motorcycle market, behind China. The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) estimates that this segment will expand at double-digit levels for the next two years and pegs growth for motorcycles at a minimum of 14 percent in 2011-12. It also predicts that sales of motorcycles will continue to be far in excess of scooters and mopeds.
Despite this encouraging outlook, there is a major cloud hanging over this industry and that is the slow development of both urban and rural road networks. Even though Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath is upbeat about road construction's progress, there is no doubt this infrastructure is lagging far behind the production of personal and commercial vehicles.
In fact, metropolitan centres like Delhi and Mumbai have virtually reached a stage of gridlock as the cars are rapidly multiplying and the road space for them is becoming smaller every day. Similarly, inter-state highways are much fewer than are required while rural roads are being developed even more slowly.
No doubt the government has recognised this lacuna and efforts are being made to speed up the pace of road infrastructure development. The launch of the Golden Quadrilateral project during the previous National Democratic Allaince (NDA) regime had also raised hopes that roads would become a priority. But actual implementation of the scheme has been much slower than planned.
The other major question that one must look at is whether the focus on passenger cars should not be replaced by an effort to improve the public transport system. One of the reasons why both Delhi and Mumbai are facing traffic congestions is the inability of public transport to meet the needs of commuters. The quality of buses needs to be upgraded significantly.
The contribution of the automobile industry to overall economic growth cannot be denied as it provides 4.2 percent of the GDP. But it serves as a reminder that the other priority sectors need to be given sufficient incentives to grow at the same pace. The fast-paced growth of the passenger car industry is certainly welcome, but it should really serve as a reminder that the country needs to provide equally efficient transport to the general public.
(14-03-2010- Sushma Ramachandran is an economic and corporate analyst. She can be reached at sushma.ramachandran@gmail.com)
The Indian automobile industry has come under global focus, ranking second only to China as the fastest growing market in the world. The spate of new launches by the auto majors and rising sales graphs over the past few months indicate that the fiscal stimulus seems to have worked wonders for this industry.
Demand started growing in September last year when sales by major manufacturers rose to record levels during the festival season. The pace continued to gain momentum, despite rising fuel prices, and the auto industry became a major driver of growth in India.
Automobile production seems to have done its bit to ensure that overall growth of the manufacturing sector was significantly higher in 2009. Latest data shows this industry grew 46 percent, giving an impetus to manufacturing, which shot up by 18.5 percent in December 2009.
This, in turn, led to industrial output rising by 16.8 percent during the month. Overall, India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is now expected to reach a higher-than-expected 7.5 percent during 2009-10, despite the downturn in agriculture.
One of the important aspects of growth in the auto sector is the resulting expansion in availability of jobs. Both two-wheeler and four-wheeler companies have over the years spawned a wide range of ancillary units to meet their component requirements.
The spurt in demand for automobiles has also stepped up demand for auto components and other related industries that provide employment in large numbers in both rural and urban areas. One can presume that revival of demand for two-wheelers and passenger cars has also ensured job growth.
At the global level, the resurgence in the automobile industry ensures India continues to retain its rising status as one of the world's largest growing markets. Little wonder then that new models are being churned out even by foreign auto majors like General Motors that have filed for bankruptcy.
Even luxury market manufacturers like Mercedes and Porsche are scrambling for a share of the Indian pie by rapidly launching new models in this country. The latest launch by Ford of the Figo in the entry level segment follows a host of other new models being unveiled by other manufacturers who are now trying to get a toehold in all categories of passenger cars. With production being ramped up by nearly all players, India is also emerging as an export hub for cars being supplied to the Asian region.
One must not forget two-wheelers that have a high demand in both rural and urban areas. Motorcycle sales shot up during 2009 by 19 percent and major players like Honda are making higher investments to expand existing units.
India is currently the second largest motorcycle market, behind China. The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) estimates that this segment will expand at double-digit levels for the next two years and pegs growth for motorcycles at a minimum of 14 percent in 2011-12. It also predicts that sales of motorcycles will continue to be far in excess of scooters and mopeds.
Despite this encouraging outlook, there is a major cloud hanging over this industry and that is the slow development of both urban and rural road networks. Even though Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath is upbeat about road construction's progress, there is no doubt this infrastructure is lagging far behind the production of personal and commercial vehicles.
In fact, metropolitan centres like Delhi and Mumbai have virtually reached a stage of gridlock as the cars are rapidly multiplying and the road space for them is becoming smaller every day. Similarly, inter-state highways are much fewer than are required while rural roads are being developed even more slowly.
No doubt the government has recognised this lacuna and efforts are being made to speed up the pace of road infrastructure development. The launch of the Golden Quadrilateral project during the previous National Democratic Allaince (NDA) regime had also raised hopes that roads would become a priority. But actual implementation of the scheme has been much slower than planned.
The other major question that one must look at is whether the focus on passenger cars should not be replaced by an effort to improve the public transport system. One of the reasons why both Delhi and Mumbai are facing traffic congestions is the inability of public transport to meet the needs of commuters. The quality of buses needs to be upgraded significantly.
The contribution of the automobile industry to overall economic growth cannot be denied as it provides 4.2 percent of the GDP. But it serves as a reminder that the other priority sectors need to be given sufficient incentives to grow at the same pace. The fast-paced growth of the passenger car industry is certainly welcome, but it should really serve as a reminder that the country needs to provide equally efficient transport to the general public.
(14-03-2010- Sushma Ramachandran is an economic and corporate analyst. She can be reached at sushma.ramachandran@gmail.com)
RSS believes only Hindus are Indians!
By Ram Puniyani
RSS is one of the major organizations in the country which influences and controls different political and semi political organizations, calling themselves as the Sangh Parivar. It does claim to be a cultural organization, but it is implementing its political agenda of achieving Hindu Nation by creating organizations, which implement its ideology and political agenda at different layers, by different means.
While its progenies claim that they are autonomous, their autonomy is a ‘controlled autonomy’, the boundaries of their autonomy are decided by RSS, which directly or indirectly controls them. It is due to these facts that the statement of the Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of RSS cannot be taken lightly, they tell us about the political ideology of this combine and give the indication of the dynamics of politics which this organization is going to implement in times to come.
It is in this light that what Mohan Bhagawat said on 28th February (2010) in Bhopal at Hindu Samagam needs to be understood and taken as a warning signal. While speaking on the occasion, Bhagwat said that those who were Indians are Hindus and one who was not a Hindu he cannot be Indian. He reiterated that Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life and that if Hindus become stronger, Nation will become stronger.
At one level there is nothing new in this formulation. There is a change in presentation format and intensity of their definition of Hinduism and Hindus. The starting point of RSS ideology is Savarkar’s definition of Hindu being one who regards this land from Sindhu (Indus) to sea as holy land and father land. Here there is a clear indication that followers of those religions which did not originate in India are not Hindus, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are out of the ambit of this definition.
After this first round of elimination comes the statement that the one who is not a Hindu cannot be an Indian. Here the story becomes complete, to deny citizenship status to all the followers of these religions. Another of the favorite line of RSS is dropped in here; that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This formulation at a time was upheld by court judgment, but can this be ideologically true? Is it theologically valid? How does one define religion, and how does one define way of life. Way of life is a much broader concept than religion. Way of life includes; regional nuances, culture, food habits, social associations, the struggle for livelihood and much more come under this umbrella. Many a times, people of different religions have a way of life which has a big overlap, and mostly people of same religion may have a way of life which is very different from each other.
The way of life of Kerala Muslim was much closer to the Kerala Christian and Hindu, the way of life of a Punjabi Hindu may be very different from the way of life of a Bengali Hindu or a Hindu settled in Mauritius or UK and USA. People do adjust and adapt to each other cutting across their religious faith. That’s how the syncretic traditions and culture developed and flourished in India. That’s how we have Ramdeo Baba Pir in Rajasthan with following amongst Hindus and Muslims and we have Satya Pir in Orissa revered by people of all communities. Who can forget saints like Kabir who united the society along the moral values coming from different religions, and who can ignore the fact that the Sufi saint shrines are frequented by people of all religions. In Mumbai the Mount Mary Church of Mahim is a place where people from all religions light the candles and pay obeisance to Mother Mary.
The formulation ‘way of life’ has been deliberately propped up to confuse the scope of religion. While religion is itself a very broad category, including moral values, rituals, holy books, way of worship, presence of clergy and specific festivals, that does not exhaust the term way of life, which is much broader to begin with and is ever expanding, ever changing, ever trying to attain newer paths due to the process of social transformation, which is the key to social progress and community life.
Coming to the formulation, ‘Hinduism is not a religion’, it is a mere eye wash to get legitimacy to put forward Hinduism’s claim to be the sole religion here in India. It is a clever ploy to impose Hindu religion on minorities. RSS knows like most others that Hinduism is a religion. Surely it is not a prophet based religion but it does have most features which qualify for it being called a religion. Mere absence of a prophet does not make it non-religion. As there is no prophet in Hinduism many ideologies, philosophies and faiths can survive within its pantheon. These range from the Atheist Charvak tradition to the belief in multiple Gods and Goddesses, to monotheism, to the concept of formless God, to the concept of God which is primarily based around virtuosity. But still Hinduism does qualify as a specific religion all the same. Hinduism has holy books, holy deities, rituals, specific philosophy, holy symbols like cow etc. Even RSS literature makes it clear that Hinduism is a religion. The oath admininistered at the time of joining RSS does mention Hinduism as a religion. Its books taught in various Sarswati Shishu mandirs etc. do refer to Cow as the Holy mother for Hindus, its biggest ever political campaign was in the name of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya.
It is a deceptive and clever move by RSS to talk in many languages and dish out various formulations about Hinduism and Hindus. The idea is either to impose it on those who are not Hindus or to co-opt others into Hindus pantheon under the ploy that all are Hindus. Surely at one time the word Hindu began as a geographical category, for all those living on east of river Sindhu (Indus). After that the various locally prevalent religious traditions got clubbed as Hinduism and these traditions on one side were those based on Purush Sukta of Vedas (Brahmanism, caste hierarchy) and on the other, traditions which refuted Brahmanism (Shamanic traditions of Nath, Tantra, Bhakti Siddha etc,) Like most religions Hinduism is also diverse one, but it is religion all the same.
So formulation that those who are not Hindus are not Indians is a big insult to Indian Constitution. India became a nation through it struggle to get independence. The national movement, which led the people against British colonial powers also acted, played the role of uniting people of all regions, religions, castes and gender into a single identity of Indian ness. Interestingly RSS which is talking of India, patriotism etc. was not a part of national movement. Its patriotism was sleeping when the whole nation was struggling against British rule. On the contrary one of its trained pracharak of RSS went on to kill the spirit of Indian-ness, father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Contrary to what RSS says people of India rejected the ideology of RSS, its politics all through. Not only Hindu nationalism of RSS but also the Muslim Nationalism of Muslim League was also dumped by the people of India. It is only due to British Policy of ‘divide and rule’ that communalists like Muslim league and RSS survived, and the latter has hit back from the decade of 1980 due to multiple factors.
Indian Constitution is the embodiment of the values of national movement, the movement for getting freedom of the country. It is based on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Equality is mentioned to indicate that irrespective of religion, caste and gender, we are equal citizens. The ideas being propagated by RSS and its progeny are against the grain of Indian nationalism, against Indian Constitution, so there is an urgent need that we counter the communal ideology of RSS.
To say that nation will become strong if Hindus become strong, is again in total violation of the soul and spirit of Indian nationalism. The people of all religious communities have contributed to the making of this nation. People of all religious communities constitute Indian nation. The myth of Hindu unity or for that matter the unity of any people along religious lines had no place in History neither it has any relevance in today’s society. The states are formed on geographical lines and only those ideologies which are inclusive of all have a place in History. The exclusive, divisive notions like the ones’ of RSS, Muslim League of yesteryears and Muslim Communalism of today and Christian Fundamentalism prevalent in parts of West, deserve to be put in the dustbin, deserve to be rejected lock stock and barrel.
What does Hindu becoming strong mean. Today majority of Hindus are living below poverty line, problem of unemployment, displacement, regionalism and communalism are breaking the back of poor of the society. The whole notion of strength is misplaced. Strength of a community lies in its economic status, social security and human rights. And to talk of Hindu strength in the language of RSS is quite intimidtory to the non Hindus living in the country. We have to cater for all the religious communities and in addition to implement affirmative action for weaker sections of society.
We need to understand that the whole ideology and propaganda of RSS is against the values of Indian nationalism and should be treated with the contempt which such anti national ideas deserve.
RSS is one of the major organizations in the country which influences and controls different political and semi political organizations, calling themselves as the Sangh Parivar. It does claim to be a cultural organization, but it is implementing its political agenda of achieving Hindu Nation by creating organizations, which implement its ideology and political agenda at different layers, by different means.
While its progenies claim that they are autonomous, their autonomy is a ‘controlled autonomy’, the boundaries of their autonomy are decided by RSS, which directly or indirectly controls them. It is due to these facts that the statement of the Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of RSS cannot be taken lightly, they tell us about the political ideology of this combine and give the indication of the dynamics of politics which this organization is going to implement in times to come.
It is in this light that what Mohan Bhagawat said on 28th February (2010) in Bhopal at Hindu Samagam needs to be understood and taken as a warning signal. While speaking on the occasion, Bhagwat said that those who were Indians are Hindus and one who was not a Hindu he cannot be Indian. He reiterated that Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life and that if Hindus become stronger, Nation will become stronger.
At one level there is nothing new in this formulation. There is a change in presentation format and intensity of their definition of Hinduism and Hindus. The starting point of RSS ideology is Savarkar’s definition of Hindu being one who regards this land from Sindhu (Indus) to sea as holy land and father land. Here there is a clear indication that followers of those religions which did not originate in India are not Hindus, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are out of the ambit of this definition.
After this first round of elimination comes the statement that the one who is not a Hindu cannot be an Indian. Here the story becomes complete, to deny citizenship status to all the followers of these religions. Another of the favorite line of RSS is dropped in here; that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This formulation at a time was upheld by court judgment, but can this be ideologically true? Is it theologically valid? How does one define religion, and how does one define way of life. Way of life is a much broader concept than religion. Way of life includes; regional nuances, culture, food habits, social associations, the struggle for livelihood and much more come under this umbrella. Many a times, people of different religions have a way of life which has a big overlap, and mostly people of same religion may have a way of life which is very different from each other.
The way of life of Kerala Muslim was much closer to the Kerala Christian and Hindu, the way of life of a Punjabi Hindu may be very different from the way of life of a Bengali Hindu or a Hindu settled in Mauritius or UK and USA. People do adjust and adapt to each other cutting across their religious faith. That’s how the syncretic traditions and culture developed and flourished in India. That’s how we have Ramdeo Baba Pir in Rajasthan with following amongst Hindus and Muslims and we have Satya Pir in Orissa revered by people of all communities. Who can forget saints like Kabir who united the society along the moral values coming from different religions, and who can ignore the fact that the Sufi saint shrines are frequented by people of all religions. In Mumbai the Mount Mary Church of Mahim is a place where people from all religions light the candles and pay obeisance to Mother Mary.
The formulation ‘way of life’ has been deliberately propped up to confuse the scope of religion. While religion is itself a very broad category, including moral values, rituals, holy books, way of worship, presence of clergy and specific festivals, that does not exhaust the term way of life, which is much broader to begin with and is ever expanding, ever changing, ever trying to attain newer paths due to the process of social transformation, which is the key to social progress and community life.
Coming to the formulation, ‘Hinduism is not a religion’, it is a mere eye wash to get legitimacy to put forward Hinduism’s claim to be the sole religion here in India. It is a clever ploy to impose Hindu religion on minorities. RSS knows like most others that Hinduism is a religion. Surely it is not a prophet based religion but it does have most features which qualify for it being called a religion. Mere absence of a prophet does not make it non-religion. As there is no prophet in Hinduism many ideologies, philosophies and faiths can survive within its pantheon. These range from the Atheist Charvak tradition to the belief in multiple Gods and Goddesses, to monotheism, to the concept of formless God, to the concept of God which is primarily based around virtuosity. But still Hinduism does qualify as a specific religion all the same. Hinduism has holy books, holy deities, rituals, specific philosophy, holy symbols like cow etc. Even RSS literature makes it clear that Hinduism is a religion. The oath admininistered at the time of joining RSS does mention Hinduism as a religion. Its books taught in various Sarswati Shishu mandirs etc. do refer to Cow as the Holy mother for Hindus, its biggest ever political campaign was in the name of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya.
It is a deceptive and clever move by RSS to talk in many languages and dish out various formulations about Hinduism and Hindus. The idea is either to impose it on those who are not Hindus or to co-opt others into Hindus pantheon under the ploy that all are Hindus. Surely at one time the word Hindu began as a geographical category, for all those living on east of river Sindhu (Indus). After that the various locally prevalent religious traditions got clubbed as Hinduism and these traditions on one side were those based on Purush Sukta of Vedas (Brahmanism, caste hierarchy) and on the other, traditions which refuted Brahmanism (Shamanic traditions of Nath, Tantra, Bhakti Siddha etc,) Like most religions Hinduism is also diverse one, but it is religion all the same.
So formulation that those who are not Hindus are not Indians is a big insult to Indian Constitution. India became a nation through it struggle to get independence. The national movement, which led the people against British colonial powers also acted, played the role of uniting people of all regions, religions, castes and gender into a single identity of Indian ness. Interestingly RSS which is talking of India, patriotism etc. was not a part of national movement. Its patriotism was sleeping when the whole nation was struggling against British rule. On the contrary one of its trained pracharak of RSS went on to kill the spirit of Indian-ness, father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Contrary to what RSS says people of India rejected the ideology of RSS, its politics all through. Not only Hindu nationalism of RSS but also the Muslim Nationalism of Muslim League was also dumped by the people of India. It is only due to British Policy of ‘divide and rule’ that communalists like Muslim league and RSS survived, and the latter has hit back from the decade of 1980 due to multiple factors.
Indian Constitution is the embodiment of the values of national movement, the movement for getting freedom of the country. It is based on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Equality is mentioned to indicate that irrespective of religion, caste and gender, we are equal citizens. The ideas being propagated by RSS and its progeny are against the grain of Indian nationalism, against Indian Constitution, so there is an urgent need that we counter the communal ideology of RSS.
To say that nation will become strong if Hindus become strong, is again in total violation of the soul and spirit of Indian nationalism. The people of all religious communities have contributed to the making of this nation. People of all religious communities constitute Indian nation. The myth of Hindu unity or for that matter the unity of any people along religious lines had no place in History neither it has any relevance in today’s society. The states are formed on geographical lines and only those ideologies which are inclusive of all have a place in History. The exclusive, divisive notions like the ones’ of RSS, Muslim League of yesteryears and Muslim Communalism of today and Christian Fundamentalism prevalent in parts of West, deserve to be put in the dustbin, deserve to be rejected lock stock and barrel.
What does Hindu becoming strong mean. Today majority of Hindus are living below poverty line, problem of unemployment, displacement, regionalism and communalism are breaking the back of poor of the society. The whole notion of strength is misplaced. Strength of a community lies in its economic status, social security and human rights. And to talk of Hindu strength in the language of RSS is quite intimidtory to the non Hindus living in the country. We have to cater for all the religious communities and in addition to implement affirmative action for weaker sections of society.
We need to understand that the whole ideology and propaganda of RSS is against the values of Indian nationalism and should be treated with the contempt which such anti national ideas deserve.
Iran busts US-linked internet spy gang
By IANS,
Tehran: Iran claimed to have busted a spy racket allegedly linked with the US intelligence agency CIA and arrested 30 people for operating an internet network to gather secret data related to Iran's nuclear scientists.
The Judiciary said Saturday it has dismantled a US-backed cyber network, which was set up to gather information on Iran's nuclear scientists and spread unrest after the presidential election.
The nexus was formed by anti-Iran groups, including the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (MKO), the Judiciary said in a statement, adding that 30 suspects have been arrested.
According to Iranian authority, during former US President George W Bush's regime, a new campaign in the intelligence front - the "cyber war" - was set up to engage Iran, with the help of the MKO, pro-monarchy groups and other anti-Iran cells.
"Iran proxy", which was one of the main projects of the campaign, received $50 million from the CIA and the US State Department, the statement said.
The program, which allowed Iranians bypass the state's filtering system and access the internet, was designed to "obtain personal and family information" of its users and pass them on to US spy agencies.
Another major project was a network of "human rights activists", which was led by Keyvan Rafiei, Jamal Hosseini and Ahmad Batebi, it said.
The network was tasked with recruiting people and sending them to an MKO camp in Iraq and other countries, where they would receive training, the statement said.
It said the network was also in close cooperation with "Lawyers Committee" and "Harana News service", Press TV reported.
The network, according to the confession of its arrested members, was also tasked with inviting people to attend rallies and riots after the presidential election in June.
The Judiciary said that the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) has been briefed on the situation and about the key members of the group, who operate the racket from the US.
Tehran: Iran claimed to have busted a spy racket allegedly linked with the US intelligence agency CIA and arrested 30 people for operating an internet network to gather secret data related to Iran's nuclear scientists.
The Judiciary said Saturday it has dismantled a US-backed cyber network, which was set up to gather information on Iran's nuclear scientists and spread unrest after the presidential election.
The nexus was formed by anti-Iran groups, including the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (MKO), the Judiciary said in a statement, adding that 30 suspects have been arrested.
According to Iranian authority, during former US President George W Bush's regime, a new campaign in the intelligence front - the "cyber war" - was set up to engage Iran, with the help of the MKO, pro-monarchy groups and other anti-Iran cells.
"Iran proxy", which was one of the main projects of the campaign, received $50 million from the CIA and the US State Department, the statement said.
The program, which allowed Iranians bypass the state's filtering system and access the internet, was designed to "obtain personal and family information" of its users and pass them on to US spy agencies.
Another major project was a network of "human rights activists", which was led by Keyvan Rafiei, Jamal Hosseini and Ahmad Batebi, it said.
The network was tasked with recruiting people and sending them to an MKO camp in Iraq and other countries, where they would receive training, the statement said.
It said the network was also in close cooperation with "Lawyers Committee" and "Harana News service", Press TV reported.
The network, according to the confession of its arrested members, was also tasked with inviting people to attend rallies and riots after the presidential election in June.
The Judiciary said that the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) has been briefed on the situation and about the key members of the group, who operate the racket from the US.
Over 32,000 widows, 97,000 orphans in Kashmir
By IANS,
Srinagar: There are over 32,000 widows and 97,000 orphaned children in violence-battered Jammu and Kashmir, a new study has found, suggesting that the unending conflict in the border state has only made things worse for the vulnerable sections of society.
"There were 32,400 widows and 97,200 orphans in 2008 in Kashmir and the number is growing. With the continuity and intensification of armed conflict, their life conditions have deteriorated to miserable sub-human levels," says the study conducted by valley-based known sociologist Bashir Ahmed Dabla.
The study says that widows and orphans in the state, which has been battling a separatist war since 1989, have not received adequate help from the government or NGOs.
"Neither the state nor NGOs have been able to help them in an organised and systematic manner. The tragic aspect of the situation is that the state has not adopted any specific social policy and programme in this regard. Their problems accumulate and intensify day by day," it says.
"Individuals, society, community and the state must share responsibilities in terms of coordination, organisation and effective implementation of relevant programmes," the study asserts.
Srinagar: There are over 32,000 widows and 97,000 orphaned children in violence-battered Jammu and Kashmir, a new study has found, suggesting that the unending conflict in the border state has only made things worse for the vulnerable sections of society.
"There were 32,400 widows and 97,200 orphans in 2008 in Kashmir and the number is growing. With the continuity and intensification of armed conflict, their life conditions have deteriorated to miserable sub-human levels," says the study conducted by valley-based known sociologist Bashir Ahmed Dabla.
The study says that widows and orphans in the state, which has been battling a separatist war since 1989, have not received adequate help from the government or NGOs.
"Neither the state nor NGOs have been able to help them in an organised and systematic manner. The tragic aspect of the situation is that the state has not adopted any specific social policy and programme in this regard. Their problems accumulate and intensify day by day," it says.
"Individuals, society, community and the state must share responsibilities in terms of coordination, organisation and effective implementation of relevant programmes," the study asserts.
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