BJP hints at fighting Assam polls on its own

By IANS,

Guwahati : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday hinted at fighting next year's assembly elections in Assam on its own and claimed it would put up a better performance compared to the past.

"We are keen on going alone and putting up a good show in the elections with the help of the youth of Assam," party MP and newly-appointed election in-charge for Assam, Varun Gandhi told journalists.

Gandhi arrived in Guwahati on a three-day visit, aimed at chalking out strategies for the 2011 assembly polls.

"Definitely broad strategies would be worked out during his stay," BJP MP from Guwahati Bijoya Chakraborty told IANS.

Gandhi addressed a training camp of BJP youth leaders soon after his arrival.

"I want to take the youth of Assam along with me to bolster the party's prospects," he said.

"Varun Gandhi's visit would surely inspire and attract the younger generation towards the BJP. The enthusiasm of the youths was evident the moment he landed here," Chakraborty said.

Meanwhile, Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Tuesday claimed to have finalised a regional front comprising smaller parties to fight the poll.

"We have almost concluded discussions for a regional front comprising smaller regional parties, although we are keeping options open for seat adjustments with some national parties (meaning Left parties)," AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary told IANS.

The AGP had pre-poll understanding with the BJP in the 2001 assembly polls and again in the parliamentary elections last year - the AGP-BJP combine was routed by the Congress party in 2001, while in the parliamentary elections, the AGP fared poorly although the BJP managed to up its tally at the expense of the regional party.

"We are committed to working towards overall development of the state if given the mandate," Patowary said.

UAE to suspend Blackberry services from Oct 11

By IANS/WAM,

Abu Dhabi : United Arab Emirates (UAE) telecom authorities Sunday said Blackberry services in the Gulf region will be suspended from Oct 11, citing security concerns.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said the Blackberry messenger, e-mail and web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended because of the "failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring Blackberry services in line with UAE's telecommunications regulations".

The decision was based on the fact that due to technical configurations, certain Blackberry services allow users to act without any legal accountability, causing "judicial, social and national security concerns".

The region's telecommunications operators - Etisalat and du - were informed of the decision Sunday, TRA Director General Mohamed Al Ghanim said.

A controversy might flare up over Indian citizenship in Assam

By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,

In the North-Eastern state of Assam, a controversy over the issue of Indian citizenship is in making. This has to do with the updating work of National Register of Citizens (NRC), at present going on pilot basis, in two places in Assam, namely Barpeta revenue circle under Berpeta district and Chayagaon revenue circle under Kamrup district. As part of the project the citizens have been asked to attach some documents, as proof of their Indian citizenship with the standard government form. These documents include the list of NRC 1951, electoral roll of 1966 and that of 1971.

According to the government sources, the purpose of NRC is to identify and enlist Indian citizens in the state. The fact, that NRC updating work is going on, under the direct supervision of GK Pillai, Home Secretary, Government of India, shows how serious the government of India as far as this project is concerned.

The Bengali speaking Muslims along with some Bengali speaking Hindus of the state have protested vehemently against this project. And the protest is getting stronger day by day. They have virtually boycotted this project.

People's meeting to protest against NRC[Photo by BBC]

For instance in the first phase, out of 47 thousand forms which were distributed, only 17 forms were submitted by the Bengali speaking people.

On the other hand, all the Assami speaking individuals and organizations are happy with this step by the government. All Assam Student Union (AASU), the influential student organization in the state, has welcomed this move. In fact it is helping the state government in propagating this project in the state.

But the fact that no body, no government official, retired or working, ironically not even journalists, were ready to speak on record on this issue, only proves how sensitive the issue of Indian citizenship is in Assam. Except the representatives of the political parties in the state, only few journalists agreed to talk to TwoCircles.net, on the condition of anonymity.

TCN contacted H. S. Das Commissioner & Secretary, Tourism, Commissioner & Secretary, Finance, Assam he was not ready to talk on this issue. Even PC Sharm, former Chief Secretary who had been instrumental in formulating and framing NRC policy for the government of Assam, refused to comment on this subject, saying that ; “I don’t have any opinion on such a sensitive issue. I want to lead a peaceful life”

In order to understand the gravity of the situation, one needs to know the background in which this issue of National Register of Citizens is going on, because it will explain quite well, why the Bengali speaking population has objected to the NCR and why the indigenous Assami citizens have welcomed it.

It won’t be wrong to say that the fear of both the Bengali speaking population and Assami speaking indigenous population is playing out quite forcefully in the background of NRC project.

The turbulent history of Assam is a witness to the fact that the issue of illegal Bangladeshi migrants is a very sensitive one.

Now the Bengali speaking population which includes both Hindus and Muslims, doesn’t want to be identified as Bengali speaking citizen of Assam, because of various reasons.

One among them is the historic accord of 1985, between the Rajiv Gandhi government at the center and AASU, according to which the Assami speaking people will get extra privilege in the socio-economic development schemes of the government.

But probably the stigma of being categorized as Bangaldeshi (and then who knows of being deported to Bangladesh) is perhaps the biggest reason why the Bengali speaking Assamees, are against NCR. So in simple words, for a Bengali speaking Hindu and Muslim, NCR is an attempt to identify and if possible prove them as Bangladeshi.

And if one agrees with Abdur Rahim Khan, secretary, All Indian United Democratic Front, then the authorities are using illegal ways and means to prove genuine Indian citizens as Banladeshi.

For instance, the place of birth of all the 2 Lakhs Bengali speaking Muslims in Barpeta revenue circle, is mentioned as, “Maiman Singh, Dhaka, Bangladesh” in the government list.

Talking to this correspondent from Barpeta, over phone, Mr. Khan said “How can it be possible that the birth place of all 2 lakh people is the same place in Dhaka? It’s a complete lie being propagated by the government. The government list supplied by the district authorities identifies 25% of Bengali speaking population of Barpeta revenue circle as “doubtful” through a “D” which is there besides their name on the list.

That is not all; there are several anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies in 1951, Electoral Roll of 1966 and 1971. According to Dr. Baharul Islam, general secretary, AIUDF, thousands of names are missing from the published copies of electoral rolls of 1966 and 1971. Then many genuine citizens are being sent notices for being allegedly, a foreigner (read Bangladeshi).

Assam government's notice for NRC[Phot by BBC]

AIUDF on its part has submitted many memorandums to the chief secretary of Assam, the central registrar general of citizen of India and also the Prime Minister of India. But nothing yet has been done by the officials to fix these anomalies.

Although AIUDF has not officially objected to the idea of NRC updating work but the people who are involved in these protests come largely from the same kind of political affiliations and AIUDF is supporting unofficially these protests, said a journalist who has followed this story very closely in the state but who didn’t want to be named.
All the villages of Barpeta revenue circles, dominated by the Bengali speaking population, have unanimously decided to boycott the registration process and not to submit the form. Because their approach towards the government’s effort to update NRC 1951, is largely characterized by suspicion and distrust.

They think that these anomalies and various discrepancies are there to sideline their names while scrutinizing the forms, which will lead to the ultimate elimination of their names from the NRC by the state officials.

“All these things area part of conspiracy against the Bengali speaking people of the state by the AASU leaders on whose instruction the Congress government is functioning these days”, accused Mr. Khan.

He alleged that the state administration has planned to run a detention camp where all the suspicious citizens (read Bengali speaking Assami citizens) will be kept

Expressing his views on the NRC updating work, Ishaq Ali Deewan, president of Assam Khilanjia Muslim Unnayan Parishad, said “We don’t want pilot project. NRC is poison for us. What will we do with a list in which our names won’t be there finally?”

Some are also planning to challenge the legality of this project. “The NRC is being done through a law which was passed and implemented in 2003, but it hasn’t got yet the approval of the Indian parliament. So it’s actually illegal” said Mr. Khan.

“If the state or the central government doesn’t do any thing to stop the pilot project in its present form, then on July, 20, 2010, we will file a PIL in the Supreme Court to stop this”, announced, Mr. Khan who is one of the leaders in the Barpeta revenue circle, leading the people’s protest against the pilot project of NRC.

Interestingly, the fear expressed above, by the Bengali speaking Assami population, is not without some basis. It’s substantiated and shared by a journalist in Agradoot, an Assami dialy, who preferred to remain anonymous.

“Over the years it has been the government policy to officially underestimate the exact figure of Bengali speaking population, by eliminating their names from the voter list or identifying millions of the genuine Indian citizens as “doubtful”.

He also pointed out that “to be very frank, no body wants, neither the Congress nor the BJP or AGP who claim to pro Indigenous Assami people, to solve this issue of presence of illegal Bangladeshi’s in Assam. Had they wanted, they would have sealed the border which is the first step they would have done had they been serious. And all these parties have been in power then why didn’t any one of them try to solve these issues?”

“It is very simple”, he said, “every body wants to keep this issue alive and in cash it in terms of political vote banks.’

On the other side of the spectrum is the Assami speaking indigenous population, and AASU which claims to represent them, who think that the pilot project of NRC is the ultimate medicine and will solve the problem of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Assam.

AASU is politically very active organization of the state. It is best known for leading the six-year Assam Movement against alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which culminated in the infamous Nellie massacre of more than 2,000 immigrant Muslims by the indigenous tribal people of Assam in 1983.

Samujjwal Bhattacharya, advisor to AASU, told this correspondent that “It is very important to identify the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, who have become a threat not only for the security of the state. So we want that the NRC 1951 should be updated as per the Assam Accord 1985, which was a tripartite accord between the then Rajiv Gandhi Government, the Assam government and AASU. The Assam Accord says that people whose names have appeared in the electoral lists from the period of 1952 to 1971 are Indian citizens, and people who have come to Indian after 1971 should go.”

When asked about the objection of AIUDF about the alleged anomalies, irregularities and discrepancies in 1951, Electoral Roll of 1966 and 1971, and missing names of thousands of Bengali speaking people from the lists, he said; “It’s very clear, that the names of all the Indians will be there. People who are genuinely from India don’t have any thing to fear about. We will give them full protection, irrespective of their religion and language. But yes, the illegal Bangladeshis will have to leave India.”

AASU was a part of meeting on May, 6 2005, which was chaired by PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh which decided to update the NRC 1951. It was also part of the meeting chaired by home secretary GK Pillai which decided to start pilot project of NRC updating work from Barpeta and Chaygaon revenue circles.

It is very interesting to see how the fears of the indigenous Assami population is affecting the fate of Bengali speaking population particularly Muslims in the state.

AASU actually plays on the fears of the indigenous Assami population which thinks that soon they will meet the same fate as that of Tripura, where the indigenous Tripuris have become minority with Bangladeshi Hindus becoming majority.

In Assam according to last census, Muslims constitute 31% of the state population. Out of these 31% Muslims, more than 75% people are Bengali speaking whom the indigenous Assami population largely homogenizes as “Bangladeshis.”

Because they are afraid that soon they will be outnumbered by what they call as “Bangladeshis”, at any cost they want the government to throw them out of the state or deport them to Bangladesh. It’s on these fears of becoming minority that parties like Asom Gana parishad (AGP), BJP and Congress base their politics in the state.

One journalist who has followed this issue very closely told this correspondent that “now when the assembly elections are months away, it is very much possible that it’s a ploy by the Congress government to attract the votes of the indigenous Assami speaking community, a traditionally AGP and BJP vote bank, to its own side and at the same time to scare the Muslims once and then delay or postpone the project. As it will serve both the purpose of reinforcing the Muslim votes and it will also manage to attract votes of the indigenous Assami people.”

Congress has at present 14 MLAs from the Bengali speaking areas which in total constitute around 40 assembly seats

He also said that, lately there have been quite a number of meetings by the concerned officials in both the central as well as the state governments. Because the way Bengali speaking population, which constitutes more than 30% of the state, has protested against NRC till now, the Congress government in the state and at the center wouldn’t ignore them because they can not afford to antagonize the community particularly when elections are just 6 months away.

“For both the Bengali speaking and the indigenous Assami population this issue of NRC is getting very serious and sensitive. Although the state is, any way divided on linguistic cum communal lines but this issue has the potential to rip the state apart on those lines.”

He pointed out that the NRC is an issue not only for Assam, even Bangladesh is following this process very closely because after identifying the so called Bangladeshis, the next logical step is to deport them. So it’s a foreign relations issue also.

“Given the turbulent history of the state over the issue of illegal Bangladeshi population, this issue of NRC has all the recipes for a perfect disaster, and if not handled sensitively, it might explode”, he ominously predicted.

For educating the Muslims – Muslims must take the lead

By Shahidur Rashid Talukdar,

Though the noble Qur’an professes the importance of education to the entire humanity, the irony is that beneath the lamp it is always dark. On actual count, due to some unfortunate course of action, Muslims are among the most educationally backward communities in India. Except a few states, the performance of Muslims reckon below the national average almost everywhere. While there are many reasons for the community’s failure in achieving a good educational profile and maintaining the progress, at least one apparent reason is that the community has, in the first place, failed to take appropriate and adequate initiatives towards education. Where there are well-established chains of schools from other communities such as Ramkrishna Mission schools, DAVs, Arya Vidayapeeths, Maharshi Vidyamandirs, host of Christian Missionary schools, to name only a few, imparting quality education among the masses, the Muslim community’s presence in this domain is hardly noticeable.

Unfolding the myth

Glibly put, one can say that the community has not cared enough for formal education rather it has channelized its resources towards religious education by setting up Madrasahs. There might be some truth in the claim, but as a whole it is far from the actual or sole reason. The Sachar Commission Report has revealed that the Madrasahs accommodate only a meager 4% of the total school going Muslim children while the remaining 96% go to secular schools. Besides, there are many who cannot manage to go, at all, to any school, owing to the lack of proper access.

Students at Hajjan Bibi Soghra Hasan Memorial Urdu Girls School in Darbhanga

Even this 4% of the children get enrolled in Madrasahs not necessarily by choice. The report points out that the reasons for enrollment into a Madrasah vary from lack of availability of other schools and linguistic bias to fear of communal harassment. Interestingly, it is found that in such areas where the secular private or public schools are not up to one’s avail, even children from the Hindu community also go to the Madrasahs. There might be a lack of initiatives on the part of the community to set up institutions of formal education, but the level of difficulty the community faces in setting up and getting recognition of such institutions not only daunt the feeble attempts but also deter the community’s motivation. This leads to further exacerbation of the situation.

Recent Developments and Awareness of the Problem

The public findings like the SCR and NSSO reports and individual studies coupled with widespread media coverage of the Muslim milieu, now almost everyone including the Governments, NGOs, and the society at large knows that the Indian Muslim community is far behind the mainstream in terms of educational achievement. Yet another significant development is that a large section of Muslim populace also is acknowledging this backwardness. Owing to such recent developments, now, among the Muslim elites, intellectuals, and a section of youth – a huge debate about the community’s poor performance in the field of education is underway.

An ever-increasing realization of the problem calls for urgent measures to solve it. Having touched the lowest strata of regression towards mediocrity, the community, more than ever, feels the need for a transition from a state of ignorance to participation and from darkness light. As the stakes are high, the efforts to ameliorate the situation must be quick, firm, visionary, sustainable and holistic. Now the question is what needs to be done and how it should be done to maximize the efficiency and return.

Muslims Need Schools and Coaching Centers, first

A realistic assessment of the situation offers a prompt solution that the community needs rigorous intervention at the school level, rather than college or university level. Well groomed, bright, talented and competent Muslim adolescents will find their way through the mainstream colleges, universities and other professional institutions of higher learning. Universities, engineering and medical colleges become relevant only when there is an overwhelming demand for such institutions. Such demand will sustain only when there is an abundant supply of high quality students for schools. Another such necessity is that of highly committed and professionally managed coaching centers. Coaching centers will be the best tools in this transformation process. Because they require less investment, and if efficient enough, they promise a high return – both in terms of improving the quality of students enrolled in a regular course as well success in various competitive examinations.

Muslims Must Take the Lead

Now it becomes important to see how this can be achieved. While the Governments need to provide a suitable platform for development, the community’s role in its emancipation cannot be overemphasized. The community must, at this juncture, resolve to bring a revolution among its members regarding the spread of education both in terms of quality as well as quantity. In order to initiate and sustain such an Educational Revolution there needs to be a movement from the grass roots up to the leadership. Although intervention at the policy level is imperative to bring a change, but people’s involvement in the change process is even more important. Active participation of the entire Muslim community, at each stage of transition, from planning through implementation is a must.

Now the question is how to garner such a participation without creating a mess? Well there could be many ways to develop awareness and motivate people to form special interest groups to create awareness among masses about the importance and expected return of education. While there can be many ways to do it, one way is to attach religious affiliation to education. Seeing the never ending zeal and overflowing passion of the Muslims in religious matters it can said that if the message of worldly education comes through any religious body, it is likely to have a far greater impact than any other secular body among the masses, especially in rural India. Another reason is that these organizations such as Masjid committees, Marqaz, or any other Muslim bodies active at local community level are already functioning, they have a strong network and above all they are inexpensive. Making use of established mechanisms should be easier than developing newer mechanisms for creating awareness or enhancing motivation.

The Muslim religious organizations must assume a more meaningful role in the reconstruction of the society rather than confining themselves to what they are currently preoccupied with. Instead of narrowing their focus exclusively on religious issues, the Muslim scholars should engage themselves towards socio-economic empowerment of the community. Because a community on the margins of the society is not what is recommended by Islam. The role of religious organizations, at this moment, should shift heavily towards disseminating the message of education, channelizing the community resources and monitoring the progress of education amongst the Muslims in particular and society, in general. Imagine the message “Read, in the name of Allah… teacheth man what he knew not” becoming a part of every Friday sermon, the prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) saying: “To seek knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim (male or female)” – becomes the subject of an Ishtema, Tableegh Jama’at moves with the mission of “spreading education across borders”! Imagine the potential impact of it. I am sure it will have much more penetrating effect than a million dollar campaign to spread education among Muslims.

This move, however, should not be viewed as radicalization of education or not to confuse attaching “religious importance to education” with religious or Madrasah education as such. Taking parallel from other communities, it is apparent that involvement of religious organization does not necessarily influence the curriculum in terms of radicalization. The schools or colleges will, after all, follow the mainstream formal curriculum recognized by the government.

Muslim Leadership Must Come Forward

Here comes the role of Muslim leadership, both religious and secular. The Muslim bodies like Jamiat Ulama – e – Hind and other Islamic bodies should come forward to guide and help develop regional and local bodies to conceive the message, crystallize a plan of action and pave the way for moving ahead with it. Further, even more important role for the leadership will be to advocate for the local bodies on higher platforms - state or national level agencies and lobbying for recognition and mobilizing resources for the Muslim educational institutions. Securing the Waqf properties and raising funds from individuals, Government and non-Government sources will be two most prominent issues to be handled by the leadership.

If the participation of the leadership at the top and the community at the bottom can be ensured then the middle level, that is, the technicalities of institution building can be managed by a third party. For effective implementation of the plans formulated by leadership, there needs to be professional agencies, such as Educational Consultants, which have special expertise to setting up schools, coaching centers, recruit teachers, and develop policies to efficiently run those institutions, and so on. These agencies will work as a bridge between the leadership and the masses. Such agencies can either be formed from amongst the educated and progressive community members or can be hired directly by paying for their services.
A three tier arrangement involving the Muslims masses at the bottom, professional agencies at the middle, and the community leaders on the top will greatly take care of the educational deficiency among Muslims of India.

(The writer is a Ph.D. student at Texas Tech University, Texas, USA. Originally he is from Assam, India)

[Photos by Mudassir Rizwan of TwoCircles.net]

Now Assam Muslims demand special centre of AMU

By TCN News,

Guwahati: Encouraged with the Aligarh Muslim University initiative to open its off-campus centres in some Muslim dominated regions in the country, the Muslim community living in Assam has demanded the AMU administration to open a centre in the northeastern state.

The demand was made at a recent meeting of educationists and community leaders held in Guwahati. It was a preparatory consultative meeting for a national conference on educational agenda of minorities in Northeast region. Attended by more than sixty prominent educationists, MLAs, MP and other community leaders, the meeting discussed the need to organize such conference under the aegis of AMU. The meeting was convened by Dhubri Lok Sabha MP Maulana Badruddin Ajmal who has mooted the proposal to set up a special center of AMU in Assam.

The participants lauded the initiatives taken by the present Vice Chancellor of AMU Prof P K Abdul Azis for promoting the educational aspirations of the minorities in India.

Addressing the meeting, Prof. Mohammad Shabbir, Dean, Faculty of Law and Member-in-Charge, Legal Affairs of the University, said that being a Central University of international repute, AMU intends to establish a strong bond and an enduring academic linkage with minority managed educational institutions and create a networking environment so that the synergy created could be of immense benefit to the Educational Institutions in India. Aligarh Muslim University is thus mandated to carry out extensive work of specified nature all over the country for educational and cultural upliftment of the Muslims.

Dr Baharul Islam of All India United Democratic Front presented a Background Paper on the initiatives of Prof P.K. Abdul Azis, the present VC of AMU under Sec 5(20(c) of AMU Amendment Act. He stressed the need to rejuvenate the Aligarh Movement initiated by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and to start afresh a new educational revolution in India.

The meeting discussed the need of setting up a Special Center of AMU in Assam. Mr H R A Chaudhury, a member of the AMU Court from Assam raised the demand to set up one such center in Assam.

Mr Badruddin Ajmal has written to the Vice Chancellor of AMU, the Prime Minister, HRD Minister and the Chief Minister of Assam to propose a Special Center of AMU in Dhubri. He led a special mission to AMU and met the Vice Chancellor and other high officials to stress the need for a Special Campus at Dhubri.

The meeting also decided to organize a National Conference on ‘Minority Education in Northeast India” in collaboration with the AMU, Aligarh. Badruddin Ajmal, MP stressed the need to hold such a conference to bring in all the stakeholders under one platform and prepare them for a collaborating affirmative action plan. Educationists form across the across the region will be invited/ expected to attend including NGOs and leaders of minority education. He has assured to co-sponsor the conference under AJMAL Foundation.