Rakesh Maria should be arrested for conducting activities which are terror related: Advocate Pracha - By M. Reyaz - TwoCircles.net

http://twocircles.net/2014mar18/rakesh_maria_should_be_arrested_conducting_activities_which_are_terror_related_advocate#.Uyhl3s73NxF

Rakesh Maria should be arrested for conducting activities which are terror related: Advocate Pracha

Submitted by TwoCircles.net on 18 March 2014 - 3:35pm

By M Reyaz, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Senior lawyer Mehmood Pracha, who is defending German bakery bomb blast case convict Mirza Himayat Beg for his innocence, has demanded that the current Mumbai Police Commissioner should be “arrested as a terrorist” and tried under anti-terror laws.
In an exclusive interview to TCN, Advocate Pracha said, “The fact remains that three investigating agencies (NIA, Delhi Police’ Special Cell and Central Crime Branch, Bangalore ), my own understanding of the case, the charge sheet and the subsequent events, all point to one fact that the Maharashtra ATS led by Mr Rakesh Maria was responsible in not only falsely implicating Himayat Baig, but also in the process actively saving the real terrorists,” adding, “the police officers involved, including Mr Rakesh Maria should be arrested for conducting activities which are terror related. He has committed offense prima facie which are terror cases and he should be arrested as a terrorist.”


Advocate Mehmood Pracha at his Defence Colony office. Besides Himayat Baig, Advocate Pracha has been trying to secure bail for another high profile terror accused Mansoor Peerbhoy and has been frontally attacking current Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria for his conduct as ATS Chief.
He also alleged that the Mumbai top cop is using underworld don Ravi Pujari to coerce him to leave those sensitive terror cases. Advocate Pracha has been receiving threat calls from international telephone numbers.
Advocate Pracha is now planning to petition in court to lodge FIR against him. He told TCN, “In Himayat Baig’s case what has come out is that the Maharashtra ATS, led by Mr Rakesh Maria – who was then the Chief of the ATS – they not only implicated an innocent called Mr Himayat Baig, but they also saved the real terrorists, as three other agencies have also stated.”
He hence feels that as a law abiding citizen, it is his “duty to inform for a cognizable offence to the relevant authority and the court.”
Not shying away from calling Maria a “terrorist” for his alleged misconduct, the out-spoken lawyer added, “It is my duty to inform the terrorist activities of Mr Rakesh Maria, then head of the Maharashtra ATS, and his entire team.”
Elaborating further, he said, “When I say, that these police officers are acting like terrorists because they are aiding and abetting the real terrorists and catching hold of the innocent people to save the real terrorists. Under section 15 to 20 of the UAPA, these are terrorist activities, be it whether they are committed by the police officers or common citizens because law is equal for all.”
Pointing that Maria is not the only police officer who have implicated innocent Muslims, Advocate Pracha said, “This is true not only for Mr Rakesh Maria, but for many other officers against whom I have conclusive evidence to at least register an FIR against them. 

Law should take its own course, because nobody is above law. Mr Rakesh Maria’s case came up because the NIA filed the additional charge-sheet which once again points to the fact that Himayat Baig was innocent.”
He added, “Mr Rakesh Maria has managed to bring himself to the limelight by brining Ravi Pujari (the underworld don, whose men purportedly threatened Pracha over phone) that is why I have to take his name again and again, but there are so many other police officers who are going the same way. But none of them has actually threatened with the underworld. He has got this invited on himself. If you threaten me like this I am going to fight back, by legal means.”
Elaborating further he said, “The fact remains that there many police officers in many states, who are acting along with the real terrorists and implicating these innocent in false cases. And we are duty bound as citizens to catch hold of each one of them and hand them over to the investigating agencies.”
Questioning the very credentials of Maria for acting in such a manner and using underworld don to threaten him, Pracha said, “But he has taken it in a manner, which I think, is not suitable for a police officer, if at all he is, because I do not find any of the characters of a police officer in him, going through the evidences I am seeing in all the charge-sheets, which have been filed under his leadership. So he has started threatening me through the underworld. But these things don’t scare me at all.”
He said that he will not take these threats sitting down, adding that he knows of people who are behind him and he will bring them to justice.


Rakesh Maria [Courtesy: mid-day.com] Asked if he has any evidence against Maria for labelling such an allegation, Advocate Pracha said, “Yes, I have substantive and enough evidence against Mr Rakesh Maria. 

Unfortunate part is that he is using the underworld, he is the one who is supposed to catch the underworld. He is using the underworld to threaten a person like me, whose only fault is that he is following the law. What I am doing is presenting my case to the judges, whatever reliefs or whatever orders are being passed, are passed by the judges. So it is a direct attack on the Judiciary.”
He said, “I want to show these people that the Constitution of India and the laws made under them are sufficient not only to tackle underworld dons, international or national, but our Constitution and laws are also sufficient to catch hold of these terrorists who are sitting today in the garb of police officers.”
In this exclusive TCN interview, Advocate Pracha also alleged that the “basic fault in our investigating agencies is that honest police officers are being side-lined, they are posted in police training schools, on posts of not much significance as punishment postings and officers with known corrupt background are placed in important posts, like handling terror cases, which is very sad.”
(Watch out this space tomorrow to read/watch the full interview.)

News:

• Indian Muslim

----- ----- ----- ------ -----

From Azamgarh to America: The success saga of Frank Islam - Interview by Mumtaz Alam, INDIA TOMORROW

From Azamgarh to America: The success saga of Frank Islam

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: YouTube <noreply@youtube.com>
Date: Mon, Mar 17, 2014 at 7:11 PM
Subject: Ghulam Muhammed sent you a video: "Azamgarh-born American entrepreneur Dr Frank Islam"
To: ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

Ghulam Muhammed has shared a video with you on YouTube Azamgarh-born American entrepreneur Dr Frank Islam by India Tomorrow TV

From Azamgarh to America: The success saga of Frank Islam 17 Mar 2014 03:03 PM, IST By Mumtaz Alam and Atif Jaleel, India Tomorrow, New Delhi, 16 March 2014: With just $500 and one employee (himself) he opens a firm in Washington DC in 1994. In next 13 years, his information technology firm QSS becomes a company of several thousand employees and several hundred million dollars. He is Frank Islam – a reputed entrepreneur and renowned philanthropist of America. Born in a dusty village of Azamgarh town of Uttar Pradesh in 1953, Frank is proud to be son of India and wants to pay back to his native country and town also.   Sitting in a boardroom of 5-star Shangri-La hotel here in India’s national capital, Frank – who carried Fakhrul as his first name before going to America as a student decades ago, but he still carries that name though as initial in the middle of his full name (Frank F. Islam), talks about his success saga from Azamgarh to Aligarh to America. He is a story of inspiration for his native countrymen and also for the people of his native town Azamgarh.     Excerpts from his exclusive interview with India Tomorrow:   Successful entrepreneurship Telling about his success saga, Frank says: “I always say, from the dusty streets of Azamgarh to Aligarh to America, I crossed the ocean to realize and to achieve and to attain the American dream. So I was born in Azamgarh, and after that I went to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which is a great institution - an institution that inspired me, an institution that was built by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, an institution that has been a part, an indispensable part, of my life, my story, my journey, and my destiny. I left AMU at a very young age to go to University of Colorado in Boulder. I graduated from there. I worked for a couple of Information Technology companies. I always had this desire and dream that I want to become an entrepreneur, I want to be a business owner. So I became an entrepreneur.”   When he set up his first business in 1994 he was not at good time of his life.   “I started my business in 1994 and those were dark and desperate days of my life. I was with only $500 that I invested into this company. With no insurance, no place to go, but I thought there was a future. Otherwise I would’ve never started. So I was willing to take the risk. And I always believed in taking a risk. I always believed that you have to confront uncertainty with optimism, ingenuity and creativity. And starting a business is about taking a risk. With the hard work and initiative, and with my staff, I was able to grow my company from one employee to several thousand employees in 13 years, and also several hundred million dollars. It is a true American success story.”   Frank sold the company in 2007 for several hundred million dollars. Now he wanted to give back to America – the country which provided him opportunities of success.   “So I created a foundation to do that. And I was always reminded and guided by the phrase, as President John F. Kennedy said many times, “to whom much is given, much is expected.” So my foundation helps a lot of students who have financial hardship to go to school.”   Campaigning for Barack Obama Frank also wanted to contribute in the politics of the country, and so he joined the team of Barack Obama.   “After I created the foundation, I started working with President Obama’s campaign as a person who was involved in the national finance campaign, and I got involved into politics. Politics has designed the landscape of America. This is how the capitalism grows as democracy flourishes. And this is how you have a voice. And those voices that should be heard, and therefore you have a seat on the table, which is very important,” says Frank adding that this phase of his life was like making an impossible possible – a person from humble background in a small town of Azamgarh walking along with US President Barack Obama.   US President Barack Obama with Frank Islam “And if someone is listening to me and I will tell them that ‘you need to aim high, you need to work hard, [and] you pursue your dream. I came from a very middle class and humble beginning from Azamgarh as a Muslim family. And I see the young people looking at me and say ‘can they make it?’ Yes. You can make impossible as a possible, you can make irrelevant as a relevant, you can make unacceptable as acceptable.”   Challenges before Muslim youths in India Talking about Muslim youths in India, he says the Muslim youth must get good education, become an entrepreneur and give back to their community and their country.   “I know that the young Muslim generation confront hostility and open prejudice because who they are. They see a dark and desperate world. They share a city but not a community. They share a common dwelling but not in a common effort. They share a common fear. But all of us in this country, Hindus and Muslims or anyone, or any other what I consider a religion or race, we live together in a peace and harmony for a thousand years; we should set aside our differences to work for shared goal, shared responsibility and shared sacrifices. So I told the Muslim youth, all of them, get an education, become an entrepreneur, give back to your community and your country, and be inspired by my story.”   Frank stresses education and terms it a powerful equalizer that uplifts the people’s soul and gives them dignity and respect.   “If I have to give them (Muslim youth) advice, I’d say get a good education. I know poverty drains the institution and it crushes the hope of the people. But education is a powerful equalizer that uplifts the people’s soul and gives them dignity and respect. Education creates wealth, education creates prosperity. In addition to that, as President Obama said, “education will be the currency of the 21st century.” And education, what I consider, frees the human mind from the shackles of ignorance.”   Franks’ education initiative in India Frank has launched some education project in Azamgarh, but he lacks people who could help him fulfill his dream.   “I established a small school in the memory of my mother. I always cherish and nurture my family. My family’s finest tradition is sharing and caring. What is best in me, I owe it to my parents. Unfortunately, the challenge that we faced here in India is somehow a very dysfunctional society. A lot of corruption is here. And people do not want to take the responsibility on their shoulders to build this institution. I’m building this institution for them, as Sir Syed Ahmed Khan built AMU. I’ve put the foundations. I’ve not been able to build it because of the fact that… I have not found anybody who can manage it and who can say “I will take the responsibility,” who can give me the five year plan, how much it’s going to cost, what will take to sustain it, what it will take to maintain it. I’m still waiting for that. What I’d like to do is build a high-school, build a college. And hopefully, I have the wisdom and the wealth. And I’m willing to share, willing to give, willing to give back to our community, our country, who has given me so much.   Apart from that, Frank also gives money to the students who come from Azamgarh to study at AMU.   “I brought several students from AMU to universities in US. I was also able to give them a job so that they can get training. It is my fondest hope, it is my deepest desire, to help those who are so voiceless. It breaks my heart that the conditions they live in, and especially in Azamgarh and Aligarh. I want them to have the hope, the aspirations, the dreams.”   India needs many many Frank Islam You got great success in the US. You contributed immensely in the development of the US. Don’t you think India now needs a Frank Islam?   “Well, India needs a many, many Frank Islam. Just not the one Frank Islam,” says Frank, 60. “I have contributed to America because it has provided me the opportunities. But I have not forgotten my homeland which is India and Aligarh and Azamgarh. I know it is difficult for a young Muslim youth because they do see a dark and desperate world, that ‘how they will be able to get education’ and also how to realize their dream. I want them to realize their dream. I will do everything possible to make that happen. So, for me I did invest in India. However, I did not do very well in investment in India because of many, many reasons.”   I love about India, because of the secularism and so on and so forth. India has also the democracy and freedom, the religious freedoms, so on and so forth. So my desire continues to be that I would like to do a lot more than what I have done so far. But I want somebody to take a charge.     Indo-US relations I firmly believe that the US and India have a shared interest, and shared commitment. Because both value the democracy and diversity, and both want to work together. As a matter of fact our bilateral trade relationship between India and US has increased many, many times over what it used to be 5 or 10 years ago. Still not as big as China is, or Japan is, or even the European countries. I’d like to make sure that we continue to have that trade relationship.   Frank Islam (left) shaking hands with US President Barack Obama at White House I’d like to see that we also broaden and deepen our engagement with India, in terms of the education. I think the community colleges play a pivotal role in creating today’s students for tomorrow’s job. So when I come over here and I see there are not that many community colleges. Not everybody can go to colleges and learn the trade. Community colleges have two or three year college degrees. They can learn the tools and the trades and so that they can work. So that they can create the next generation and realize the American dream, so they have food on the table and also a roof on their head. That’s a one area, education, where I think we should work together.   The second area I think we should work together is energy. I think that… I firmly believe that we would like to become a provider for India in about two or three years, for your needs of all the energy.   Shouldn’t Frank Islam stay more at Azamgarh to inspire youth? “I think you have made a very good point. And I should follow up what you just said to me that I stay there in Azamgarh and places like Aligarh to inspire people. But it is a daunting challenge. A challenge for me to live here because I do have a family, I do have a job back in US. And I have been away from this nation, from India, for a long, long time. So I still have a problem in terms of the environment, in terms of breathing the air, which is a very polluted air. There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s the way it is and I have to accept it. So give me some time. As it goes by, as we continue on this path forward, as we continue on this journey maybe perhaps the next plateau in my journey would be to live there, to engage people. But I would hope that I can also help them from US. So they can come to US and see the world, see the experience. So they can be somebody as well.   A brief profile of Frank Islam:   Educational Journey Primary Education at Kaunra Gani village in Azamgarh High School at National School, Pili Kothi, Varanasi B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Mathematics) from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh B.Sc. and M.Sc. (Computer Science) from the University of Colorado, United States   Entrepreneurship Alone and with just $500 he founded QSS Group, an Information Technology company in 1994. By 2007, the company had several thousand employees and generated revenue of $300 million. He sold the company in several hundred million dollars in 2007.   A successful entrepreneur and investor based in Washington, DC, Frank Islam founded FI Investment Group LLC (FIIG), an investment firm in 2007. He is the Chairman/CEO of FIIG which focuses on providing growth capital to emerging companies, as well as managing specialized and branded funds.   Entrepreneurship Awards: Through QSS, Mr. Islam garnered multiple industry awards for leadership, entrepreneurship and excellence.   In 1999, he was recognized by the Ernst and Young as Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year. The US Small Business Administration selected him as the Small Business Person of the Year of the Washington DC Metropolitan Area in 2001.   Philanthropy Frank Islam is a well-known philanthropist whose private foundation supports educational, cultural and artistic causes worldwide. He participates in a number of non-profit organizations as a board member, such as TiE –DC and the Strathmore Center for the Arts (located in Montgomery County, Maryland), as well as chairing the State Democracy Foundation.   Designations/Posts: Frank Islam serves as a member of the International Advisory Council of the U.S. Institute of Peace. He also serves as a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) National Advisory Board. He also serves as a member of the Advisory committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Mr. Islam serves as a member of the Department of Commerce Industry Trade Advisory Committee (ITAC). He also serves as a member of the advisory board of the University of Maryland Smith School of business.   Frank Islam serves as a member at: American University in the Emirates (AUE) of board of trustees University of Technology, Malaysia (UTM) International Advisory Panel George Mason University School of Management Dean’s Council Maryland Governor’s International Advisory Council School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) John Hopkins University Advisory Council American University school of International services Dean’s Council Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts   Literary Works Frank Islam is co-author of two books “Renewing the American Dream” and “Working the Pivot Points.”   He is a contributor to several publications including Huffington Post, Indian Express, Economics Times and India Abroad. ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

A tale of two faiths: Could a multiple religious identity be the answer for understanding communal divisions? By Vrinda Gopinath - Mail Online

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=wm#inbox/144cdc7170110886?compose=144ce8cc5fd003cc

A tale of two faiths: Could a multiple religious identity be the answer for understanding communal divisions?

By Vrinda Gopinath


PUBLISHED: 01:04 GMT, 17 March 2014 | UPDATED: 02:25 GMT, 17 March 2014

View
comments

Could a multiple religious identity be the answer to understand and grasp the discrimination, intolerance, hurt and grief of two hostile communities?

It's the incredulousness of her own life in the story of Jammu and Kashmir that makes Rabia Baji a dramatic irony in the Meerut sedition drama.
 
Baji is perhaps the only known Kashmiri Pandit who has converted to Islam and works for the cause of her Kashmiri Muslim brothers and sisters in the Valley.

+1

Rabia can instantly decode the invisible and unconscious ethnic and cultural values and priorities, which define both communities

The 46-year-old Baji was born Nirupama Kaul, granddaughter of Pandit Parmanand, who was an educationist based in Ajmer.
 
The family was not part of the exodus from the Valley in the 90s but moved to Delhi soon after Independence in 1947.


So, imagine the shock and confusion of her parents and brother when one morning, on July 7, 1989, as Rabia lucidly remembers, she left the house to take the road to Srinagar, just when the first wave of Kashmiri Pandits were pouring into Delhi, fleeing the Valley from Kashmiri Muslim separatists and militant violence.
 
It was a journey that took the spunky and lithe 23-year-old Nirupama Kaul to be reawakened as Rabia Baji, with the somnorific incantations of the Maulvi, offering herself to be a good example and worthy of the great message that Islam brings to humanity.

Dual identity

Funny, but it's her dual identity that bridges the two worlds in the embittered Valley, and which Rabia Baji uses craftily.


For instance, she continues to sign her name in official papers with both her names, which came to her in an astonishing way.
 
As the rotund Baji chuckles, it was the Hindu registrar who simply kept postponing registering her new Islamic name, and so it came to pass over the years that she has both her Hindu name, and an alias Muslim name.
 
The administrative delusion, however, gave Rabia a new-found respectability, eminence, trust and merit with both communities, Hindus and Muslims.

For starters, Rabia can instantly decode the invisible and unconscious ethnic and cultural values and priorities, which define both communities; after all she lived like both of them.
 
But it's the negotiations between Muslim Kashmiris and a 'secular' administration, both in Srinagar and Delhi, that consume her time.
 
For instance, she has shrewdly cajoled the administration to allow certain licenses in the scholarship programmes like getting HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and the PMO to allow UGC approved universities to take the students despite the administration in Srinagar throwing its hands up.
 
"They are sympathetic to me in Delhi," she says foxily, "it's a frame of reference we can all relate to."


On the other side, Rabia is able to dissolve resistance and refusal by her very presence – as the rotund, chador and pheran-wearing matron who ensures students get into the best professional colleges and universities.

Rabia, however, admits it was her politeness and amiability that made her keep both names – she didn't want to offend either community.
 
Though it was an act of rebellion against her rigid and disciplinarian father which made her adopt Islam (he enforced a duppatta on her since she was 12), it was the lessons of fairness, equality and justness that drew her to Islam.

"I saw the absurdity of a 'liberal' Hindu life, which was more conservative than it pretended to be," she says today, "as compared to the contractual nature of Islam."
Her two lives, she says, give her the skills to unravel sham piety and guile on the one hand, and doggedness and iron faith on the other.
 
While she has bridged the spiritualism and humour of Hinduism with the win-lose orientation of Islam in her own life, Rabia wishes that respect for each other's religion and India's multi-culturalism had brought communities closer with more understanding and less prejudice.

It's the best gift this country has given, she says wistfully, if only people could appreciate it, she says.

Typical remarks

In fact, discussions on her chador and pheran and her new identity with non-Kashmiri Muslims has helped break cultural and religious stereotypes with officials, government and people at large.
 
Rabia has picked up typical remarks and observations that she hears all the time, and has prepared a sketch for students about the challenges outside.
 
She has drilled into their heads that there is a system of disadvantage at the outset but it is up to the students, with the single-minded focus on attaining a degree and, therefore, empowerment, that will dissolve such prejudices.

Prejudices and fear

Such was the heightened sense of her own new identity that Rabia realised the importance of the scholarship programme outside the Valley, and the crucial intervention of university authorities in fostering relations between Kashmiri kids and the rest.
 
So, even as an Indo-Pak cricket match may get hackles raised on both sides, it was crucial that games are allowed under the watch and guidance of the university authorities; and in the wake of any trouble, the administration must condemn and counsel both sides.
 
"Through exploration only can come bonding," Rabia believes.
 
And, so, as a dual religion person, Rabia Baji has accidentally shown how religious suspicion and hostility can be dissolved and how people can overcome their prejudices and fear through understanding and response.
 
Rabia Baji says people do say she looks and talks like them, though she wishes she could be like all of them all the time!


The writer is a freelance journalist

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2582214/A-tale-two-faiths-Could-multiple-religious-identity-answer-understanding-communal-divisions.html#ixzz2wCCM8l3l
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Mukesh Ambani grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means, govt. told - Ummid.com

Where the Yateems (orphans) have gone when Ambani got hold of their Orphanage and built his palace?


http://www.ummid.com/news/2014/March/16.03.2014/mukesh-ambani-waf-land.html

Mukesh Ambani grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means, govt. told

Sunday March 16, 2014 3:13 PM , ummid.com Staff Reporter

Mumbai: In a letter dashed to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Thursday a local NGO asserted that Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani had grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means and urged the minister to initiate a high-level enquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Ambani and others involved in the case.

[Original photo of BAGHE KAREEM YATEEMKHANA in Mumbai on which Mukesh Ambani has built his dream home]

"Government cannot reject a CBI inquiry on the ground that a probe is being currently conducted under the provisions of Commission of Inquiry Act 2003", President of the NGO Muslim-e-Hind, Ameen Idrisi, said while citing the example of the Adarsh Society scam in which simultaneous probes were conducted by the CBI and the judicial commission set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act.
"In Antilia matter too, CBI should launch FIR against the accused Mukesh Ambani, against the officials of Maharashtra Waqf Board and against the Minister of Waqf from 2003 till date for facilitating the accused Mukesh Ambani to encroach upon a Waqf Property and hatching a conspiracy to grab waqf property by adopting fraud", Idrisi added while addressing a press meet at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh on Saturday.
"The illegal role of the Charity Commissioner and the trustees should also be investigated by the CBI", he demanded.
"I found that there is a criminality in the said transaction and fraud has been committed by Mukesh Ambani, Office of the Charity Commissioner, Maharashtra Waqf Board and the trustees. All the accused had entered into criminal conspiracy and disposed of the Wqf Property worth more than 200 crores", Idrisi, who was accompanied by his lawyer Ejaz Naqvi, said.
Idrisi in a statement released during the meeting said that the land was owned by the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana (Orphanage), A Public Charitable Trust. The charitable institution sold the land allocated for the purpose of education of underprivileged Khoja children to Antillia Commercial Private Limited - allleged to be an entity controlled by Mukesh Ambani in July 2002 for 210.5 million (US$3.4 million). The prevailing market value of land at the time was at least Rupees 105 Crore,( 10.5 billion) (US$24 million).
The then Waqf minister Nawab Malik had opposed the land sale and so did the revenue department of the Government of Maharashtra. A stay order was consequently issued on the sale of the land in 2003. Also, in 2003 the Waqf board initially opposed the deal and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the trust. The Supreme Court however dismissed the petition and asked the Waqf board to approach the Bombay High court.
"The stay on the deal was subsequently vacated after the Waqf board withdrew its objection on receiving an amount of rupees sixteen lakhs ( 1.6 million) from Antilia Commercial Pvt Ltd - the company specially registered on behalf of Reliance Industries Ltd. to construct and pay charges for constructing the said building Antillia", Ameen Idrisi alleged in the written statement.

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

A replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews

A replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews
In Mumbra. a Muslim ghetto suburb of Mumbai, police has carried out a mid-night raid and combing operation in which practically an area's all families, women, children, old people are dragged and abused and loaded in trucks and carried to police station to supposedly check for some suspects in the area. Muslims were targeted and humiliated  just for being Muslims. The way police has treated common civilians in that raid is atrocious and open challenge to Indian constitution's right of citizens to live a life of freedom and dignity. In its monstrosity it was a replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews. Nothing can restore the self-respect and dignity of the victims unless the responsible police and its minions spewing hate cries of terrorists for innocent Muslims, are hauled up for justice. Such public display of communal role inflicted by police cannot be condoned in any civilized society. Government of Maharashtra and the National Congress Party's Home Minister should take the matter seriously lest it may spread the poison in the community and result in further unrest.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/to-catch-one-chain-snatcher-80-muslims-held-in-mumbai/

The Indian Express

To catch one chain-snatcher, 80 Muslims held in Mumbai

Written by Sukanya Shantha | Mumbra | March 15, 2014 4:09 am

 

In an unprecedented “combing operation” launched by Thane police in the wee hours of March 13, more than 80 Muslim males, including several minors, were detained at the Mumbra police station for over four hours, apparently to nab chain-snatchers.

But those who were detained, all residents of Rashid Compound in the Kausa area of Mumbra, alleged it was done to instigate them and stoke communal feelings. Mumbra is 30 km from Mumbai and 80 per cent of its 9 lakh people are Muslim.

“Police kept abusing us and screamed aatankwadion ko bahar nikalo (terrorists, come out). We stood there dumbfounded, unable to comprehend anything,” said Shamshad Nasir Pawaskar, one of those detained.

Angry residents have filed a complaint, based on which Thane Police Commissioner Vijay Kamble has ordered an inquiry. “The residents have complained of police excesses and highhandedness. But it is too premature to comment,” Kamble told The Indian Express.
Sameena Khan, who lives in Akbar Apartments from where 45 people were detained, said, “I was fast asleep. My husband, who is recuperating from typhoid, was discharged from hospital the same night. The police came screaming at our doors, dragged my husband out, shoved him inside the van and drove away. They did not even let him change his clothes.”

She claimed policemen were waving batons at those who resisted and used bolt-cutters to break into a few houses.

“If they were looking for just two men, why did they need seven vans,” asked Gulam Abbas Irani, 25, an IT consultant, who feels he was detained because of his last name.
“Many of us have lived here for over 20 years. But this incident was one of its kind,” said Farida Shaikh, who was alone with her three children when the police came.

“I kept telling them I am alone and that my husband is in Saudi Arabia. They did not budge. Two women constables stayed outside and men entered the house. I was in my night dress and it was humiliating to have men walk inside the house and search,” she said.

Police claimed they were looking for “two men from Balochistan” who apparently stayed in Mount View building within Rashid compound. “Most of them have criminal cases. They engage in theft and chain-snatching. Two men have been in hiding and are notorious,” said a police officer.

----- ----- -----

'Khilafat House visit a flop as Muslim activists didn't get chance to air views' - The Times of India | Comment by Ghulam Muhammed

My comments posted on The Times of India website over their reporter Mohammed Wajihuddin's report:

'Khilafat House visit a flop as Muslim activists didn't get chance to air views'

Kejriwal has a soft spot for Muslims as he feels that since 1857, they have shed blood for the freedom of the country, more than others. Pakistan was created by Nehru and Sardar as they wanted to rule the country without any hindrance from Muslims, just like Bhutto and Mujeeb, who too did not mind partitioning their country as long as they rule their part without sharing power with anybody else. The problem with Muslims in Maharashtra and in Mumbai is that they have been the most victimized minority that had been suffering police atrocities with covert and overt permission from the so called secular politic parties - Sonia Congress and Sharad Pawar NCP. While Hindutva terrorists have had field day in the state, innocent Muslims are hauled and jailed for years on end and their conviction rate is ridiculously low. The surmise is that the government of the day with full approval from opposition, wants to keep Muslims in a abysmally demoralized state, lest they create law and order problem. In fact, an overwhelming majority of the Muslims in the state are peace loving and are being targeted and humiliated  just for being Muslims. The news is out today, that in Mumbra suburb of Mumbai, police has carried out a combing operation, in which practically an area's all families, women, children, old people are dragged and abused and loaded in trucks and carried to police station to supposedly check for some suspects in the area. The way police has treated common civilian in that raid is atrocious and open challenge to Indian constitution's right of citizens to live a live of freedom and dignity. [A replay of Nazis in Hitler's Germany hauling Jews for being Jews.]

In such atmosphere, the well meaning group of activists that had come to 'check' on Kejriwal's agenda for Muslims, were in fact hauled up by Congress two years back, when they had first met Kejriwal and Sisodia in the city. They got away putting out excuses for their 'disloyal' behaviour to Congress cause, by admitting that they were just testing Kejriwal. They had met Mayank Gandhi earlier and reported to be merely needling him to catch him in some odd moment to go to town. So the same group that is known for their expertise in running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, were in Khilafat House, for a discussion as Kejriwal had no time for a prolonged discussion. They were there on behalf of Congress to frustrate Kejriwal. A member of the group, was in fact in a delegation of Congress sympathizers which met Sonia Gandhi to present their formal demand memorandum, with full knowledge that it will never see the light of the day. Sonia Gandhi was giving them a photo opportunity and they were already sold. Kejri team were too shrewd to bite the bait of Muslim support from this group and wisely let them team with TOI's Wajihuddin to make a news report demonizing AAP. That kind of game cannot be played all the time, even with paid media all being paid full value for their services.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

----- ----- ----- -----

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/specials/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Khilafat-House-visit-a-flop-as-Muslim-activists-didnt-get-chance-to-air-views/articleshow/31912993.cms

'Khilafat House visit a flop as Muslim activists didn't get chance to air views'

Mohammed Wajihuddin,TNN | Mar 13, 2014, 03.43 AM IST
MUMBAI: If Arvind Kejriwal's much-anticipated visit to the historic Khilafat House at Byculla was meant to send a "positive" message to the city's Muslim voters, it turned into a fiasco, leaving some Muslim activists registering their protests with the media.

As All India Khilafat Committee's trustee Sarfraz Arzoo ushered Kejriwal into the chairman's tiny office in the compound, Kejriwal's impatient and slogan-shouting supporters waited outside. A few minutes later, the AAP leader reached the building's conference hall where sepia-toned photographs of freedom fighters and senior politicians on the walls speak volumes about the institution's glorious past.

A group of Muslim activists and mediapersons were soon outnumbered by AAP workers. As Kejriwal stood to speak, Farid Batatawala of the Muslim Front said he first wanted to say something. Mayank Gandhi moved forward and heard Batatawala, who was told by Salim Alware, another AAP worker, that if he was allowed to speak, ten more people would want to talk.

Kejriwal spoke briefly, repeating the usual lines-politicians have looted the janta, there is no Modi wave and people are angry with the corrupt Congress and BJP. After he ended the talk, Kejriwal was almost mobbed and was whisked away to his vehicle. But the Muslim activists who had expected to raise their issues felt insulted.

"We were told that we would get a chance to put across our issues before Kejriwal. Like other parties, AAP, too, just wants Muslim votes and is not interested in our issues," protested Batatawala. M A Khalid of All India Milli Council and human rights activist Dr Azeemuddin, too, joined the protest.

"We wanted to ask him about his views about our boys getting incarcerated on spruced up terror charges. How much representation is he giving to Muslims in nominations for the polls? We didn't get a chance to ask these questions," said Khalid.

----- ----- ----- -----

A 4 year old debate on Congress and political choices for Indian Muslims - Just for a review and reassessment

This is one version of C:\Users\SIDDIQUI\Documents\Drive\D\part2\LETD5996 - Debate on Congress between Mushfiq Khawaja and GM - May 15, 2011.doc from your personal cache. The file may have changed since that time. Click here for the current file. Since this file is stored on your computer, publicly linking to it will not work. Google may not be affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content. This page may be protected by copyright.

---

from
MB Qasmi manager@markazulmaarif.org

reply-to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

to
markazulmaarif@yahoogroups.com

cc
nrindians@googlegroups.com,
thegoodindians@yahoogroups.com,
aligarhnetwork@yahoogroups.com,
indianmuslims@yahoogroups.com,
muslimindians@yahoogroups.com

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 7:14 PM

subject
[nrindians] Assam: Newly AIUDF MLAs

mailing list
Filter messages from this mailing list

mailed-by
googlegroups.com

signed-by
googlegroups.com

unsubscribe
Unsubscribe from this mailing-list



hide details 7:14 PM (18 hours ago)

Assam: Newly AIUDF MLAs
Sl.No.--Names---------------------------Constituency
1. (Hafiz) Rafiqul Islam (Qasmi)----- --- Jania
2. Aminul Islam--------------------------Dhing
3. (Mufti) Abdur Rahman Ajmal-------Salmara South
4. Sheikh Shah Alam --------.------Goalpara West
5. Jahan Uddin---------------------------Dhubri
6. Moin Uddin Ahmed-------------------Jaleswar
7. Ali Hossain-----------------------------Sarukhetri
8. Abdur Rehman Khan------------------Barpeta
9. Monowar Hussain--------------------Goalpara East
10. (Maulana) Ataur Rahman Mazarbhuiya-------Katigora
11. Hafiz Basir Ahmed Qasmi-----------------Bilasipara West
12. Gul Akhtara Begum------------ Bilasipara Eest
13. Abul Kalam Azad---------------Bhabanipur
14. Sherman Ali Ahmed-----------Baghbar
15. Swapan Kar --------- Lumding
16. Mazibur Rahman-------------Rupohihat
17. Gopi Nath Das ---------- Boko
18. Mohammed Sirajuddin Ajmal---Jamunamukh

NB 17 of AIUDF Candidates were second
Total Candidates 75
--

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 7:57 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Assam: Newly AIUDF MLAs

mailed-by
gmail.com



hide details 7:57 PM (17 hours ago)

Congratulations to Maulana Ajmal Badruddin and all his associate for this singular success against heavy odds.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
----- ----- -----

mushfiqkhaja@gmail.com

reply-to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 8:37 PM

subject

Re: [nrindians] Assam: Newly AIUDF MLAs

mailing list
Filter messages from this mailing list

mailed-by
googlegroups.com

signed-by
googlegroups.com

unsubscribe
Unsubscribe from this mailing-list



hide details 8:37 PM (17 hours ago) 

While congratulating Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, please don't forget that he was humiliated by none other than Maulana Arshad Madni, president of Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind. This was one of the classic examples of how we Muslims undermine our own people and leaders. Maulana Badruddin Ajmal was removed as president of Jamiatul Ulema Assam unit in the most humiliating way just before the elections. The one Muslim who must be very upset with Maulana Badruddin Ajmal's spectacular success in Assam is our very own Maulana Arshad Madni. He did everything he could to undercut Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. Listen to this previous interview with Maulana Ajmal on YouTube. It is very painful. wa tu izzu mantasha wa tu zillu mantasha. Did anybody see any reaction from Maulana Arshad Madni in the Urdu media or television? I would love to read it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpimoE7z6nc


mushfiqkhaja@gmail.com

reply-to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Fri, May 13, 2011 at 5:35 PM

subject
[nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

  May 13 (2 days ago)

Assam Elections 2011: Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

The Congress said Friday Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should be credited for steering the party to a third consecutive term in the state.

"I would like to thank the people of Assam, but the credit goes to the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, his style of functioning, his style of governance and his impeccable image. His integrity is widely accepted now," an elated Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

"I am extremely happy that Tarun has got a third term," he told NDTV.

In Assam, the Congress was ahead of a divided opposition as the vote count progressed, with Gogoi clearly set for a third term in the state.

Digvijay Singh, who is the party in-charge for Assam, said that although the opposition had levelled various charges against Gogoi, the chief minister had himself handed over all the cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI )) for probe.

"Which other chief minister has done that?" he asked.

On being asked whether Gogoi will become the chief minister for the third consecutive term, Digvijay Singh: "These decisions are taken in the legislature party, so let us leave this to them."


--

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Fri, May 13, 2011 at 9:01 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

mailed-by
gmail.com



May 13 (2 days ago)

Assam has 34% Muslim population. AIUDF of Badruddin Ajmal secured 18 seats. A commentator rightly mentioned, Congress could not have piled up such landslide majority without Muslim votes. Congress will never acknowledge that. Even when TIME NOW's Arnab point-blank asked Gogoi how he will deal with AIUDF. In his reply he just ignored to even take the name of AIUDF.

Those who are working to see Muslim get political empowerment, would realise that unless Congress's fraudulent use of Muslim votes to get  majorities, is directly countered, like that in West Bengal against Communists, Muslim will continued to be ignored, sidelined, shortchanged, demonised, ostracised.

Congress game must be exposed with all the power at our command.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

-----  ----- -----

mushfiqkhaja@gmail.com

reply-to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Fri, May 13, 2011 at 9:40 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh



 May 13 (2 days ago)

Blind anti-Congressism should be avoided at all costs. Gogoi's reaction in the context you have mentioned was more political in nature. We all know that Maulana Badruddin Ajmal hates Gogoi and if Congress had fallen desperately short of majority in Assam the first thing Maulana Ajmal would have asked in return for AUDF support to Congress would have been Gogoi's exit as CM. So there is nothing sinister in Gogoi not mentioning AIUDF. Let us not read what is not written. Let us not suggest what has not been suggested.

As to your other point, Congress may not publicly acknowledge Muslim support but it knows full well that Muslims can, and have indeed in the past (in the Babri aftermath), wreaked political havoc by going against the party. Congress leaders are known for their political astuteness. If they were not astute they would not have plotted such brilliant victories against the BJP in 2004 and 2009. Our priority should be to make the most by consolidating our gains on the educational and political fronts and to ask rather subtly for our share in government.

The other area where we should concentrate is to let our youngsters join Congress in a big way. We should plan ahead and see to it that at least a dozen or so young good and practicing Muslim leaders attract the attention of Rahul Gandhi and other Congress bigwigs. Let these upcoming leaders be groomed by our elders. We will need our men in governance in the next decade. Joining a centrist secular party will make good sense at this juncture. Any takers?

MK

----- ----- -----

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Fri, May 13, 2011 at 10:28 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

May 13 (2 days ago)

We have been throwing our lots with Congress for last 63 years. In
return, the way they have unleashed communal riots on our communities
all over India, is enough for us, to not get stung by the same
snake-hole again and again.

I can understand some people, who feel security is more important for
Muslims, forced to line up for Congress. But now after Modi's
genocide, Congress will not dare organise similar communal riots
again, even though Gujarat itself has witness similar horrors in
Congress rule in the past.

I am most optimist on the various political parties, promoted by
Muslims in various part of India. The least that will furnish us, is a
class of political practitioners, who have opted for political
careers. They can always regroup, given opportunate moment and become
at least king-maker if not kings.

Since 1875, the Muslim class that had experience and careers in ruling
the country has been taken over by clerks and technicians. This group
cannot lead us to come to power in India. In India, we need Muslims
who are geared to join politics, as full time career.

Of course, there will be Muslims spread out in all professions and
careers. That is not to be regretted. An overall educated population is a
must. However, to optimise our chances for a parallel life with the
oligarch, we have to prepare our people to spread out and try their
luck. Congress can never give them that kind of freedom. The way it
has neutralised our potential leaders, who innocently landed at
Congress doors, is too clear to move in that direction blindfoldedly.

Blind anti-Congressism is the last resort, as all other levels of
interaction with Congress leadership by Muslims have failed miserably.
Congress Brahmins have no repeat no place for Muslim in their ranks.
The earlier we shun Congress and choose alternatives, Congress
hegemony cannot be addressed. And as long as Congress hegemony is
secured, ironically through overwhelming Muslim support, Muslim can
never come up. Unlike BJP, who are upfront with their hatred of
Muslims, Congress is more dangerous as if befriends and betrays.

GM
.----- ----- -----

mushfiqkhaja@gmail.com

reply-to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 12:00 AM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh
 

May 14 (2 days ago)

1.      The Congress of Sonia Gandhi and the Congress of Manmohan Singh and the Congress of Rahul Singh and the Congress of Chidambaram and the Congress of Digvijay Singh is very, very different from the Congress of Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, and the Congress of Narasimha Rao and the Congress of S.B. Chavan and Sharad Pawar and Arun Nehru. This is a different Congress. We need to differentiate between the Congress of today and the Congress of the past. While the past can be a benchmark it should not and cannot held us hostage forever. Yes, riots were a political tool used and practised skillfully by previous Congress dispensations, especially Mrs Gandhi.

All that was past. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are good friends of Muslims. So is Digvijay Singh. They have not done anything wrong to invite a rethinking on our part. Yes, we have a problem with a section of the judiciary and the police and the intelligence community that is jaundiced and saffronised ... but then this is the legacy of the BJP and the RSS. Alert Muslim leadership and members of civil society are helping the government to isolate these elements. It is a long-term process. All what I am saying is that the political leadership which is currently ruling India is not against Muslims.

2. You say that Congress has neutralised our leadership. To be fair, we never took Congress seriously. We kept voting for the Congress without asking for anything in return. The riff-raffs among us -- the panwallahs and the rickshawallahs and the clerks -- joined that party. Our intellectuals looked down upon the party. They instead preferred joining Jamaat-e-Islami or Indian Union Muslim League or as in the case of Janab Syed Shahabuddin launching their own party. Having said that let me accept for the sake of argument that Congress sidelined our leaders, then this speaks volumes about the inefficiency of those leaders. Politics is the art of getting the maximum for your constituents. Politics is about diplomatically advancing your goal and achieving it. If we failed we cannot and should not blame others. We should continue with our efforts to create a space for ourselves in the party. It is possible. It is doable provided we have the right people joining the party. If the best among us join Welfare Party or AUDF or IUML or SDPI or MIM, then there is not much scope for us. If Manmohan, a Sardar, can become the prime minister of India there is no reason why a Muslim cannot become a prime minister. If not by 2020 then may be by 2030. Let us not harp on Brahminical hegemony. They are a mere 2 percent and we are 18 percent. However, that 2 percent includes the best of brains and that is why they are successful. Let us create and fill the political space with the best among us, not the riff-raffs please. Yes we will face opposition but we should persevere and not give up. We need IAS and IFS officers but we also need well-groomed and well-spoken conscientious Muslims to represent us in the Congress Cabinet of tomorrow. Think about it. Democracy is our greatest tool for empowerment.

MK
----- ----- -----

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 12:21 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

May 14 (1 day ago)

Dear MK Saheb,

We seem to be discussing two entirely different strategies that we think Muslim should follow.

1. You want Muslims to support Congress, giving various reasons.

2. I want Muslims to independently come out with political parties, with the same secular, democratic formula as fine-tuned by Congress, but the helm of affairs have to be in the hands of Muslims.


Why Congress can never do justice to Muslims? And why it should?

Congress is institutionally ruled by a Brahmin oligarchy. Their basic constituent is Hindu vote bank. Muslim votes are marginal, but very important. However, Muslim vote bank and voters are bought up by Congress operators at throw away prices. The main reason for the devaluation of Muslim vote bank is that Muslims have no alternative. We must built up alternatives. If Dalits, Yadavs can form alternative political organisations, by not Muslims? Even if Congress again and again comes at the top, the alternatives give the communities like Dalit, OBC and Muslims a better bargaining power that they will never otherwise have.

(An Indian Express story last week listed AIUDF demands on Congress in case it had to join it in a coalition. Badruddin Ajmal wanted a ministry in the center, among other demands. Can any Muslim group dare to dictat this kind of terms to the arrogant Congress. Muslim should appreciate this new development in Muslim politics. Digvija Singh as a politician, is shrewd enough to give minimum lop service to Muslims and their immediate concerns. All of his interventions on behalf of Muslims, loudly proclaimed as confronting his own Congress Party, had come without any follow through. His pro-Muslim role is a fake posturing. That is very typical of Congress policies in dealing with people.)

Congress secular culture is merely in name. Its heavily weighted by Hindu/Brahmin thinking, aspirations, exclusivity, and historical insecurity at the hands of Muslims.

Congress secular culture is a sham and is used to force Muslims to acquire new watered down identities to fit Congress's essentially Brahmin/Hindu culture. Those with who are not forced to be short-sighted to get along with Congress diktats, will see extreme danger to Muslim identity in 'Secular' India, as long as Congress is allowed to impose its own one-sided interpretation of 'secularism'.

Congress of Sonia, Rahul, Manmohan Singh, chidambaram may be different from Indira Congress. However, the difference is merely of degrees and not of essence. That difference is forced on them by the coalition politics. Once they start getting land-slide majorities, they will again turn arrogant and rough-riding. Corruption will increase manifold. They will get more and more draconian laws passed to crack down on people's dissent. They will loot the budgets for their own vested interest. Currently, through a Muslim leader, Congress is working on Awqaf and Enemy Property --- both meant openly to deprive Muslims any benefits coming to them, even without Congress lifting any finger for Muslims. The real estate boom impact both Awqaf and Enemy Property Act. Congress is moving very swiftly and with great audacity, to plug any loop-hole through which Muslim community may get its hands on some financial bonanza. Will this be called a positive change in Congress from its Indira avatar?

Congress has come out with another eye-wash, with the Sachchar Commission recommendations. The progress is so miniscule in all fields, that it will take another century for Muslims to get any appreciable boost from Sachchar Commission recommendations.

In fact, Muslims are so out of the loop, that Congress cannot help them, even if there are some well-meaning people at the top. The discrimination is institutionalized against Muslims as far as Congress rule is concerned. Muslims will have to leave the clutches of Congress to chalk out their future in democratic India.

A lot can be written on the subject. I will leave it to the readers of this forum to take up further details.

GM
----- ----- -----

zaijaz@hotmail.com

to
NRI group ,
Ghulam Muhammad Mumbai ,
Mushfiq Khaja

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 3:30 PM

subject
RE: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

3:30 PM (23 hours ago)

Dear Ghulam Muhammad sahab
AOA

While I agree with you about the need for the Muslims to join the fray themselves, instead of being exploited as the vote bank by the Congress and other so-called secular political parties, it's easier said than done.  We are so widely and hopelessly scattered all over the country, except for some pockets in UP, Bihar, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, that we are yet to master the numbers game that parliamentary democracy essentially is.   That doesn't mean we should give up our efforts though. The Assam and Kerala examples, not to mention the Majlis experiment in Hyderabad give one hope.  This is why I am all for the Jamaat-e-Islami coming up with the Welfare Party initiative although Jamaat's experience with electoral democracy has been far from successful in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

That said, I am not comfortable with your stand and premise of arguments on the Congress.  While the Congress has repeatedly let down the Muslims and there may be some truth in the Brahmin angle that you often underscore, the party has been equally disloyal to all other communities.  The BJP's rise at the expense of Congress over the past two decades had been driven by the flawed impression that the Congress cares little for the majority community.  So I think we need to be more balanced and reasonable in our approach to the party.  I believe the Congress led by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi is different from the one led by Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao even though it's yet to deliver on its promises to Muslims.  If the Muslims have returned to Congress in large numbers in many parts of the country, it's essentially because of this sentiment.  Because pitted against the BJP, it still is a healthier alternative. So our battle for the greater representation and say in the nation's affairs must be fought on several fronts, including making our engagement with India's oldest party more fruitful and balanced.

Wassalam
Aijaz Zaka Syed
Dubai
----- -----

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
Aijaz Zaka Syed

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 7:37 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

7:37 PM (19 hours ago)
On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 3:30 PM,

 GM response to AZS:

Aijaz Zaka Syed wrote:

Dear Ghulam Muhammad sahab
AOA

“While I agree with you about the need for the Muslims to join the fray themselves, instead of being exploited as the vote bank by the Congress and other so-called secular political parties, it's easier said than done.  We are so widely and hopelessly scattered all over the country, except for some pockets in UP, Bihar, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, that we are yet to master the numbers game that parliamentary democracy essentially is.” 

GM: We need not try to tackle the herculean task of uniting Muslims first. We should start with a small pocket and try to dominate it first. Take the cue from Left that concentrated on Kerala and WB. This is one of the strategies, to address our anxieties about OUR numbers. Please do not forget that in a secular polity, we will have to equally depend on other than Muslim votes banks. AIUDF has given tickets to non-Muslims. Muslim Majlis had a longer record of offering tickets to non-Muslims. Even Jamaate Islami's Welfare Party has declared policy to work with all communities and not to become a exclusivist party like the Brahmanical BJP.

In our narrative too, we should start making space for non-Muslims as potential camp followers. Otherwise, we will not be able to achieve the full potential of Muslim initiative.

AZS: “That doesn't mean we should give up our efforts though. The Assam and Kerala examples, not to mention the Majlis experiment in Hyderabad give one hope.  This is why I am all for the Jamaat-e-Islami coming up with the Welfare Party initiative although Jamaat's experience with electoral democracy has been far from successful in Pakistan and Bangladesh.”

GM : Let us not get discouraged by our past experience politics. There is always a new beginning. Congress is 125 year old party. We cannot come to its standards of success and failure within short time span. Jamaat's Indian experience is heavily tilted in India, towards welfare ---- taking a leaf from Hamas. Turkey's experience too give us insight as how not to become too rigid and uncompromising while dealings in a 'secular' polity.

Jamaat's deeply entrenched moral commitment in politics as well as in social life, will directly offer a better alternative to the monumental corruption that characterizes all current political formations.  

Jamaat's record in Pakistan and Bangladesh suffered from unrealistic assumptions about the state of Pakistan, which turned out to be a mirage. We in India are not disillusioned about where India stands on 'secularism' or religious tolerance. Jamaat here will have an altogether different set of fundamentals to stress while trying to be relevant and serve the people of India of all sections of our polity. The major difference between us and the run of mill politicians will be our constant reference to code of Islamic ethics and morals, generosity and sense of fairness and justice, equality in social interaction. Islam thus has a lot to contribute positively to the present state of affairs in the country that is dragging our society to virtually bestial levels.

AZS: “That said, I am not comfortable with your stand and premise of arguments on the Congress.  While the Congress has repeatedly let down the Muslims and there may be some truth in the Brahmin angle that you often underscore, the party has been equally disloyal to all other communities.  The BJP's rise at the expense of Congress over the past two decades had been driven by the flawed impression that the Congress cares little for the majority community.”

GM: It would appear that you are referring to the compulsion Congress facing in trying to appease to divergent groups, while maintaining a semblance of justice to all. If Congress has been sincere, it would not have resorted to divide and rule manipulations that are the real cause of the present fractured society that it has promoted. Divide and rule had been a British colonial legacy that is not needed in free India, as the need of the British was not to unite the people but tp divide them, so as to rule over them. Congress is a national and nationalist party and not a colonial ruling class that could only survive by dividing people. Congress had failed to evolve a national ethos that could give equal and fair representation to aspirations of all. Instead, with the traditional Brahmin exclusivist hangover working all through the last 63 years, it has remained as a distinct ruling group, that at best keeps throwing crumbs to agitators. Congress Brahmins do not inherit the spirit of generosity and even-handedness from their traditional age-old role in the society. A Brahmin always expects to get something from the society. It is not bound to give back anything to the society, especially in materialist terms. That deeply entrenched high-caste superiority syndrome has virtually kept Congress Brahmin away from identifying with non-Brahmins in a natural way. The established pecking order will not permit it. One hopes Muslims will bring a refreshing change in dealings with their countrymen. It will be easy for them, as they are already reduced to the common denominator in the society.

 AZS: “So I think we need to be more balanced and reasonable in our approach to the party.  I believe the Congress led by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi is different from the one led by Indira Gandhi and Narasimha Rao even though it's yet to deliver on its promises to Muslims.  If the Muslims have returned to Congress in large numbers in many parts of the country, it's essentially because of this sentiment.  Because pitted against the BJP, it still is a healthier alternative. So our battle for the greater representation and say in the nation's affairs must be fought on several fronts, including making our engagement with India's oldest party more fruitful and balanced.”

GM : Any large scale return of Muslims to Congress fold, will neither work in favour of Congress as it will only strengthen its corrupt rule, nor for the Muslims, as they could only get their dues by working with their fellow citizen to bring in a paradigm change --- A new Republic  --- A democratic change (if that is not a exercise in futility) --- A revolution on the Gandhian model of non-violence.

Muslims must lead for a change.
 

GM

----- ----- -----

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

bcc
Khurshid Syed ,
tirmidhi@hotmail.com,
Malik Kazim ,
MohammedRehan Ansari ,
mediakhalid@yahoo.com,
"DR.QASIM RASOOL ILYAS" ,
Mujtaba Farooq ,
Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan

date
Sun, May 15, 2011 at 1:00 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

1:00 PM (1 hour ago)
On Sat, May 14, 2011 at 10:17 PM,

Mushfiq Khaja wrote:

Dear GM Saheb

Yes, we are discussing two different strategies. You are calling for Muslim or Muslim-run secular parties and I am calling for well-educated, well-groomed and highly talented young Muslims to join the Congress of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Digvijay Singh.

I have enumerated the reasons in my previous mails. You seem to be far too worried and far too concerned about the Brahminical hegemony in Congress. If we Muslims do not join Congress in big numbers at this time then we are simply vacating and even making space for the further stranglehold of Brahmins in this secular party.

GM :Your suggestion that with Muslim joining Congress en mass, should bring in a change in Congress policies, less controlled by Brahmins and more favourable to Muslims. I have 2 observations:

1. We have a long history of Muslims voting en mass for Congress, though more for security reasons being afraid of BJP coming to power ( a partisan propaganda at the minimum) or the carrot of Congress promises which were never kept.

We must first investigate why this betrayal happened. The reason, according to me is that Congress with its history of pre-partition antagonism to Muslims over its freeing of India for a 'Hindu/Brahmin' rule and not giving any quarters to Muslims, lest they overwhelm the 3% Brahmins by their 30% population in British India. Partition was an attempt to 'religious cleansing' of Muslims, so that the Brahmins could rule without fear of any opposition from Muslims. Post-partition, Congress has not changed its basic equation with Muslims. The proof is for the naked eyes to see and not be deceived by political promises and propaganda. Government's own appointed commission reports should help one make correct and unbiased evaluation.

2. Between 3% Brahmins and 15% Muslims, another factor works against Muslims. 3% Brahmins are successful in corralling up to 80% of non-Brahmins with them and thus could claim an overwhelming majority of 85% with them.

[It is another matter that they could get such majorities by directly painting Muslims as outsiders, enemies of India, closet Pakistanis, sons of foreign invaders. All such campaigns are not brought into legal prohibition, as hate crimes.]

The logic within Congress to relegate Muslims to a bottom rung is based on this comparison of 85% to mere 15%.

So the 3% Brahmins are weighted to 85%, while Muslim could hardly go over its own 15%.

This proportionality does work to produce all the twisted and exclusivist policies that Congress party and governments and Brahmin bureaucracy so audaciously stick to. No amount of goodwill by Muslim voters will ever change that.

Only solution is for Muslims to leverage their 15% with other communities like Dalits and OBS, SC/ST, Tribal and other minorities. And that cannot be achieved as long as Muslims remain tied up to Congress apron strings. They will have to go free of Congress bondage, to try their luck as well as their strategies to side with the same array of communities that have boosted Congress majorities.


'making space for the further stranglehold of Brahmins in this secular party' is not a Muslim choice. Brahmins are too entrenched, not merely numerically in key posts, but even with their intellectual and policy contribution to politics and governance.

Sometimes it is better to burn books infested by white ants, then try to salvage them by various ways.

 
MK: Say whatever you want to say about the Congress, it still remains THE major secular party in the country. Our country's politics will revolve around this party for the next decades to come. Muslims have voted for different parties in the past 10-15 years and we have seen how the smaller supposedly secular-regional parties had/have no qualms in joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. I specifically refer to TDP of Naidu, DMK of Karunanidhi, BSP of Mayawati, Trinamool Congress of Mamta and Janata Dal-United of Nitish Kumar and even the National Conference of the Abdullahs. All these smaller parties have emerged victorious with Muslim vote and have only gone on to strengthening the BJP.


GM: If your most coveted reason to go with Congress is that other smaller parties are more prone to join BJP while Congress being a 'principled' party holding the flag of secularism in India, however much tattered it may be, you should not be blind to the 'cartelisation of Brahmin politics'. It is not an accident that Congress, BJP, Communists, even Dravidian party like AIDMK, is headed and led by Brahmins. We Muslims are not yet aware of the strength of that 'cartelisation' --- not as much as say the Dalits who have struggled long against Brahmins. It is time our thinkers and analysts too study, why Brahminism is the only nemesis of Muslims in India.

As you say and hope that Congress will be around for many many years in India, you must make space for the change the 'Coalition Age' has impacted on Congress and other national parties. Of course Congress will try every trick in the trade to remain on the top, even bringing in AVM that can be managed, we Muslims should have concerns for our future and not that of Congress. Muslim survival should not be tied up with Congress survival. Muslim fought for freedom from British Raj, Muslim must now join others to free India, from the Brahmin Raj.

I hope you will be aware enough to know how much Brahmins are moving towards the US hegemon, to once again render free India to be enslaved by the world's sole superpower.

At one level, Muslim concerns, must not only confined to our own community; we must identify with India, our home, and it’s other people, whose destiny too is tied up with us. We cannot deliberate Muslim prospects, without reference to what is happening around us in wider global perspective.

MK: Regarding Muslim parties, Jamaat-e-Islami has a very limited appeal. Within Jamat people are not convinced. This is basically a venture of two people who nurture political ambitions: Janab Mujtaba Farooq and Janab SQR Ilyas. Senior members of Jamaat, including Maulana Jalaluddin Umri Saheb, are simply not convinced. Politics is not their field and they should have confined themselves to social and educational work which is their forte and where they have done and are doing excellent work. Other communities are suspicious of Jamaat and in such a scenario its message, however secular it is, will not cut ice with other communities. Still I hope and pray that I am proved wrong. Also let it be said that if at all Jamat succeeds anywhere it will only be at the cost of Muslim parties and not Congress. For example, Jamaat may garner good votes in Hyderabad at cost of MIM and good votes in Kerala at the cost of IUML and may be good votes is Assam at the cost of AUDF, etc. So Jamaat will only help cut Muslim votes in a Muslim dominated constituency.

GM: By directly and personally singling out Jamaate Islami officials and putting them down as not capable of promoting and managing a political organization, you are exposing your bias. I am amazed, how much adverse reaction had come out from so many sources, even at the very outset of formation of Welfare Party of India. The more the opposition, the more one's curiosity, as to what Jamaat could hope to achieve that is creating so much threat perception in so many quarters?

You are degrading the Jamaat project as political ambition of 2 people. Today's Sunday TOI carries an article lauding how Maximum Leadership of single leaders has been carrying the entire state behind Mamta, Jayalalitha, Gogoi. Why begrudge 2 people.

As for negation of political role for Jamaat or its affiliates, that is irrelevant in today's India with all its constitutional freedoms; even in Islamic terms, there is no division between religious and political life of a Muslim. Does not the life of our beloved Prophet any relevance in such matters?

Why should Muslims abide by the Western divide between religion and politics. Are we not aware how politics devoid of religious guidance, could degrade into fascism and worst forms of dictatorships. I hope I don't have to bring in Iqbal to bolster my case.

The new team of Welfare Party of India is still testing water. They may pick up questionable practices from the established political parties. But thankfully, they have with them a vibrant group of in-house critics and analysts, unlike other political parties where criticism means oblivion that will keep them on even keel.

MK: A lot is being made of AUDF's victory in Assam. It is a fine victory. No doubt. But then again it is a one-man or one-family party. We can't think of the party without Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. So for Muslims to invest their political capital in such a party may make sense in the shorter term but in the long-term we will have to look somewhere else. Congress. Again this is my personal opinion.

GM: Once again, while one-man/one women party is being now re-evaluated as a measure of strength, as long as it goes, you have put down the success of Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. Does that smack of 'blind Congressism' as compared to my supposed 'blind anti-Congressism'?

I would say, after coalition age, a new age of regional identities, will, if properly addressed, will strengthen India's federalism too.

MK: In AP or more specifically Hyderabad, again MIM is a one-family party. The Owaisis run it the way they want to run it. Thankfully, the Owaisi brothers are endowed with good political wisdom and they have always aligned their political fortunes with the Congress and that has been the key factor in that party's continued success. In Kerala, IUML is again a party of the Thangals. Remove them and there remains nothing.

In UP, Ulema Council and other Muslim parties are reactionary parties. They came into being in response to a specific issue. Once that issue has been taken care of then the whole reason for those parties' existence goes away.

GM: Muslim should not worry at this stage in failures of their political ventures. The least that can result is a class of grass-root politicians, with a will to devote their career and live to politics in India. Time was that Muslims after 1857 till recently, were deeply demoralized to even thinking of trying independent initiative in even at local levels to adopt a civic and political career.

MK: Is it not ironical, that now that Communists have lost in West Bengal and Kerala, the rank and file is so demoralised, that a commentator writes in TOI (14/5/11-Is this Left's last chapter in India?):

"Time was when communists aspired for revolution and power. Today they are satisfied writing speeches for CEOs of multinational corporations," said A Farooqi, a former card holding member of CPM, Delhi.


GM: Muslims have been in that demoralised state of hibernation for over 150 years now. Do you want them not to make an effort, however inexperienced, to come out of their state of despondence? 

MK: Congress remains our best option, for now and for the future. This is the only party that still remains committed to India's secular ideals. What happened in the past is past. Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Dijvijay Singh, A.K. Antony are not Brahmins. Let us not create a scare. In any case, Muslims should try and build bridges with the Brahmins. We should be pragmatic and diplomatic. And make the most of a bad situation. Congress is here is stay. Whatever Muslim intellectuals say Muslim masses will remain firmly on the side of Congress. It is time for the best among us, the most talented among us and the young among us to join Congress and assume or at least try to get into leadership position in that party. Articulate and good practicing Muslims will definitely attract the attention of the Congress leadership. There is no way they can put us down. But if we are represented by paanwallhas and rickshawallahs in the party then we will not see our members in tomorrow's Congress Cabinet. If we broaden our horizon and become all-India leaders in that party that will earn us more good will from all sections of society. Why should we Muslims confine ourselves to our own parties? What a proud day it will be to see a smart young Indian Muslim as an HRD minister or I&B minister or Civil Aviation minister or Defense Minister.

GM: I would not like Muslims to abandon Congress en mass. Like Brahmins, we too should remain in all formations and try to lead them.


MK: You see wrong with everything Congress. You say its is not secular. I reiterate that the Congress of today is different from the Congress of tomorrow. You say Digvijay Singh's is fake posturing. You are not happy with anything. If tomorrow Congress announces some sops for Muslims you will see a conspiracy in it. About Waqf Act and Enemy Property Act, we need to be vigilant. If today we had many, many Muslims within the party then there would have been immense pressure on the party to think twice before coming up with such bills.

How wishful can a Congress Muslim be. A single sentence uttered by senior Congressman Abdur Rehman Antulay, about Kerkare's death and he was practically hounded out of the running. He was given Congress ticket but lost due to internal party politics, punishing him for his single mistake of harbouring independent opinion.

Salman Khurshid is handed over Muslim affairs and the Congressman that he is, he is going meticulously stripping Muslim assets so that instead of Muslim prospering, they should be impoverished so that they may never be able to challenge Congress.

MK: In any case, you have made it clear in email that one Muslim minister is behind these sinister acts. Excuse me? Why are we blaming Brahmins then?

With the left disappearing from the political horizon, the chances of the emergence of a Third Front  now looks very remote. We have to be extra careful now as to who we align with. My clear preference is Congress.

We should use the good offices of Congress to advance our political and educational goals. We should join this party in such great numbers that the leadership will never dare take any anti-Muslim stand on anything.

I have already explained about why numbers in Muslim case do not compare with the odds against Muslims.

Learn from the RSS. The moment they realised that BJP is sinking they made a beeline to Congress. All student leaders of BJP are now slowly and gradually trying to enter Congress. We should not be left behind. March on. Let us embrace Congress with full vigour.

GM: If RSS finds a place in Congress, how can Muslims survive in the same camp? If RSS student leaders joining Congress, why not let Congress become another BJP and get sidelined eventually. The current results show where a 'communal' BJP stands in people's estimation. Only a fraudulent 'secular' party can fool the people. But nobody can fool all the people all the time.

MK: When we join Congress nobody blames us for being communal. We are seen as part of the national mainstream. Let the best among us join Congress, not the riff-raffs please. We can keep the riff-raffs in our own Muslim-run parties.

GM: How ironical. Communal Congress giving Muslims a non-communal certificate. Why should Muslim join Congress, just so that they will not be branded communal?

----- ----- ----

szaijaz@hotmail.com

reply-to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

to
Mushfiq Khaja ,
NRI group

date
Sat, May 14, 2011 at 11:53 PM

subject
RE: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

11:53 PM (15 hours ago)

Bravo Mushfiq Khaja sahab...exactly my sentiments!. Even my earlier response about the Congress of Sonia-Manmohan-Rahul being different from that of Indira Gandhi's and Narasimha Rao's was in total agreement with your take, which was apparently sent around the same time. The Congress has a myriad warts and more and I have often written about them.  But let's face it, the party remains the strongest bulwark against the likes of BJP. We cannot afford to ignore its critical role in Indian politics and we should work with it wherever we can, rather than against it, even as we strive to protect our interests.

Best
Aijaz Zaka Syed

----- ----- -----

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

to
nrindians@googlegroups.com

date
Sun, May 15, 2011 at 4:00 PM

subject
Re: [nrindians] Credit goes to Gogoi, Says Digvijay Singh

4:00 PM (3 hours ago) 

GM: I recall a couplet by Meer Taqi Meer:

میر کیا سادے ہیں بیمار ہوے جس کے طفیل
اسی عطار کے لونڈے سے دوا لیتے ہیں  

GM