Barkha Dutt v/s Arvind Kejriwal – who is communal between the two? - Ghulam Muhammed

Friday, November 15, 2013

Barkha Dutt v/s Arvind Kejriwal – who is communal between the two?

In a NDTV interview with Arvind Kejriwal, on her program, the Buck Stops Here, the usually cheerful and poised Barkha Dutt pounced on Kejriwal, accusing him of playing communal politics by meeting with the Muslim cleric Maulana Tawqir who is member of a 100-ulama committee that deliberates and issues guidelines/advisories to Muslims in fatwas and a fatwa has been issued against Taslima Nasrin, a Bangladeshi citizen and a pet of the Left Liberals. Taslima raised a storm, thus clearly meddling in the internal affairs of India, especially in a very sensitive area of India's democratic elections.  

Kejriwal responded, first by explaining that he was not aware of any such antecedent of the Maulana when he met him; though in one of his speeches, Maulana Tauqir has come out to be very secular, very inclusive, very peaceful. Arvind promised to give Barkha a CD of Maulana’s speech and asked her to telecast that positive side of people, rather going always for negatives.

Kejriwal further countered against the media that he has been going around to all religious places. He visited temples. Media never objected. He visited gurdwaras. Media never balked. He visited churches. Media hardly took notice. However, as soon as he visited a Dargah and met a Muslim cleric, all hell broke loose with the media.

Now, let the people decide, who is communal – media or Kejriwal? Needless to add, Barkha Dutt’s face turned white.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

< ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

Engineer who was branded terrorist and took on Infosys finds his calling - By Sweta Dutta - Indian Express, Mumbai, INDIA

THANKS TO IB AND ATS'S GROSS CAMPAIGN TO INCARCERATE YOUNG EDUCATED MUSLIMS ON TRUMPED UP CHARGES OF 'TERRORISM', THOSE INNOCENTS LET OFF BY COURTS ARE PICKING UP POLITICS AS THEIR NEXT CAREER CHOICE. INDIA WILL SEE A NEW BATCH OF POLITICIANS GROOMED IN INDIA'S JAILS, JUST LIKE THEIR INDIAN FREEDOM MOVEMENT LEADERS WHO TOO DID A STINT IN BRITISH INDIA JAILS.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rajasthan-polls-engineer-who-was-branded-terrorist-and-took-on-infosys-finds-his-calling/1195078/0

Rajasthan polls: Engineer who was branded terrorist and took on Infosys finds his calling

Sweta Dutta : Jaipur, Fri Nov 15 2013, 10:12 hrs

Rashid Hussain took over two months ago as the Rajasthan president of the Welfare Party of India, launched in 2011 as the political wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.

He first shot into prominence as "the engineer who was branded a terrorist and took on Infosys". Today he is active in politics, which he had always been interested in. Rashid Hussain took over two months ago as the Rajasthan president of the Welfare Party of India, launched in 2011 as the political wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. He operates out of an office in the basement of an apartment in Jaipur. As office-bearers draft a press release in English on the final list of four candidates that the party will field, Hussain's help is sought to correct grammatical errors.
He accedes to a request to begin his story from the beginning. He was born in Gaya and grew up in Patna, where his father was a psychology professor. His early political leanings were erratic, with the NSUI in his student days and infrequent campaigning for Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD. He went to study engineering in Bangalore, where he continued to gravitate towards politics.
"I could never enter active politics because my father would not hear of it. They wanted me to be an engineer or doctor," he says. "But I always had a keen interest in politics. When H D Deve Gowda became prime minister, he came to Bangalore and threw a party that I attended."
Hussain joined Infosys in 2005. Late in 2006, he was sent to Jaipur as part of a core team to set up operations. "Along with some friends, I set up an NGO called Human Development Society that ran a school and a free dispensary. When the May 2008 serial blasts took place in Jaipur, we set up a camp outside SMS Hospital to provide relief to victims and their families. A few days later, we held a big seminar on ways to combat terrorism."
Life changed forever for him that June 1. A Special Operations Group team barged into his flat in the early hours, ransacked the house — "they found not even seditious literature" — and took him into custody. Over that week when Hussain was being interrogated "over cups of tea, samosa and kachori" and was "cracking jokes and sharing IPL match updates" with the investigators, reports about his "rumoured well-knit terrorist network across the globe" were splashed in the media. He walked free nine days later, but the scandal stuck.
His employer terminated his contract, apparently over issues with his experience certificate. Hussain, with a family to fend for, decided to stand up to Infosys. He filed a legal case that went on for three years until April this year, when a court ruled in his favour, granting him Rs 20 lakh in damages and directing the firm to reinstate him. Hussain, however, had made his choice by then — politics.
He had been a member of the Jamaat since 2008, moved on to the political wing and was named state president. He finds Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal's anti-corruption movement inspiring and says he wants to work on similar lines. "Our party is on the lines of the Aam Aadmi Party; we stand for value-based politics," he says, handing out a pamphlet that draws from its manifesto promising "value based politics, to root out injustice, discrimination, end communalism, casteism and terrorism, a definite plan to eradicate corruption, ban on alcohol, female infanticide and violence against women".
He sees no contradiction of the party's secular ideologies with the Jamaat's religious sentiments. "We are raising the issue of reservation for Muslims and Christians too in the SC/ST categories," he says. "Look at the central leadership of the party, we have Father Joseph Abraham and former minister and Dalit leader Lalita Naik as the party's national vice presidents."
The party's balance sheet shows it in the red. "We must be in debt of over Rs 2.5 lakh but that is how communist parties work. Our 1,000-odd members in the state contribute anything from Rs 10 to Rs. 50,000."
The party was earlier contemplating fielding 20 candidates but decided not to amid the general impression that it would help the BJP by eating into the Congress' minority voteshare. "So we thought of making a modest beginning with just four candidates."
He is optimistic of making a mark in bipolar Rajasthan. "In two-and-a-half years, we have won bypolls and municipal polls in several states including West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. In AP of the 34 seats contested in municipal polls, we bagged 26. Victory will be ours in Rajasthan too."

UP govt’s conspiracy to deprive Muzaffarnagar riot victims of their properties - By Zafarul-Islam Khan, Editor, The Milli Gazette

http://www.milligazette.com/news/9449-up-govts-conspiracy-to-deprive-Muzaffarnagar-riot-victims-of-their-properties-india-muslims

UP govt’s conspiracy to deprive Muzaffarnagar riot victims of their properties

Any uprooted family accepting the aid of five lakh rupees has to sign an affidavit which says that it will not return to the village it came from and will not claim 'movable and immovable properties' in its village (see copy of the affidavit on the below). A majority of the affected families have refused to sign this dubious affidavit which is clearly illegal and unconstitutional as it deprives people of their properties which are at times much more than the compensation offered.

By Zafarul-Islam Khan, The Milli Gazette

Published Online: Nov 12, 2013

Print Issue: 16-30 November 2013

Muzaffarnagar’s vice president of Jamiat Ulama-e Hind Haji Azizur Rahman said while talking to mediapersons that Akhilesh Singh government has announced to give a financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to 1800 riot-hit families of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli who under no circumstances are willing to return to their homes in their villages where they lived before the riots because they fear for their safety. District administration officials tried many times to impress upon these people the need to go back and live where they used to live before the riots erupted in September, but because of the hostile attitude of the villagers, they are not willing to return and settle down elsewhere.

The illegal affidavit refugees are forced to sign to lose their movable and immovable properties in their villages (http://www.scribd.com/doc/183552140/UP-govt-conspiracy-against-Muzaffarnagar-riot-victims-2013)

In a state government statement of 27 October, an official said that Rs 5 lakh financial assistance is being given to enable these people to settle down anywhere they want. This decision has been taken on the basis of the report submitted by the 10-member committee headed by Shiv Pal Yadav, minister for public works, which included some ministers. This compensation package will cost the government Rs 90 crores.

This committee was constituted on Mulayam Singh Yadav’s instructions to visit the riot-hit areas and to inspect relief and rehabilitation work for people rendered homeless and forced to live in refugee camps, and who do not want to return to their homes and villages because of the hostile attitude of the village people there.

Haji Azizur Rahman demanded that the government make sincere efforts to trace persons who are still missing for about two months or declare them dead and give compensation to their families. He also demanded that those responsible for instigating the riots must be subjected to legal process and jailed.  Police officers who shirked their responsibility and in any way encouraged the rioters or helped them in any way must also be strongly dealt with, he demanded.

Government officials clarified that the amount of Rs 5 lakh will be given to those whose houses were burnt or those whose near and dear ones were killed. They further said that people in villages where no riots had taken place but who had shifted to other places because of fear will not be considered deserving of this financial assistance. They also said that for other financial losses in addition to burnt houses, further financial assistance besides Rs 5 lakh will  be given and with this help, 965 families of Muzaffarnagar will benefit.

The Mushawarat delegation visiting Muzaffarnagar and Shamli camps for the third time on 5 November came to know that the said grant of five lakh rupees is only for refugees from 12 villages where murder and arson took place on a large scale while refugees from dozens of other villages who fled out of fear and many of them refuse to return will not get any such help. Moreover, any family accepting this help of five lakh rupees has to sign an affidavit which says that it will not return to the village it came from and will not claim “movable and immovable properties” in the villages (see copy of the affidavit above). A majority of the affected families have refused to sign this affidavit which is clearly illegal and unconstitutional as it deprives people of their properties whose value at times is much more than the compensation offered.

The affidavit shows that the Samajwadi Party government is hand-in-glove with the grand conspiracy to deprive Muslims of their properties and lands. This proves what Times of India reported on 1 Nov., that land grab is the motive behind the fresh violence.

This article appeared in The Milli Gazette print issue of 16-30 November 2013 on page no. 1

An appeal to the Muslims of Delhi - By Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani

An appeal to the Muslims of Delhi

 

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Dear Muslim brothers and sisters of Delhi!

                 I am making this appeal, especially to you because, we, the Muslims of India, are the only community which has been reduced  to the status of political slavery, which has badly fallen in the dirty trap of  power hungry politicians, which has been ruthlessly sandwiched between fictitious secularism and naked fascism and which has  its fortune confined only to ‘ make one party win in the name of secularism and make the other lose in the name of communalism.’ No doubt, our Constitution is a sacred document which guarantees to all the citizens equality in every sphere, but the circumstances created by  reprehensible policies of political outfits have  brought  us  not only to the lowest social strata of the country, but also inculcated in our collective minds a fear psychosis. Everything is before you, so to discuss the details is simply the wastage of time and energy. We understand our despicable position : we discuss it, but in the end lament over the reality that we have no alternative.

         Now that Delhi Assembly elections are going to be held in the first week of  December, we have got an opportunity to wriggle out of the present predicament which may pave the way for our better future. You know it well that  Congress and B.J.P. are the two main traditional contenders there. Of them which is worse or which is better on each front is difficult to say. Both are sunk in corruption and complementary to each other  in polarizing the vote  in the name of the so-called  communalism and secularism.

             I have not the  slightest inhibition in asserting with full force that Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) , led by Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, has emerged as a strong force which is making a genuine beginning to be the option for those who are opposed to corruption in general, and for Muslims who are feeling desperately helpless. I am not testifying to the everlasting credentials of Mr. Kejriwal’s Party, but have no reason to doubt them either.

 Come on  dear brothers and sisters of Delhi ! Have faith in Allah and grab this opportunity by extending whole-hearted support to AAP. I am sure that Insha Allah it will lay the foundation for your bright prospects , and will ultimately give you a sense of self-confidence that can make you a politically vibrant community in the country.

Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani, 

                         LL.M. ( Alig.),LL.D.(Lucknow)

Chairman, All India Muslim Forum

537CH/ 30, Sherwani Nagar

Opposite New Campus of  Lucknow University

Sitapur Road, Lucknow, U.P. India

Sherwanimk@yahoo.com

+91 - 9919777909

Andher Nagri Chaupat Raj in Mumbai - Letter to the Editor - By Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Letter to The Editor

Andher Nagri Chaupat Raj in Mumbai

The way Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation is following up Supreme Court orders to demolish scores of flats in  Mumbai’s Campa Cola Colony residential complex, it is now confirmed to the people at large that they are now living in an infamous ‘Andher Nagri Chaupat Raj’.

Residential apartments in Mumbai is the lifeblood of its people. The way, the case of illegal building of flats by criminal builders and their accomplices in the Municipal Corporation, who overlooked such illegal activities, has been judged by the Supreme Court, punishing the hapless owners who had invested their life-savings and are now to be unceremoniously dumped virtually on the streets --- while completely exonerating the criminal nexus of the builders and bureaucrats, shows that justice is truly blind. Supreme Court must review its verdict and take a holistic view of this unholy alliance of criminals and their modes operand i; thus saving the victims of the criminal nexus and restoring them their right to properties they have paid for and are staying for long years.

NGOs should organize a Mumbai Bandh in favour of the unfortunate families to protest against the ‘Andher Nagri’s Chaupat Raj’.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

Congress, BJP mum on 75% of funds - By Manoj Mitta - The Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Congress-BJP-mum-on-75-of-funds/articleshow/25606771.cms

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Congress, BJP mum on 75% of funds

Manoj Mitta, TNN | Nov 12, 2013, 01.18 AM IST

Print Edition Headline: Mainstream parties opaque on funding - Newbie AAP, However, Claims to be Transparent Even On  Amounts Lower Than Those Required by Law

NEW DELHI: Is it a case of the pot, namely, the Congress-led government, calling the kettle, namely, Aam Aadmi Party, black? Or, is this about Arvind Kejriwal being hoist by his own petard? Underlying the announcement of a probe into the alleged foreign funding of AAP is its innovative legal interpretation, which is sharply at variance with that of the government and two leading parties, Congress and BJP.

In a departure from a long-entrenched practice, AAP professes to be transparent about the funding it has been receiving from abroad. It claims to have disclosed all the details on its website in keeping with its interpretation that the law permits donations from NRIs who are Indian citizens. Accordingly, it has also published the Indian passport numbers of all its donors from abroad. Though the law exempts political parties from revealing sources of donations worth less than Rs 20,000, AAP says that it has been disclosing even the donations that are below the lower limit.

While the two related claims of transparency by AAP will now be verified by the official inquiry, it is ironic that mainstream parties which are notoriously opaque about their funding sources are not being subjected to similar scrutiny. This is despite the fact that their funding is admittedly on a much larger scale and the recent report of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has shown that about 75% of their funding comes from unknown sources.

According to the ADR analysis of income tax returns and statements with the Election Commission, the total income of the six national parties from 2004-05 to 2011-12 was Rs 4,896 crores. Yet, for as much as Rs 3,675 crores, those parties gave no details of their sources. Given their general proclivity to be secretive about the sources and probably even the quantum of their income, the question whether donations can be received from NRIs holding Indian passports never arose in the case of parties like Congress and BJP.

From the details that have been disclosed by Congress and BJP, ADR filed a PIL earlier this year before the Delhi high court alleging that the two parties had been violating the Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act (FCRA) by receiving donations to the tune of tens of crores from foreign companies through their Indian subsidiaries. The one example cited in the PIL argued by AAP leader Prashant Bhushan is of UK-registered Vedanta Resources, in which Indian citizen Anil Agarwal holds at least 50% of the paid-up capital. Vedanta made donations to Congress and BJP through three of its Indian subsidiaries, Sterlite, Sesa Goa and MALCO.

In August, the home ministry and two leading political parties filed affidavits claiming that a political donation from the Indian subsidiary of a foreign company was permissible if an Indian held a majority shareholding in the foreign company. Making a similar interpretation of Section 591 of the Companies Act, all the three affidavits claimed that a donation by any foreign company through its Indian subsidiary would not be regarded as a foreign contribution so long as an Indian held a majority stake in the parent company.

ADR's rejoinder, however, asserted that the purpose of Section 591 was merely to ensure that Indian subsidiaries of a foreign company were accountable to Indian authorities. It said that this clause in the Companies Act could by no means be cited to circumvent the express prohibition on foreign contribution to political parties in FCRA and the Representation of the People Act. Little wonder that AAP is citing ADR's PIL to hit back at the rest of the political class, in the wake of the probe into the donations it had received from abroad.
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/assembly-elections-2013/delhi-assembly-elections/Probing-source-of-foreign-funding-to-AAP-Shinde/articleshow/25589607.cms

Probe Congress, BJP funds too, says Kejriwal - Print Edition Headline

Probing source of foreign funding to Aam Aadmi Party: Govt

Bharti Jain, TNN | Nov 11, 2013, 02.35 PM IST
NEW DELHI: The Centre has initiated a probe into the source of funding of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), with the Union home ministry trying to establish if it received any money from foreign donors in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).

"We have ordered an enquiry into funding of AAP to verify if any foreign donations were routed to it," Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde told newspersons here a day after Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit questioned the source of nearly Rs 19 crore collected by the newly floated party led by activist-politician Arvind Kejriwal.

However, Shinde refused to put a timeline as to when the results of the enquiry would be available. "Such matters take time...one has to see from which foreign country the donations may be coming," he said, giving ample indications that the probe might continue well after the Delhi state polls, due on December 4.

The Representation of People Act (RPA) debars political parties from receiving contributions from a foreign source defined under clause (e) of the Section 2 of the FCRA, 1976. The FCRA, too, states that it has been formulated "to ensure that the foreign contribution and foreign hospitality is not utilized to affect or influence electoral politics, public servants, judges and other people working in the important areas of national life like journalists, printers and publishers of newspapers among others.

According to the AAP, it has collected Rs 19 crore as donations from around 63,000 individuals belonging to cross section of society. The party claims to have received donations ranging from Rs 10 to several lakhs, from rickshaw-pullers, traders, industrialists and NRIs .

"Our aim was to collect Rs 20 crore for Delhi assembly elections, and we would soon be achieving that target. Till the last week of September, we had collected around Rs 10 crore but within a span of a month, we have received Rs 9 crore as donations," said an AAP spokesperson.

The Delhi high court had on October 24 asked the government to enquire into whether any of the donations received by Aam Aadmi Party came from foreign source in violation of the FCRA. It asked the Centre to report by December 10 about the accounts of AAP.

The AAP, however, questioned the probe sought by the court on the basis of "mala fide" petition by advocate M L Sharma, "who has not made AAP a respondent but made Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, Prashant Bhushan and Shanti Bhushan as respondents".

"Though the petition makes all types of ridiculous allegations against Team Anna and an NGO Kabir with which Manish Sisodia was associated, it does not disclose the result of an earlier petition filed by Sharma against foreign funding of Kabir. The government after full investigation had found everything to be in order," claimed AAP.

The AAP also drew attention to a similar petition filed by Association for Democratic Reforms questioning the funding of Congress and BJP by foreign firms like Vedanta. "The government has been dragging its feet in that case and has taken no action despite documentary evidence of substantial funding of the Congress and the BJP by foreign companies," alleged an AAP spokesperson.

Muslim voters do not behave any differently from the rest of India - By Sohail Hashmi - DNA English Daily

Muslim Vote Bank, compared to other Vote Banks, is more impactful and decisive when it is negative. It thrashed very decisively the 30 year long Communist regime in West Bengal, when the insensitive Communist Brahmins cracked down on Muslims in Sangrur. The Muslim Vote Bank is now certainly relevant as it is bound to act against Modi's candidacy for Prime Ministership through coming Lok Sabha election. Modi's 2002 Gujarat record is enough to activite Muslim Vote Bank all across the nation and especially in the 4 states - UP, Bihar, West Bangal and Kerala where Muslim Vote Bank is most effective.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

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http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/smartphone/GT-I8552RWAINU?subsubtype=android-mobiles

Muslim voters do not behave any differently from the rest of India

The only exception, of course, is their opposition to any form of communalism.
 

Saturday, Nov 9, 2013, 7:07 IST | Agency: DNA

Sohail Hashmi

If, and this is a big If, a Muslim Vote Bank (MVB) existed, it would reveal itself in even a cursory study of the constituencies where Muslims are in a position to determine the outcome of the elections. If it did exist it would be very easy to show how 10-12 per cent of the total electorate was behaving in a manner that was different from the general electoral trends. In fact, the existence of a disconnect between the electoral performance of the so-called non-Muslim seats and the so-called Muslim seats would be the clearest proof of the existence of such a vote bank.

Let us take the first three general elections to the Lok Sabha. The Congress party got more than 73 per cent of the seats in all of them. Almost everybody was voting for the Congress and one assumes, so were the Muslims. Bengal and Kerala with about 25 per cent Muslim population and Bihar and UP, with 16 per cent and 18 per cent Muslim population respectively, elected a large number of Congress candidates to Parliament. If a MVB existed at this time it would be hidden behind the general trend that was operating during this period.

Therefore, the only time one could actually begin to see the impact of the MVB on the fortunes of the Congress would be when there is a general loss of faith in the Congress, as reflected in the results of the fourth general elections held in 1967. It is in times such as these that the MVB, if it ever existed, would buck the trend, as it were and come to the aid of the old party. 

Let us take a closer look at the goings on in Bengal Kerala, UP and Bihar in 1967 and see if we can discover the MVB in operation. In 1967 the Congress was, in fact, ejected from seven state assemblies and it is here that it also suffered its biggest Parliamentary losses as well. The four states of West Bengal, Kerala, UP and Bihar were among the states that rejected the Congress. Madras, Odisha and Punjab were the other three.

Throughout the life of this argument it has been said that the Muslims are the pocket borough of the Congress. If there was a MVB working for the Congress, it should have stood up to be counted in 1967 but it did not. In fact Kerala with 25 per cent Muslim votes elected the first non-Congress government in 1957.  Muslims in Kerala are, by and large, concentrated in the North and it has generally voted against the Congress since 1957.

In Bengal, the areas of Muslim concentration are Malda, Murshidabad, Burdwan, Nadia, 24 Parganas and Kolkata. With the exception of Malda, the rest have, post-1967, traditionally voted against the Congress and mostly for the Communists and now when the Communists have lost out in Bengal they have generally lost in these areas as well. The interesting thing is that these ‘Muslim’ seats have not come back to the Congress; they have gone to Trinamool Congress as they have in other parts of Bengal.

Bihar too, with Muslims concentrated in the districts of Katihar, Purnea, Araria and Kishanganj, demonstrates the same trend. The first break comes in 1967 and then it has been the same roller-coaster ride that the entire country has been through. 

Several districts of west UP, where Muslim electors would hold the key if they voted en bloc, demonstrate the same trend. Incidentally, Chaudhary  Charan Singh owed his rise to power on the basis of his political base in the same region of west UP.

Now let us see what is happening in the Parliamentary seats where Muslims either do not have a decisive electoral strength or they are in such small numbers that they would not be able to influence the results even if they voted en bloc. Those who swear by the MVB will be more than a little disturbed with the trends. Almost three-fourths of the so-called non-Muslim seats went to the Congress till the third general elections and then turned away from the Congress in 1967.

The point that is sought to be made is the following: Generally speaking, the rule that holds is that Muslims do not betray any tendency to vote differently from the national or major regional trends, and this can be seen and demonstrated again and again through the results of all the general elections.

In 1971 with the rise of Indira Gandhi and the Garibi Hatao campaign, everyone went back to the Congress and so did the Muslims. In 1977 everyone deserted the Congress and so did the Muslims. In the 1980 elections there was a trek back to the Congress and the routine was repeated in 1984 and it has been the same through all the remaining elections. In fact, if Muslims are a vote bank, all of India is a vote bank, because, by and large, the entire lot moves together, non-Muslims and Muslims together.

This rule, too, has an exception: the Muslims try not to vote for communalists. They did not vote for the minoritarian communalism of the Muslim League in the provincial assembly elections in 1936 and they are not about to help their majoritarian kinsmen now. The overwhelming majority of Muslims who chose to stay in India had chosen a secular State over a theocracy; they are not going to help another theocracy come to power. And that, perhaps, is the worry of the votaries of the theory of the MVB.

The author blogs at Kafila.org and conducts heritage walks in