Jyoti Punwani writes on human rights issues. You can e-mail the author at jyoti.punwani@gmail.com
All along, we were told SIR was an essential exercise carried out as part of the Election Commission's regular duties. But now that the ideological mentor of the ruling party has declared that SIR is a means of detecting infiltrators, one understands the unseemly haste with which it is being carried out, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Ajit Pawar became a ray of hope for Muslims, the only man in power who could resolve their grievances.
Whichever combination finally emerges, Malegaon could set a record for being a town run neither by Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti, nor by the Opposition MVA, but by a combination of two or three Muslim parties.
'Of course, we are secular. Three of our Hindu brothers have won seats from our party. Tell me where AIMIM has managed that.'
The real surprise in these results came from Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM. Of the 29 Muslim candidates who got elected to the 227-strong BMC, the Congress and the AIMIM between them bagged 22.
'Now there is no fight between us (Thackerays); now the fight is with them.'
'Every issue that Muslims are facing today affects Muslim women. But how come women's issues don't affect the community?' 'How does the community benefit by the practice of halala or polygamy?'
'This calls for a very serious investigation, investigation and introspection both.' 'Wherever we went wrong needs proper introspection; but the results also need investigation.'
'I wanted to go for the heart, and at the same time, open the audience's mind.'
'I dreaded meeting him these days because every time he'd say: We have to fight this government, even if it means going to jail.' 'He'd been in jails run by the British, he'd also been in jails in independent India, now he was ready to go to jail under this government.'
'Only because of the absence of a dedication record in writing, how can such properties be treated as located on misappropriated government land?'
'We are not all Abduls, you know. Our community has any number of retired civil and defence officers, doctors, engineers, lawyers.'
'Gandhi had given the call 'Do or Die'. And with all the leaders arrested, you had to be your own leader.'
'They wanted the city to be a great business hub. They didn't like the fact that taxes collected in Bombay would go outside the city.'
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'I am determined now to celebrate all festivals together.' 'People don't respond much when you try to convince them by talking about principles of secularism etc. But if we revive our shared cultural practices, specially food, we may get a better response.'
'We wouldn't have had to face all this had our national leaders taken care to select a place for Sindhis and sent us there, instead of sending us all over to settle in places where the locals didn't want us.' 'They could have partitioned Sindh and given us a Sindhi state from its two Hindu-majority districts.' 'Wasn't that the logic of Partition?'
The Nagpur violence may have been prevented had the police considered the dangerous potential of the VHP/Bajrang Dal's demonstration; had they immediately stopped the burning of the chaddar and arrested the demonstrators; and had they fanned out to counter the rumours that spread among Muslims, observes Jyoti Punwani.
The government resolution does not spell out what action would be taken, if any, against those writing and publishing 'negative' news. Nor does it define 'negative news and "misinformation', explains Jyoti Punwani.
The Mahars have a historical connection with this victory pillar.
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