Tharoor also praised Kanhaiya Kumar, likening him to freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
Bhagat Singh was a young man in his 20s with Marxist beliefs who had great passion for his motherland. Kanhaiya has some qualities in common.
Shashi Tharoor in his speech at the JNU campus
Unsurprisingly, the BJP and its supporters lashed out at Tharoor, and some of it got personal.
The Congress to tried to distance itself from Tharoor’s comments.
2. Emperor’s Clones: A Parable on Page 1?
Narada News expose has cast a shadow on the image of the TMC supremo. (Photo: The Quint)
On Monday afternoon at 4:00 pm Mamata Banerjee led a rally in South Calcutta through her constituency, Bhowanipore. Through the procession, Firhad Hakim, Sovan Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee walked right behind her. All three Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders were allegedly seen taking bribes in the Narada News sting operation. The state government has called the sting a political conspiracy and refused to initiate a probe based on footage that implicates some of TMC’s top leadership.
Everyone in the streets and the windows said, “Oh, how fine are the Emperor’s new clothes! Don’t they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!” Nobody would confess that he couldn’t see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success. “But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said. “Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.” “But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last. The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on.” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.
Excerpt from the <i>Emperor’s New Clothes</i>
The message was not a subtle one.
3. Islamic Seminary Issues Fatwa on ‘Bharat Mata’ Slogan
People from Muslim community write Bharat Mata ki jai with their blood as a way to show their disapproval with MIMs chief Asaduddin Owaisis recent comment. (Photo: PTI)
Mahad al Aali al Islami, an Islamic seminary, has issued a fatwa saying that Muslims should not chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ as it is un-Islamic. The seminary, which was founded by Muslim Personal Law Board secretary Maulana Khalid, clarified that the issue was not one of patriotism, but rather of deification.
Therefore, for a Muslim chanting Bharat Mata ki jai is not permissible as the land of Hind (India) is not a goddess. Every Muslim loves the country and is also willing to sacrifice his or her life for it, but (the Muslim) prostrates only before Allah. (For Muslims), only Allah should be worshipped.
<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Islamic-seminary-issues-fatwa-on-Bharat-Mata-slogan/articleshow/51503884.cms">Excerpt from the fatwa in <i>The Times of India</i></a>
However, other slogans which do not imply worship are more than welcome.
United Muslim Forum treasurer Syed Ahmedul Hussaini Sayeed Quadri said: “We can say “Bharat desh ki jai”, “jai Hind” or “Hindustan zindabad”, but Bharat Mata symbolises a goddess which Muslims cannot worship.
<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Islamic-seminary-issues-fatwa-on-Bharat-Mata-slogan/articleshow/51503884.cms">Article in <i>The Times of India</i></a>
4. Reference to Circumcision in Terror Notice Sparks ‘Profiling’ Charge
Soldiers take position on a rooftop outside the airbase in Pathankot on 2 January 2016. (Photo: AP)
The Union Home Ministry has sparked outrage and disappointment among former heads of the National Security Guard (NSG), CBI and the Intelligence Bureau, according to a report in The Telegraph. A Home Ministry notice seeking public help in identifying four insurgents killed in the Pathankot attacks mentions that the four men “had undergone circumcision”. Muslim men (along with jews, and many others in the West) are circumcised.
Here are some of the reactions to the notice:
This is unheard of and shocking. It’s religious profiling… That (circumcision) does not make the terrorists Pakistanis, because all Muslim males have to go through that, be it in India or any other country. Many Hindus also undergo circumcision on health grounds.
Ved Marwah, Former Director-General, National Security Guard
How can knowing whether a terrorist was circumcised or not help people identify him?
Joginder Singh, Former Director, CBI
By mentioning it, the NIA seems to want to send out a message that although all Muslims are not terrorists, all terrorists are Muslims.
Senior Home Ministry Official <a href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160322/jsp/frontpage/story_75856.jsp#.VvCDlhJ97m1">to <i>The Telegraph</i></a>
5. No Holi in Latehar Village After Cattle Traders’ Lynching
There is such a thing as “peace vigilantes” and they are doing their best to maintain harmony after the killing of two Muslim traders who were selling cattle at a local market.
Hindu community leaders in Balumath village in Latehar district of Jharkhand have decided not to celebrate Holi this year in empathy with the families of the victims, according to The Times of India. Instead, the peace vigilantes will take out a march without colour or revelry to bring Hindus and Muslims together.
Latehar deputy commissioner Ravi Shankar Shukla said the lynching was the work of a fringe and that the people of both communities have been living peacefully for decades. “Post-lynching, the district administration has received more than expected help from both communities. They have maintained peace,” Shukla said. Everyone has a deep sense of remorse over the murders, he added.
<a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/No-Holi-in-Latehar-village-after-cattle-traders-lynching/articleshow/51503857.cms">Report in <i>The Times of India</i></a>
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6. BJP Strategy in Assam Has Muslims Divided Over Language Card
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets party leader Sarbananda Sonowal after he was named BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Assam polls. (Photo: PTI)
Some Muslims in Assam see hope in the BJP, according to a report in the Hindustan Times. Assamese Muslims, who came to the state about 800 years ago, do not like being equated with their Bengali-speaking co-religionists. Around 33 percent of the state’s sizeable Muslim population has been drifting to the BJP lately. CM candidate Sarbanada Sonowal has said that Assamese Muslims are essential to the state’s future.
NGOs representing Assamese Muslims have for years resented being equated with their Bengali counterparts “because of religion”. They have also blamed successive governments for letting Bengali Muslims get the lion’s share of welfare schemes, jobs, financial and political benefits.
The BJP has used this sore point to record a nine-fold increase in its membership of Assamese Muslims in less than a year. “Of our 3 lakh Assamese Muslim members, 2.7 lakh joined us in the last nine months,” said Sayed Mominul Awal, chief of state BJP’s minority wing.
Report in <i>Hindustan Times</i>
7. Behind Urge to Ally With Congress, CPM Outfits’ Dwindling Numbers
Supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) attend a public rally. (Photo: Reuters)
So why has the CPI(M) allied with the Congress in West Bengal? Theories and speculation abound, and an article in TheIndian Express puts forward one more.
The need to befriend their old enemy, the Congress, to defeat Mamata Banerjee may have surfaced because the party’s strength on the ground has been dwindling rapidly.
Membership of the Kisan Front decreased 47 percent from 2010 to 2014, that of the Women’s Front decreased 15 percent and of the Youth Front 30 percent. In comparison, these three key CPM organisations saw a surge in membership in three other states where the party has had a traditional presence — Kerala, Tripura and Tamil Nadu.
Bengal’s Kisan Front lost 72,000 members from 2010 to 2014, the singular reason for the All India Kisan Front falling 40 percent from 2.25 crore to 1.60 crore.
<a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/behind-urge-to-ally-with-congress-cpm-outfits-dwindling-numbers/">Report in <i>The</i> <i>Indian Express</i></a>
The Left’s cadre, both numerous and committed, was widely credited as the reason they could maintain power for over three decades.
8. For ISIS, Virtual Is the Real as It Scouts for India Recruits
Social media has become the breeding ground for the ISIS in India. (Photo: The Quint)
In the first of a series of articles in TheIndian Express, Strategic Affairs Editor Praveen Swami looks at how ISIS has penetrated India and attracted Indian youth through social media.
You can watch The Quint’s video on ISIS’ digital strategy below:
Last month, that young man was arrested by the National Investigation Agency on charges of being the head of a new Islamic State cell determined to wage war on India. Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh, the NIA alleges, was recruited online by a Syria-based Indian who patiently trawled Facebook, Twitter and dozens of blogs in search of potential recruits. Intelligence Bureau officials estimate the Islamic State’s Indian cell, led by one-time Indian Mujahideen operative Muhammad Shafi Armar, has engaged more than 700 people in conversation — and raised more than 20 identified volunteers.
<a href="http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/for-isis-virtual-is-the-real-as-it-scouts-for-india-recruits/">Article in <i>The</i> <i>Indian Express</i></a>
The piece goes on to examine the profiles and activities of these digital recruits on social media.
9. The Assault on Thought - Putting Pebbles Into Young People’s Minds
Kanhaiya Kumar speaking in JNU on 3 March 2016. (Photo: PTI)
Prabhat Patnaik, Professor Emeritus at JNU, has written an op-ed in The Telegraph defending the students’ right to dissent and attacking the government and its supporters for the JNU crackdown. Patnaik argues that the purpose and nature of higher education is political.
Several Union ministers have said that students should just “study” and not be concerned with “politics”. Now, the essence of politics is the presentation before society of alternative views about itself. To say that students, who should constitute that segment of society which is most intensely engaged in thinking, and hence holding, presenting and debating alternative views of society, should not engage in politics, amounts therefore to saying that they should abjure thinking. Their “study”, in other words, should be devoid of thinking; it should consist rather in their imbibing capsules called “knowledge” during the teaching hours, and regurgitating them during examinations, or, at the most, acquiring some skills while eschewing all thought.
<a href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160322/jsp/opinion/story_75724.jsp#.VvCQcxJ97m1">Prabhat Patnaik in <i>The Telegraph</i></a>
