Chamundeshwari: HDK, CM up the campaign ante

New Delhi, Feb 24: India has deeply appreciated the Senegal government's decision to extradite fugitive gangster Ravi Poojary to India, official sources said on Sunday.

Facilitation of transit provided by the Government of France has also been acknowledged, they said.

Ravi Prakash Poojary, accused of committing a number of serious offences including murder and extortion in multiple jurisdictions, was extradited from Senegal on Saturday.

The probe agencies have persistently pursued the case for his extradition with the authorities in Senegal. India had made a request with Senegal for his extradition in early 2019, sources said.

Poojary was associated with gangster Chhota Rajan, but he also worked for fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Lucknow, Apr 13: Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are now worried that the intense communal profiling of the Corona patients by the official agencies could lead to lynching incidents once the lockdown is lifted.

Muslim scholar and former SP spokesman, Abdul Hafiz Gandhi, on Monday said, "The manner in which the government agencies are identifying persons belonging to Tablighi Jamaat in the list of Covid-19 patients is now translating into intense communal profiling which has been prohibited by the World Health Organization and the central government. A very small percentage of Muslims subscribe to the Tablighi Jamaat ideology but the impression going around is that the Muslim community, in general, is spreading coronavirus."

He said that there was a strong possibility of Muslims, in general, being attacked after the lockdown is lifted.

"This is exactly what happened on the cow slaughter issue. Even a small rumour led to people being lynched by mobs across the country. Corona is a pandemic and should be treated like one. We should fight against the virus together instead of creating a communal divide. Every day, the government spokesman lays down the number of Corona positive cases and then goes on to say how many of them are from Tablighi Jamaat," he explained.

Amir Haider, a social activist and also a veteran Congress leader, echoed similar sentiments when he said, "We strongly condemn the Tablighi Jamaat for ignoring the protocols and holding the congregation but why is the state government repeatedly harping on the religious angle. Shia and Sunni clerics are repeatedly asking the people to adhere to government guidelines and follow safety protocols.

He said that efforts to create a communal divide on the corona issue could have dangerous ramification after the lockdown is lifted."

A retired IAS officer, who did not wish to be named, said, that people have already started objecting to taking home deliveries from Muslim employees.

"My neighbours refused to take delivery of groceries from a Muslim boy. This is just the beginning of the narrative that is being drilled into the minds. We must check this before it explodes into something very dangerous," he said.

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Raising questions about the situation in Kashmir, senior Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Sidddaramaiah on Monday asked the BJP heading the union government to prove 'normalcy' by hosting US President Donald Trump's event in the valley.

If @BJP4India feels Kashmir has returned to Normalcy, & If @BJP4India feels that there is no govt orchestrated violence. Now is the time to prove the same by hosting @realDonaldTrump's event at Kashmir, Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Amid concerns raised by opposition parties, the government has said efforts have been made to restore normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir which faced months of restrictions after its special status under Article 370 was scrapped in August last year.

Siddaramaiah, who is Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly, in another tweet hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the long wall built near the airport in Ahmedabad allegedly to block the view of a slum, ahead of Trump's visit.

It is time for @realDonaldTrump to get inspired from @narendramodi. Inspiration to build decorative walls to hide not so decorative life!! he tweeted. The opposition Congress in Gujarat had accused the BJP- ruled civic body in Ahmedabad of building the 500-meter long wall to block the view of a slum colony. Refuting the allegations, AMC officials had said the construction of the wall, around four feet in height, was approved much before Trump's Gujarat visit was finalised.

Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump and a high-level delegation, arrived in Ahmedabad around noon on Monday for a little less than a 36-hour-long trip.