United for a better Mangaluru, leaders pledge to isolate anti-social elements

Over the last couple of days when the world was occupied with unifying efforts to fight the deadly Covid19 pandemic, sections of Indian media provided viewers a familiar scapegoat – the Indian Muslims – who are often stereotyped as a community being constantly at loggerheads with the citizenry and the State. Biased media channels were quick to resort to blaming the entire Muslim community for the spread of the disease in the country, thanks to an ill-timed Tablighi Jamaat gathering at its international headquarters in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. Unsurprisingly, the opprobrium was also marked by a sudden spike in WhatsApp forwards of videos with people wearing skullcaps licking spoons and performing Sufi breathing rituals, suggesting some sort of wild conspiracy on the part of the community to spread the virus.  Some media channels were quick to formulate, hypothesize and provide loose definitions of a newly discovered form of Jihad i.e. ‘Corona Jihad ’ thereby vilifying the Islamic faith and its followers.

While the investigation on the culpability of the organizers of the Nizamuddin event is still ongoing, there is enough information to suggest that the meeting was held before any lockdown was in force, and the problem began when there was no way of getting people out once the curfew was announced. Be that as it may, there is little doubt that organizing a meet of such a scale when there is a global pandemic smacks of gross misjudgment, and definitely the organizers should be held accountable if laws or public orders were defied. Attendees who attempt to defy quarantine measures must be dealt with strictly. However, what is alarming is that the focus and narrative have now shifted from the unfortunate event at Nizamuddin to the Tablighi Jamaat itself.

For those not familiar with the Tablighi Jamaat, the organization was founded in 1926 in Mewat by scholar Maulana Mohammad Ilyas. The Jamaat’s main objective was to get Muslim youth to learn and practice pristine Islam shorn of external influences. This is achieved through individuals dedicating time for moral and spiritual upliftment secluded from the rest of the world for a brief period of time. There is no formal membership process. More senior and experienced participants typically travel from one mosque to other delivering talks on religious topics, inviting local youth to attend and then volunteer for a spiritual retreat for a fixed number of days to a mosque in a nearby town or village to present the message to their co-religionists. Contrary to ongoing Islamophobic rhetoric, the movement does not actively proselytize. The focus is rather on getting Muslims to learn the teachings and practices of Islam.  This grassroots India-based movement has now grown to almost all countries with substantial Muslim populations. Its annual meets, or ‘ijtemas’ are among the largest Islamic congregations in the world after the annual Haj. One of the reasons for its popularity and wide network in the subcontinent and wordwide is the fact that it has eschewed the need for scholarly intervention, focusing on peer learning of fundamental beliefs and practice rather than high-falutin ideological debates. The Tablighi Jamaat also distinguishes itself from other Islamic movements through its strictly apolitical nature, with a focus on individual self-improvement rather than political mobilization. Hardships and difficulty in the world are expected to be face through ‘sabr’ (patience) and ‘dua’ (supplication),  than through quest for political power or influence. In terms of ideology, it is very much based on mainstream Sunni Islamic principles derived from the Deobandi school.

So, why is all this background important in the current context? While biased media entities have expectedly brought out their Islamophobic paraphernalia out for full display, more neutral commentators have tried to paint the Tablighi Jamaat as a fringe group and have tried to distance it from 'mainstream Muslims'. While the intent is no doubt innocent, this is a trap we must not fall into. This narrative, unfortunately, is also gaining ground due to apathy some Muslims have for the group, accusing it of being “disconnected from the realities of the world”. Unlike other Muslim organizations and movements, the Tablighi Jamat, by virtue of its political indifference, does not boast of high-profile advocates and savvy spokespersons who can defend it in mainstream or social media.  The use of adjectives such as 'outdated' and 'orthodox' by liberal columnists to describe the Jamaat feeds into the malignant attempt to change the narrative from the control of the spread of the pandemic due to the Nizamuddin gathering to 'raison d'etre' of the organization itself.

A large mainstream religious group like the Tablighi Jamaat with nearly a hundred-year history, normally considered to be peaceful, apolitical and minding its own business is now suddenly being villainized owing to unfortunate circumstances. Biased media reactions filled with disgust and hate seem to feed the Indian public conscience with a danngerous misconception - to be a nominal Muslim is okay but being a practicing one is not.  For those committed to the truth and fighting the spread of Islamophobia, the temptation to throw the entire Tablighi Jamaat under the bus must be resisted.

The writer is a lawyer and research scholar at Qatar University. Her research interests include Islamic law and politics.

Newsroom, June 14: Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found dead in his house in Mumbai’s Bandra today, was heartbroken after the death of his former manager Disha Salian.

34-year-old actor had posted a heartfelt note after her death: “It’s such devastating news. My deepest condolences to Disha’s family and friends. May your soul rest in peace.” 

The police are considering 28-year-old Disha’s death as an accidental one and the investigation is on to find if it was a suicide. She died after falling off the 14th floor of a building in Malad, Mumbai on June 8.

It is not yet known if there is any connection between the two deaths. Sushant’s house help reportedly found him hanging inside his room on Sunday and cops are investigating the case. He was recently seen in Nitesh Tiwari’s Chhichhore and more recently on Netflix opposite Jacqueline Fernandez in Drive.

Who is Disha Salian?

Disha Salian hails from Karnataka’s coastal district of Udupi. She was born in 1992 into a business family background. She reportedly migrated to Mumbai with her family at an early age. 

After completing her education, she worked in the Times of India Group for more than three years. The she went on the become the celebrity manager at Media Vantage.

Apart from Sushant, she had great links with many popular celebrities like Bharti Singh, Alisha Panwar, and others.

Bengaluru, Feb 22: Student activist Amulya Leona, who was arrested on sedition charge after she raised ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans during an anti-CAA event at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday evening, has now criticised the organisers of the event for snatching away microphone from her hand.

The event was organised by ‘Hindu Muslim Sikh Isaai Federation’. Soon after she started pro-Pak slogans All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi rushed and tried to snatch mic from her hand. When she continued to speak, her microphone was deactivated.

According to police, the 19-year-old BA journalism student blamed her predicament on the organisers of the protest for not allowing her to complete what she wanted to say on stage.

"Maybe she had intended to say what she had recently posted on her Facebook page where she has said ‘Zindabad’ to all the countries, including India and Pakistan. But it went awry. She was not answering any of our questions, but kept saying she had not done anything wrong," a senior police officer was quoted as saying by a news paper.

The police have booked Leona for sedition and promoting enmity between groups. After her arrest, she was thoroughly questioned by the police for over two hours. After recording her statement, the police produced her before a magistrate in the wee hours of Friday. When she was taken to the judge’s residence, located at the National Games Village in Koramangala, Leona pointed towards the TV cameras and flashed a victory sign.

As the police did not seek her custody, the judge remanded her to judicial custody and she was subsequently taken to Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara. Her advocate is expected to file a bail application in the court on Monday.

When the police took her into custody at Freedom Park and quizzed her, she reportedly did not answer any of their questions but kept insisting that she had not done anything anti-national to be charged with sedition.

"It was the organisers’ mistake to snatch the mike from me before I completed what I had to say. Because of them, I have been arrested today. If they had given me a chance to complete what I had to say, nothing like this would have happened. Now, there is no point in telling you what I intended to speak there. But I can say that there was nothing anti-national in what I did. You can initiate action against me and my advocate will fight the case," a source, citing Leona, said.

The police recorded whatever she said as her voluntary statement and submitted it to the magistrate. "We tried to find out why she did what she did and whether there was anyone else behind her making such a statement. But it appears she had done it on her own," the police official said.