Raza Academy, Muslim groups apologize for violence

August 12, 2012

razaac

Mumbai, August 12: Mumbai's liberal Raza Academy Sunday offered unconditional apology to the the media and Mumbaikars for the widespread violence Saturday and sought forgiveness.

"The people who indulged in violence cannot be Muslims. No Muslim would dare to do anything like this during a Ramzan fast. Some mischief mongers have taken advantage of the situation," Raza Academy president Mohammed Saeed Noori told IANS.

He said Raza Academy and others - All India Sunni Jamaitul Ulema, All India Sunni Ayema-e-Masajid, Jamaat-E- Razae Mustafa and another 20 Sunni Muslim groups - felt "deeply ashamed" over Saturday's violence after a protest march against attacks on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

On behalf of everyone, he sought "forgiveness" of the police and the media which have always supported different causes in the past.

Founded in 1978 and generally regarded as a secular outfit, the Raza Academy's reputation suffered a serious setback after Saturday's violence left two people dead and another 100, including 45 policemen, injured.

Ahmed Raza, one of the organisers, took pains to explain that they had never anticipated such a large turnout for the procession. They had thought around 2,000 would participate.

"We have ordered only 1,500 chairs for the public meeting at Azad Maidan in the afternoon but the huge turnout from all over Mumbai shocked us," Raza told IANS.

Awami Vikas Party chief Shamsher Pathan, which had supported the procession, said the violence was "highly deplorable but nipped in the bud".

"I helped police to prevent the crowds from rushing towards CST and diverted them towards New Marine Lines, from the rear side of Azad Maidan," Pathan, a former assistant commissioner of Mumbai police, told IANS.

"I also appealed on the mike to the groups which were outside the Azad Maidan not to attack the media and police. Simultaneously, with police help, we diverted the 20,000 people inside the Azad Maidan precincts to leave the venue from the backside, towards New Marine Lines.

"If they had gone out of the front side, with angry police and media in confrontation with the rioters, it could have been another Jallianwala Bagh," Pathan told IANS.

Meanwhile, prominent peace activists including retired Admiral L. Ramdas and film-maker Mahesh Bhatt Sunday condemned Saturday's attack on the media as "mindless and shameless action by misguided individuals".

"Using violence in a protest against violence is an insult to the suffering victims in whose support the protest was purportedly called," a statement said.

They urged the government and police to take exemplary action against the guilty. The other signatories to the statement included Jatin Desai, Lalita Ramdas, Mazher Hussain, Ram Punyani and Kamla Bhasin.


Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 17,2020

New Delhi, Jan 17: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia does not have any car on his name, according to information shared in the poll affidavit filed by him for Delhi elections.

In the affidavit, it is also shown that while his self-acquired immovable property remained roughly the same as in 2015. His wife's self-acquired immovable property is worth roughly about Rs 65 lakh, as per his latest affidavit.

In the papers submitted during the nomination for 2015 Delhi polls, the senior AAP leader had declared that he owned a Maruti Swift car of make 2013.

However, in his 2020 affidavit, he has mentioned "nil" in the column for motor vehicles and other means of transport.

In the affidavit submitted on Thursday, his moveable assets were declared worth Rs 4,74,888 for 2018-19, as against Rs 4,92,624 for 2013-14.

In 2015, Sisodia had informed in his affidavit that he had bought a property in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, worth Rs 5.07 lakh in April 2001. The approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2015 was Rs 12 lakh.

In his current affidavit, the AAP leader has mentioned the same property. However, the approximate current market value of self-acquired property in 2020 has increased to Rs 21 lakh.

In his affidavit for the 2015 polls, Sisodia had also said that his wife had purchased a property in March 2008 costing Rs 8.70 lakh. At that time, the approximate value of her self-acquired property was Rs 20 lakh.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 2,2020

Mumbai, Feb 2: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday slammed the BJP-led central government on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said that the new law only serves the objectives of the Sangh Parivar of turning India into a Hindu Rashtra.

He said that in order to achieve their objectives, the "communal elements" are trying to divide India's people through the same strategy as employed by the British colonisers in the past.

Lauding people in Mumbai for their protests against CAA, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), the Kerala chief minister also outlined three reasons for his government's decision to reject the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"Over the last several weeks, Mumbai citizens made clear their unyielding opposition to efforts made by Hindutva elements to tear apart the secular fabric of our society. I express solidarity with struggles being made across the city in defence of secularism and the Indian Constitution," Vijayan said at an event here.

The chief minister was addressing the 'Mumbai Collective' here on the topic of 'National struggle against communalism'.

"The government of Kerala is acting as per the Constitution. Like Kerala, other states are also looking at CAA as against the fundamentals of the Constitution. It (CAA) violates basic human rights and is divisive and deeply discriminatory," CM Vijayan said, adding that the new citizenship law only furthers the Sangh Parivar's objective of creating a Hindu Rashtra.

He said the CAA needs to be rejected for three basic reasons.

"First, it is against the letter and spirit of our Constitution. Secondly, it is highly discriminatory and violative of human rights. Thirdly, it seeks to impose philosophy of Sangh Parivar with its mission of Hindu Rashtra," the chief minister said.

Vijayan also participated in the human chain organised by Left Democratic Front (LDF) against CAA and NRC and said that "the law is a threat to the secularism of this country".

The newly enacted law is facing stiff opposition across the country with several non-NDA states including Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Punjab refusing to implement it.

Rajasthan, Kerala and Punjab have passed resolutions against the recently amended law in their respective state Assemblies.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 7,2020

May 7: Two people, including a child, were killed and nearly 70 hospitalised after a gas leak at a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam in the wee hours of Thursday, officials said.

People in Gopalapatnam area, where the chemical plant, LG Polymers, is located, complained of irritation in eyes, breathlessness, nausea and rashes on their bodies.

District Collector V Vinay Chand said two people were killed due to the gas leak, while some are in a critical condition.

Close to 70 people have been admitted to the King George Hospital after for treatment, he said.

TV channels showed people lying unconscious on roads.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have rushed to the spot.

Reports said the gas leak has been contained.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy enquired about the incident and directed the Visakhapatnam district collector to ensure proper medical care for the affected people.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.