Once the ‘war’ starts, we are all one: Shobha on dissidence in Udupi BJP

Suhaana shuddered with fear as she heard violent banging on her door on Sunday. The atmosphere was charged with communal tension after thousands of ruthless goons supporting contentious Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) launched a bloody onslaught against Muslims in the capital of India.

The family consists of Suhaana (name changed), her partially paralysed husband and two daughters. They are the only Muslim family in Madhuban mohalla of North Ghonda locality in north-east Delhi.

Hearts pounded louder than pounding of the door. Then the banging stopped and noises of men talking loudly came.

"I peeped out from a small window near the kitchen and saw our neighbours standing outside our entrance and arguing with 10-15 unknown people," Suhaana said.

It was the first day of the communal violence, worst in the decades, that fanned out to the entire north-east Delhi over the next three days and claimed at least 42 lives, left over 200 injured and properties worth crores destroyed. The death toll is feared to go up.

Later in the night Suhaana's family moved to one of their Hindu neighbour's house. There are about 30 Hindu households in the mohalla who kept vigil as the atmosphere deteriorated.

The next day, the violence escalated. The neighbours decided to shift Suhaana 's family to Gautampuri for their safety.

Suhaana recounted, "Our neighbours assured us that they are with us but as things were deteriorating, they said they wouldn't be able to protect us if a big mob of hundreds came. They advised us to move to the nearby Gautampuri locality and come back only after things become normal."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj brought the family to Gautampuri in the early hours on February 25.

Anil Gupta, 49, said, "It was tough to rescue them. We were asked by the rioters as to why we were saving the Muslims. But we had to, it is the people of my country who are suffering. It cannot be Hindus or Muslims."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj said, "Their youngest clung to me throughout. After I brought them here at Gautampuri, I felt good. Situation till then was not okay."

On Saturday, some semblance of normalcy returned to parts of north-east Delhi with some people opening their shops amid heavy police presence.

Meanwhile, the morbid sight outside GTB Hospital's mortuary, agonising groans in the hospital wards burnt down houses and shops remind Suhaana and others what they have been spared of.

Belgaum: Canon, Epson and Nikon reside in a house named "Click" in Karnataka's Belgaum district.

The newly built house of photographer couple Ravi and Krupa Hongal, which resembles a giant DSLR camera, has not only enamoured locals but has become quite a sensation on social media.

The three-storied camera-shaped house located in Shastri Nagar is an expression of passion and love for the art of photography of the couple whose children- three boys- have all been named after the iconic camera brands.

Their names ''Canon'', ''Epson'' and ''Nikon'' feature prominently on the house whose exterior resembles a camera. Just like a camera, the building has a glass window shaped as a viewfinder and another as a lens. It sports a wide film strip, a flash and even a memory card.

The walls of the house walls and its interior have graphics related to photography.

"I have been photographing since 1986. Building this house is like a dream come true. We also named our 3 children-Canon, Nikon and Epson. These all are three camera names. I love the camera and hence named them on camera companies name. My family were opposed to it, but we remain adamant," photographer Ravi told media persons.

Karnataka: A photographer couple, Krupa Hongal&Ravi Hongal, has built a camera-shaped house in Belgaum. Krupa (pic3) says,"It's a dream come true. We also named our 3 children-Canon,Nikon&Epson." Ravi (pic4) says,"We borrowed money for it&also sold our previous house."(14.07.20) pic.twitter.com/8Mkh1JOUk1

— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
The photographer says the couple had to borrow money from relatives and friend for constructing the house. "We also sold our previous house to build this house," he added.

Krupa said that it was their cherished dream to build a house like a camera.

"My husband is a photographer. It was our dream to build a house like a camera. We planned and built this house. We feel like we are living inside a different world, inside a camera. I am very proud of my husband," she said.

Canon, their elder child said, "My friends used to ask me whether it was my real name. Now, I tell them yes, photography is my father's passion and hence he named me Canon."

On social media, the picture of the unique shaped house has been shared widely.

"This is called love for the passion," said one user on Twitter.

Another user commented: "A camera-obsessed photographer from India builds a camera-shaped house! 49-year-old Ravi Hongal has spent over $95,000 building the 3-story house, which looks like a camera in the town of Belgaum in India."

The family seems to be indeed living a picture-perfect dream.

Washington, Apr 29: A US government panel on Tuesday called for India to be put on a religious freedom blacklist over a "drastic" downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, triggering a sharp rebuttal from New Delhi.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends but does not set policy, and there is virtually no chance the State Department will follow its lead on India, an increasingly close US ally.

In an annual report, the bipartisan panel narrowly agreed that India should join the ranks of "countries of particular concern" that would be subject to sanctions if they do not improve their records.

"In 2019, religious freedom conditions in India experienced a drastic turn downward, with religious minorities under increasing assault," the report said.

It called on the United States to impose punitive measures, including visa bans, on Indian officials believed responsible and grant funding to civil society groups that monitor hate speech.

The commission said that Modi's Hindu nationalist government, which won a convincing election victory last year, "allowed violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with impunity, and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence."

It pointed to comments by Home Minister Amit Shah, who notoriously referred to mostly Muslim migrants as "termites," and to a citizenship law that has triggered nationwide protests.

It also highlighted the revocation of the autonomy of Kashmir, which was India's only Muslim-majority state, and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.

Coronavirus state-wise India update: Total number of confirmed cases, deaths on April 29

The Indian government, long irritated by the commission's comments, quickly rejected the report.

"Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has reached new levels," foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said.

"We regard it as an organization of particular concern and will treat it accordingly," he said in a statement.

The State Department designates nine "countries of particular concern" on religious freedom -- China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The commission asked that all nine countries remain on the list. In addition to India, it sought the inclusion of four more -- Nigeria, Russia, Syria and Vietnam.

Pakistan, India's historic rival, was added by the State Department in 2018 after years of appeals by the commission.

In its latest report, the commission said that Pakistan "continued to trend negatively," voicing alarm at forced conversions of Hindus and other minorities, abuse of blasphemy prosecutions and a ban on the Ahmadi sect calling itself Muslim.

India's citizenship law fast-tracks naturalization for minorities from neighbouring countries -- but not if they are Muslim.

Modi's government says it is not targeting Muslims but rather providing refuge to persecuted people and should be commended.

But critics consider it a watershed move by Modi to define the world's largest democracy as a Hindu nation and chip away at independent India's founding principle of secularism.

Tony Perkins, the commission's chair, called the law a "tipping point" and voiced concern about a registry in the northeastern state of Assam, under which 1.9 million people failed to produce documentation to prove that they were Indian citizens before 1971 when mostly Muslim migrants flowed in during Bangladesh's bloody war of independence.

"The intentions of the national leaders are to bring this about throughout the entire country," Perkins told an online news conference.

"You could potentially have 100 million people, mostly Muslims, left stateless because of their religion. That would be, obviously, an international issue," said Perkins, a Christian activist known for his opposition to gay rights who is close to President Donald Trump's administration.

Three of the nine commissioners dissented -- including another prominent Christian conservative, Gary Bauer, who voiced alarm about India's direction but said the ally could not be likened to non-democracies such as China.

"I am deeply concerned that this public denunciation risks exactly the opposite outcome than the one we all desire," Bauer said.

Trump, who called for a ban on Muslim immigration to the US when he ran for president, hailed Modi on a February visit to New Delhi.