Sabarimala row | Muslim Jama-ath Council expels Rehna Famtima for hurting Hindu sentiments

New Delhi, Feb 3: Congress leader BK Hariprasad on Monday condemned BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde's remark on Mahatma Gandhi and termed him as "son" of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of the freedom fighter.

"Only sons of Nathuram Godse can make such comments on Mahatma Gandhi," Hariprasad said.

Hedge had attacked Mahatma Gandhi by calling the freedom struggle led by him a "drama" and also questioned as to how "such people" come to be called 'Mahatma' in India.

"None of these so-called leaders were beaten up by the cops even once. Their independence movement was one big drama. It was staged by these leaders with the approval of the British. It was not a genuine fight. It was an adjustment freedom struggle," he had said.

The Trinamool Congress also lent its support to Congress as its leader Saugata Roy said people like Anant Hegde cause shame to the nation. "We are a supporter of Gandhi and they (BJP) are Nathuram Godse supporters. People of this country should see how BJP MPs are as they insult father of the nation," he added.

BJP leaders too found it difficult to defend Hegde on the controversial remarks.

Senior leader Jagdambika pal was cautious in his defence and said, "The whole world knows about Gandhi and it may be his personal opinion."

Whereas senior BJP leaders avoid commenting on Hegde, Union Minister Ashwani Choubey said that Hegde should not have made the comment and added that Gandhi is a well-respected figure in the nation.

Another BJP MP from Haryana Sanjay Bhatia also tried to shy away from making a direct comment and instead said," Congress did not implement what Gandhi preached. It is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who implemented Gandhi's teachings in letter and spirit."

We, the undersigned express our solidarity with Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, renowned scholar, journalist and presently Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Commission.

We strongly condemn the continued media trial and targeting of Dr Zafarul Islam Khan for his Facebook post thanking Kuwait for expressing solidarity with Indian Muslims. In his Facebook post, he mentioned the appalling deterioration of human rights of Indian Muslims who have been targeted by Hindutva bigots. A few politicians with ulterior motives and news channel anchors known for spreading bigotry and Islamophobia have mischievously sought to misinterpret his statement and ridiculously label him as anti-Hindu and anti-India.

He has only reiterated what many citizens of India, public figures, international institutions, various European governments, the United States of America and United Nations human rights mechanisms have repeatedly underlined their concern at the increasing human rights abuse and violations of religious minorities in India.

Dr Zafarul Islam Khan is a man of integrity. He is a scholar who is known to stand up for constitutional freedoms and values.

His work as the Chairman of Delhi Minorities Commission has been warmly applauded by human rights activists and NGOs across different faiths. His timely interventions on problems of minorities in Delhi have made him a respectable figure among not only Muslims but Sikh, Christians, Jains and Parsis. He is a humanist in the truest sense of the word.

The hateful propaganda against Dr Khan is one more illustration as how certain Indians fail to differentiate between Hinduism, a religion and Hindutva which is a supremacist political ideology.

Dr Zafarul Islam Khan is a leading Indian intellectual whose niche area is Islamic studies and Arab world. He enjoys great respect in the Arab and Muslim world for his understanding and knowledge. He is an alumni of the esteemed Jamia Al-Azhar and Manchester University.

Dr Khan is known for taking bold public positions. He was the first Muslim scholar in the world who denounced ISIL, which later became IS or ISIS. He issued a statement opposing the barbaric crimes of ISIL (IS or ISIS) and Boko Haram against minorities. He takes strong stands against extremism of all sorts. That makes him a prominent critic of RSS.

Dr Khan is a scholar ambassador and earned international prestige for the India. Any attack and targeting of him, is actually an insult to Indian constitution and ethos.

We demand the appropriate authorities of the Government of India take strong legal action against those who are distorting Dr Khan’s Facebook post, and spreading vicious false propaganda against him.

Signed by:

Swami Agnivesh

Mohammad Adeeb
Arun Kumar (Prof)

Zafar Jung

Kamal Faruqui

Annie Namala

Kavita Krishnan

Subhash Gatade

Jawed Naqvi

Indu Pratap Singh

Avinash Kumar

Iftikhar Gilani

Anil Chamadia

Xavier Dias

Denzil Fernandes (Dr)

Irfan Engineer

Faisal Khan

John Dayal (Dr)

Mujtaba Farooque

Ravi Nair

Abubakr Sabbaq (Adv)

Gopal Menon

Bilal Khan

Ashok Choudhury

Jaffer Latief Najar

Mujahid Nafis

Aseem Sundan

Poojan Sahil

Ankur Otto

Mariya Salim

Tanweer Alam

Juned Khan

E M Abdul Rahiman

Aditi Dutta

Devika Prasad

Ameeque Jamei

Suhaib Ansari

Gurminder Singh

A C Michael

Neelima Sharma

Aftab Alam (Dr)

Dhruva Narayan

Syed Saif Ur Rahman

Tanweer Fazal (Dr)

Thouseef Madikeri (Dr)

N.D. Jayaprakash

Salahuddin Ansari

Satyajeet Nambiar

Suhail KK

Abu Sufiyan

Sujata Madhok

Tariq Khan

Violin Mathew Benjamin

Shamsul Islam (Prof)

Sreedhar Ramamurthi

Mohd. Shahid (Prof)

Anand Vivek Taneja (Dr)

Kush Kumar Singh (Dr)

Mangla Verma

Vipul Kumar

Waquar Hasan

Braham Prakash

Abdul Rashid Agwan

Fawaz Shaheen

Guman Singh

Mohammed Hafeez Ulla

Kp Sasi

Mushfique Raza Khan

Partha S Banerjee

Gautam Majumdar

S.Q. Masood

Aiman J Khan

M. K. Faizy

Tasleem Rehmani (Dr)

Mohammed Shafi

Lenin Raghuvanshi (Dr)

Malik Motasim Khan

Kripal Singh Mandloi

Labeed Shafi

Qamar Intakhab

Raees Ahmed Siddiqui

Laeeq Ahmed Khan

Anthony Arulraj

Sadiq Zafar

Biju Gopidasan

George Pulikuthiyil

Mohd Abdullah

Mohd Sorab Hussain

Mukunda Kattel

Sandeep Pendse

Paul Newman

Ovais Sultan Khan

New Delhi, Apr 29: Karnataka is likely to withdraw the case filed against a CRPF commando who was arrested by state police officials for alleged assault on them during COVID-19 lockdown duty in Belgaum, a charge contested by the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force.

In a bid to diffuse the ongoing tussle between CRPF and Karnataka police, the official communication sent to CRPF headquarters on Tuesday, with the details of bail granted to CRPF jawan Sunil Sachin Sawant, stated that the issue was discussed with the DGP Karnataka and other senior state authorities with a request to withdraw the case.

According to official communication, Karnataka Director General of Police has assured top CRPF officers that the "case registered against CRPF CoBRA commando is likely to be withdrawn by the state authorities".

The communication also states that "they assured that the criminal case registered against constable of 207 CoBRA BN is likely to be withdrawn by the state authority."

A CRPF CoBRA commando was thrashed and dragged to police station barefoot by police on April 23 for allegedly violating lockdown norms and assaulting/deterring public servant from discharging his duty in Belgavi district of Karnataka. A case was also registered against him.

This is not the first time when the state is showing efforts to solve the matter amicably.

Karnataka culture and tourism minister CT Ravi had also tweeted on April 27 claiming that he had a word with two ministers including state deputy chief minister who 'confirmed that the issue will be resolved amicably'

"Unfortunate that this incident happened with a CRPF Commando and the police. I have spoken with Industries Minister @JagadishShettar and Transport Minister @LaxmanSavadi. Both have confirmed that the issue will be resolved amicably," CT Ravi had tweeted.

CRPF Additional Director General (ADG) Sanjay Arora had also written to DG showing his displeasure over the ill-treatment done by Karnataka police with CRPF jawan and had said that "Keeping in view the gravity of the incident and its impact on the relationship between the two police forces, I am desired by the Director-General CRPF to request you to kindly get the matter inquired and provide justice. We would be thankful if you could inform us of the outcome."

Arora, in his letter, had also said that Karnataka police should have informed the force before registering a case.

The CRPF CbBRA commando was on extended leave and cleaning his motorcycle in front of his house in Examba city when he was allegedly manhandled and ill-treated in front of his family members and paraded to the police station barefoot, where he was kept in chains and handcuff.

The commando was granted bail by a court on Tuesday in the matter.

Sunil Sachin Sawant has been involved in various anti-Naxals operations and is a part of the CRPF elite CoBRA force, which is famous for doing anti-Naxals operations and has eliminated hundreds of Naxals in the past few years.