Who to blame for the plight of Muslims

Ram Puniyani
January 29, 2019

Naseeruddin Shah in an interview to Karawan-E-Mohabbat expressed his anguish and anger at the killing of Subodh Kumar Singh, the police inspector. Shah’s interview brought forth the issue of insecurity particularly of the religious minorities in India. While this did remind the nation about the direction in which India has been heading during last few years, there was an angry response to Shah’s response from intolerant sections of society who left no stones unturned in calling him names and in humiliating him in social media.

At the same time RSS’s mouth piece Organiser carried and interview by Shah’s cousin, Syed Rizwan Ahmad. Ahmad is introduced as an Islamic scholar. Ahmad in the interview says that Muslims are unsafe only in nations where Muslims are in majority and that in India intolerance is the birth child of Muslim incompatibility to exist peacefully with other faiths. He goes on to blame the Indian Muslims for their plight in this country as they failed to play a proactive role in cases like Shah Bano and Kashmiri Pundits. It is due to this that Hindus have started feeling that they are getting a raw deal. As per him intolerance is the pseudo narrative of pseudo seculars and intolerant Muslims.

As far as Muslims and other religious minorities are concerned it’s good to introspect about their plight. It is not correct to have the feeling of victimhood. But can we understand the broad political global phenomenon in such a superficial way, where Muslims are blamed for their own plight? Can we present Hindus as a uniform community pitted against the uniform Muslim community? Globally it is true that the Muslim majority countries in the West Asia are witnessing more civil wars and more insecurity. Let’s also note here that while from Indian side we blame Pakistan for the acts of terror, the number of deaths of innocent civilians is many times higher in Pakistan than in India, and let’s not forget Pakistan lost its Prime Minster Benazir Bhutto in a terror attack. Again we see the civil wars, wars and terror attacks have been more in the oil rich zone. The coming up of up of Mujahideen, Al Qaeda and Taliban in that sequence in the region began the acts of terror and violence in these areas. Has this been due to Islam? Why this phenomenon was not there during cold war era or prior to that?

This violence in West Asia has been promoted primarily by the American policy of controlling oil wealth. In the wake of Russian occupation of Afghanistan, America was not able to counter it by sending its own army as the American army was writhing under the breakdown of its morale due to the humiliating defeat in Vietnam War. US by clever machinations started promoting fundamentalist groups in these regions, promoted brain washing of Muslim youth in few Madrassas in Pakistan and richly funded (eight thousand million dollars) and heavily armed (Seven thousand tons of armaments, including latest weapons), these groups which came up through this process. This sowed the seeds of violence, terrorism and led to insecurity in the region. Mahmood Mamdani’s book ‘Good Muslim-Bad Muslim’ gives the accurate count of the process which was employed by the mighty Super power to prop up the terrorist groups. To add salt to the wounds, after the 9/11 2001 twin tower attack; American media popularized the phrase ‘Islamic terrorism’ and laid the foundation of global Islamohobia. The wealth of Muslim majority countries, the Oil, became its biggest handicap!

Islam came to India with Arab traders and later many embraced it due to reasons not the least of which was the wish to escape the tyranny of caste system. One recalls that Muslim kings like Akbar promoted inter religion interaction and even the most demonized Aurangzeb’s many top officers were Hindus. In India while the impression is being created that Muslims are intolerant, the fact during medieval period Hindu-Muslim interactions created Ganga Jumna tehjeeb, well presented in Jawaharlal Nehru’s ‘Discovery of India’ and beautifully captured in the Shyam Bengal’s immortal serial ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, based on this book. During freedom movement majority of Muslims were with Indian National Congress and were equal partners in freedom movement. This gets well reflected in the Muslim freedom fighters like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abul Gaffar Khan, and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai among others. Partition was the clever move of British Empire to weaken India and to have a subservient state in South Asia in the form of Pakistan.

The communal poison was spread here by communal organizations, Muslim League; Hindu Mahasabha and RSS. Sardar Patel goes to the extent of saying that it is due to the communal poison spread by RSS, that murder of father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi could take place. The rising communal violence, later arrest of innocent Muslim youth on the pretext of acts of terror, then lynching’s in the name of cow-beef have created massive insecurity. We can see a correlation between rising insecurity and rise in ghettoization, rise in fundamentalism and rise in use of Burqa among other parameters of orthodoxy.

It is nobody’s case that mistakes have not been done from the side of Muslim community. The section of Muslim community which stood to oppose the Supreme Court verdict on Shah Bano pushed the whole community back. The section of leadership highlighting Babri mosque demolition also has not been good for the large section of community. No doubt the Babri mosque issue has been doctored to show that it was a place of birth of Lord Ram still Muslim leadership should focus more on the issues related to livelihood than these identity issues. Muslim leadership does need to focus on issues of equity. Now dominant communal discourse as by this so called Islamic scholar is trying to put all the blame of plight of Muslim community on Muslims themselves! Nothing can be farther from truth, it’s like blaming the victim for the crime!

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News Network
July 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 9: Bringing to the fore the dangers frontline workers face in combating the deadly coronavirus, 395 policemen have tested positive for the infection since the outbreak of the pandemic in Bengaluru. This includes five deaths, Inspector General of Police and Additional Commissioner of Police (Administration) Hemant Nimbalkar told media persons.

He said as of Thursday, 190 have been cured while 200 are under treatment. Twenty police stations have been sealed, he added.

He claimed the Bengaluru police has suffered the most compared to any department, organisation or institution because the force is deployed in the field and dealing with the situation.

The infection among police is highest despite training being given to them on how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

According to him, every morning duty charter is given to the police personnel where they are told how to avoid getting the infection and handle the situation if they find symptoms of coronavirus.

"Despite taking all the precautions, infection in our department is high because we are the ones who are on the road.

We are meeting hundreds of people whom we don't know, whether they are Covid infected or not," Nimbalkar said.

Along with the policemen, their families too are at risk of contracting the virus.

An assistant sub-inspector at VV Puram police station was the first casualty in the Bengaluru police on June 13.

A heart patient, who was on leave due to ill health, he collapsed at home and died.

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News Network
May 12,2020

Dubai, May 12: Free tickets are being offered by philanthropists and businessmen based in the UAE for deserving Indians who want to fly home.

Repatriation ticket prices have been set at around Dh700 to Dh750 per person depending on the destination. But there are many in UAE who cannot afford it, especially people who have lost their jobs or have medical concerns.

Malayalam Communications Ltd and its Malayalam stations (Kairali TV & Kairali News) are giving away 1,000 tickets free. Those who wish to apply can submit their application to [email protected].

Indian businessman Dhananjay Datar, chairman & managing director of Al Adil Trading Company, is also giving away 300 tickets. He is liasing with the Consulate General of India (CGI) for the names. “This is the time we need to rise as a community,” he said.

Besides taking care of airfares, Datar will also bear the cost of COVID-19 testing fees for Indians from the UAE.

“The repatriation efforts undertaken by the government of India is one of the largest initiatives. I am just doing a small bit to help the community. There are many people who are not in a position to meet the airfare and COVID testing costs as they have lost jobs. I will be coordinating with authorised entities handing this to lend my support,” he said.

Pravasi India Forum, a welfare organisation in UAE, is giving away 100 tickets. The NGO on Monday, May 11, uploaded a registration form where people can provide their details. “Tickets will be given to those approved by CGI and for those who are in financial distress,” said Abulaise, president of Pravasi Welfare Forum.

Punnakan Mohammed Ali, general secretary Incas UAE committee, said it is also ready to give away hundreds of free tickets but only to genuine candidates. “We will evaluate each individual and only if they are approved by the consulate, we will give the tickets. But we are ready to help.”

Those who want to register can get more details on www.pravasiwelfareforum.com.They can also call 055-1025611.

Need for more flights

The gesture notwithstanding, many Indians are still waiting to get news on their repatration.

Social worker Shukoorali Kallangal, President, Abu Dhabi Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), urged the government of India to add more flights to accommodate more passengers.

“Emergency repatriation services are the need of the hour. There are several expats with medical, financial distress. For those who came with the hope of a job – that too is a thing of the past now. Right now all they want is to go home and start something afresh there.”

Kallangal said: “Take the case of pregnant women. In many cases, their husbands have lost jobs or have been asked to go on unpaid leave. They are living hand to mouth and cannot afford medical costs. Due consideration should be given to them.”

Sreedharan Prasad, another social worker based in Ras Al Khaimah, said he is currently dealing with several emergency medical cases.

Consul General of India Vipul said plans are afoot to add more flights in the next phase of Indian repatriation. “The number of flights are being decided by India in consultation with state governments. This is not a normal situation we all are in. We are in the middle of a pandemic situation.”

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Sushma Bangera
June 4,2020

Kuwait: The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the whole world into a difficult situation and the situation of Indians in Kuwait is not any different. Many people have lost their jobs, have no salary, are deprived of food and are not able to pay rent. The appalling conditions of labourers, domestic workers, taxi drivers and low waged earners don’t seem to end in Kuwait. 

At this trying situation when many people were even afraid of leaving their houses because of coronavirus, Suresh S. Rao Neramballi, volunteer of the Food Kit Distribution at the ICSG (Indian Community Support Group) has helped many tremendously. He was ready to go around delivering food kits at any time possible by his car. However, after Kuwait imposed a full curfew from 11th May 2020, no one could take out their vehicles unless they had a curfew pass. 

This did not stop Mr. Suresh Neramballi, who then borrowed a bicycle from a friend and ended up going around in the cycle delivering the food kits in curfew break time (4:30pm to 6:30pm) to all those who registered in the ICSG website. This selfless service surely commands appreciation and applause. Mr. Suresh Neramballi has been a light for many families and bachelors in Kuwait and will surely garner the blessings of them who have been able to eat at this time.

He was also the one who could deliver the food kits to many Indian Muslim maids, bachelors, laborers and families previous day and right on the day of EID, as they were not able to go shopping for their groceries for EID, due to the curfew. They blessed him in EID dua. 

Mr. Suresh Neramballi hails from Mangaluru, India and is an Engineer in the Oil sector company in Kuwait. He has been dedicated to social service, achieved 'Aryabhata International Award' for his Kannada Service and Social service, served in many Associations and Distributor of Kannada and Tulu Movies in Kuwait. He wholeheartedly thanks the people and government of Kuwait for his bread and butter.

Comments

Tanveer
 - 
Friday, 5 Jun 2020

May Almighty Allah shower His mescifull blessing on you and your family... Your selfless service will always be remembered,,,

M SHARIEF SULTAN
 - 
Thursday, 4 Jun 2020

God bless you and your family

abdullah
 - 
Thursday, 4 Jun 2020

God bless you brother and keep you healthy plus happy always.   You will be in the prayers of those who receivec your timely regardles they are hindu or muslim or christian.   This is a slap on the face of hate mongers who are always trying to divide the socieity in the name of religion.    Such people are burden to this world and society.   We should clean our society from such dirt and bad people.   Well done brother.  May God bless you.

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