Prominent Shia preacher and scholar Maulana Kalbe Sadiq died late on Tuesday after prolonged illness. At 83, he was perhaps the tallest and most reputable Shia cleric in Uttar Pradesh and its capital Lucknow.
Sadiq breathed his last at 10 p.m., said his son Kalbe Sibtain Noori. Sadiq was admitted to the ICU of a private hospital on November 17.
“He was very unwell. His condition was deteriorating over the past three days,” said his son.
In a health bulletin issued hours before his death, Era’s Lucknow Medical College said Sadiq was suffering from colorectal cancer with metastasis with severe pneumonia, UTI and septic shock with acute kidney shutdown and paralytic ileus.
An educationist and Islamic scholar in his own right, Sadiq was also the vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
His nephew and Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad said Sadiq’s death was a big loss not only for the family but also for Shias, Muslims in general and the nation. “It is an unbearable loss,” Maulana Jawad said in a statement issued from Jammu and Kashmir.
Support to protest
Despite his ill health, in perhaps in one of his last public appearances, Sadiq offered his support to the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act earlier this year. In January, he visited the Hussainabad Clocktower protest site in old Lucknow and expressed solidarity with the women who had assembled there.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Miscellaneous> Others / by Special Correspondent / Lucknow – November 26th, 2020
Lutfi Hassan, whose name may be known to few but whose contributions in the Joe Biden’s victory is enormous, has been politically active for over three decades promoting immigrants’ causes in the United States.
A Democrat stalwart, Hassan played key role in galvanizing Asian Americans across America by serving on the board of SAB (South Asians for Biden), by raising funds, mobilizing the community on GOTV (get out the vote) efforts for presidential candidate Joe Biden.
Hassan, a resident of Houston, Texas for the past 40 years originally hails from Hyderabad and has been associated with Democratic Party for the past 28 years.
As a politically savvy visionary Hassan has been instrumental in bringing then Democratic candidate Sen. Kamala Harris to Houston last year during the Democratic Primaries to meet the South Asian community.
From then on, he tirelessly campaigned behind the scene for Biden-Harris ticket which eventually yielded historic victory with a female Vice President, a person of color.
Hassan was appointed by President Bill Clinton on the board of Central Asian American Enterprize Fund (CAAEF) In year 2000 and honorably served under President Bush.
Hassan has served on many Gubernatorial, Senatorial, Congressional & Mayoral Campaign Finance Committees represented the South Asian community. Hassan has many a times raised the community’s issues & concerns with the government. Over the years he has been a recipient of various community service awards.
In the year 2003, a US flag was flown over the Capitol in Washington by the order of House Of Representatives to honor him for a decade of his community service. He is the first South Asian to serve on the prestigious board of the Urban League (oldest civil rights organization).
Hassan has always participated in assisting the Indian mission in the US with various Congressional bills and amendments that matter to India. The most recent two important bills in the US Congress & US Senate of being the Indian Civil Nuclear Deal and the US Consulate selection of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. He was also instrumental in motivating President Clinton to choose Hyderabad over Bangalore to visit during his historic visit in March 2000 to India. Hassan was a part of the delegation.
For the past 28 years, as an Indian born American, Hassan has always assisted the Indian community in accomplishing significant milestones. He had the pleasure of serving on the board of the Memphis Tennessee based Gandhi Institute for Non Violence founded by Arun Gandhi, the Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi in the year 1999-2002. Among the landmark achievements is the installation of the Gandhi Statue at the Hermann Park.
Hassan has proved his mettle in the past when he served as a national finance co-chair for former president Barak Obama campaigns in 2008 and then in 2012. Hassan was a part of the President Obama’s first official trip to India.
Over the years, he has been an NAB (National Advisory Board) member of Democratic National Committee.
Hassan is the founder and promoter of Apex Group of Companies and currently serves on the boards of advisory of several multinational companies in the U.S. and Asia.
source: http://www.muslimmirror.com / Muslim Mirror / Home> Featured / by Syed Zubair Ahmed / November 19th, 2020
Quraishi said the document has already been submitted to the apex court.
Supreme Court-appointed administrator S.Y. Quraishi on Friday refuted claims of the All India Football Federation that he had sought more time to prepare the draft constitution of the sports body, saying the document has already been submitted to the apex court.
The AIFF had moved an application before the Supreme Court on November 21, seeking continuation of its existing executive committee beyond its term, claiming that the court-appointed administrators are yet to frame a new constitution to conduct elections.
The Supreme Court, in a 2017 order, had appointed a Committee of Administrators comprising Quraishi and Bhaskar Ganguli to formulate the constitution of the AIFF in consonance with the National Sports Code.
“It is completely wrong to say that we have not finalised the draft constitution. We have completed it in December 2019 and given to our lawyer who helped us out. He [the lawyer] has submitted it to the Supreme Court in January 2020 in a sealed cover as directed by the SC,” Quraishi told PTI.
“Many people know it and Bhaskar has gone home to Bengal as we have completed the task given to us by SC. We were to frame a constitution [of AIFF] in consonance with the letter and spirit of Sports Code. We have done that and our job is over,” the former Chief Election Commissioner, asserted.
The AIFF had told its member units that it approached the Supreme Court to allow continuation of the existing executive committee as it will not be able to hold elections next month due to the non-finalisation of the new constitution.
In that letter, the AIFF had said “the Ombudsmen [committee of administrators] filed an application on February 7, 2020 with the Hon’ble Supreme Court, seeking enlargement of time for submission of the Draft Constitution of AIFF”.
“Due to non-finalisation of its constitution in terms of order dated 10th November 2017 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, AIFF is not in a position to conduct the ensuing election, even though the four years term of the Executive Committee ends on 21st December, 2020. Therefore, the federation has approached the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide an application filed on 21st November, 2020,” said a letter written by AIFF general secretary Kushal Das and addressed to the presidents of all the affiliated member units.
The four-year term of the current executive committee, led by Praful Patel, ends next month and the AIFF has announced that its Annual General Body Meeting will be held on December 21.
Under normal circumstances, the elections will have to be held during this AGM with Praful Patel, who has been AIFF president since 2008, ineligible to contest as per the Sports Code’s tenure cap.
Quraishi said because of the COVID-19 situation, there might have been some issues in the listing of the case.
“Because of COVID-19, the Supreme Court was taking up only urgent cases initially. We were also thinking what had happened to the sealed document. “I think now, may be the case will come up soon,” he said.
The AIFF says it would wait for the directions of the Supreme Court and accordingly modify the agenda of the AGM. Under the Sports Code, the president of a national sports federation can hold office for a maximum three terms or 12 years. Mr. Patel, former Union Minister, served as acting president for one year after long-time head Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi suffered a cardiac arrest in 2008.
He took over as full-time president in October 2009 before being re-elected for the top job in December 2012 and 2016.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport / by PTI / New Delhi – November 27th, 2020
Ballia District, UTTAR PRADESH / Kalimpong, WEST BENGAL / Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM :
Professor Ataullah Siddiqui passed away on the night of 8 November 2020 aged 66, after battling cancer courageously for six months, at his home in Birmingham, UK. His sad demise has brought about a huge loss to not only the Muslim world but the world at large – to all concerned about a meaningful dialogue amongst communities whose relationships are so much mired in past memories of distrust and conflict. Tributes paying their last respects and condolences to the family members have been pouring in from all over the world. Some have written that with his passing ‘the world of British Muslim Studies [has] lost one of its most thoughtful founding scholars’ and described him ‘as an academic who did not seek distinction or accolades, but who selflessly and reliably supported the work of others’, as ‘someone who embodied the spirit of self –sacrificial and humble service – and whose legacy needs to be kept alive’. Another well-known scholar in his obituary describes him as ‘an efficient educator whose contribution to the Muslim community worldwide has been huge’, as a ‘credible scholarly, patient, insightful, caring, very respectful to women, humble and hardworking man’, as a gentleman in the true sense of the word: kind, compassionate, considerate, who never had a bad word to say about anyone’, ‘an immensely kind, gentle, humble, upright, deep and a wonderful human being’ and a ‘great soul’.
In a memorial meeting conducted over Zoom yesterday, a person who attended his funeral described the testimony of the common note of most of the attendees about him being one of the best role models of a good da’i. In an age where we are flooded with information and yet are deprived of the ‘reality’; where relations only tend to gravitate in one direction and any form of disagreement is intolerable, leading to the disintegration of trust and even society at large, in an almost civil war-like situation, Professor Siddiqui was nothing less than a beacon of hope for the future of communities. I should not thus fail to share some of his own views on the three basic beliefs that constitute the core of the Islamic faith which all would do good to know.
First is the concept of the Oneness of God and devotion to it alone. Nothing should stand in the way of sincere loyalty, honour and pursuit of this goal. God alone becomes the centre of all activity and devotion, and any deviation from this goal towards false values – which may include the love and adoration of wealth, power and prestige – becomes shirk and idolatry.
Corresponding to this is the second belief that God is not a passive God but involved in the world and provides constant guidance to human beings. God has not only provided human beings with intellect to understand nature and discover the world around them but also revealed to them the purpose of human creation and responsibility in the world so that they may wonder, reflect and acknowledge the beauty and worth of being part of Creation. This has been done through individuals gifted with outstanding character and conviction. They are the prophets, the final such individual being the prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him). The prophets have not been sent to human beings as fallen and hopeless. In fact, human beings are made the crown of God’s creation, and given the status of vicegerents on earth with intellect, free will and ability to communicate through speech.
Thirdly, the human body, the material part which will perish one day also houses the spirit which continues its journey even after the body perishes. Muslims believe that all good and bad deeds make an impact on the individual’s soul, which then carries its deeds with it and is accountable to its Creator.
These three concepts; of the Oneness of God, the office of prophethood and the accountability of the soul – tawhid, risalah, akhirah form the crux of the Muslim faith.
Professor Siddiqui strived to live his entire life in complete accordance with these beliefs constantly. He always reminded us that ‘good intentions change acts of habit adah into acts of worship ibadah’. Every aspect of his own life – through which he touched the hearts of thousands all over the world – including his livelihood, his love and care for all, and particularly his contribution to the field of his research on building trust and relations where it is fast disappearing between communities and individuals that already know each other – were performed with the pure motive of carrying out God’s commandment. He was a perfect da’i in the sense that he did not wish to impose his views on anyone else but make it, to put it in his own words – ‘dual tracked, multi-focal and multi-layered’. ‘We are in reality, living a “hyphenated” coexistence where multiple communities are at different stages of engagement, with their own pasts and carrying their own memories’.
For those who may have not known him personally, he was not only one of Britain’s, but Europe’s, and even the world’s leading scholars on Islam, particularly in the field of religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue. His father, Maulana Md. Sibghatullah Siddiqui and mother Zafrun Nisa, hailed from the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh and migrated to Kalimpong quite early in their life. Maulana Sibghatullah Siddiqui himself was an epitome of humility and self–sacrificial service who dedicated his entire life to the welfare of the Muslim community of Kalimpong, guiding them spiritually and keeping them united and free from all forms of sectarian factionalism that plagues communities today. Professor Ataullah Siddiqui began his humble educational career in the hill town of Kalimpong and from a very early age was actively involved in initiating the translation of the writings of key Islamic thinkers of the time into the Nepali language with the help of some of the best scholars of the region.
In 1982 he left for the UK to join the Islamic Foundation as a Research Fellow, an organization that he remained loyally associated with till the end of his life, contributing significantly to its academic life as well that of the British Muslim community. He completed his PhD in Theology in the subject ‘Christian Muslim Dialogue in the Twentieth Century’ from the University of Birmingham. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of its sister institute, the Markfield Institute of Higher Education, from conceptualizing and designing its curriculum for doctoral, postgraduate and undergraduate degree programs, to its administration as its Director from 2001- 2008. He taught in the Institute as Reader, and later Professor, of Religious Pluralism and Inter-Faith Relations. He also held several honorary posts as Visiting Fellow and Visiting Professor at the University of Leicester, York St. John’s University, Gloucestershire University to name only a few.
Among his chief achievements during this phase was becoming the founder President and Vice-Chair of the ‘Christian Muslim Forum’ launched by the then Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and was also the founder member of the Leicester Council of Faiths. He published several important books on the subject and contributed regularly to some of the most prestigious journals internationally.
In 2007 he was appointed by the British Government to submit a report on the state, and recommendations towards improvement, of the study of Islam as an academic subject in Universities throughout Britain. At a time when the relationship between communities are growing more and more estranged because their memories are vested with perceptions as well as misperceptions, concordances as well as conflicts, he was found the most suitable person to carry on this task of building bridges. The report titled, ‘Islam at Universities in England: Meeting the Needs and Investing in the Future’, also known as the Siddiqui Report, was the fifth of its kind to be tabled in the British Parliament, preceded by the Reay Report (1909), Scarbrough Report (1947), Hayter Report (1961) and the Parker Report (1986); all four are significant to students interested in the field of Orientalist Studies. In the wake of catastrophic events like 9/11 and 7/7, the Siddiqui Report was one with great responsibility and a genuine vision for a pluralist society.
Now that we have lost this great and humble soul and deep mind, it is for all people committed to a vision of a future built on peace and coexistence, tolerance and respect for all communities and most important of all, committed to dialogue, not diatribe, to carry on his spiritual legacy.
Let us make our own humble supplication and petition to the Almighty to keep alive the memory of this gentle soul in our hearts, give solace to his family in the UK and in India, and raise his ranks in Jannah.
(Following is an excerpt from the autobiography of Shaukat Kaifi, wife of Kaifi Azmi. The autobiography, Yaad Ki Rahguzar, is originally written in Urdu. English translation is done by Nasreen Rehman.)
Kaifi Azmi & Shaukat Kaifi with their daughter Shabana Azmi.
Choti Apajan was married to Akhtar Hasan, a Progressive writer and poet who was invited to Hyderabad in 1946 by Qazi Abdul Ghaffar, of Laila ke Khatut (Laila’s letters) fame, to join him as editor of the Urdu daily, Payam. Akhtar Bhai was a gracious host and Choti Apajan was always by his side in their open house where writers from the Progressive Writers’ Movement, such as Makhdoom Mohiuddin, were regular visitors.
In February 1947 a Progressive Writers’ conference was organized in Hyderabad and Akhtar Bhai arranged for the poets Kaifi Azmi and Majrooh Sultanpuri to stay with his elder sister, Baji. His youngers sister Rabia Burney lived next door, and it was here that Sardar Jafri was staying with her friend Sultana, who later became his wife. Fortuitously, this was during the long school holidays, and as I happened to be visiting my sister in Hyderabad, I was able to attend the conference and meet the Progressive Writers about whom I had heard so much. In Hyderabad it was not uncommon for writers with slightest claim to fame to put on airs and treat with disdain those whom they considered less fortunate or famous than themselves. The young progressive writers were a refreshing change; they wore their fame so lightly that I was overwhelmed. Little did I know that this chance encounter would change my life forever.
One night there was a mushaira. I was sitting in the front row with Bade Bhaijaan. The air was filled with expectation. Finally, I was going to hear the celebrated poets. I had spent hours before a mirror trying on one kurta after another and head settled on a white kargah kurta, a white salwar, a dupatta skillfully dyed in the colours of the rainbow and golden salimshahi shoes. I was determined to overshadow all the other young women. When Kaifi began to recite his poem Taj, I felt impelled to fix my gaze on this tall, slim and charismatic young man, whose voice, God help me, had a timber like the Rumble of storm clouds. How brave of him to recite a powerful poem against monarchy and injustice in the Nizam’s city! Bade Bhaijaan turned to me and said, ‘Such a bold poem from one so young; these people are truly fearless’. after the Mushaira people rushed towards the three poets with their Autograph books. College girls swarmed around Kaifi like flies but I preferred to wait my turn, and giving him an arch look, I turned towards Sardar Jafri and asked for his Autograph instead.
After the crowds had dispersed, I walked up to Kaifi with great confidence and held out my autograph book to him. From the corner of his eye Kaifi had caught me going towards Sardar Jafri; and to my dismay he scribbled some meaningless couplets in my book.
The flaming cloud that seems to shine
The earth of the nightingale’s honour
Come into my domain like a secret
My heart bell rings and lightening swings
Grab the beauty and come into my heart
I was miffed. Kaifi has inscribed a charming couplet for my friend Zakia who was beaming with delight and I was consumed with envy. When we returned to Chhoti Apajan’s, I joined Kaifi on the steps leading to the house and demanded petulantly, ‘Why did you write such silly couplets for me?’
‘Why did you ask for Jafri Sahib’s autograph first?’ Kaifi asked mischievously. He was pleased to see that I was amused in spite of myself and we sat right there on the steps, slipping into a conversation as though we were old friends. The eagle eyed Chhoti Apajaan descended upon us announcing, ‘Dinner is served.’ Then she continued, ‘and yes, Kaifi don’t forget to congratulate Shaukat; she is getting married in three months time to Usman, our Mamu’s son. Kaifi’s crestfallen expression mirrored my dismay as we made our way to dinner. I had learnt from Sardar Jafri that Kaifi was getting married to some lady in Bombay who wanted to have a sherwani made for him and that two of hemru, a rich brocade, which was the speciality of our region. I could not help but feel a twinge of envy.
After dinner Kaifi and I returned to sit on the steps. ‘In three months you will be married and you won’t even think of me.’ Kaifi said in a very subdued voice.
‘And you will go back to Bombay and get married,’ was my rejoinder.
‘Now, I will never get married, not for the rest of my life,’ Kaifi declared.
‘ Marriage is a must,’ I counselled him like an agony aunt, ‘without marriage life is incomplete…… human being remains unfulfilled…’ I was rambling on when I caught Kaifi staring at me. Avoiding his gaze, I rushed off to my room! Something had stirred in me – an emotion unfamiliar but exciting. I could not wait for Dawn to break.
Next morning, I went into Kaifi’s room. He was standing there, wearing a pair of grey trousers and a white shirt. Fresh from his bath, there were drops of water glistening on his long black hair. I had with me the perfume ‘Evening in Paris’ which was all the rage at the time. Purposefully, I rushed up to Kaifi and daubed some on his test. As I turned around and ran I could sense his eyes full of laughter following me out of the room.
Kaifi went for a meeting after breakfast and disappeared for the whole day. In the evening, Akhtar Bhai and Baji were hosting a dinner party; Zakia and I flitting around preening ourselves. It was eight o’clock and there was no sign of Kaifi. Zakia said, ‘I think, Kaifi is asleep at Rabia’s house.
‘Go, go and wake him up,’ I need her.
‘Why should I?’ She asked. I was just saying, ‘Indeed, and why would I….’ when Kaifi walked into the room.
I was standing by a window, near and earthenware pot of cold water, covered with an engraved silver bowl. Kaifi walked up to me and said, ‘I am very thirsty.’ I filled the bowl with water and offered it to him.
He said, ‘More.’
I refilled the bowl. He said, ‘More,’
I poured some more,
‘More,’ said Kaifi.
I looked at him questioningly.
He said, ‘My thirst is unquenched.’
Flushed, I hurried away. My world was transformed into a kaleidoscope of colours.
source: http://www.heritagetimes.in / Heritage Times / Home> Urdu> Writer / by Saquib Salim / January 14th, 2020
Today is the Birth Anniversary of renowned ornithologist Salim Ali. Born in Mumbai on 12th November in 1896, Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali was not only a bird lover but also a naturalist. He is often referred to as the ‘Birdman of India’. He was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and wrote several books that popularized ornithology in India. His research work is considered highly influential in the development of ornithology. He was a well-known environmental crusader who often stood for protecting the wildlife.
Salim Ali played a pivotal role in establishment of Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary (Keoladeo National Park) and prevented the destruction of what is now the Silent Valley National Park. Along with Sidney Dillon Ripley, he wrote the landmark ten-volume Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, a second edition of which was completed after his death.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1976, India’s third and second highest civilian honours respectively. Besides the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, Ali received the Gold Medal of the British Ornithologists’ Union in 1967. He was the first non-British citizen to receive the honour.
source: http://www.newsonair.com / All India Radio (AIR), News Services Division / Home> News Highlights / November 12th, 2020
Allah Baksh Sumroo, a premier of Sindh province—equivalent to the current post of a chief minister—was a committed patriot, whom the Muslim League hated to the extreme. Sumroo’s story directly challenges the ongoing communal and divisive rhetoric where Muslims are projected as a comprador class that was wholeheartedly behind the Muslim League’s two-nation theory.
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The narrative that all Muslims got together to seek India’s partition on the basis of the two-nation theory is now a few decades old. It has acquired salience again, with some hyperventilating neo-nationalists reiterating that all Muslims are traitors as they joined Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League to divide India. These people forget that a large number of Muslims, who consciously decided to stay back, had a choice—either to leave and be Pakistanis or stay back in India and choose their homeland. Many opted for the latter. A similar choice was made by many Hindus who decided to stay back in Pakistan. However, staying back in a democratic, secular and plural India was different from opting for a regressive and sectarian Islamist Pakistan. The future of both, who stayed behind, has proved that so tellingly.
Unfortunate political developments and the prevalent communal rhetoric in India has forced me to go back to the history afresh. There is a concerted campaign to malign all Indian Muslims as leftover Pakistanis, who are enemies within the country; the narrative is that these fifth columnists should be shunted out to Pakistan in the so-called national interest. But merely indicting all Muslims for the sake of petty majoritarian politics goes against the facts of history.
We are a nation obsessed with history, more often concerned with correcting the presumed historical wrongs than learning anything from the past. With this compulsive preoccupation, some of us live perpetually in the past. Even so, most people believe that Maulana Azad, an Independence-era leader, fought a lone battle for a united India, while a majority of Indian Muslims vouched for Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and his Muslim League. This has no factual basis and any extent of living in the past will help unravel actual facts.
To put the record straight, some unsung heroes from our recent history should be talked about. There are many historical characters that were crucial to countering the politics of hate and division of the country around the time of partition. Among them was Allah Baksh Sumroo, who served as a premier of the Sindh province—equivalent to the current post of a chief minister—for two terms between 1938 and 1942. Sumroo was a committed patriot, whom the Muslim League hated to the extreme. He belonged to a feudal Sindhi family but was known for a frugal living and commitment to democratic values. Sumroo wore khadi even as a young man of twenty. We hear about using flags as a power symbol so often these days, but he never used a flag on his official car even in those feudal and colonial times.
What is important to remember today is his commitment to undivided India. Sumroo emerged as a major challenge to the divisive politics of communalists of all hues, particularly the Muslim League. Azad was undoubtedly a national face, espousing composite nationalism, but he actually derived strength from such regional but powerful voices like Sumroo.
To go into the details of his massive anti-Muslim League politics would require a much longer discussion. Let me just refer to one of the most important episodes in the history of our sad partition of the country. The Muslim League passed a resolution recommending the creation of an independent state of Muslims on 23 March 1940 at Lahore. Soon, Sumroo organised a huge conference of patriotic Muslims between 27 and 30 April 1940 in Delhi, called the Azad Muslim Conference. According to some estimates, there were not less than seventy-five thousand people who gathered from all over India to condemn the Muslim League for its divisive politics.
Most of these people came from a large number of political and social organisations, largely representing the backward and artisanal sections of the Muslim society. This representation at the conference was an indicator that the Muslim League spoke for the ashraf, or the privileged sections of the Muslim society while the majority of Muslims—the ajlaf, or the backward sections—remained almost untouched by the League’s rhetoric. The British identified a collaborative section of the Muslim community, helped in forming the Muslim League but this section largely represented the affluent—the zamindars, and business and professional classes. The leadership that emerged in the League had little clue to the highly differentiated Muslim society they claimed to represent. Azad could see this early. Referring to Indian Muslims at the time, he wrote in his weekly Urdu language newspaper, Al Hilal, in 1912:
The most unfortunate part of their life is that they have a section of elite who are in the forefront and leading them. Those are the self-proclaimed leaders of the community. They have put the crown on their own head, with their own hands, instead of the masses doing the same. They indulged in all sorts of exhibitionism of power and the worst is show of their wealth. And by so doing they had converted the millat [class] of downtrodden men in their community as their slaves and camp followers. And now if anyone tries to question their validity as leaders or defy them, they are successfully suppressed and annihilated by those selfish leaders; as they have the power of money.
Sumroo’s presidential address at the Azad Muslim Conference in April 1940 also exposed the misplaced arguments of the League, particularly in the name of religion and culture. All through his speech he spoke extensively on the shared history and heritage, stressed on the compositeness of Indian nation and nationalism and emphasised that the compact between diverse communities cannot be severed. Strongly condemning the two-nation theory exponents, The Sunday Statesman of 28 April 1940 quoted him saying in his speech:
A majority of the 90,000,000 Indian Muslims who are descendants of the earlier inhabitants of India are in no sense other than the sons of the soil with the Dravidian and the Aryan and have as much right to be reckoned among the earliest settlers of this common land. The nationals of different countries cannot divest themselves of their nationality merely by embracing one or another faith. In its universal sweep Islam, the faith, can run in and out of as many nationalities and regional cultures as may be found in world.
He underlined the long history of shared heritage of Hindus and Muslims, as mentioned in a Hindustan Times report on the same day:
It is a vicious fallacy for Hindu, Muslim and other inhabitants of India to arrogate to themselves an exclusively proprietary right over either the whole or any particular part of India. The country as an indivisible whole and as one federated and composite unit belongs to all the inhabitants of the country alike and is as much the inalienable and imprescriptible heritage of the Indian Muslim as of other Indians.
Sumroo made these detailed references to the shared history and intermixing of Hindu and Muslim cultures over the centuries to counter both the League as well as those who were arguing for Hindutva majoritarianism. He was aware, like Azad, of the forces which threatened the future of united composite India. Sumroo needs to be talked about today more seriously to counter all those who threaten fellow Muslim citizens to go to Pakistan.
In his address, Sumroo provided a counter for another argument put forth by neo-nationalists today—that Muslims asked for Pakistan and once it was granted by dividing the country, all of them should have moved there. This would have settled the issue forever. All those who make such insinuations today need to know what popular Muslim leaders like Sumroo said of the creation of Pakistan:
It was based on false understanding that India is inhabited by two nations, Hindu and Muslim. It is much more to the point to say that all Indian Mussalmans are proud to be Indian nationals and they are equally proud that their spiritual level and creedal realm is Islam. As Indian nationals—Muslims and Hindus and others, inhabit the land and share every inch of the motherland and all its material and cultural treasures alike according to the measures of their just and fair rights and requirements as the proud sons of the soil.
Azad, too, sent a message of support to the Azad Muslim conference as he was not able to attend it. He expressed his solidarity with the conference and wished that the deliberations would be fruitful for the great cause of the freedom of the country and the Muslims.
This fight for composite and inclusive Indian nationalism, which looks so alarming and threatening today, is more than few decades old. Azad and Sumroo challenged these regressive and divisive forces in the 1930s and 1940s. They almost took the battle to the enemy’s camp by organising a huge conference in Delhi, which unnerved the Muslim League leadership. Sumroo was assassinated in 1943. It was suspected to be the League’s handiwork.
We can comprehend his stature and the sense of loss on his death by reading some of the reactions in contemporary press and also the pain expressed by several nationalist leaders. The Hindustan Times described him as follows:
… finest of Sindhis, one of the truest of Musalmans, one of the noblest sons of India who loved his peasants for he loved the land; and he used to wear khaddar even in the twenties, for he loved the poor. Both the Hindus and Muslims looked up to him as a leader … He had an all-India mind and in the midst of division and strife, pinned his faith on an independent united India, and dreamt the dream of the united State of Asia in the years to come …
His murder was seen as a national calamity by several papers. The Amrita Bazar Patrika called him “one of the most vigorous personalities, endowed with a high sense of duty and rare courage of conviction, who easily commanded the respect and admiration of all, even of those who differed from him on some or the other public questions.” Commenting on his death, the newspaper added, “A life so full of promise has been cut short. And India is much poorer today by the death of the young man of 42 whose sturdy patriotism and devotion to duty would be cherished long after the present unhappy situation has ended and India has come into her own.”
The right wing in India often says that Subhas Chandra Bose, a leader of the anticolonial struggle, did not find his rightful place in Indian history. I find it politically motivated and not really a sincere observation. It is people like Sumroo, who seem to be lost in our history records, even in the writings of the so-called liberal and Marxist historians, except for a chapter in a book by Shamshul Islam titled Muslims Against Partition of India.
Another prominent Muslim voice from the past, who can rightfully represent our composite nationalist ethos is Saifuddin Kitchlew, a Kashmiri freedom fighter whose family moved to Punjab. It was his arrest along with Dr Satyapal, a political leader, that triggered the protests leading to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. Most of us are oblivious to his contributions as well. Kitchlew had also mourned the loss of Sumroo saying:
At this critical period of the freedom movement in the country the death of a man like Mr Allah Baksh is a thundering blow to the forces of nationalism. Mr Allah Baksh was a thorough going nationalist. Mr Allah Baksh is dead but his work will remain.
It is necessary to know about such men and women from our past as their profiles directly challenge the ongoing communal and divisive rhetoric where Muslims are projected as a comprador class that was wholeheartedly behind the League’s two-nation theory. Azad was surely the prime political figure, an Islamic scholar, who stressed on the composite nationalism. However, he was not fighting a lone battle against the Muslim League, as Jinnah wanted the British and the Muslims to believe. He was hated and derided as a show boy of the Congress party, precisely to show that most of the other Muslims and their leaders were with the idea of Pakistan. This falsehood needs to be exposed, particularly in the midst of the ongoing divisive politics.
S IRFAN HABIB is a historian and author. He was earlier the Maulana Azad Chair at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.
source: http://www.caravanmagazine.in / The Caravan / Home> Commentary – History / by S Irfan Habib / July 28th, 2020
Aimed at helping the visually impaired, it fits into a smartphone’s port
Four students from the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras have come together to develop a handy device for the visually impaired.
The assistive device fits into the port of a smartphone and helps them to type, learn and read braille content. It also allows them to self-navigate through space and recognise people and objects.
Four students — Sundar Raman P., Adil Mohammed K., Shivam Maheshwari and Andrea Elizabeth Biju — got together to develop the device. While Sundar is a final-year electrical engineering student, Adil and Shivam are pursuing second- and third-year engineering design. Andrea is a second-year student of aerospace engineering.
The students improvised on an existing product that allows the visually impaired to read PDF files on their phone. But it is a cumbersome exercise as the reader must carry a separate device. Sundar said the aim was to leverage the smartphone’s capability, as most people carry one today.
The team came up with Cube, a compact device that fits into the smartphone’s charging port or earphone jack. It has four refreshable braille cells (24 dots) on one side and a camera on the other.
The camera on the device, along with the smartphone’s camera, is used to capture and process (computer vision) a wide field of view to provide the user navigation information through tactile braille cells about the proximity and nature of the obstacles.
The refreshable braille cells project symbols to convey time, proximity to obstacles etc. and help in learning and typing on the smartphone in braille.
Currently, the visually impaired rely on slow audio feedback to type. But Cube intends to change that, said Sundar. The device can be folded to the back of the phone using a flexible connector.
Vishnu Suresh, a fourth-year student of Integrated MA in English Studies, who tried it out, said being able to type on the phone was like typing on a braille typewriter. “It has a keyboard through which we can type the way we type on a braille typewriter. It is perfect,” he said
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by R Sujatha / Chennai – November 26th, 2020
Piraman Village (Bharuch District) GUJARAT / NEW DELHI :
Ahmed Patel was one-point contact person for Congress leaders, workers from Gujarat
Ahmed Patel | PTI
When the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading in India in March, many journalists in Gujarat received a call from Ahmed Patel asking about their well-being and also that of their families.
“Hope you and your family are doing well. Do let me know in case any help is needed,” he said.
Even several Congress workers received a call from him. He personally called up a reputed hospital in Ahmedabad to book a room for his colleague, Rajya Sabha member Shaktisinh Gohil, who tested positive for COVID-19.
On Wednesday, when the nation lost Ahmed Patel of post-COVID-19 complications , for the Gujarat Congress, it is a loss that the party and its leaders cannot even imagine.
Ahmed Patel was the one-point contact person for the leaders and party workers from Gujarat. Ahmed Patel was accessible 24×7.
A three-time Lok Sabha member and five-time Rajya Sabha member, Ahmed Patel was a man who was in New Delhi but did not forget his roots in Gujarat and was ever ready to help Gujarat and raise concerns when it mattered.
He had friends across party lines and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and people of Ahmed Patel’s age called him ‘Babubhai’, a name he got from his native Piraman village in Bharuch district of Gujarat. There is a likelihood that he might be buried beside the graves of his parents in Piraman.
Not many know that Ahmed Patel was instrumental in running many gaushalas (cow shelters) in Gujarat. A Congress leader in Rajkot, Dr. Hemang Vasavda, recalled how during drought Ahmed Patel aided gaushalas and the way he stayed in Kutch during the killer earthquake of 2001 to guide the party workers.
Totally dedicated to the party without aspiring for any post and easily accessible is how former Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia described Ahmed Patel. “We have lost a friend, philosopher and a guide,” he said.
Tributes came from the young working president of Gujarat Congress Hardik Patel as well. Hardik recalled how Ahmed Patel inspired him before he joined the party over two years ago. “I remember how he offered me mango ras and puri in peak summer in New Delhi when I went to meet him,” he recalled.
Hardik also said that when he was in jail, Ahmed Patel often called up his parents to comfort them and say that lawyers would be arranged for his case.
Ahmed Patel reaching out to party workers and meeting them personally during his visits to Gujarat in their good and bad times is something that the rank and file of Gujarat Congress is not able to forget.
The manner in which Ahmed Patel won the Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat in a nail-biter in mid-2017 strengthened the Congress and it put up a good show in the Assembly election later that year.
source: http://www.theweek.in / The Week / Home> News> India / by Nandini Oza / November 25th, 2020
The 33-year-old officer says he chose the location outside his office so that he could monitor and supervise the arrangements.
From food items to hangers filled with warm clothes, ‘Wall of Kindness’ in Srinagar brings warmth during this harsh winter | Zahoor Punjabi
As the mercury drops to 2 degree Celsius on a windy Saturday evening in Srinagar, a youngster, Zubair Ahmad, puts up a blanket on a hanger mounted on the ‘Wall of Kindness’, a unique wall set up for the needy and homeless, outside the office of the traffic police department.
Ahmad is among thousands of residents who have come forward to donate their clothes — jackets, coats, suits, mufflers, among others — for those in need of warm clothes during the chilly winter, as a gesture of their “kindness”.
And the ‘architect’ behind the Wall of Kindness initiative is Sheikh Aadil Mushtaq, a 2015-batch Kashmir Police Service (KPS) officer from Baramulla district who is posted as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) traffic police in Srinagar.
Moved by the deplorable conditions of the poor — hit by two shutdowns, after the abrogations of Article 370 in August last year and the Covid-19 lockdown in March — the young police officer took the initiative on November 13 on the occasion of World Kindness Day. The Wall of Kindness was first started in Mashhad in Iran in 2016 and later, the charity initiative spread to other parts of the world.
Starting from food items to hangers filled with warm clothes to sanitary pads, the Wall of Kindness in the heart of summer capital brings warmth during this harsh winter. Painted in white, the wall has a message, too: “If you don’t need it, leave it. If you need it, take it.” “It is not a new idea. It is a corollary effort. This Wall of Kindness is an interface that I have dedicated to the people of Srinagar,” Aadil says.
The 33-year-old officer says he chose the location outside his office so that he could monitor and supervise the arrangements. According to Aadil, there has been an overwhelming response to the initiative. “Every day, hundreds of people come and donate items such as woollen clothes, food and blankets etc.” The DSP, who is pursuing post-graduation diploma in cybercrime, says with the onset of winter, the arrangements for kangris (earthen hot pots) have also been made at the wall.
A coffee and tea vending machine has also been set up there by the donors. “Any homeless or an underprivileged person can have a cup of tea or coffee to beat the chilling winter,” the officer says, adding that it is being ensured that the items reach the needy only. “My initiative has been successful. The things are reaching the needy and the deserving people, and this was the main purpose of my initiative,” Aadil says. Asked whether people have been hesitant in donating, the officer says: “I have been lucky here. The kind of love and affection I get from people is overwhelming.
Without their help, it would have been impossible. I don’t have to instruct much. People are themselves cooperating and donating items.” “I am not doing it as a police officer. Being a police officer is my second identity. I am a responsible citizen first, and I have certain responsibilities towards the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” says DSP. Aadil says he has been receiving calls from people from Jammu and other places who want to join the initiative and generously donate for the destitute.
The police officer says the winter in Kashmir is harsh and many people struggle in the absence of warm clothing. He said he and other police personnel wanted to help those people. The clothes hanging on the wall catch the attention of people who stop to take a look. Locals have, however, appreciated the initiative. Ahmad, a local who has also donated a pair of blankets, says the initiative should be appreciated to encourage others.
“It hardly matters whether the initiative has been taken by a police officer or a civilian. What matters is that we need to be compassionate towards people, who have been economically hit by two lockdowns since August 5 last year. We need to be compassionate towards each other and help each other in the trying times like Covid-19 pandemic. We should come up with such initiatives regularly,” he says.
Moved by deplorable conditions of the poor in Srinagar, after two lockdowns in seven months, a young traffic police officer sets up a ‘Wall of Kindness’ where people can donate clothes for those in need, reports Fayaz Wani.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by Fayaz Wani / Express News Service / November 22nd, 2020
