Tag Archives: Ahmed Patel – Congress Leader

15-year old Schoolgirl Arnazbanu Sipahi who was not called for award ceremony by school despite topping Class X board exams felicitated

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Lunava Village (Mehsana District), GUJARAT:

Also present at the event were Gujarat Congress MLAs Amit Chavda and Imran Khedawala, former Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh, AMC leader of Opposition Shehzadkhan Pathan, and late Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel’s daughter Mumtaz Patel.

Indian Muslims for Civil Rights, IMCR Gujarat felicitation ceremony, Arnazbanu Sipahi, Independence Day, Gujarat education news, indian express news
Arnazbanu Sipahi from Mehsana at the IMCR event on Saturday. (Express File Photo)

The Indian Muslims for Civil Rights’ (IMCR) Gujarat unit on Saturday felicitated 15-year-old Arnazbanu Sipahi from Mehsana, who was not called for a felicitation ceremony by her school despite holding the first position in the Class X board exams at her school, on Independence Day.

A former student of K T Patel High School, who had topped her school in Class X state board exams in March, Sipahi has now shifted to a nearby grant-in-aid school for her Class XI studies.

K T Patel High School principal has maintained that the August 15 award ceremony was organised by the school staffers and the school would felicitate Sipahi instead on January 26, next year.

Speaking to The Indian Express , Mehsana District Education Officer A K Modhpatel had earlier said, “I had checked with the school and learnt that the August 15 award ceremony for first three toppers from Class X and XII was organised by the teachers. They had collected funds to motivate school students. The girl and those who were not studying in the school (when the felicitation ceremony was held on August 15), will be awarded on January 26.”

Maintaining that she was “wronged” by the school, the IMCR – at a state-level conference on constitutionalism and secularism held in Ahmedabad  – called Sipahi on stage to felicitate her in the presence of a host of Muslim leaders. Azam Baig, national general secretary (organisational) of IMCR, announced that he would personally fund Sipahi’s education, including higher studies.

Handing her a plaque and a flower bouquet on stage were former IMCR trustee and Congress leader Salman Khurshid, former member of Planning Commi-ssion, Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, as well as Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi, among others.


Addressing the conference on the topic of ‘constitutionalism and secularism and the way forward’, Hameed cited Arnazbanu’s “experience” and the recent viral purported video of a Muslim boy being hit by his classmates upon being goaded by their teacher at a Muzaffarnagar school, as “examples where children are being discriminated against (on religious lines).” “We have to build a common front… work in an organised way (to counter the polarisation)… The Gujarat riots’ blueprint, which is now being attempted to be implemented elsewhere in India, we must not let it succeed.”

K Rehman Khan, former deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha , urged Muslims to be “givers” and not “seekers”, emphasising that they must empower themselves and “saving the Constitution should be the first priority”. “Only if the Constitution and secularism is saved, can we live a life of dignity,” Khan added.

Former Union minister Salman Khurshid said that “it is not acceptable that rule of law is replaced by rule of bulldozer”. He added that the “public must understand that what is happening today at someone else’s household can also happen at your household”. “We want that the majority speaks for the minority and the minority speaks for the majority,” Khurshid said.

Also present at the event were Gujarat Congress MLAs Amit Chavda and Imran Khedawala, former Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh, AMC leader of Opposition Shehzadkhan Pathan, and late Congress Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel’s daughter Mumtaz Patel.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> News> Cities> Ahmedabad / by Express News Service, Ahmedabad (headline edited) / August 27th, 2023

Ahmed Patel and Gujarat: The national leader who never forgot his roots

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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

Ahmed Patel’s Rajya Sabha poll win, just the booster Congress needed

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GUJARAT / NEW DELHI :

Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat Ashok Gehlot described Patel’s victory in the RS poll as a morale booster for party cadres across the country and a significant marker of the BJP’s fallibility.

Gujarat Rajya Sabha election: The candidates Ahmed Patel from the Congress in gandhinagar.. Express photo javed raja
Gujarat Rajya Sabha election: The candidates Ahmed Patel from the Congress in gandhinagar.. Express photo javed raja

The dramatic Rajya Sabha win of Congress’ chief strategist Ahmed Patel is being widely hailed in internal circles as the booster shot the party needed and a turning point in its fortunes. Patel, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, pushed back an aggressive BJP to win a high stakes battle for the RS seat from Gujarat, providing state cadres a big reason to cheer. Gujarat goes for Assembly elections shortly.

Congress general secretary in-charge of Gujarat Ashok Gehlot described Patel’s victory in the RS poll as a morale booster for party cadres across the country and a significant marker of the BJP’s fallibility. “The BJP has suffered a lot of damage in this election. Its credibility has taken a huge hit. There was no tool they didn’t employ to put spokes in Congress wheels. BJP chief Amit Shah himself went and sat in Gujarat during counting.

“Ahmed Patel’s win will have a positive impact for us not just in Gujarat but across the country. People saw the extent to which BJP can fall to win one seat at the cost of democracy. One election has exposed the BJP totally and this victory will prove a boon for Congress,” Gehlot said.

Congress insiders hailed Patel’s win for another reason -the fact that it showed BJP’s electoral vulnerability after a long time. “This win has broken the myth of BJP invincibility and it has also boosted workers’ morale hugely. It will reverse the down slide Congress was facing. It will send a positive signal across India and will boost Congress’ chances in upcoming polls,” Gehlot said describing Patel as a pole of opposition unity and his win as the harbinger of positive electoral fortunes for the Congress.

Gujarat state leaders say Patel’s historic win against the might of BJP top brass will become an turning point in the upcoming state polls.

“Ahmed Patel’s win will prove a turning point for Congress in Gujarat. We are getting reports of people not appreciating the aggression the BJP put into winning one RS seat. This is bound to prove counterproductive for the BJP which lost out in the final game,” Shaktisinh Gohil, senior Congress leader from Gujarat and party’s spokesperson told PTI today.

Armed with the RS win of Patel, the Gujarat Congress is now in campaign mode, expecting to fire up the canvassing with some visits by Patel over coming days. Organisationally, also Patel’s win has a huge consequence considering he leads the party old guard which is perceived to be at odds with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi-led young brigade.

“The fact is that this is the first win for Congress in a long time. And it’s a win against BJP’s might. This establishes the supremacy of Ahmed Patel in the party organisation and also outside among opposition forces,” a Congress leader said.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> India / by PTI, New Delhi / August 13th, 2017