New Delhi: The Hindu’s side in the Gyanvapi case has filed a petition in the Varanasi District Court, urging it to protect the ‘Vyas Ka Tehkhana’ (cellar), where the Hindus have been worshipping after the court’s order in January. Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer of the Hindu side, has said that there are continuous attempts made by the members of the Muslim community, who are going to offer ‘namaz’, to ‘demolish’ the cellar.
Tag: Muslim
-
Schools in Muslim-majority areas in Jharkhand get Friday holidays
Express News Service
RANCHI: Students of 100 primary schools in Karmatand, Narayanpur and Jamtara blocks in Jamtara district of Jharkhand are being given holidays on Fridays instead of Sundays, citing the Muslim population in such schools. About 70% of the students in these schools belong to Muslim community.
Recently, similar attempts were made in Garhwa to impose Sharia and Islamic practices on minor school children by changing the traditional school prayer pattern and forcing children to not join hands during the prayer, but after the intervention of district administration, it was restored after four months.
According to some of the teachers posted in those schools, despite making written complaints to Block Development Officer (BDO), District Education Officer (DEO) and Deputy Commissioner, no action was taken and hence they had to stick to the arrangement made by the locals.
“Despite being a High School, I was surprised to see that weekly holiday was observed here on Fridays instead of Sundays after I joined here as a teacher in 2019. I wrote to the District Education Officer, who told me to give holidays as per the rules, and then I started giving it on Sundays, which continued for afew months,” said a school teacher posted at one of the Utkramit High School underKarmatand Block.
One morning, villagers came to the school and asked me why I changed the weekly holiday, to which he replied that it was done following the order of the DEO, he added.
“They went back without saying anything, but again, after a month on October 1, 2021, which was a Friday, I found the villagers have put a lock on the school gate. I informed my seniors immediately and briefed them about the incident, but all in vain. After none of my seniors turned up or took cognizance into the incident, I met the Block Development Officer, informed him about the incident, and then went to the Deputy Commissioner with written complaint who assured me to look into the matter,” said the aggrieved teacher. He went back to school next day and found that the lock was opened, he added.
The teacher further added that later the DEO called him back and asked him to manage the school as it was being done earlier. Then, took approval from the Gram Shiksha Samiti for the same and submitted it to the district office, he said.
The teacher informed that since then, Friday is being observed as weekly holiday on Friday instead of Sunday. Recently, when he got the school painted, one fine morning it was found that Urdu was added before the name of school as if it is an Urdu School, he said.
Another teacher posted at an Upgraded High School under Narayapur Block, said that since, more than 70 per cent children studying there belong to Muslim community; they say that the school should also be run accordingly.
“These schools are being closed under the garb of the notification which allows Urdu schools to remain closed on Friday, but even schools which are not notified as Urdu schools, are also being forced to observe holiday on Fridays,” the teacher said.
Shahjad Ansari from Nawadih village under Karmatand Block asserted that all the schools in the Muslim dominated villages in the region have been observing holidays on Friday instead of Sundays and their week starts on Saturday.
“I have been watching it at least for the last 15-20 years. Why it is being done, could be told by the education department only, as villagers never interfere in the matter of school management,” said Shahjad Ansari.
Jamtara Deputy Commissioner Faiz Aq Ahmed Mumtaz, however, said that he has sought a report from the DEO after the matter was brought into his notice.
“I have told the DEO to look into the matter and submit a report in this regard. It has to be seen, whether any violation of rule has been done or not,” said the Deputy Commissioner. Only after the investigation report, he would be able to say anything in this regard, he added.
Meanwhile, taking a swift action after the matter came into light, School Education and Literacy Minister Jagarnath Mahto has called a meeting with Jharkhand Education Project Council Director, District Education Minister and other block level officers on Sunday and sought a detailed report within a week in this regard.
According to the information received from the Education Department, there are 1,084 primary schools operating in the district, of which only 15 schools are registered in the name of Urdu schools.
-
Gyanvapi mosque case: Next hearing on July 12
By PTI
VARANASI: The district court here fixed July 12 as the next date for hearing the maintainability of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex case as the Muslim side presented its arguments on Monday.
Madan Mohan Yadav, the counsel for the Hindu side, said the Muslim side argued on the maintainability of the case during which they read out all points, including the petition filed on behalf of the Hindu side for allowing regular worship at the Gyanvapi mosque.
They sought more time to present their arguments after which the court fixed July 12 as the next date for hearing, he said.
Muslim side advocate Mohammad Tohid Khan said they read out all points in the court, which has given them time to present their arguments on July 12.
Earlier, five women had filed a petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the mosque.
A lower court had ordered a videography survey of the complex. The survey work was completed on May 16 and the report was presented in the court on May 19.
The Hindu side had claimed in the court that a Shivling was found during the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex.
On the order of the Supreme Court later, the matter is now being heard in the district judge’s court from May 23.
-
Nupur Sharma seeks time to appear before Bhiwandi police over remarks against Prophet Mohammad
By PTI
THANE: Suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who was summoned by the Bhiwandi police in Maharashtra on Monday over her alleged objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad, has sought time to appear before the police to record her statement, a senior official said.
Sharma has been granted time and will not appear before the Bhiwandi police on Monday, he said. The official did not specify how much time Sharma has been granted.
The Bhiwandi police in Thane district had registered a case against Sharma over her remarks about the Prophet during a TV debate, following a complaint lodged by a representative of the Raza Academy on May 30, he said.
They had also registered a case against expelled BJP functionary Naveen Kumar Jindal over his alleged controversial tweets against Prophet Mohammad and asked him to record his statement on June 15, an official earlier said.
The Bhiwandi police on Sunday detained a 19-year-old Muslim man for allegedly posting a derogatory remark on Prophet Mohammad and showing support to Nupur Sharma over her controversial comments, a senior official earlier said.
ALSO READ| Prophet remarks row: Islam says Nupur Sharma should be forgiven, says Jamaat Ulama-e-Hind
The accused was taken into custody by the police after a tense situation prevailed in the town over his viral social media post, which angered members of the Muslim community, he said.
The man has apologised, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone-II, Bhiwandi, Yogesh Chavan said on Sunday night, adding that an offence was registered against him under Indian Penal Code Section 153A (promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups).
ALSO READ| Prophet remark row: UP Police arrests 316 people for Friday violence; Yogi issues stern warning
Chavan appealed to citizens of the town not to believe in rumours and help the police in maintaining law and order. Earlier, the Mumbra police in Thane asked Sharma to appear before them on June 22 to record her statement over her remarks.
The Mumbai Police have also summoned her to record a statement on June 25 in connection with her remarks about the Prophet during a TV debate that triggered a huge controversy. The police had asked for a video of the debate from the news channel concerned.
The BJP had on June 5 suspended its national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled Delhi BJP media head Jindal after their alleged derogatory remarks against the Prophet led to an outrage in India and Gulf countries.
-
Video of Muslim women urging Mumbai police to arrest Nupur Sharma goes viral on social media
By PTI
MUMBAI: The video of a group of Muslim women urging the Mumbai police to arrest suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma over her controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad went viral on social media on Wednesday.
The purported video was shot at Pydhonie police station in south Mumbai last week and was uploaded on a social networking site, a senior police official said. The video, which lasts less than a minute, shows the women asking the police officials to arrest Sharma for her remarks on Prophet Mohammad.
The video shows some women saying that lack of action against Sharma could prompt other people to pass similar remarks.
An FIR was registered against Sharma at Pydhonie Police Station on May 28 for her objectionable remarks.
Mumbai police has sought a video of the TV debate, during which Sharma passed the remarks, from the news channel concerned. The city police are yet to summon Sharma to record her statement in connection with the case, the official said adding investigation is underway.
The BJP on Sunday suspended Sharma and expelled its Delhi unit media head Naveen Kumar Jindal after a row over their alleged derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammad escalated with protests from some Muslim countries.
Sharma’s comments, made in a TV debate nearly recently, and Jindal’s now-deleted tweets sparked a Twitter trend calling for a boycott of Indian products in some Arab countries.
-
Uttarakhand: Muslim family gets beaten up for supporting BJP
By Express News Service
Dehradun: After a Muslim family in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand was allegedly beaten up, called ‘Kaafir’ by their neighbours earlier this month for supporting the Bhartiya Janta Party, the police registered a case in the matter on Thursday.
The family alleged that all four members including two children were beaten up on April 5 by six people for joining and supporting the BJP. A male member of the family is a local party functionary.
Satish Kapri, incharge of the local police chowki said, “The case has been registered against five people by name while one is still unidentified in the matter. Further action is being taken and search operation to catch the accused is going on.”
The attack against the family which resides in Rudrapur city of the US Nagar district left four injured, including a teenage girl.
Anees Mian Guddu, a resident of ward no.20 Bhoorbangla is the member of the BJP and worked for the party in the recently concluded state assembly elections of Uttarakhand.
Mian and his family alleged that the accused had threatened them to not work for the saffron party. Mian and his wife Parveen Jahan were attacked by locals while they were in their general store shop in the locality.
After the couple went out for medical treatment leaving their two children- a son and a daughter at home, the accused barged into their house and beat the children up too, alleged Jahan.
Last month, a Muslim man was allegedly beaten to death by his neighbours in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar district for participating in the BJP’s election campaign and celebrating its victory.
Babar Ali (25) was allegedly beaten up on March 20 in Kathargarhi and died during treatment in Lucknow on March 25.
Ali was allegedly targeted by his neighbours for apparently participating in the BJP’s campaigning and celebrating its victory in the assembly polls.
-
Muslim family donates land worth Rs 2.5 crore to build world’s largest Hindu temple in Bihar
By PTI
PATANA: Setting an example of communal harmony in the country, a Muslim family in Bihar has donated land worth Rs 2.5 crore for construction of the world’s largest Hindu temple–Virat Ramayan Mandir in the Kaithwalia area of East Champaran district in the state.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Acharya Kishore Kunal, chief of the Patna-based Mahavir Mandir Trust, that has undertaken the project, said that Ishtiyaq Ahmad Khan, who has donated the land, is a businessman from East Champaran based in Guwahati.
“He recently completed all formalities pertaining to the donation of land belonging to his family for the construction of the temple at the registrar office of the Kesharia sub-division (East Chanmparan),” Kunal, a former Indian Police Service officer, told reporters.
The Acharya said that this donation by Khan and his family is a great example of social harmony and brotherhood between two communities.
Without the help of Muslims, it would have been difficult to realise this dream project, he added. The Mahavir Mandir Trust has so far obtained 125 acres of land for construction of this temple.
The trust will soon obtain another 25 acres of land too in the area. The Virat Ramayan Mandir is slated to be taller than the world famous 12th century Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia, which is 215 feet high.
The complex in East Champaran will comprise 18 temples with high spires and its Shiv temple will have the world’s largest Shivling.
The total construction cost is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore. The trust will soon take advice from the experts engaged in the construction of new parliament building in New Delhi.
-
No Muslim will face any loss due to CAA, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
Express News Service
GUWAHATI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said the Muslims in India would not face any loss due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.“CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens) are not against Indian citizens. The Muslims in India are not going to suffer from any loss due to CAA,” Bhagwat said at a book release programme in Guwahati.
According to the RSS chief, there are several methods for a country or a government to know its citizens and NRC was one of them.
“This (NRC) is not against anybody. NRC was made a Hindu-Muslim issue but it is not. Such things happen (as some try) to gain political mileage,” Bhagwat said.
He said it happened in every country that it tried to figure out its citizens. It is a matter of knowledge and information and it is the same in the case of people visiting another country, he said.
“Every government in the world checks if the people, who arrived after obtaining a visa, are visiting the places they are supposed to. It also tries to find out who those people are who came without permission,” the RSS chief said.
He said India would not have been partitioned if the views of the people were taken. He said the entire populace that fought to drive out the British had imagined the whole of “Bharat” to become one independent nation.
“But there was division. The views of people were not taken for a consensus during partition. If their views were taken, there would never have been any partition. But the leaders decided and the public accepted it,” Bhagwat said.
He added that due to that decision, some people lost their homes and hearth and it continued to this day.
-
No Muslim will face any loss due to the citizenship law, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat
By PTI
GUWAHATI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who is in Assam on a two-day visit, said on Wednesday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) have nothing to do with Hindu-Muslim divide and communal narrative surrounding the two issues were being peddled by some to gain political mileage.He further emphasised that no Muslim will face any loss due to the citizenship law.
“After independence, the first prime minister of the country had said that minorities will be taken care of, and that has been done so far. We will continue to do so. No Muslim will face any loss due to CAA,” Bhagwat said after launching a book here, titled ‘Citizenship debate over NRC and CAA-Assam and the Politics of History’.
The citizenship law is will provide protection to persecuted minorities in the neighbouring countries, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief underlined.
“We reach out to the majority communities, too, in these countries during a calamity… So if there are some who wish to come to our country due to threats and fear, we will definitely have to help them out,” Bhagwat said.
Talking about NRC, he stated that all nations have the right to know who its citizens are.
“The matter is in the political domain as the government is involved in it… A section of people wants to get political mileage by creative a communal narrative around these two issues,” he added.
-
Prime Minister Modi ensured triple talaq has no place in country: Amit Shah
BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ensured that triple talaq has no place in the country despite facing opposition from the Congress which “never cared” for the honour of Muslim women.
Shah was addressing an event, where a sizeable number of Muslim women were in attendance, ahead of the November 28 Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
“The Congress never cared for the honour of Muslim mothers and sisters. It has no courage to deal with issues like triple talaq. Despite stiff opposition from the Congress, (Prime Minister) Modi has ensured that it (triple talaq) has no place in the country,” Shah said.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Ordinance was promulgated on September 19 under which instant triple talaq has been declared illegal and punishable with a jail term of three years for the husband.
Shah said the BJP has encouraged women not just by words but by giving them important responsibilities, including as defence and external affairs ministers ministers, governors and chief ministers.
He said that the BJP had created a “record” in honouring women while the Congress had done nothing for them despite being in power for a long time.
“Not just by words, but Modi government has given them (women) space in the Union Cabinet by inducting nine women ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman as defence minister and Sushma Swaraj as external affairs minister,” Shah said at the”kamal shakti samvad” function.
Swaraj has been given prime responsibility of establishing good relations with countries and enhancing trade with them, Shah said.
He added that during the BJP rule, six women were appointed as governors of states, including that of Madhya Pradesh who earlier was Gujarat’s first woman chief minister.
He hit out at the opposition party for “disrespecting” senior BJP leader, late Vijaya Raje Scindia, affectionately known as Rajmata, claiming that she had been “oppressed” and jailed.
He added that Scindia never gave up despite the Congress troubling her for long, and this had led to the “lotus (BJP symbol) blooming in the entire region”.
Eulogising Scindia, the BJP chief said that the ‘Rajmata’ was like a mother to all party workers whom she constantly encouraged.
Her life is a lesson and an inspiration, Shah told the gathering.
Scindia was born on October 11, 1919 at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh and passed away on 25 January, 2001.
She was a Member of Parliament for many years between 1957 and 1998.