Elderly Man Beaten Up In Rajasthan For Not Chanting "Jai Sri Ram" & "Modi Zindabad"
Khan Iqbal| India Tomorrow  JAIPUR, AUGUST 9—An elderly man in Rajasthan’s Sikar town was brutally beaten up by two men after he refused to chant “Jai Sri Ram” and “Modi Zindabad”.   Talking to India Tomorrow, Station House Officer (SHO) Pushpendra Singh said that two accused, Shabbu and Rajendra, have been arrested in this connection so far.   The 52-year-old victim has been identified as Gaffar who is an auto-rickshaw driver.   The victim’s nephew Shahid told India Tomorrow, “My uncle has been very badly beaten up. He has sustained serious injuries. He is not even in a condition to speak. He is currently admitted in a hospital”.   Gaffar told mediapersons that he was forced to chant “Jai Sri Ram” and “Modi Zindabad”. “When I refused to do so, they beat me up, pulled my beard, verbally abused me and said that ‘we will not rest until we send you to Pakistan&rdqu...

Jamaat Endorses Delhi Minorities Commission Report on Northeast Delhi’s Violence Targetting Muslims
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 25—Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), India’s biggest socio-cultural organization, has fully supported the Delhi Minorities Commission report on anti-Muslim violence in parts of Northeast Delhi in February this year.   Addressing a virtual press meet on Saturday, JIH Vice-President Engineer Mohammad Salim also supported the DMC’s recommendations for setting up of a five-member committee to investigate the riots as also “the complicity or abdication of duty by the police during the violence”.   The Jamaat also supported the DMC’s demand of converting into FIRs all those complaints which were not registered by the police, recording statements of victims of violence under Section 164 of CrPC, provide protection to riot victims and reviewing police chargesheets.   Stating that the “riots were not spontaneous, but well-planned”, Engineer Salim pointed out that it was not a violence between ...

16 Mosques Destroyed By Mobs During Anti-Muslim Violence In Northeast Delhi: Delhi Minorities Commission Report
Syed Khalique Ahmed| India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, JULY 23—Delhi Minorities commission, in its fact-finding report on Northeast Delhi riots submitted to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has reported that as many as 18 Muslim religious places located in Hindu-dominated areas were targetted by the rioters. However, no harm occurred to Hindu temples in Muslim dominated areas.   The report says that the temples and Hindu religious places were guarded and protected by the local Muslims. According to the report, 11 mosques, five madrasas, one graveyard and one ‘mazar’ were vandalised by the miscreants during the riots.   The report has alleged that police and fire brigade did not respond to the calls by the local Muslims when the rioters were attacking mosques, madrasas (Muslim seminaries) and graveyards. Large scale damage was done to the Muslim places of worship. Copies of the Holy Quran in several mosques were also bur...

Tamil Nadu: Wajahat Habibullah Stresses The Need For A Strong Law Against Custodial Torture, Killing
India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, JUNE 30—Former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, who currently heads the Executive Committee (India chapter) of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has stressed the need for police reforms in the wake of torture and killing of a father and son in police custody in Tamil Nadu recently.   In a statement, the former bureaucrat said that the custodial killing of P. Jayaraj and his son J. Benicks indicated that there was an urgent need for a strong law against custodial torture and murder.   The father-son duo was arrested by the police on violating the permitted hours for keeping their shops open.   Quoting a report, he said that as many as 1731 people had died in police custody in India in 2019 alone.   “Given the reality and the circumstances of the recent deaths, we urge the Government of India to bring a draft law on torture before Parliament as a top priority and announce its commitme...

In The Season of 'Hate' and 'Lockdown', Kamaldeep Suri and Akram Chaudhary Provide 'iftar' and Cooked Food to Poor People in Delhi's Narela Area
Syed Khalique Ahmed | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, MAY 17—At a time when Muslims are coming under mob attacks and boycott of their businesses following hate campaign launched by a majority of the mainstream media groups and a sea of hate videos being circulated on social media against them, Kamaldeep Suri and Mohammed Akram Chaudhary of Narela, on the outskirts of Delhi, bordering Sonepat district of Haryana, have presented a unique example of working together and serving the poor, irrespective of their faith.   Ever since the lockdown was announced to check the spread of coronavirus in the country, Suri and Chaudhary took upon themselves the responsibility to feed the poor people in and around Kuraini village, adjoining the Narela Industrial Estate, with a majority of the residents being poor Muslims.   The two friends initially provided cooked food one time daily after the announcement of lockdown. After the commencement of Ramzan on April 25, the duo also b...

Civil Society Leaders Condemn Delhi Police for Falsely Implicating Innocent Students, Activists in Delhi Riots
India Tomorrow NEW DELHI, APRIL 22—Activists, academics and citizens from all walks of life have strongly condemned the actions of the Delhi Police in “falsely implicating innocent student activists in Delhi riot cases, and booking them under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)”.This suppression of civil rights and liberties and targeting of our young democratic voices is reprehensible. We find it utterly shameful that Delhi police is using the COVID-19 lockdown, and the enormous humanitarian crisis of hunger confronting our country, as an opportunity to trample on the democratic rights of innocents. This is a time to unite as a nation, not to isolate and target students”, they said. “Abusing its powers, the Delhi Police has filed concocted cases against former JNU student, Umar Khalid and Jamia students Meeran Haider & Safoora Zargar, claiming that the communal violence in North East Delhi was a premeditated conspiracy hatched by...

Community Leaders Ask PM to Address the Nation to Check Hate-mongering over Coronavirus
Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, APRIL 8— Community and civic leaders have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appeal to the people to desist from communalising the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed around 150 lives so far and infected several thousand others in the country.   These community leaders have appealed to the PM following several incidents of hate attacks on Muslims in several towns and villages and boycott of Muslim vendors and traders after the revelation that 4,000 Muslims were attending a congregation at Tablighi Jamaat Markaz at Nizamuddin in New Delhi in the last week of March and media, including print, TV channels and social media, propagating that the coronavirus cases in India have gone up due to the Delhi congregation.   While some community leaders are hopeful that the PM would take the initiative, others said that his appeal may not check the hatred and instead, asked the law enforcement agencies to initiate criminal ac...

Tablighi Markaz: Govt Directs Missions Abroad to Stop Tourist Visas to Tablighi Activists Coming to India
Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow  New Delhi, APRIL 1—The government has decided not to grant tourist visa to any foreigner who wants to visit India for Tablighi activities. The decisions seems to have been taken after it was found that 2100 foreigners came on tourist visa since January 1 this year and were involved in Tablighi activities all across India. A few of them, according to government agencies, have been found to be corona positive.  About 220 of them are still stranded at Tablighi Jamaat headquarters at Hazrat Nizamuddin, New Delhi.  A Home Ministry official said that the Ministry of External Affairs has been directed to advise mission abroad not to issue tourist visa to any one who intended to visit India for Tablighi works. Foreign missions have also been asked to find out the financial position of the visa seekers and the hotels or the places where he/she would be staying during travel to India.  These decisions, according to Home Min...

Peoples' Unity Will Force Central Govt. To Withdraw Hostile CAA, Asserts Jamaat Vice-President Engineer Mohammed Salim
Syed Khalique Ahmed  NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 10—The protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) that began from Shaheen Bagh in South Delhi 55 days ago, has inspired people all over the country. It has now become a powerful nationwide resistance movement of a scale not seen after the country achieved Independence from Britishers in 1947, with people at more than 150 places across the nation sitting on round the clock ‘dharna’ demanding repeal of the hostile CAA and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) that combined together make a very dangerous and explosive formula for hatred and division among the communities in India. Engineer Mohammed Salim, vice-president of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), in an interview to Syed Khalique Ahmed, Chief Editor of India Tomorrow, observes that the Shaheen Bagh movement has united Indians of all hues and colour the same way they were united during the anti-British movement in the country. The people, he says, are...

CPI-M MPs Reach Shaheen Bagh, Express Solidarity with Anti-CAA/NRC Protest
Masihuzzama Ansari | India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 02— Senior leaders and MPs of CPI-M reached Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area on Sunday, day after the firing incident, to express their solidarity with the anti-CAA/NRC protest going on here for the last one and half months.     CPI-M’s Rajya Sabha MPs K Somaprasad and KK Ragesh and CPI-M’s senior leader and politburo member Hannan Mollah were there along with hundreds of people including social and human rights activists. They had come to support Shaheen Bagh after news came that some Hindu Sena is coming to attack Shaheen Bagh protest. K Somaprasad, CPI-M’s Rajya Sabha MP   Hannan Mollah, CPI-M’s politburo member and General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha  India Tomorrow talked to them to get their views about the Shaheen Bagh protest.   “We have come here to declare our sincere support to this Shaheen Bagh movement because this is to main...

Industrialist Rahul Bajaj's Outbursts Will Erode Modi Government's Credibility And Influence Among Masses
Syed Khalique Ahmed |India Tomorrow  NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 1— Prime Minister Narendra Modi got huge praises from industrialists and corporates in January 2009, at the fourth edition of the Gujarat Global Investor’s Summit. Many leaders, including Reliance Group’s Anil Ambani in an open meeting of industrialists and others, in presence of Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat at that time, said that Narendrabhai is the future prime minister of the country. As Gujarat progressed under the stewardship of Narendrabhai, Ambani said, one could only think of what will happen if Narendrabhai got the opportunity to lead the country.   Riding piggyback on the Hindutva wave created through divisive slogans of BJP, VHP and other saffron organisations and inability of the Congress to counter the false propaganda of the BJP which fought 2014 Lok Sabha elections under the leadership of Modi, BJP won 282 seats out of a total of 543 seats, achieving absolute majority o...

Paraplegics "Stand on Their Feet", Thanks To Naseema Mohammed Aiming High
Naseema was 17 when she was hit by paraplegia, leaving her disabled for whole life. But so far, she has succeeded in the rehabilitation of more than 13,000 girls and boys afflicted by paraplegia and rendered service to tens of thousands of such physically challenged people in the past 35 years.   Quaid Najmi KOLHAPUR/SINDHUDURG (MAHARASHTRA), OCTOBER 26— Despite being restricted to a wheelchair since her teen years, Naseema Mohammed Amin Hurzuk, 69, symbolizes a story of sheer struggle and grit that has helped many others like her to ”stand on their feet” and face life proudly and independently.   The founder-president of the Helpers of the Handicapped Kolhapur (HOHK – 1984), based in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur town, “Naseema Didi” as she is fondly called, has succeeded in the rehabilitation of more than 13,000 girls and boys afflicted by paraplegia and rendered service to tens of thousands of such physically challenged people in the...

Jamaat-E-Islami Demands Release Of All Political Prisoners To Hold Free And Fair Elections In Jammu And Kashmir
India Tomorrow   NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 1—Jamaat-e-Islami Hind(JIH) has demanded that all political prisoners of Jammu and Kashmir be released, democratic process and fundamental rights of people, including freedom of expression, mobile telephony and internet communication, and all modes of private and public transport,  be restored to ensure free and fair elections.   The demand was made in reaction to state government’s announcement about holding of block development council (BDC) elections which is scheduled on October 24.   Addressing mediapersons at JIH headquarters here on Tuesday, JIH president Syed Sadatullah Hussaini said that the government must fulfill three conditions before going ahead with holding of BDC elections for free and fair elections. “It must release political detainees, restore democratic process and fundamental rights of the people including communication modes, and end the climate of fear and terror”, he said. &nb...

I'm Not Worried About My Mother Because I Know I Am Capable Of Fighting For Her, Says Iltija Mufti
My mother is not made of a wood that burns easily. She’s a strong woman with great inner strength. She has been reading books and the Holy Quran . The last time I met her she had just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography--A Long Walk To Freedom,” says the daughter of former J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.   Ishfaq-ul-Hasan SRINAGAR, SEPTEMBER 27— Iltija Mufti is the daughter of incarcerated former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti. She has been championing the cause of her mother after she was detained on August 5. Post abrogation of Article 370, Iltija has become a voice of the voiceless. She does not mince words to call spade a spade. In an exclusive email interview to India Tomorrow on Friday, she bore her heart out. Excerpts:   Question: Post August 5, there is complete lockdown, but the government says all is well. How do you see the situation? Iltija: Depends on how one defines ‘well’. S...

North Indian Youths Incapable Of Getting Jobs: Santosh Gangwar
BAREILLY (Uttar Pradesh), September 15—Union Minister Santosh Gangwar stirred major controversy on Sunday when he blamed the North Indian youth for failing to secure jobs as he dismissed criticism about the current employment situation in the country.   The Minister present at an event here said that there was no shortage of jobs but the companies wishing to recruit say that the youths here were ineligible.   The Minister of Independent charge for Ministry of Labour and Employment said that there was a lot of employment available. Apart from the employment offices, his Ministry has also been monitoring the situation.   He said that the matter of recession was being misunderstood in the country.   Targeting former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, Gangwar said the former is scared but none will be spared.   Referring to Khan, he said he will explain to the people of Rampur the kind of person the con...

No Dear BJP, Triple Talaq isn't Biggest Issue for us, Unemployment is, Say Delhi Youths
By picking Triple Talaq for its first bill and ‘One Nation One Poll’ as the subject of first all-party meeting, the Modi 2.0 has tried to set its agenda for next five years. However, the common man on the street is least enthused.   India Tomorrow New Delhi, June 23—With the President’s address to the joint session of the Parliament on Thursday, highlighting major policies of the first term of the Narendra Modi government, the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha began and with it Modi 2.0.   Triple Talaq became the first Bill to be tabled in the Parliament by the newly elected BJP-led government. Alongside this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week raised the clamour of ‘One Nation, One Election’. However, both the Bill and BJP’s ambitious project of having one poll in the nation have met with fierce resistance not only from the opposition but the common people also.  The Modi 2.0 has picked two of its petty issues at a ...

Will Work till My Last Breath for Development of My Country: Young IPS Ilma Afroz
Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow New Delhi, May 15— “You should first think of the weakest person who lives in the darkest village and ask yourself if your work or any decision has wiped the tears from the eyes of that person. This is my view of looking at life,” says newly-recruited young IPS officer Ilma Afroz.   In a video interview with BBC, Ilma, who lost her father to cancer when she was just 14 but got higher education with strong support from her mother, says: “In the Indian Constitution, every citizen, boy or girl, young or elderly, differently abled or transgender - all have equal rights. Justice, liberty, equality, fraternity – these are the ideals with which I would like to work.”   In August 2018, she was recruited as IPS officer and posted in Himachal Pradesh. She had cracked the Civil Services Examination 2017-18 in April 2018 with an all-India rank of 217. That year, 990 candidates had cleared the Civil Services Exam. There...

Saudi's Economic Expansion Offers New Opportunities for India: Ambassador Ausaf Sayeed
Mohammed Shafeeq   Hyderabad, April 24— With Saudi Arabia looking to diversify its economy, India's new ambassador to the kingdom, Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, believes this offers new opportunities for both the Indian industry and the workforce.   Contrary to apprehensions in some quarters that job opportunities for Indians will shrink with 'Saudisation' and taxation, he expects that the economic expansion in the Kingdom would create new job opportunities for Indians.   "The opportunities for Indian companies to participate in the Saudi expansion will also grow," Saeed told IANS in an interview.   Saudi Arabia has unveiled its Vision 2030 plan to reduce dependence on oil and diversify its economy by focusing on sectors like health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.   Sayeed, who will be taking charge on April 28, feels that the recent Saudi moves like taxation and increase in fees for different services did not impact much on th...

Madrasa Graduate from Lower Middle Class Family Cracks Civil Services Exam
“I could clear UPSC because of the confidence built in me by the madrasa” says Shahid Raza Khan who is currently doing PhD at JNU.  Tazeem Haider and Mumtaz Alam | India Tomorrow  New Delhi, April 6— “Hello Everyone, Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah.” These were the opening words of Shahid Raza Khan, one of the 759 successful candidates of Civil Services Exam 2018, while talking to India Tomorrow in New Delhi on Saturday. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced the final results of Civil Services Exam 2018 Friday night. Khan thanks the Almighty and applauds the role of his family for his success. The two different phrases of salutations in the beginning of the exclusive interview with India Tomorrow actually define the academic career of Khan who hails from Gaya district in Bihar.   Between schooling in Gaya and graduation and post-graduation in Delhi, Shahid Raza Khan studied at a madrasa in Azamgarh, and he wants to give cr...

I Challenge Modi, Shah for Debate, Says Pitroda
Gautam Datt   New Delhi, March 23— Rahul Gandhi's close confidant Sam Pitroda, who is in the eye of a political storm after his alleged comment questioning the claims about the air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, said on Saturday that he did not say anything disrespectful of jawans or the armed forces, terming the claims by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top functionaries of the government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on his remarks as a blatant lie.   Speaking to IANS in an exclusive interview, Sam Pitroda said that the 40-minute tape of his comments that created a furore is available for everybody, and that if anyone finds anything that "is disrespectful of our jawans or our army, I would be happy to say sorry, if not, then I would challenge them (PM, Jaitley and Amit Shah) for a debate on a public platform".   "What nonsense is this... You can do character assassination on somebody. I have spent 30 years working here. I...