By TCN News,

New Delhi: In its two days’ review meet organized at the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind headquarters in New Delhi Human Welfare Foundation has decided to adopt 10000 orphans.

Acting General Secretary Mammunni Moulvi emphasizes on orphan care and said, “Millions of children have lack of hopes and homes as they have no parents or guardians to support them”.

The meeting began with the inaugural address of CEO Rafik Ahmad. Acting General Secretary HWF KK Mammunni Moulvi, Vice President of JIH Mohammad Jaffar, Ameer-e Halqa JIh Kerala T Arif Ali, National coordinator Salimullah Khan and all regional coordinators of Vision- 2016 programme participated in the review meet.

On the first day all regional coordinators gave a brief presentation of their progress report along with challenges and scope of work. On the second day all project departments were given a brief presentation of their progress reports along with challenges and scope of work.

Executive Committee member T Arif Ali, who concluded the meet, appreciated the efforts of coordinators and staffs and said.

In seventh year of its existence HWF claims to have taken 330 Projects in coordination with around 50 partner NGOs throughout the country. Since 2006, HWF is carrying out its operations on path of their ten year plan called Vision 2016, carrying out operations in the field of education, healthcare, livelihood, and protection of civil rights.

By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,

Kaman/Jaipur: Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) is going with a concentrated effect to make a pitch in Rajasthan politics. SDPI whose last performance in Karnataka state elections has unwrapped lot of surprises is hopeful of presenting more in Rajasthan. As the fate of the candidates have already locked in the EVMs, TCN explores the prospects of SDPI.

In Rajasthan SDPI contested only in three constituencies Kaman, Bundi and Kota North. Party has carefully picked and choose constituencies where they could do maximum damage to Congress party’s honour.

Hafiz Manzoor Ali Khan, National Vice President of the party, is contesting from Kaman constituency against sitting Congress MLA and state minister Zahida Khan. In Kota North state unit president Mohammed Shafi is contesting against another Congress minister Shanti Dhariwal. And in Bundi Moinuddin Sagar is contesting against sitting BJP MLA Ashok Dogra where Congress contestant is National Commission for Women chairperson Mamta Sharma.

SDPI has consolidated its presence in Rajasthan mainly by raising the infamous Gopalgarh firing issue. Kaman is the constituency where Gopalgarh village comes under, there seems to be anti-incumbency against sitting MLA Zahida Khan. On the other hand, Kota North MLA Shanti Dhariwal was the home minister of the state when firing took place at the mosque.

SDPI VP Hafiz Manzoor Khan, with his supporters.

In Kota north Muslims have lot of complains with Dhariwal, apart from Gopalgarh firing incident, local Muslims are also angry with their legislator turn Home Minister for rampant terror arrests of Muslim youths from the city in the name of SIMI. SDPI is hoping to rip rich dividends in both this constituencies.

Kaman constituency, which majorly consists of Mewat region, has 60% Meo Muslims votes, and Kota north has 30% Muslims voters, making them major Congress vote block. Denting Muslim votes means calling doom for two powerful sitting Congress ministers. In Bundi Muslim vote percentage is 12% but SDPI claims that it has good cadre presence in the town and the party is also hopeful of attracting Gujjar community votes.

Moinuddin Sagar.

Hafiz Manzoor Ali Khan was candid enough to accept their part’s limitation and doesn’t seem hopeful of winning on any of the seat, but he is betting all his cards that SDPI will play a key role in defeat of Congress ministers, to teach them lessons.

By doing that he says SDPI has increased the value of Muslim votes, “Earlier in this constituencies Congress didn’t have any value for Muslim votes. But now when they will witness this slip, they will concentrate more on addressing community’s issues to get them back in their fold,” SDPI VP told TCN during his campaign.

Mr. Khan said in bipolar state Muslims doesn’t have any option except to vote for Congress to counter BJP. But SDPI, he say’s has provided a ‘Vikalp’ (alternative) especially to Muslims to show their resentment that “if a community can play a role for a candidate to win, then it can also play a role for candidate to lose”.

Hafiz Manzoor Ali Khan.

‘Shanti Dhariwal is a ‘Diggaj Neta’ (powerful leader) of Congress’ agress Mohammed Shafee. “Even if SDPI gets successful in demolishing Muslim vote block of Congress leading to the defeat of most powerful man of the Congress after Ashok Gehlot, then it will be a big achievement and will send a vital message,” he says.

Mr. Shafee claims that local Muslims in Kota were fed up with Dhariwal as he didn’t pay any interest to address community’s issue. “His mind-set was that ‘no one can defeat me as anyhow Muslim will vote only for Congress’,” But in this election he says ‘Dhariwal got a tough time to get Muslim votes’. Shafi said after the support he got from local Muslims he is hopeful of getting least 20,000 votes.

Kaman constituency which has Muslim voter percentage like no other constituency, in the same term it is most neglected of all the Muslim concentrated constituencies in the state. It has been for long a family bastion with Zahida Khan representing third generation of her family on the seat.

Mohammed Shafi.

Hafiz Manzoor Ali says that Meo Muslim vote bank used to fall free in Congress pocket on the fear of BJP, now in this election he said that has not been the case. “Zahida Khan will be defeated this time as her major Muslim votes is being drifted,” a confident Manzoor Ali Khan told TCN.

Although Zahida Khan, in an earlier interview to TCN, rejected SDPI as ‘non contender’ party against her, Mr. Manzoor Ali claimed that she made lot of offers to SDPI to settle down. In Kota he said was the same case.

“We didn’t enter politics to settle with corrupt politicians, even if we are defeated this time we have a five year long plan and social engineering strategies for the next election, we will definitely win in the next contest,” Mr. Manzoor Ali said.

SDPI claims that they have given an assertive voice to Muslims in Rajasthan politics and wish to change it in a potent force in the days to come.

Related:
When Muslims try to build resistance and form party, they are blamed for being spoilers: WPI Raj President

By IANS,

New Delhi : India's request for access to LeT operative and 26/11 planner David Headley is expected to get more traction when Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh visits the US from Sunday.

According to sources, the US authorities have exhibited more understanding of India's position on wanting to interrogate Headley, who has been jailed in the US for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and plot to attack a newspaper in Denmark.

For Singh, who is travelling to the US as part of foreign office consultations, it will be the first full-fledged visit since taking over in August.

The visit would also be in the nature of a familiarization trip, a kind of stock taking since the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September and to define the agenda of bilateral ties ahead, the sources said.

India's concerns about electronics snooping is also to figure in the talks, besides the H1B visa and economic issues are also to be discussed.

The foreign secretary's visit is also aimed to "chip away at the image that there is goodwill between India and the US and pleasantry, but the ties are at a plateau", the source said, adding that a two-day India-US police chief's conference was a key event in their bilateral ties.

While India and the US have a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and India has put in a demand for access to Headley "India needs to be clear about what it asks for" and whether the US legal system permits it, keeping in mind the plea bargain Headley has entered into with the US government.

US Attorney General Eric Holder during talks with Indian officials has "understood the legal point" of the case and had been "extremely forthcoming" as he had seen what terrorism has wrought, another source said. Holder had assured that the US "would try to facilitate" access to Headley, the source said.

"Our demand is on the table," the source added.

By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net

In 21st century India the self-appointed journalists and experts are allowed to speak whatever nonsense they can on television channels and write whatever crap they wish to in newspapers and magazines. The few serious and objective ones have been left to sulk in the corner. They are not invited in such panel discussions and even if they are called there are very few to listen to them.

Perhaps nothing exemplifies it better than the hordes of discussions on the exit poll held minutes after the completion of the Assembly election in the five states––Mizoram is also a part of India, which perhaps many of our senior journalists forgot.

Normally, in most democracies, even in neighbouring Pakistan––whose experience with democracy is much shorter––election results do not come after so many days of polling. The parliament election was held on May 11 last and the trend started appearing by the same night and a day later it was almost clear that the Pakistan Muslim League has won. What is more, unlike India, where we have Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), they still have ballots to count.

So this immediate result deprived the so-called media pundits to go for exit poll, fuel speculations in stock market, sit in various TV studios and come out with some fantastic stuff. Just switch back to most of the premier television channels of India and listen to what and how were our experts discussing the exit polls––as if the final results have already come and there is no need for counting any more.

Though most of their arguments were self-contradictory yet they were as assertive in their assessment as if nothing can be more truer than their utterances.

The exit poll results may prove right this time. Even in that case most of the analyses were wrong. For example a reputed editor said that the Congress ‘lost’ because it did not project chief ministerial candidates not knowing that the party already had two very good performing chief ministers––in Delhi and Rajasthan––leading the pack, yet losing the election (if the exit poll proves right).

Perhaps their track record was much better than Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Raman Singh, the two BJP CMs in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh respectively.

The gentleman editor perhaps forgot to recall that only recently the Congress snatched back Karnataka from the BJP without announcing any CM candidate before hand. Similarly it won back Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh from the BJP in the last couple of years without announcing any chief ministerial candidate. And finally the Congress won the 2004 Lok Sabha election from the BJP-led NDA without announcing any prime ministerial candidate. What this gentleman editor could not remember is that in December 2003 the BJP won Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, while Congress only Delhi. This prompted the party to pre-pone the election from Sep-Oct to April-May 2004. Strangely the NDA lost power.

A renowned historian remarked in one of the channels that the absence of regional satraps in Congress led to its ‘defeat’ while another senior journalist said that it is the victory of development––perhaps not knowing what actually the word development means.

Some others said that the dynastic rule and corruption are the factors which led to the defeat, not knowing that Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh were snatched from the BJP after 2G Spectrum and Commonwealth Games scam came to light.
They perhaps are not aware of the fact that the BJP is facing the same problem of regional leadership at the state level which the Congress is facing. Take the example of UP, the state with largest number of seats.Where have Kalyan Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Lalji Tandon, Vinay Katiyar etc all gone after the advent of Narendra Modi. They all have been cut beyond their size. There is only Amit Shah there.

None of them ever said that the exit polls are not actually the election results and they may still go wrong. The truth is that there is no scope of such authoritative analysis on December 4––rather than the best time for it is after December 8, when the results are actually announced.
--
Soroor Ahmed is a Patna-based freelance journalist. He writes on political, social, national and international issues.

By TwoCircles.net news

New Delhi: Results of 2013 Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan are being declared today. Mizoram result will be announced on Monday. You will find the result information below:

Chhattisgarh:

Delhi:

Madhya Pradesh:

Rajasthan:

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Jaipur: Two Muslim candidates from the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Nagaur district Habibur Rehman from Nagaur and Yunus Khan from Deedwana have won the Assembly elections in Rajasthan.

BJP had given tickets to only four Muslim candidates. The Minority Morcha of the BJP, led by Amin Pathan, was earlier lobbying for at least eight seats.

The other two BJP candidates, Abdul Sangeer Khan from Dholpur, and new face Salim Tanwar from Mandawa, however, have lost.

Yunus Khan was minister in the Vasundhra Raje government (2003-2008) earlier, but had election last time. Habibur Rahman is a former Congress Minister, who contested on BJP ticket last time over differences with party on seat allocation and had won.

Considering the seniority and experiences of them both, and the fact that the two remain the only Muslim MLAs from the party, both could become ministers in the Vasundhara cabinet.

Habibur Rahman won defeating Congress rebel Harindra Mirda by a margin of over six thousand votes. Congress had fielded Shaukat Ali against Habibur Rahman, but he came third.

The Congress had fielded 17 Muslim candidates in the state, and what could be termed as complete rout of the Congress, 16 of their Muslim candidates too lost. Election in the Churu Assembly constituency was adjourned following the death of BSP candidate Jagdish Meghwal. Congress' sitting MLA Haji Maqbool Mandela from Churu has gone back to people to seek mandate.

Congress had given tickets to two Muslim candidates in Jaipur city, veteran Mahir Azad from Adarsh Nagar and Amin Kagzi from Kishan Pole.

Education Minister of State in Ashok Gehlot Government, Naseem Akhtar Insaaf too lost from Pushkar constieuncy to rookie 29 year old Suresh Singh Rawat of the BJP.

In Sawai Madhopur, Congress candidate Danish Abrar, a 29 year old MBA graduate from London, and son of former Union Minister Abrar Ahmed came third.
BJP’s candidate from Sawai Madhopur, Jaipur’s Rajkumari Diya Kumari Singh won the seat, while Dr Kirodilal Meena of NPP came third.

Shaitan Singh of the BJP defeated sitting Congress MLA Saleh Mohammad at the Pokhra seat. A first perusal at result, gives the impression that substantial Muslim voters in the districts of Bermer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner and some other regions.

Related:

Riding on ‘liberal inclusive’ image of Vasundhra BJP hopes to gain minorities' votes in Rajasthan

By TCN News,

Bhopal: The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has termed the rout of Congress in the four state assembly elections of Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as neither astonishing nor surprising. The BJP has taken full advantage of the weaknesses of the Congress party, its wrong policies and due to its soft Hindutva stance which has hurt the interests of the minorities, especially the Muslims, SDPI believes.

SDPI national president A. Sayeed in a statement while reacting to the poll results in the four states pointed out that BJP has neither won because of Modi factor nor its election manifesto or its policies. He said that the humiliating defeat of the Congress in the just concluded elections isn’t just a defeat of its regional satraps but it’s a rejection at once of the UPA regime at the Centre. This is bound to affect the party’s prospects in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections if it does not takes corrective measures immediately to stem the rot.

Sayeed said poor governance of Congress’ state governments in Delhi and Rajasthan coupled with communal strife in the latter state has proved very costly for it. In addition to this the Congress-led UPA Government at the centre has become embodiment of corruption with series of scams, its wrong priorities, ineffective governance and overlooking the genuine demands of minorities has led the people to express their ire against the party.

He said the Congress should not be under the illusion that the minority votes, especially that of Muslims, would propel them to power once again as they did in 2004 and 2009. This time round it is likely to prove wrong as Muslims feel cheated. The non-implementation of Rangnath Mishra Commission and Liberahan Commission reports, non-tabling of the Communal Violence Bill in Parliament and giving equal status to Muslims with other backward communities are some of the issues has been haunting the community over the years while Congress continues to look the other way.

Sayeed said the results have placed the UPA regime and the Congress leadership in the dock like never before. It seems that very strong anti-incumbency wave is blowing across the nation which may become a storm in the coming months.

He said that Congress and BJP are the two sides of the same coin and people are looking for alternatives. The arrival of AAP in a big way in Delhi elections has proved this. He hoped SDPI in future will emerge as an alternative at the national level to give good governance and clean administration.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Whittled down to a shocking single digit in the 70-member Delhi assembly, the eight Congress legislators include four Muslims and two Sikhs.

The victors include Haroon Yusuf (Ballimaran) and Arvinder Singh Lovely (Gandhi Nagar), the only two ministers in the Sheila Dikshit government to survive an anti-Congress avalanche.

The other winning Congress candidates are: Parlad Singh Sawhney (Chandni Chowk), Hasan Ahmed (Mustafabad), Asif Mohammad Khan (Okhla), Chaudhary Mateen Ahmad (Seelampur), Jai Kishan (Sultanpur Majra) and Devender Yadav (Badli).

Muslims comprised a total of 108 of the 810 candidates in Delhi. In 2008, 92 Muslim candidates were in the fray.

Muslims account for 11 percent of Delhi's 11.5 million voters. The outgoing Delhi assembly had five Muslim legislators.

By Dr. Syed Ahmed for TwoCircles.net,

Imphal: Manipur Muslim Welfare Organisation (MMWO) observed its third foundation day on December 7, 2013 at Manipur Press Club, Majorkhul, in Imphal.

The function was graced by Parliamentary Secretary for Minorities & OBCs (MOBC) Md. Amin Shah, Chairman of Hajj Committee, Manipur & MLA Md. Fajur Rahim and President of MMWO F.M. Abdullah Pathan as Chief Guest, Special Guest and President respectively. Advisor of All Manipur United Clubs’ Organization (AMUCO) K.T. Rahaman, Advisor of Pangal Students Organization (PSO) P.M. Hayatur Rahman, Retired Treasury Officer Md. Ahmed Ali, Former President of All Manipur Muslim Organizations’ Co-ordinating Committee (AMMOCOC) Keiruddin Shah, General Secretary of Muslim Advocates’ Legal Services Organisation (MALSO) Md. Rabi Khan, Principal of Ram Krishna Higher Secondary School Jawan Singh and Chief Advisor of MMWO Maulana Abdus Salam as attended as Guests of Honour.

Speaking on the occasion, Md. Fajur Rahim answered the queries raised by some of the speakers regarding the implementation of welfare schemes by the Wakf Board, Manipur. He said that the Government allocates a meagre amount for Board. A large proportion of the fund is spent on paying the salary of the official staff of the Board. As a result the Board faces financial crunch in taking up the different welfare schemes.

Md. Amin Shah also gave clarifications to some of the allegations made against the MOBC Department regarding the scholarship scheme. He appealed to the general public and civil society organisations not to mislead the public on the implementation of the schemes of MOBC Department without adequate information. They should properly discuss any issue with the concerned authority of the Department before making allegations in public. Speaking on the accusation of non-implementation of scholarship scheme by the MOBC Department, he said distribution of the scholarships to students has been delayed as many of the students fail to open their bank-accounts. The government is providing scholarships to twenty thousand OBC students of the state. As per the guidelines laid down by the government, all the scholarship payments have to be made through bank-accounts of the scholarship holders. As of now, only six thousand students, out of twenty thousand, have opened their bank-accounts.

The department also comes across irregularities in some of the list of students prepared and submitted by the school authorities. The officials of the MOBC Department are not misappropriating the scholarship fund. Our officials are working hard to disburse the amount of the scholarships to the genuine students through proper channels, he added.

Addressing the gathering, K.T. Rahaman said Manipur is a land inhabited by ethnic and religious communities. The state could not see peace and development if the different communities have narrow outlooks. It is time that we all come together keeping aside the differences, he added.

The function was attended by students, representatives of civil society organizations and Muslim leaders.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Raipur: As with their party Muslim candidates of Congress in Chhattisgarh struggled utmost to win out two of their seats but lost in dramatic fights. In the new Assembly thus there will be no representation of Muslims.

Muslims who comprise 2% of state population used to have at least 2 MLAs in 90 members Assembly. Badruddin Qureshi from Bhilai Nagar and Mohd. Akbar from Pandariya were the two Muslim MLAs in the outgoing assembly. Both of them were from the Congress party.

While Mohd. Akbar who changed his constituency for the second consecutive time shifted from Pandariya to Kawardha, Badruddin contested from Bhilai. Both this constituencies have not more than 10% Muslim votes.

Three time MLA Mohd. Akbar gave neck to neck battle to Ashok Sahu of BJP, till last moment result was uncertain but in the end Akbar lost with small margin. Akbar Bhai as mentioned on electoral roll, pulled 91,087 votes while Ashok Sahu got 93,645 votes. With huge amount of votes in their accounts both the candidates mark it most interesting fight from the state.

Badruddin Qureshi’s vote account as an incumbent MLA from Bhilai Nagar turned out to be disappointment. He lost with almost 17,000 margins against Prakash Pandey of BJP. He won the seat for the first time in 2008, after losing mayor elections.

Badruddin even with his image as local grass root leaders got total of 38,548 votes while Parakash Pandey got 55,654 votes.

Speaking with TCN Badruddin Qureshi almost copied his party Chief Sonia Gandhi’s statement and said that price rise of essential commodities sunk his ship. “We were unable to reach out and explain to people that price rise was not Congress party’s fault. There was also a leadership deficit to guide us,” Mr. Qureshi said.

He almost completely ruled out any communal polarization against him, “In Chhattisgarh there is no such issue, people doesn’t have such kind of feelings,” he claimed.

Mr. Qureshi is not taking the gap created in the Muslim representation seriously, “This is not something to worry about. Even in past there were times when Assembly didn’t have any community representation but we made our voice heard. So it’s not going to affect Muslim community in any way.”

TCN tried contacting Mohd. Akbar for his comments but he was not reachable.

Some Muslims tried their luck from Raipur Gramin, North and South as independents or on small party tickets but failed to make any considerable impact.

By Saiyed Dansih, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: In what could be termed as a historic verdict in Delhi Assembly polls the ruling Congress has been badly uprooted by the BJP and AAP as the Sheila phenomenon to which Delhiites would wake up every morning for fifteen years witnessed a crushing defeat sinking the ship of the party down to the ocean bed.

The fact that the party which had secured 42 seats comfortably in 2008, could not even save its face and succumbed at a shockwave figure of 8, including Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit herself and ministers like AK Walia.

Deserted AICC Headquarter.

For days to come today’s results are going to send the party in an intense mode of introspection while the political pundits will grope for reasons why the mighty fort of the Congress party fell to an onslaught led by “an outsider from Ghaziabad” as Arvind Kejriwal, who defeated Sheila Dikshit by a margin of 26,000 votes, was once infamously sneered at. But one determining factor which the party would want to mull over the most is the shift of the poor, slum dwellers and migrants to BJP and AAP.

Delhi’s 1.4 crore slum and Jhuggi Jhopdi colony voters who are scattered around the 70 constituencies expressed their discontent with the ruling party if the poll results are to be believed.

R.K. Puram which houses 70-75% slum dwellers gave its verdict in favour of BJP’s Anil Kumar Sharma who secured 28017 votes while the sitting Congress MLA Barkha Shukla Singh polled 19679 votes only to come third. Shazia Ilmi of AAP gave tough fight to BJP, but lost in a close battle.

In Narela constituency, BJP’s Neel Daman Khatri defeated Congress candidate and last term sitting MLA Jaswant Singh with a gargantuan margin of 28,000 votes. Similarly, in Bawana, voters did not re-elect Surender Kumar of Congress who secured only 42054 votes this time and lost to BJP’s Gugan Singh by a margin of 26000 votes.

Nangloi Jat voters also rejected the sitting Congress MLA Dr. Bijender Singh who is defeated by Manoj Kumar Shokeen by 11,000 votes. Kanwar Karan Singh of Congress from Model Town which is a big hub of slum clusters also faced defeat as he could secure only 23983 votes to hold third position in the constituency.

The unsparing defeat of Congress party in these slum-dominated constituencies along with others like Seemapuri, Kalkaji, Shahadara Chhatarpur comes as a surprise as before the elections the Delhi government had taken massive steps in regularizing colonies and rolling implementing policies of rehabilitating lakhs of slum dwellers in low-cost flats.

As per central government’s rehabilitation scheme Sheila Dikshit had given green light to the construction of 68,000 dwellings units for economically weaker sections out of which 50,000 of them were almost completed. Constituencies like Narela and Bawana where Congress lost with huge margins were given importance in the project and many families had been rehabilitated there.

Similarly, the government had vehemently regularized hundreds of unauthorized colonies since last year. Sheila Dikshit had announced regularization of 917 colonies under Union Urban Development Ministry in which order of regularization 895 colonies had been cleared by the then Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna which was set to benefit 35 lakh residents.

However, the opposition had been terming the regularization drive of the government as a poll gimmick and had been pointing out at many occasions that regularization is only on paper as more than 50 lakh people still lived in unauthorized colonies all over Delhi. Perhaps the anti-incumbency anger for the central government got reflected in the Delhi election but nevertheless Rahul’s idea of “bouncing back in ways you have never imagined” fails as an ointment on party’s wound.

As the Congress party lost its traditional bastion of slum dwellers and unauthorized colonies in Delhi, it is a time to rethink strategies and reclaim the support of voters who have shown that votes do not come free of cost. Surely, this defeat of Congress party from the perspective of losing votes of the poor confined them to a single digit figure party, the figure which it must have imagined for an amateur AAP and which betrays the fact the Congress’s ‘hand’ is certainly not with the common man.

The only savior for Congress in Delhi appears to be Muslim dominated constituencies, four out of eight seats they have won include Muslim MLAS. These are Asif Mohamamd Khan (Okhla), Haroon Yusuf (Ballimaran), Chaudhary Mateen Ahmed (Seelampur) and Hassan Ahmed (Mustafabad).

Related:
Woes of Delhi slums and the upcoming Assembly elections

By Father Cedric Prakash

December 6th has once again come and gone! It was on this day that Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar died in 1956. Ambedkar gave to the country a vision and the courage to live up to it. He is universally regarded as the father of the Indian Constitution which he ensured was founded on the four great principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. He campaigned vigorously against social discrimination and for religious freedom of all Indians. Having embraced Buddhism, he led thousands of dalits to the Buddhist fold; this one move is hailed as one of the most significant protests of the country.

December 6th and we once again hang our heads down in shame! On this day, in 1992, the Babri Masjid was demolished by fascist and fundamentalist forces. These forces still do their best to destroy the rich legacy of secularism, pluralism and diversity left to us by Ambedkar and the other elders of our Constituent Assembly. Till today, the culprits of this dastardly act – which has left the country polarized and divided on religious lines - have not been brought to book. These divisive elements continue to take law and order in their own hands with immunity and impunity.

December 6th and it is a time for deeper introspection as to what we would like to make of our country. It is true that politicians of every hue and cry have let down the people in every possible way. There are the powerful vested interests, the big corporates (who also control the media) would like “their man” to be up there. The middle class who have not gained much from the process of liberalization are crying hoarse because they think that the poor now are literally swallowing the share of the pie which was theirs for keeps. So obviously, they too are baying for the blood of the ruling class.

December 6th one cannot help but be reminded of the ‘kristallnacht’ (the night of the broken glass)! It took place way back on November 9th - 10th, 1938 in Austria & Germany. Many of the so-called civil society kept silent or did not intervene at that time because they hoped to reap the fruits of a new found policy and ideology. Today, every one realizes that ‘kristallnacht’ was the beginning of the ‘Final Solution’ and the ‘Holocaust’.

December 6th and for us many in India, the choice is clear: do we celebrate the spirit and the courage of Ambedkar for a free and secular India or do we give in to those forces which destroyed the Babri Masjid?

Perhaps, the words of the German Pastor Martin Niemoller should touch deep into our conscience:

“In Germany, the Nazis came first for the communists, and
I did not speak up because I was not a communist,
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak because
I was not a Jew,
Then they came for the trade unions, and
I did not speak up because I was not a trade unionist,
Then they came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant and so
I did not speak up,
Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left
to speak for any one.”

The answer they say is blowing in the wind!!!

--
Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad-based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh maintained status quo in its Muslim representation as again only one Muslim got elected to the state Assembly.

Senior Congress leader and four times MLA from Bhopal North Arif Aqeel once again emerged as the lone Muslim elected to the assembly, after a tough fight with lone BJP Muslim candidate in the state Arif Baig. Arif Aqeel got 73,070 votes while BJP Muslim candidate pulled 66,406 votes.

Four other Muslim candidates of the Congress party gave notable fights but at the end lost to their BJP rivals.

Fight from Bhopal Madhya (Central) was the most fascinating where Arif Masood of Congress seemed victor in the beginning as leading with almost 20,000 margin, till evening fight got closer even coming to an extent of 300 votes difference. But at the end Arif Masood lost to Surendranath Singh of BJP with nearly 7,000 margin. Arif Masood got 63715 votes while BJP winner pulled 70,696 votes.

The other three constituencies where Congress Muslim candidates contested were Rewa, Mudwara, and Joura where their performancs were disappointing.

In Rewa Dr. Mujeeb Khan came third even trailing behind BSP by almost 3,400 votes. He was able to get only 20,600 votes while BJP’s winner Rajendra Shukla got 61,502 votes.

In Mudwara Feroz Ahmed lost by a margin of almost 47,000 votes against his direct rival Shriprasad Jaiswal of BJP. In Jaora situation was same grim for another Congress candidate Kadapa Yousuf who again lost by 40,000 votes margin against Rajendra Pandey of BJP.

Narela with 40% Muslim voters in Bhopal city also saw an amazing fight, with sitting MLA Vishwas Sarang getting 98,472 votes while Congress candidate Sunil Sood facing defeat by getting 71,502 votes. Mohd Atik of BSP got third spot with 1971 votes.

Burhanpur, a traditional Muslim seat, used to be represented by Hamid Kazi of Nationalist Congress Party till his death in 2003. Today it went to Archana Chittni of BJP who won by over 20,000 margin against her closest Congress rival Raghuvanshi. NCP’s Qazi Fariduddin trailed on third spot with just 2,053 votes.

Social Democratic Party of India contested on four constituencies in the state to mark its presence, in Indore 5 party got 1335 votes, lost third spot to BSP with just 30 votes. In Sheopur party got 1266 votes lost fourth spot to NCP with just 100 votes. In Khategoan 914 votes with fifth spot, and in Gwalior south 350 votes for 8th spot.

In Madhya Pradesh Muslims are 6.5% of state population, in past there used to be 12 sitting Muslim MLAs from the state. But since past one decade it has become difficult for a Muslim to win outside old city of Bhopal.

Related:

Battle of honour: Sangh Parivar Vs Arif Aqeel in Bhopal North

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By Saiyed Danish, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: Among protests at Jantar Mantar remembering the Babri Demolition on December 6, two Dalit conventions were also organized in solidarity by National Coalition on Special Component Plan and Tribal Sub Plan Legislation (NACSTL) at one front and by Adivasi Adhikar Andolan (AAA), Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan (RDMA), National Alliance for Labour Rights (NALR), Akhil Bhartiya MNREGA Mazdoor Union (ABMMU) and Rashtriya Dalit Mahasabha (RDM) at a little distance from the first as the day is also remembered as Babasaheb Ambedkar’s death anniversary.

In the program NACSTL, the major demand voiced by various activists and Dalit leaders who participated in it was a budget for addressing urban poverty issues. They chanted the slogan of “Sau mein pacchis haq hamara”.

“Funds allocated under SCP-TSP are quite rampantly misused, diverted or let being lapsed. Despite contradictory notions about urban poverty, fact is that this diversion of funds is more glaring in urban areas. National capital, Delhi is a prime example of it, where it is blatantly done in name of general development. In a response dated June 30, 2010 to an RTI application, the Government of Delhi affirmed that Rs. 744.354 crores from the SCP fund was utilized for the purpose of the Commonwealth Games and Rs. 1.6218 crores were spent to meet the expenses of Queen’s Baton Relay in the cultural segment,” said Beena J Pallical, national co-ordinator NCDHR.

Abhay, a Dalit agitator said in his speech while addressing the crowd of hundreds, “In Mahabharat, Eklavya was more competent than Arjuna but he belonged to a lower caste so his thumb had to be cut to promote an upper caste student of Dronacharya. So the problem did not born today it exists since before our forefathers also had not been born.”

“The government had told us that 16% of the Commonwealth Budget was meant for SCs but we felt betrayed when lavishes stadiums like Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was constructed and roads for VVIPs were built from our budget,” said Paul Diwakar the convenor of the programme.

Partner organisations working on urban poverty and associated with NCDHR: Jhuggi Jhopdi Ekta Manch, Hamaari Ummeed, Labour Education and Development Society, Ideal Youth Club, Mazdoor Yuva Vikas Samiti, Nazdeek, Chetanalaya, Baljeet Nagar, Indian Social Institute, Delhi, PRASAR, Dalit Christian Society, Safai Karamchari Aandolan, Matri Sudha, Nai Drishti Education and Cultural Organisation, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights-Dalit Artihk Adhikar Andolan, Housing and Land Rights Network.

The second Dalit convention was titled National Dalit Assembly March and attended by thousands of people claiming nearly half the space of Jantar Mantar protest strip.

Addressing the National Dalit Assembly, Shri Ashok Bharti, Chairman, National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), stated the main agenda of the day upheld the inclusive planning processes and voiced for 5 acres Land Rights of Dalits. “It is critically important for the country to invest its resources in proportion to the population of Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe, and OBC simultaneously. Then well-being will ensure stable and inclusive growth,” he further said.

Shri D. Raja, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, addressed the gathering as the Chief Guest and said, “Communist Party of India (CPI)is proactively working towards empowerment of Dalits / Adivasis but still there is the need of more attention and assertion by the beneficiaries’ themselves.”

Rajni Tilak, Chairman, Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan said that leadership opportunities should be given to women. She also mentioned that government should receive specific budget in proportion to their population percentage.

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By IANS,

New Delhi : The newly elected assembly of Delhi is richer than the average Delhiite, the average assets per legislator being around Rs.108.3 million, reveals a report compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the Delhi Election Watch.

Latest reports say the annual per capita income of Delhi, highest in the country, is Rs.2.01 lakh in 2012-13 as per Delhi government statistics.

At least 51 or 73 percent of the 70 Delhi legislators are multi-millionaires, said the report released Monday.

While 30 of the 31 lawmakers (97 percent) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are multi-millionaires, 12 of the 28 in the Aam Aadmi Party (43 percent) and seven of the eight in the Congress also belong to that category.

The Shiromani Akali Dal's sole elected lawmaker and the only Independent member also fall in this bracket. Incidentally, the single Janata Dal (United) is not a millionaire.

The average assets of 22 Delhi legislators re-elected in 2013 are worth Rs.142.2 million each. Their average assets in 2008 were Rs.32 million. Their average asset growth thus is 338 percent or Rs.109.7 million.

The 13 re-elected MLAs of the BJP have shown an average assets increase of 392 percent or Rs.141.0 million over the five-year period. For eight re-elected Congress legislators, the increase is much less at 237 percent or Rs.72 million.

The BJP's Sat Prakash Rana from Bijwasan constituency has recorded the biggest growth in assets (Rs.1,055.1 million) from Rs.63.8 million in 2008 to Rs.1,118.9 million in 2013.

Assets of Devender Yadav (Congress) from Badli constituency have gone up Rs.200.4 million (271 percent) from Rs.73.8 million to Rs.274.3 million. Similarly, assets of Dharm Dev Solanki (BJP) from Palam constituency have risen Rs.180.1 million (191 percent) from Rs.94.2 million to Rs.274.3 million over the five-year period.

In 2008, average assets per MLA were Rs.29.4 million while 47 (69 percent) legislators were multi-millionaires.

By IANS,

New Delhi : Fissures in the party, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's domineering attitude and refusal to acknowledge the rise of AAP led to the ignominious defeat of the Congress that ruled Delhi for 15 long years.

From winning 43 seats in the 70-member assembly in the 2008 elections, the Congress this year could win a mere eight seats. In its crushing defeat, the party is also attempting to seriously reflect on what went wrong.

Congress workers remember the poor showing by the party in the first Delhi assembly elections of 1993, when the party won only 14 seats.

Party sources admit that they paid little heed this time to the rolling juggernaut -- the Aam Aadmi Party. There are also party men now more willing to admit that there were serious differences between the Delhi unit of the Congress and Dikshit.

"AAP has done exceedingly well and it was our mistake that we ignored it. That cost us, we didn't see it coming," a senior Congress leader told IANS.

What stings is that in Delhi, the Congress is not even in second slot, but has slid to a poor third spot in as many as 43 constituencies.

"They (AAP) divided our votes. The analysis is yet to be done, but even voters in unauthorised colonies rejected us," the leader said.

Unauthorised and resettlement colonies in the capital are considered to be traditional vote-banks of the Congress.

With Dikshit blaming the party for not "supporting" her in a three-way battle, it is clear that the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, led by J.P. Agarwal, and Dikshit's own camp did not quite pull along together.

"She never heard our voice in drawing up the strategy for the polls. Party workers were dejected, it was as if it was not the party fighting the elections, but Dikshit," said a leader.

Agarwal, whose not-so-great rapport with Dikshit has been a cause for concern for the party high command, had several differences with her, but these were kept under wraps during the poll season.

"She had her way in distribution of party tickets. Her decision to back sitting MLAs with criminal charges saw many objections, but went through regardless," a source in the Delhi Congress told IANS.

Of the 70 Congress nominees, 15 had criminal charges against them. Only two of these candidates won.

So deep and evident were the divisions in Congress ranks that invitation cards for one election rally did not bear the name of Agarwal.

Her planning was also faulted.

"To organise Rahulji's rally in Ambedkar Nagar, Madam (Dikshit) entrusted the task to a cabinet minister who did not even belong to that constituency. What was she trying to prove," a party leader told IANS.

That rally was poorly attended, and that was a cause of worry. Dikshit had to plead with the crowd - that had begun to walk away - to wait to hear Gandhi.

However, another party leader blamed the anti-incumbency factor.

"The anti-incumbency wave swept away many good MLAs too. Sheila Dikshit's governance was not too bad," the leader told IANS.

By IANS,

New Delhi : India and the UAE will ink a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement during the visit of UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan here Dec 12.

The UAE foreign minister is coming at the invitation of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, said a statement by the ministry of external affairs.

The UAE minister had earlier visited India in May 2012 for bilateral discussions.

"During the visit, the two sides will discuss bilateral, regional and other issues of mutual interest. It is expected that an agreement on Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection will also be signed," the statement said.

The BIPPA is to provide a comprehensive framework to investors from both countries.

Bilateral trade between the two countries crossed $74 billion during 2012-13.

The UAE is the 10th largest investor in India in terms of foreign direct investment. It is also the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to India. The Indian community, which is 1.9 million strong, is the largest expatriate group in the UAE.

By IANS,

Aizawl : A day after suffering humiliating defeats in four states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi -- the Congress party retained power in Mizoram, sweeping 33 of the 40 constituencies and leaving the opposition badly bruised with six seats.

Results of the Lawngtlai East constituency were withheld due to erroneous electronic voting machines.

Thousands of Congress supporters celebrated across the state, as election results gave some vigour to the partymen after the crushing electoral defeats in the four states.

The ruling Congress bagged 33 seats while the main opposition Mizo National Front (MNF), which led the three-party coalition Mizoram Democratic Alliance (MDA), secured only five seats. Another MDA partner Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) managed only one seat.

The MNF, a militant outfit-turned political party, was in power in Mizoram for 10 years from 1998 to 2008.

During the last assembly elections in 2008, the Congress had won 32 seats and the remaining seats were bagged by various local parties.

Congress leader and Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla, 71, who established the Congress base in the Christian-dominated state, was elected to the assembly for a record ninth time since 1978.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has little base in the bordering state, contested from 17 seats and lost in all.

This is for the sixth time that the Congress has come to power in the northeastern state which has its borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.

"Under tight security, ballots were counted in eight district headquarters since 8 a.m. Monday," Mizoram Joint Chief Electoral Officer H. Lalengmawia told IANS.

Lal Thanhawla, also state Congress chief, who was contesting from two constituencies, won both the Serchhip and Hrangturzo seats (both in central Mizoram) defeating his respective MNF and Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) rivals.

He defeated MNF's C. Lalramzauva, a lawyer and a three-time former legislator, on the Serchhip seat by 734 votes while he retained the Hrangturzo seat beating MPC's Lalthansanga by 1,628 votes.

"There was not a single instance of irregularities of our government. People voted for us seeing the success of our governance," Lal Thanhawla told reporters after the win.

Opposition MDA's chief ministerial candidate and MNF supremo Zoramthanga lost his East Tuipui seat (in eastern Mizoram) to the Congress's T. Sangkunga by 798 votes. This was his second consecutive defeat.

Industries and Tourism minister S. Hiato was the only minister in the outgoing government who lost his Saiha constituency to MNF's K. Beichhua by only 222 votes.

Home minister R. Lalzirliana, Law and School Education Minister Lalsawta, and Food, Civil Supplies, Environment and Forests Minister H. Rohluna won.

Non-Mizo Congress candidate and Chakma tribal leader Buddha Dhan Chakma won from the Tuichawng seat.

Joint Chief Electoral Officer H. Lalengmawia said a repoll has been ordered in the Tialdawngilung polling station in Lawngtlai East constituency in central Mizoram as counting could not be held because of a defective electronic voting machine.

The repoll would be held Dec 11 and votes will be counted the next day.

Over 81 percent of the total of 690,860 voters exercised their franchise across the state Nov 25 to elect a new 40-member assembly.

In all, 142 candidates, including six women, contested the elections.

The main poll battle was between the ruling Congress and opposition coalition MDA, comprising MNF, MPC and Maraland Democratic Front (MDF) -- all regional parties.

Of the 40 seats, 39 were reserved for tribals and one seat was for general category.

With a total population of 1,091,014, Mizoram is the only state in India where women voters outnumbered men by 9,806 in the total electorate of 690,860.

All WPI candidates combined could not get 2000 votes

By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,

Jaipur: Welfare Party of India (WPI) made their state election debut in North India by contesting Rajasthan elections, the state where party gave utmost focus since its formation in 2011. After an election debacle in Karnataka, WPI hoped to make a mark but again it has failed miserably.

In the beginning WPI planned fielding at least six candidates from all across Rajasthan but then settled for four. Even among those four seats at the height of election fervor they withdraw their candidate Fasahat Ali from Sawai Madhopur, who also happened to be former Jamat-e-Islami Rajasthan Ameer’s son.

Rajasthan state President of WPI Engineer Rashid Hussain.

Jamat-e-Islami has considerable presence in Sawai Madhopur villages and WPI candidate contesting doomed loss of crucial chunk of Muslim vote for the Congress.

Sources in WPI top leadership in Rajasthan confirmed to TCN, that Congress candidate Danish Abrar had back channel communications and quite a bit of cajoling to urge WPI candidate to withdraw in his favor. In fact, WPI organized a public meeting in Sawai Madhopur and made Danish sign an open declaration of demands in return of support, that includes among many things raising Muslim issues in the Assembly and justice for murdered SHO Phool Mohammed.

But later in an interview with TCN Danish Abrar refused to get into ‘community dispute’ of Phool Mohammed murder and said doing that will lead to communal politics. In Sawai Madhopur Danish Abrar got badly defeated by scion of royal family of Jaipur Diya Kumari. Thus WPI attempt to look as savior for Muslim candidate got in vain and there chance of scoring good chunk of votes in their traditional bastion.

Advocate Paker Farooque, WPI candidate from Hawa Mahal (Jaipur).

In Hawamahal Advocate Paker Farooq was the candidate who WPI was having big hopes to penetrate into 30% Muslim vote bank of the constituency. He got 8th position with just 730 votes. In fact Haji Aftab of NCP and Mohd Saleem of BSP gave better performance than him and got 6th and 5th spot respectively. Even Independents Muslim candidates over took him; in fact independent Papu Qureshi got 4,442 votes and got the third spot. Surendra Parek of BJP won the seat with 69954 votes, defeating sitting Congress 4 time MLA Kishore Sharma who got 57209 votes.

In Kota South another constituency where party was accepting some face saver turns out to be disappointment. Saifullah Khan got just 636 votes and got 5th spot, even behind his BSP rival Mohd Kadir who was ahead of him with 100 votes. BJP’s Om Birla swept the whole constituency getting 1,03,369 while congress Pankaj Mehat got 53930 votes.

Where as in the neighboring constituency of Kota North their ideological sister political party SDPI got 13,545 votes and a respectable third position.

Engineer Hussain in a meeting at Party State Headquarter.

Retired Additional Commissioner Mushtaq Ali from Jhunjhunu was the most under performer candidate of WPI with just 245 votes. JDU’s Anwar Ali Khan and an Independent Mohd. Irfan were easily ahead of him. This seat is gone to Brijender Singh of Congress with 60,929 votes.

In an earlier interview with TCN Rajasthan WPI President Rashid Hussain promised surprising results in at least two constituencies. His hope was weighted by the assurance from JIH that it will support WPI candidates which was not the same case for the party in last Karnataka elections. But now in Rajasthan elections it is clear that even JIH’s support didn’t made any difference for WPI.

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When Muslims try to build resistance and form party, they are blamed for being spoilers: WPI Raj President

By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,

Kolkata: A conference of All India Imam Organization was held on 7 December at Hafiz Hotel complex, Zakaria Street, Kolkata. The Imams hailing from various mosques and institutions all over the country gathered to discuss the role played by the clerics for better prospects of Muslim welfare.

Speaking on the occasion, AIIO state secretary Maulana Abdur Rahman said, “Imams engage in a noble deed of propagating the message of Allah (SWT) and our beloved Prophet (pbuh) through Quran and Hadith with the intention of building a humane society. They are also acting as couriers of various government schemes which are there to muslims. Greater co-operation on the part of the government is what is required now.”

“We stressed on how Imams and Muazzins can come forward and play more active role in fulfilling their social responsibilities for the greater good of the community,” said Mohammad Shafique, Imam of Nakhoda Mosque.

“We should also forge cohesion with the state government if needed in order to expand our reach to the people through our activities. But we also want that Imams should get justified remuneration from the state Waqf board similar to that of the Group-D employee of Government of West Bengal,” he pointed out.

He further elaborated the demand of a just renumeration by stating that Imams are financially weak and if the government would not lend its ears to our demands now than it would become difficult for us to manage various states of affairs.

He lauded the joint role of Imams and the state government in the eradication of polio. “It is a matter of immense pride for us that we teamed up with the government for such an important cause. Imams always take lead in any welfare programme of Muslims taken up by the government as we feel that the onus of building a good society is on all of us,” he extolled.

He also reiterated the demand of land for building proper homes for Imams. “At an Imam-Muazzin meet held on 3rd April, 2012, our chief minister Mamta Banerjee had made us a promise that every Imam will get a piece of land for building pucca homes and that the government will bear all the expenses of the education of the children of Imams including higher education. We expect the CM to keep her word,” he reminded the gathering at the conference.

A slew of other important demands were made at the conference which also included the arrangement of allowances to the divorced women from the Waqf board.

Other dignitaries present at the conference were ex MLA Muhammad Sohrab, Maulana Ashraf, Mufti Muhammad Jalil and many Imams from different districts of West Bengal.