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Sad, Sad story of a Bihar’s liquor drinking rickshaw puller

ScribeShah
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Sad, Sad story of a Bihar’s liquor drinking rickshaw puller

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ijan Rai (45), a rickshaw puller, came to Phagwara (Punjab) from Patna in June 2016—nearly two months after the Nitish Kumar Government clamped prohibition in Bihar.

Bijan—a Yadav by caste and resident of a Saran district’s village—had been plying rickshaw on Patna streets for 15 years before landing at Phagwara to carry on with what he was doing at Bihar’s capital.

The other day, while going to catch a train at Phagwara railway station, I chanced to board Bijan’s rickshaw, asking him to drop me at the railway station. When Bijan sensed some similarity in the way of our speaking, he asked, “Apne Bihar ke baani ka ? (Do you belong to Bihar?). Once, he came to know that I too belonged to his native state he came out with his story on how he migrated to Phagwara.

“After Nitish Kumar clamped prohibition, it became hard to get liquor. Somehow, I had arranged a pouch of liquor, by paying double of the amount I used to pay before the liquor ban in Bihar”.

“After plying the rickshaw for the whole day, I drank that pouch of liquor and slept on the pavement near the Gandhi Maidan, Patna. A policeman came driving his stick in my stomach and jerking me off my sleep”.

“I was in drunken stupor. The policeman started raining his stick on my back. I told the policeman that I was a poor man… If he broke my back and legs, how would I earn the living for my wife and three children. I requested him to send me to jail instead of beating me. Then the policeman asked for money. I don’t remember how much money I had in my pocket then. But, immediately, I took out all the notes and coins that I had and gave it to the policemen”.

Bijan quoted the policeman as saying, “Pahl-e hi paisa de-diya hota to mar nahin lagti (Had you given money earlier, I would not have beaten you)”.

“On the same night I concluded that Bihar ab ke khatarnak jagah ho gaya hai (Bihar has become a dangerous place) and decided to leave the state. Next, morning I deposited the rickshaw with the malik (owner) and boarded a Jalandhar bound train. I had many friends from Bihar in Jalandhar and Phagwara, pulling rickshaw or doing other such works. About four/five months ago, I brought my wife and three children too”.

 “Babu! I don’t drink too much. I drink a pouch every evening after doing the hard work of pulling rickshaw. I request you to visit my place. I have never quarrelled with my wife and my wife has no complaints about my drinking habit. Din bhar mihnat ka kam karne ke baad ek gilas pi liya tou kya ho-jayega (Heaven will not fall if I drink a glass of liquor after the long day of hard work)”.

Bijan was looking happy and relieved. At the same time he was melancholic also. “Yahan ek gilas daru pin-e ke liye koi tang nahin karta (No one pesters me here for drinking a glass of liquor). The earning is also good. I have got my two sons admitted to a government school which are better than that of Chhapra and Patna. My wife too is happy for a rich Punjabi farmer has allowed us to live in his outhouse free of cost”.

“But apna desh chhut gaya, Babu (I am deprived of my own land). I am still unable to understand why Nitish made us leave our land.

Bijan informed me that, at least, 300 rickshaw pullers from Chhapra, Hajipur and Patna, have migrated to Punjab and Phagwara alone after Nitish clamping the liquor ban.

When I asked him if he would go to his native place to vote against Nitish in next election, Bijan turned philosophical, “Garibon ko apna ghar-bar chudakar agar Nitish raaj karna chahte hain tou karein. Bhagwan unka bhala kar-e. (If Nitish wants to rule Bihar by driving out the poor people let him do so. May God bless him”.

Let me confess here that I no longer operate as a reporter and as such I don’t have time to verify the truth in Bijan’s claim about 300 rickshaw pullers migrating to Jalandhar and Phagwara in the wake of liquor ban in Bihar.

But Bijan’s story moved me. I paid him Rs 50 against his demand of Rs 20, suggesting him to drink his quota of liquor on the day from my money. Bijan blessed me. “Bhagwan aapko tarakki dein..Apan ke bal-bachcha khush rahe (May God give you promotion. May God keep your children happy)”.

I have not gone judgemental in writing Bijan’s story. I have produced it the way I heard from Bijan. It is for the readers to make judgement. I, personally, have opposed Nitish’s liquor ban in Bihar for a variety of reasons and have written volubly on it as a journalist, prior to joining as a teacher at LPU.

How Rs 275000 was collected in three days for Shambhu Lal Regar?

ScribeShah
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How Rs 275000 was collected in three days for Shambhu Lal Regar?

Rajsamand/Kolkata: Five hundred and sixteen Indians within three days had donated around Rs 275000 in three days in the account of Seeta Regar of Rajsamand. Getting tip off on this sudden donation being made in Seeta’s account has forced the Rajasthan to freeze her account for the time being. Thereby, upsetting the initiative of several new-found well wishers of Shambhu Lal Regar aka Shambhu Bhawani the new Citizen Kane of India.

Shambu, a smalltime businessman from Rajsamand, who had to wrap up his business post demonitisation made it to the headlines after he shared a video of him murdering a Bengali Muslim labour contractor in the most gruesome way. The video recorded by his 14-year-old nephew, shocked India with his cruelty and hate dialogue, through which he tried justifying his act.

Facebook, the new crowd funding platform

Shambhu, who is at present in police custody, has become the hero of a sizeable population of Indian Hindu, who are seen plastering Facebook pages with slogans like ‘Jaag utha Shambhu” “Jai Shambhu Jai Mahakal”. So, when a series of protests were being organized across India to condemn the dastardly murder, a bunch of Right Wing foot soldiers were busy consolidating their army to support Shambhu and his family fight the legal battle.

The Hindu fanatics were seen openly seeking support on Facebook groups. Posts like, “Bhabhi ji se mile hai. Agar aap chahey to Shambhu ji ki family ki madad kar saktey hai. Yeh raha bhabhi ji ka Union Bank account number (Met bhabhi ji, if you want to help Shambhu ji then this is her account number).” Many urged the Hindu society to donate anything between Rs 10 to any maximum amount that they could afford to help support the family of the accused.

These posts almost went viral, with around 516 people openly donating and sharing transaction details on Facebook and Twitter. “These posts went viral and hence came to our notice. Thereby, forcing us to free Seeta Regar’s account,” informed Anand Srivastava, IG, Udaipur Range.

Not just the masses

Breaking the myth that it’s the rural India which is communal and in ways supporting hate crime in India was Vargab Pathak, an associate consultant with one of India’s leading IT service, Consultancy and Digital solution provider. Currently based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, has initiated a crowd funding campaign on GoFundMe, a crowd funding platform. He posted about the same on Pashchimbanga Shonkhaloghu Hindu (West Bengal Minority Hindu), a Facebook group, seeking support. He posted on the page, “Hi everyone, please click here to support my GoFundMe campaign, Save the Brave: Shambhu Bhawani.” The campaign, however, has attracted only two likes in the group and is yet to witness any amount being funded to cause of collecting 10,000 pounds for the murderer’s family.

Call for free legal aid

In a country, where Junaid’s (the teenage boy who was stabbed to death in a Haryana bound train) is finding it difficult to arrange funds to seek justice, every attempt is being made to make legal aid available to the accused, who is still in police custody. A Facebook post, asking people in Rajsamand contact a certain Sushil Jain of Indore, to make free legal help available to Shambu. The post which was shared by one Ojal Suthar read, “Main Sushil Jain, Indore, is Hindu veer Bhambhu ji ke court case anewale kharch ki sampoorn jawabdati lene ke liye tayyar hoon (I, Sushil Jain of Indore am ready to completely bear the cost for legal help offered to Hindi valiant Shambhu ji).” However, attempts made to contact Jain on the number shared on the post, failed as the phone was switched off.

Also, the lawyer Sameer Vyas, who had travelled to Rajsamand for the juvenile’s bail instead of charging a fee paid, handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 to his family. “The family of the accused had not yet hired a lawyer they said. But today morning we did see a lawyer from Jaipur, Sameer Vyas, who had come to file a bail application for the juvenile. He said that the bail of Shambhu would be filed soon after charge sheet would be filed and that would be filed soon as the evidence gathering stage was almost over. He also handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 to the family,” stated a report filed by PUCL’s fact finding team which had reached Rajsamand with social activists like Harsh Mandar and John Dayal.

Account freeze triggers anger

What could be called shocking was a series of tweets which were vindictive and threatening in nature, made to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje. Those wanting to raise the fund, felt let down by the government’s move to freeze the account. A tweet read, “@VasundharaBJP u blocked seta regar a/C. Don’t worry Hindu will teach u lesion in coming election mulli rani (sic).” Several such tweets were all over Twitter criticizing the government for having frozen the account.”

I am Muslim, I am India protest against hate crimes

ScribeShah
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I am Muslim, I am India protest against hate crimes

Jaipur:  Since 2015, there has been a drastic rise in hate crimes in India and intensity of every incident after another has been more than previous ones. More than three dozen people have been killed within three years in the name of cow worship, beef eating and now in the name of love-jihad, a term coined by Hindutva forces for inter-religious marriages. On December 6, when Muslims mourned the destruction of Babri Mosque, Malda’s Afrazul (Ifrazul) Khan was murdered in the most gruesome manner by one Shambhu Lal Regar in Rajsamand, Rajasthan. In the last two years, Rajasthan has witnessed several murders of Muslims. But this time, the cruelty broke all parameters. Since then civil societies have been protesting across India. On December 13, when Indian Parliament was attacked by militants, people gathered at Gandhi Circle in Jaipur to say — I am Muslim, I am India to stand against religious militants of India. In Delhi too, a protest under Not In My Name took place and people from all walks of life participated in it.

 

Reality of Gujarat from the eyes of a traveller

Ankit Arora
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Reality of Gujarat from the eyes of a traveller

Ahmadabad/Surat/Rajkot/Vadodara: Gujarat is being touted to be one of the most developed and advanced states in India by the leaders as well as the common men who are the residents of this state. And this is true to some extent when you see the National Highways connecting the big cities and the bulky business booming in the state. Official formalities in Income Tax and Sales Tax department have been erased to make the trade free flowing. Computer and electronic generation of the important papers has been employed in the government offices to execute every business affairs at a fast pace.

The real development in a state can also be observed by the warmth and affection that they share anonymous themselves or show to the outsiders who are visiting their states. In this context, Gujarat is a very lovely place because I experienced all the warmth and love during my cycle journey for the 15 days in this state. I traveled alone through all the small as well as big cities; Ahmadabad, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Dwarka, Porbandar, Diu, Una, Amreli, Bagodara, Vadodara, Surat and Vashi and for not even a single moment I observed a fear or any other negative attitude from the people. It was very heartwarming of them to greet me everywhere and help me with whatever I needed. It was like a home away from home. They came forward to meet me and took me to their homes and treated me with some of the best foods. They never thought of any threat and even I did not think of the same. I never met then anytime before in my life but now that have become my families. I still get calls from some of them when they ask about my wellbeing and about my journey. It’s a different feeling altogether.

If we talk about the infrastructure development then some cities still lack the quality roads and highways. Amreli, Una and the coastal roads of Gujarat are very bad and literally broken. Some of the state highways need a proper maintainance because of the broken patches at every interval of 20-30 kms.

I literally observed this road conditions during my 1400 kms cycle journey across the state. And out of 1400 kms only 650 kms were good roads and rest of them are very bad which cross through the villages and coastal part of Gujarat.

Even some of the roads in Ahamdabad are also bad which are uneven and not leveled.

Though people are welcoming and loving but somewhere in villages the religious intolerance can be sensed when people talk more about the Hinduism and through negative remarks on other communities. They are of the opinion that the BJP leaders are doing good in Gujarat and UP while supporting the Hindu community and thrashing on others’.

On a different note, development is not done only by the government, common people are also responsible for this. Surat has some really good roads within the city and the traffic planning is also very well with the construction of wide dividers and separate stop points for the buses. But local people don’t want to follow it and they avoid taking U-turns at every street. They opt for driving in the wrong lane. It happens in the whole city. It seems that people doesn’t want a change at all.

Education also has some defunct patterns here. Being a developed state it should have some high standard schools. Big cities have IIMs but somewhere in the villages, poor kids and their families are struggling for the basic needs of education and identity. Government schools are lacking proper toilet blocks for the kids. There are no separate toilet blocks for girls and boys in government owned schools. I am not aware of the budget and expenses for the education by the government but it is the basic necessity for the society which should be fulfilled in a developed state. Only big industries and businesses can’t make someone prosperous.

I would like to express my thanks to my supporters in my journey. Innovation Roots and the Round table India have been supporting me for my documentary through out the cycle journey across India.

The good doctor’s outrage: Manmohan Singh’s letter to Narendra Modi

ScribeShah
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The good doctor’s outrage: Manmohan Singh’s letter to Narendra Modi

Delhi/ Kolkata: An outrageous Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India, wrote a scathing letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today. In the letter he took on to the latter’s allegation that Pakistan is meddling with Gujarat election and that Congress leaders including Manmohan Singh and Mani Shankaer Iyer had held a meeting with Pakistan’s diplomats on December 6. The former prime minister not only claimed that the allegations made by PM Modi were baseless but asked for an apology from him.

“I am deeply pained and anguished by the falsehood and canards being spread to score political points in a lost cause by none less than Prime Minister, Sh. Narender Modi. Fearing imminent defeat in Gujarat, desperation of Prime Minister to hurl every abuse and latch on to every straw is palpable. Sadly & regrettably, Sh. Modi is setting a dangerous precedent by his insatiable desire to tarnish every constitutional office, including that of a Former Prime Minister and Army Chief,” Manmohan Singh started the letter. Making his pain and anguish evident.

He further claimed and reminded, “The Congress Party needs no sermons on “Nationalism” from a party and Prime Minister, whose compromised track record on fighting terrorism is well known. Let me remind Sh. Narender Modi that he had gone to Pakistan uninvited after the terrorist attacks in Udhampur and Gurdaspur. Let him also tell the country the reason for inviting the infamous ISI of Pakistan to our strategic Air Base in Pathankot to investigate a terror attack that emanated from Pakistan.”

“My track record of public service to the country over last five decades is known to everyone. No one, including Sh. Modi, can lamely question it to gain lost political ground,” Singh continued.

He added, “I reject the innuendos and falsehoods as I did not discuss Gujarat elections with anyone else at the dinner hosted by Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar as alleged by Shri Modi. Nor was the Gujarat issue raised by anyone else present at the dinner. The discussion was confined to India-Pakistan relations. Names of the distinguished Indian public servants and journalists present at the dinner are enclosed to this statement. None of them could be accused of indulging in any anti-national activities.”

He then went on to demand an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points. I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the Nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies.”

It would be probably the first incident in independent India that, a former minister is seeking an apology from the incumbent. Political commentator, Rasheed Kidwai said the anger of “good doctor,” is personal.

“From Choudhary Charan Singh to VP Singh, to HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujral, were all in a habit of criticizing former prime ministers but there was no instance of bitter personal feud or wild allegations,” he told eNewsroom.

Rasheed Kidwai also quoted John Dryden had famously said, “Beware of the fury of a patient man.” He then added, “Manmohan Singh’s anger is personal. The good doctor is outraged that how could anyone can level such allegations on him, when former vice president Abdul Hamid Ansari, former Major General Deepak Kapoor, and many other dignitaries and journalists were also present at that dinner.”

IIM guys reach out to Sunderban to teach underprivileged children for free

Shabina Akhtar
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IIM guys reach out to Sunderban to teach underprivileged children for free

Sunderban/Kolkata: Forty-five-year old Biplab Das, an IIM graduate works as a delivery manager with Accenture Kolkata through the week and on weekends, he dons the avatar of an educator on a mission. The mission here is simple – fill in the gaps that exist in the education provided by the government. Das, who had spent his early formative years in Sunderban, as his father was a teacher in one such government run schools.

“I am a student of Padma Shri Tushar Kanjilal. He was the headmaster of our school in Rangabelia area in the Sunderbans. I have seen how my teachers have worked towards making education accessible to remote villages out there. Also, having been a student of a government school, I am very well aware of the gaps that exist. So, I always had this vision of going back to my roots and doing something worthwhile for the education system there,” says Das.

Formative years of Kishalaya

It’s been five years now, since Das along with his California-based friend Sourabh Kumar has been running a number of educational programmes under the aegis of Kishalaya Foundation, an NGO formed by him along with a few colleagues and friends.

Taking a multi-prong approach to tackle educational gaps, Das at present is focusing on Sundarbans, with West Midnapur district, being the next in queue. His NGO works towards creating educational hubs for the kids in their early formative years of the kids, in the island area.

Taking quality education to remote villages

Elaborating on the same Das says, “In these years we have realized that kids of remote Indian villages face language efficiency as a major hurdle. In our hubs we work toward bettering their dictions and spellings and other language related issues in the formative years. We are currently focusing on kids between the ages of 5 to 12. We also offer better sports amenities for the kids in our hubs, which work on weekends for these kids.”

They however, have a preparatory school at their nodal hub in Godkhali, which replicates the play school model, a much sought after module which aims at readying toddlers for school education. “We have a rented area, where we are training 52 toddlers, with the latest educational toys and computer aided teaching style.”

A School Where Folklore Is Kept Alive 

Das and his team comprising Kumar, Soumitra Dandapat, Jhilam Nandi and Arnab Adhikari, Asst. Prof, IIM Ranchi, who is also on advisory board, feel that they need to do more to build a new India. They team keeps conceptualising new ways to improvise teaching methodology and make education more appealing to all. Thus, they have introduced a pilot programme in their Godkhali hub, where a middle aged lady has been hired and trained to keep alive folk tales. “We realized that the kids of these areas are the real treasure. They not just need to be educated but also be taught about their roots, which they need to preserve. This made us come up with this unique project, where we have trained a grandma from the sunderban area. They have been trained to conduct storytelling classes, for the kids, so that they also learn the folklores of the sunderbans,” adds Das.

Thinking out of the box

Das and his team come up with unique ideas to fight adversities. For instance to make quality food available to students enrolled with government schools in remote areas, they have tied up with a school in a tribal area to plant saplings of fruit trees. “The idea was to supplement the midday meal provided by government. But our pocket doesn’t allow us to sponsor even a school for a year. We thus thought of planting such trees, which in the coming years will itself provide plenty of fruits to the students of such schools to relish. This is our pilot project, which aims at countering malnutrition,” he adds. The model if successful will be replicated in areas of Bengal that have the most malnourished kids.

Money Management

The funds, Das reveals is made available to run these hubs by a group of his alumni network from IIM and Jadavpur, from where he has done his electrical engineering. “We don’t have huge budgets. Most of our funds come from individual donations made by friends and acquaintances. We have an annual award, for the most innovative teacher in remote Bengal, sponsored by YepMe. With a shoestring budget, we are a dedicated team working towards the realization of our collective dream – May quality education available to all,” he reveals.

Thousands participate in the last journey of Afrazul, Mamata and Mahindra trolled for their help and concern

ScribeShah
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Thousands participate in the last journey of Afrazul, Mamata and Mahindra trolled for their help and concern

Kolkata:  Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee announced a compensation of rupees three lakh and a job for the Rajsamand hate-crime victim from Malda. Mohammed Afrazul (Ifrazul), a labour contractor from Malda, had been hacked and set ablaze by one Shambhu Lal, just for his religious identity.

The incident shocked the nation, with the accused circulating a blood curdling video of the brutal murder on social media, warning Hindu women to not fall into the trap of love-jihad and also threatened Muslim men with a similar fate as that of Afrazul.

Mamata had condemned the act and had even raised the issue during her meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who had been visiting Bengal yesterday. Today, she tweeted, “Very sad incident happened in Rajasthan. Afrazul Khan of Malda of our state was brutally killed. His family is totally helpless. As a small help to the bereaved family, our government has decided to provide Rs 3 lakh to the family and also one job to the eligible person of the victim’s family.”

“Other help from the government will also be provided. I am sending our team of ministers and MPs to visit the family.

Confirming about it, social activist Samirul Islam said, “The officials have reached Afrazul’s house and have conveyed the announcement of chief minister.”

In another development, Chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra also expressed shock on the heinous crime, and demanded swift justice in the case.

“I first turned my eyes away from the video and was about to scroll away from it. And then I realised that by not acknowledging the reality of the video, I would share the collective guilt of a society that does not battle its own demons,” he wrote on Twitter.

But both Mamata and Mahindra were trolled for their support and concern.

However, Mahindra replied back to his trolls and said, had he turned his eye off from such acts, he would share collective guilt of the society.

While at Afrazul’s village in Malda, his dead body reached late in the evening and the last rites got performed after the Isha namaaz (last prayer of the day for Muslims). Thousands of people took part in the last journey of Afrazul.  “Such large number of people had not been gathered for anyone in this village in last 100 years. People came from traveling several kilometers to participate in it and waited till burial get done,” said Nasimur Rahman, a Malda resident.

All the major political parties of Bengal including TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, CPM, Congress, CPI-ML protested against the killing in Kolkata on Friday.

While on December 10, Bangla Sanskriti Manch and Right to Life Foundation will organize silent protest march against the brutal killing in Kaliachak, Malda and Jadhavpur, Kolkata, simultaneously.

As law and order fails in Rajasthan, Vasundhara condemns killing, on day one

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As law and order fails in Rajasthan, Vasundhara condemns killing, on day one

Rajsamand/Kolkata: Unlike Pehlu Khan, Zafar Khan and many other lynching cases in Rajasthan, chief minister Vasundhara Raje, seeing the intensity of the crime, gruesome murder and filming of video of Mohmmed Ifrazul (Afrazul) she forced to condemn it on day one.

After the video of Shambhu Lal attacking a man with machete and burning him alive in a wood in Rajsamand went viral, sending shock waves across the country, chief minister Vasundhara was forced to condemn the act. In the press communiqué released by Vasundhara, said, “This is a deplorable act which needs to be condemned in strongest possible terms.”  In her statement, Vasundhara tried to assure that the criminal will be prosecuted in shortest possible time.

Fifty-years-old Mohammed Ifrazul, a daily wage labour, as claimed by the family, had been lured on the pretext of work was killed in the most gruesome way. Shambhu had filmed the entire murder. In the video, circulated by him social media, he even claimed that he would be surrendering before the police as he is a law abiding citizen. However, Rajasthan police claimed that they have arrested him.

With the video going viral, social and human rights activists across Rajasthan were seen creating pressure on the CM and state home minister Gulabchand Kataria. Many demanded them to resign, and accused Vasundhara of turning a blind eye to Muslims in particular which has been regularly targeted and lynched to death in Rajasthan.

In a statement released, several organization collectively stated, “All (human right) organisations of Rajasthan are shocked at what is happening in the State in terms of lynching of Muslims. The latest one being, murder in cold blood of Ifrazul, a 48-year old migrant from West Bengal in Rajsamand, on the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition.” The statement further demanded, “There is only one demand, Vasundhara Raje should resign now. She does not deserve to hold on to the post even for a day in the context of the absolute impunity provided to these killers and their supporters. Home Minister of Rajasthan Gulab Chand Kataria, has proved his incompetency in controlling these crimes which has left the Muslim Community even more insecure.  The Prime Minister and the Chief Minister need to unambiguously condemn this crime.”

The activists in Rajasthan have been disturbed by Muslims in particular being lynched in the state and the CM not condemning the act or initiating a stern action against the killers. The latest killing of Mohammed Ifrazul from West Bengal, was the most disturbing one, as the video in particular shows, Sambhu justifying his act and even asking others to do what he has done.

The Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, which state the deceased belong had also strongly condemned the killing and tweet. “We strongly condemn the heinous killing of a labourer from Bengal in Rajasthan. How can people be so inhuman? Sad,” tweeted Banerjee.

Congress leader Sachin Pilot, termed the incident as failure of law and order in state and rule of goons.

However, Pilot was criticized in the social media for not terming it as hate-crime, because of which Ifrazul was brutally murdered.

Rajsamand murder: “He had not married any Hindu woman,” declares the wife, demands justice

ScribeShah
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Rajsamand murder: “He had not married any Hindu woman,” declares the wife, demands justice

Rajsamand/Malda/Kolkata: A wail greets you as you goes near to the house of Gul Bahar Bibi, at Syedpur village in Kaliachak, Malda district in West Bengal. Gul Bahar is wife of Mohammed Ifrazul (Afrazul), who has been murdered gruesomely in Rajsamand in hate crime.  In muffled voice she says, “What do I have to say. My husband went to Rajsamand 10 days after Moharram and now they are bringing back his dead body.”

Meanwhile, Ifrazul, the 50-year-old labour from Bengal lynched by one Shambhu Lal. The killer not only hacked and burnt him alive but also filmed the entire episode and later circulated, which is viral now. Shambhu rant against love-jihad after killing Ifrazul.

Between sobs, Gul Bahar says, “Nothing can be worse than this. Not just has been killed in the most gruesome manner, but his character has also been maligned. He used to live there with his son-in-law and had not been married to any Hindu woman. He was 50-years-old with grandchildren. He has been killed just for being a Muslim and nothing else.” She adds that when her husband Ifrazul had been leaving for Rajasmand, where he had been working for 15 years, as a daily labourer, little did she know that the next time it would be his dead body arriving for its last right to be performed.

And when, eNewsroom contacted his son-in-law Mosarraf Khan, who used to live with him. During the telephonic conversation he informed, “My father-in-law had been lured on the pretext of getting work and had been killed in the most gruesome way.” On being asked if he knew, who he had gone with, he says, “No. He had called me saying that he had got some work. It was much later when another relative called me informing that my father-in-law’s phone was unavailable and possibly he had been murdered in the woods.” On being questioned about the love-jihad part, he says, “We used to live together; he hadn’t married any Hindu lady. These allegations are absolutely baseless.”

Back in his village, Syedpur, in Malda, an eerie silence seems to have descended. Most residents of his village recall Ifrazul, the latest victim of increasing hate crime in Rajasthan, as a well natured man. Speaking to eNewsroom, Jewel Choudhary, a villager who knew the victim says, “What is love-jihad? We don’t know what this term means. All that we can now say is that, it’s an easy word used to justify the killing of someone who is in his fifties, has a wife and is even a grandpa. We know Ifrazul since long, and we are sure of one thing that he hadn’t married any Hindu lady. He was a good man.”

In the victim’s village, where the grieving family is awaiting for the dead body, to arrive tomorrow, his wife screams and says, “I want justice. We want the killer to be punished. He can’t be let off so easily.”

Gujarat youth leader Jignesh Mevani attacked four times within 24 hours, election commission a mute spectator?

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Gujarat youth leader Jignesh Mevani attacked four times within 24 hours, election commission a mute spectator?

Vadgam/Kolkata: Jignesh Mevani, a lawyer, social activist and now a youth leader who had led the Dalit movement in Gurjat after the attack on Dalits in Una district, is contesting assembly election. He was attacked four times within 24 hours, while campaigning at Vadgaam constituency.

While Mevani has escaped unhurt during the attacks, two cars of his convey have been damaged.

Since the 37-year-old have announced to contest election, independently from Vadgam assembly constituency, sources maintain, he is getting good response from the locals. Large number of people are attending his meetings. During a roadshow, thousands of people had gathered on Monday, to hear the young gun.

Mevani, has also called opposition parties not to field any candidate against him. While Mevani, is crowdfunding to gather funds for campaigning. He has appealed to the people to generously donate money for him to fight election.

“In many villages, youth, women, and local people welcomed Mevani. After a gathering in Badalpura today, some people started tearing the posters of Mevani in the middle of the procession in the village of Takarwara,”  said a person who is campaigning with Mevani.

Immediately after this, his convoy was attacked and the glasses of one of his convey’s car were broken. Earlier, one more car had been attacked.

Watch the video filmed, after the attack

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FsOH0xmfcw[/embedyt]

 

Social activist Mevani had hit the streets and raised questions about public issues before the state government. Jignesh Mevani had raised a strong voice against the attacks on youth, for employment, education, road health, electricity, water and against attacks on Dalits, and Muslims. During yesterday’s roadshow, some people attacked the convoy of Mevani in Sedrasson and Semodara villages. It was the third attack in 24 hours.

After the attacks, Mevani alleged that the attack was done on the behest of BJP. “Against the BJP candidate, I have a direct fight. I am raising anti- people policies of the BJP, which they have been practicing since the last 22 years. And after becoming a candidate and after landing in Vadgam, I exposed BJP’s fake development model. That is why instead of going to public and talking on the issues, BJP is attacking me everywhere. But, the people of Vadgam have given me a lot of support. I will continue working hard on public issues, and challenging these acts of BJP.”

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