Assam govt has initiated measures for caste census of indigenous Muslim communities: CM Himanta
The indigenous Muslim communities of Assam have long been advocating for a caste-based census to assert their distinct socio-cultural identities. Communities such as the Goria, Moria, Deshi, Syed, and Jolha (Julha) Muslims of the Brahmaputra Valley, along with the Kiren and…
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The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Political row brews over Bakrid holiday in Kerala
The Kerala government's decision to change Bakrid holiday triggered a political row in the State on Friday (June 6, 2025) with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) accusing it of attempting to implement "communal agenda and fascism" in the State. Originally, Friday (June 6) was marked as holiday for Bakrid. However, following the reports that the festival would be celebrated on Saturday across the State, on Thursday, the Kerala government announced that Saturday, June 7, will be a public holiday for Bakrid. As per the change, government also declared that June 6 (Friday) would be a regular working day. Officials, in a statement, said the change was made to ensure the holiday aligns with the actual date of celebration observed by the people. However, IUML and a few Muslim outfits criticised the government's move to change the holiday. Responding to these criticisms, the government on Thursday night, announced that all educational institutions, including professional colleges, would be closed on Friday. However, it failed to pacify the ruffled feathers. IUML, the second largest coalition partner in the Congress-led UDF, said though Friday was declared a public holiday earlier, the Left government cancelled it for no reason. The government's act was amounted to provoke the minority community, senior IUML leader P.M.A Salam charged. "The Left (government) is attempting to implement more communalism and fascism than the BJP and the Sangh Parivar in the State," he alleged in a TV channel. However, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty strongly rejected the charges and said the government had shown reluctance in changing the holiday. He said the government took only some time to think and take a decision as there was change in the festival schedule. "After consulting with the Chief Minister, Friday was declared a holiday by 7.30 pm on Thursday. There is no need for any sorrow or protest on that. However, the opposition is trying to take political mileage over the matter," Mr. Sivankutty told reporters here. He also accused the Opposition of 'politicising even trivial matters.' CPI(M) leader and the party candidate in Nilambur bypoll, M. Swaraj, also shared similar views and said such controversies do not deserve even a reply. He alleged that the row over the holiday on account of the Muslim community's festival was an attempt to mislead the ongoing campaign for the June 19 bypoll. "An election is generally an occasion or platform to discuss healthy and democratic debates, discussions on development and the policies of the government but the opposition has been trying to mislead it and mix up communal venom in it since the beginning," he told reporters in Malappuram. He also accused the Congress-UDF of trying to create controversies out of void.
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
Rajya Sabha Polls: Kamal Haasan, P Wilson Among Candidates As DMK, AIADMK File Nominations
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Candidates from DMK and AIADMK, including Kamal Haasan, filed nominations for Tamil Nadu's Rajya Sabha elections. DMK's nominees focus on social representation, while tensions rise within AIADMK over seat allocations amid upcoming elections. Chennai: In a significant political development, candidates from both the ruling DMK and opposition AIADMK - including actor-politician Kamal Haasan - filed their nominations today for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from Tamil Nadu. The DMK has fielded four candidates, with sitting MP and senior advocate P Wilson nominated for a second term. Internationally acclaimed poet Rokiah Malik, popularly known as Salma, and former MLA Sivalingam from Salem have also been nominated. As part of its alliance with Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), the DMK has allotted one Rajya Sabha seat to Kamal Haasan, marking his formal elevation to the upper house of Parliament. The choices are aimed at the 2026 assembly elections. Two of the DMK's nominees come from minority communities - Wilson, a Christian, is well known for securing major legal wins for the party, including orders enabling the burial of former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi along Marina Beach and the recent court ruling limiting gubernatorial interference in state affairs. Salma, from the Muslim community, is a celebrated feminist writer and literary figure, whose nomination underscores the DMK's continued focus on social representation. Sivalingam, the third DMK candidate, is from the AIADMK-dominated western belt, and is seen as a strategic choice aimed at strengthening the party's foothold in that region - particularly after the DMK managed to win only one of the eleven assembly seats in Salem, in 2021. Kamal Haasan's nomination comes as part of the DMK-MNM alliance that was formalised ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Responding to criticism for aligning with the DMK - a party he once vocally opposed - Haasan said, "This is the need of the hour," citing the importance of uniting opposition forces against the BJP. Meanwhile, the AIADMK has named two candidates - Inbadurai, the head of its legal wing and a Christian from the influential Nadar community in southern Tamil Nadu and M Dhanapal, a former MLA from a Scheduled Caste background. However, tensions appear to be simmering within the AIADMK-led alliance. The DMDK, led by Premalatha Vijayakanth, has expressed discontent over being denied a Rajya Sabha seat, despite claiming it was assured one. While AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami dismissed speculation, insisting "all is fine," Premalatha hinted at uncertainty, stating the DMDK would announce its alliance decision "later."
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Indian Express
Trump's latest travel ban isn't about national security — it's about national identity and who's allowed to belong
Written by Jonah Blank For more than two decades, larges swathes of American foreign and domestic policy have been organised around terrorism: This spectre was used as the rationale for two major wars, the reorientation of all intelligence agencies, the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, and the weakening of rights of privacy, free speech, and basic legal representation. The proportionality between these responses and the threats actually posed was always tenuous: More than twice as many Americans were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, as in the attacks of 9/11. In the second Trump Administration, however, the US has used the pretext of terrorism in a new way: It is now deployed primarily in the context of immigration. Next week, most visitors from 19 nations will be barred from entering the United States. Counterterrorism is the stated goal, but the real purpose has less to do with national security and is more about national identity. Donald Trump's latest travel prohibition hearkened back to the 'Muslim ban' of his first term, which was struck down by the courts but revived in a more limited way. The current order, like the original 'Muslim ban', bars entry to citizens based solely on nationality rather than any specific risk factors. Its rationale is clearly stated — the title of the proclamation is 'Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats'. This pretext, however, had little to do with the action itself. The nations targeted for complete or partial exclusion are spread across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America, and 15 out of the 19 have one thing in common: None of their citizens has ever been involved in any terrorist action in the United States; records are less clear globally, but no citizen of these nations seems to have been involved in terrorist actions against American targets anywhere. The nations that have produced the most dangerous terrorist threats to America are all absent from the list. Saudi Arabia supplied all but four of the 9/11 hijackers, as well as their ringleader, Osama bin Laden; last month, Trump travelled to the Kingdom and gushed over its de facto ruler, saying 'I like him too much.' Neither the other nations whose citizens participated in the hijackings (United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon), nor the nation that subsequently sheltered Al Qaeda's leadership for a decade (Pakistan) were included in the ban. Of the 12 nations completely banned and seven others slapped with sweeping travel restrictions, only five (Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia) could be considered terrorism concerns, and citizens of these countries already face exclusion or exceptionally close scrutiny. The other 14 nations sanctioned present no such threat: Myanmar, Haiti, Eritrea, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Cuba, Laos, Venezuela, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan. Since the terrorism rationale is evidently hollow, why single them out? As is the explanation for so much in the Trump administration: Immigration. The proclamation charges these nations with 'historic failure to accept back their removable nationals' who 'pose significant risks of overstaying their visas.' Such allegations may or may not hold up, but they clearly have nothing to do with terrorism. In his remarks, Trump cited a recent attack in Colorado by a man originally from Egypt (not a nation on the banned list), but he then revealed more than he may have intended about the people targeted: 'We don't want them.' This is the difference between the current counterterrorism rationale and that used by Trump's predecessors. If George W Bush, Barack Obama or Joe Biden had used terrorism as the motivation for banning large classes of people, he would have said (and genuinely meant), They're a threat to our security. Trump essentially admits that the threat isn't truly part of the equation. The reason for the exclusion is just that we don't want them. That encapsulates the MAGA obsession with immigration. It's the top of the movement's agenda, and may well have won Trump his second term, but there is remarkably little discussion in America about why immigrants represent a threat. Because they're taking jobs from citizens? Unemployment is low, and many of the jobs taken by immigrants (especially undocumented ones) are poorly-paid agricultural and industrial work that Americans don't want. Because they overwhelm public services? Sometimes, but immigrants contribute far more to America's economy than they draw from it. Because they fuel crime? Immigrants (including those who've come here illegally) have lower crime rates than native-born. The heart of the matter is exactly what Trump said it was: The roughly half of the nation that supports him feels threatened by the demographic changes represented by immigrants from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Do people from Laos or Togo actually represent a terrorist threat? Of course not. And nobody believes that they do. But they need a rationale to give cover to their discomfort. America is in transition from a nation in which a majority of citizens look like Trump to one in which a majority look like — well, like his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris. And most of Trump's supporters are uneasy about this transformation. Many don't like to admit it. Many prefer to believe that the issue really is crime, or inflation, or ever-more-remote connections to the threat of terrorism. But with his latest travel ban, Trump is barely even pretending to maintain this façade. He offers up terrorism as a comforting veil, makes little effort to keep it from slipping. The President and his supporters just don't want them. The writer is the author of Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana Through India and Mullahs on the Mainframe: Islam and Modernity Among the Daudi Bohras
