Karnataka Hate Speech Bill Row: Siddaramaiah's Govt Cornered By Hindu Organisations
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| Faceoff over 's Hate Speech Bill: Govt says it won't curb free speechBut Hindu groups warn — talking about attacks on Hindu temples by Islamist groups could also be branded as 'hate speech'. -NewsNews18 Mobile App - https://onelink.to/desc-youtube
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Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Sindh Doc's Partition Diaries: Tricolour was hoisted in Pak school in 1947, RSS held shakhas in Ghotki hamlet
Nagpur: Dr Abhimanyu Kukreja, 86, was just nine years old and ensconced in his native Sindh hamlet of Ghotki, when the subcontinent was partitioned. He recalls the day Pakistan declared independence on August 14, 1947, but says his village was untouched by partition pangs. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "Hindus were in majority and lived peacefully with Muslims, although we heard about riots in Sukkur, 100km away. It was just another day when Pakistan came into being. A Pakistani flag hoisted on Arya Samaj School's terrace was quietly replaced at night with the tricolour by our neighbour, Sangatram. There were no tremors, nobody could find out who did it, and later Sangatram quietly moved to India," recalls Dr Kukreja. Talking to TOI, Kukreja recalls names of his neighbours in Ghotki village of Sindh, who later settled down in Nagpur's Jaripatka colony. On the eve of 78th independence day, Kukreja, now living in Nagpur, recalled his times in independent India, the family's migration from Pakistan, a flourishing RSS shakha in Sindh and Congress Seva Dal's activities. Decades later, Ghotki became a district, even as the Hindu exodus to India continued. "I don't remember any hype over Pakistan's Independence Day. We didn't face persecution, but I can vividly recall elders talking about shifting to India. I was small and didn't want to leave my Ghotki home," he says. "There used to be an open ground near our home, where RSS cadres would hold their shaka. I did not attend any, but I still remember the disciplined congregation. Even Congress' Seva Dal used to carry out patriotic activities," he said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Kukreja recalls the case of an RSS worker who had to shift to India overnight after he was told that he was on the hit list. However, that was a one-off incident. His father ran an herbal medicine business and practised farming. There was no threat, but as Hindus, many preferred to shift to India, says Kukreja. "We finally moved out of Ghotki in January 1948. We reached Karachi, and the migrants were put up in the Swami Narayan temple there, waiting for their turn to board a ship to Mumbai (then termed Bombay)," he says. Kukreja reached Mumbai with his four siblings and mother. Their batch of refugees was sent to Jabalpur, Faizabad, and then Deolali near Nashik. His father, however, preferred to stay back in Pakistan, while the family travelled to India with an acquaintance. "My father finally came down in November when we were in Deolali. But he quickly returned to Sindh on receiving a telegram that our house was taken over by Muslim refugees from India, who would be termed 'panahgirs'. We were tagged as 'sharnarthis' in India and both words meant refugees. Life began afresh in Ghotki, but the family returned to Mumbai three years later, though Kukreja's father continued to stay in Ghotki. "He finally came to India in 1964. Shuttling between two countries wasn't much of a hassle then. We remained in touch through trunk calls and telegrams. My father would send us money through people coming to India and everything was so simple back then," he says. During the second trip, the family preferred to settle in Nagpur, where there were many others from Ghotki. Kukreja got a bachelor's degree in ayurvedic medicine and surgery. "While he was still in Pakistan, my father chose a bride for me in Ghotki. My wife came to India when she was eighteen, much after the Partition," he says.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Dharmasthala burials case: It's an international conspiracy, says BJP
Bengaluru: Opposition BJP Thursday claimed the investigation into alleged mass murders in Dharmasthala was part of another attempt to defame and demean Hindu religious institutions and alleged a network of "urban Naxals and foreign nationals" was behind the conspiracy. During a half-hour debate in the assembly on the case, BJP members said vested interests were attempting to hurt Hindu sentiments. However, home minister G Parameshwara insisted the special investigation team (SIT) was formed to get to the truth "and not play politics" and that a detailed reply would be presented Monday. Opposition leader R Ashoka called it "a national conspiracy". "They began with Tirupati with the seven hills, then went on to Shani Shingnapura and reached Sabarimala, where women were encouraged to enter the premises. Now, the toolkit is trying to defame Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple and the trust," Ashoka said. You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru | Gold Rates Today in Bengaluru | Silver Rates Today in Bengaluru Former minister V Sunil Kumar said that in the name of freedom of speech, YouTubers were hurting Hindu religious sentiments. He accused conspirators of using the 2012 Soujanya murder case, in which the accused was released for lack of evidence, as an excuse to defame Dharmasthala temple and its trust. "A single remark of alleged communal disharmony against a certain community results in our Hindu workers being booked and sent to jail. But when it comes to remarks posted on social media hurting Hindu sentiments, not a single case is booked," he said. Ashoka accused the govt of being party to efforts to defame Hindu society and demanded that the administration present an interim report on the special investigation team's (SIT) probe. He also called for disclosure of the man behind the mask who is leading investigators to the alleged mass burial sites. BJP sought a narco-analysis test on the masked man and demanded that the investigation be handed over to National Investigation Agency (NIA), alleging the involvement of foreign funding for "small-time accusers" and YouTubers. In response, Parameshwara said: "We have as much faith and belief as you, or even more, in Dharmasthala Manjunatha and the Dharmadhikari Veerendra Hegde's philanthropic and religious efforts. We only want to get to the bottom of the truth." Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar said the govt stood firmly with the Dharmasthala temple and its trust, and that the probe was intended to put all allegations permanently to rest. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Independence Day wishes , messages , and quotes !
Deccan Herald
4 hours ago
- Deccan Herald
One year on, hope turns to frustration in Bangladesh
Just over a year ago, after Sheikh Hasina, the autocratic leader of Bangladesh, had unleashed a brutal crackdown on protesting students, Abu Sayed stood defiantly in front of armed police officers in the city of Rangpur, his arms outstretched. Moments later he was hit by bullets and later died from his injuries, his family said. He was one of almost 1,400 to die in a mass uprising that eventually toppled Hasina's 15-year rule. Hasina later fled to India. She left behind a country on the brink of anarchy, but one also suffused with students wanted to rebuild Bangladesh as a more equitable and less corrupt democracy. They helped install Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, atop an interim government tasked with leading the nation out of chaos into stability. But many Bangladeshis are frustrated with the slow pace of change, wondering whether protesters like Sayed sacrificed their lives in Yunus, Bangladesh has struggled to dislodge systemic problems like corruption, inflation, a paucity of jobs and an entrenched bureaucracy, which partly fed people's anger against have clamoured for democratic reforms to kick in faster. They also want swifter punishment for Hasina and the perpetrators of last year's attacks on protesters..'We thought the country would become morally better, inequality would end, there would be fair elections, the killers would be punished, and that punishment would make criminals afraid. But nothing like that has happened,' said Romjan Ali, Sayed's older brother. He added that without Yunus, though, it would probably be worse..A new burden of reforming one of the world's poorest and most corrupt countries has fallen largely on Yunus's shoulders, in a nation still divided and with nearly five dozen political first task was to restore law and order. Looting, rioting and attacks on minorities had destabilised the country after the revolution. Although Bangladesh is more stable now, the government has been accused by human rights groups of not doing enough to control bouts of violence against Hindu minorities and supporters of Hasina, while Islamic hard-liners have tried to get a foothold. His next goal was to get an extensive reform agenda going. Yunus appointed 11 commissions to propose reforms, including changes to the electoral system, the judiciary and the police. The overarching goal was to make the country's democratic institutions, which Hasina had bent to her will, more resilient against authoritarian rule. But few of those changes have happened, and hope has turned to defeatism..'Everything seems messy now,' said Abdullah Shaleheen Oyon, a student at the University of Dhaka. He was shot in the leg during the protests, which were set off by anger over a quota system for government jobs. 'Our dreams remain unfulfilled,' he added, saying that the urgency with which student leaders had launched their plans is petering week, Yunus announced that Bangladesh would hold elections under a reformed voting system in February, though many details need to be resolved before then amid disagreements between political parties. In an address for the anniversary of the overthrow of Hasina, Yunus said that his government had inherited a 'completely broken' country but that it was recovering. He said he was preparing to hand over the running of the country to an elected than half of his tenure has been dominated by discussions with political parties about the timing of those Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which became the country's largest political party after Hasina's Awami League was decimated, has insisted that the interim government should implement only reforms necessary to hold free and fair elections, leaving further changes to an elected other political parties, including Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat e Islami, have backed Yunus on the need for more extensive reform first. Some 30 political parties have been engaged on constitutional and governance issues for two months, said Ali Riaz, a political scientist and vice-chair of the National Unity Council, a government body tasked with overseeing the commissions' reform said they had done so without 'any acrimonious exchange,' painting a sanguine picture of progress. The various parties have agreed on issues like the need for an independent judiciary and term limits on the prime ministerial role, he its leaders through a fully democratic process would be a significant step for Bangladesh, a country of 171 million people. Since Bangladesh became an independent nation in 1971, splitting from Pakistan where the ethnic Bengalis had faced violent suppression, its course has largely been shaped by two political dynasties. Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the country's founders, started the Awami League. Ziaur Rahman, who was a military officer central to the independence war and became president, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is now led by his son from two dominant parties regularly passed the baton to each other before Hasina gripped power. The BNP refused to contest the last election in January 2024, calling it rigged. At the coming election in February, it is the Awami League that may be absent from the ballot because the party's activities are banned in the political parties have been trying to widen their reach by targeting populations in rural and semi-urban areas. Nahid Islam, a leader of the student uprising, started the National Citizen Party in February after he left Yunus's government. To drum up support, he embarked on a 'nation-building' walk-athon in voters are crucial for all parties: The median age in Bangladesh is around 26, and many of the country's young people grew up knowing only Hasina's rule..'We, as a generation, have no good understanding of democracy because we haven't seen it,' said Saeed Khan Shagor, a filmmaker who joined the protests last year. 'So the state should make sure that citizens will live in peace, without any kind of fear.'.Thahitun Mariam, a Bangladeshi American who has been working with community groups in Dhaka, said she worried another common problem would not be addressed: the marginalisation of women in the deeply traditional society. Without significant social change, she said, elections and reforms would simply recreate a 'male-centric, male-dominated political reality.'.Many female students who were highly visible in the 2024 protests, have retreated from their public roles. But Mariam said she was still hopeful that Bangladesh's new democracy would prove to be more Bangladeshis took a moment on August 5 to note the anniversary of the downfall of the Hasina government, tens of thousands of people gathered in Dhaka, the capital, braving an evening drizzle to listen to Yunus's audience cheered as Yunus said that those who died in last year's mass uprising would be deemed national heroes, and Bangladesh would provide 'legal protection to the families of the martyrs, the wounded fighters and the student protesters.' But the celebrations masked growing acrimony from students about an as-yet unfulfilled promise of the revolution: bringing the perpetrators of the July 2024 killings to most Bangladeshis, there are more everyday concerns, as the economy has sputtered. Economic growth slowed to 4.2% last year, down from 5.8% in 2023, according to the World Bank.
