Latest news with #Kanu
Scroll.in
6 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
The doctor from Sindh, once honoured by Pakistan, now forgotten
On August 14, 1947, the day Pakistan came into being, Karachi was swept up in jubilant celebration. A 4.8-km state procession wound its way through the city led by Viceroy Louis Mountbatten and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam – Great Leader – of the new nation. Military units lined the route of the procession, while overhead, fighter planes dipped in salute. Crowds gathered at every corner, cheering, waving, witnessing the birth of a country. To mark the occasion, the Citizens' Celebrations Committee had erected 16 ceremonial gates along the route. Each one bore the name of a distinguished citizen: political leaders, religious figures, intellectuals and national heroes. Among them were three future prime ministers of Pakistan, pioneering voices of the Pakistan Movement, spiritual heads of major communities, and iconic city-builders. One of the 16 was a Hindu: Dr Hemandas Wadhwani. Eminent but forgotten I came across his name quite by chance while working on the family history of a Wadhwani family and was intrigued. A few older relatives with memories of Sindh had mentioned Hemandas Wadhwarni, a doctor with a practice in Jacobabad. Some thought back with faraway expressions and vaguely recalled that he had once been a minister in Sindh. Curious, I began piecing together his story through online searches and scattered mentions. I found more than I expected. Most striking of all was a Dawn report dated August 15, 1947, quoted by Khurram Ali Shafique on The Republic of Rumi website, which mentioned the 16 ceremonial gates. Who was this prominent Wadhwani, honoured on the day Pakistan was born – and now almost entirely forgotten? From news reports, gazetteer entries, and administrative records of the time, a shadowy picture emerged: that of a widely respected physician and high-ranking public servant. These findings were later enhanced by family memories. What Kanu remembered Kanu Wadhwani (1934-2022) was 84 when I first met him. He had lived in Jacobabad as a child where his father Hiranand (Hemandas's paternal uncle) was headmaster of the municipal high school. He had very fond memories of his well-settled older cousin and the three-storey family home with its arches, red pillars, wide verandas and spacious rooms overlooking the Begaree Wah. Hemandas's clinic was in the house and several of the rooms doubled as a nursing home. When Kanu's elder brother Moti contracted typhoid, the family moved from their government quarters to live in the family home, where a safe and comfortable convalescence was assured. Kanu's memories of his loving, always cheerful uncle are balanced by Hemandas's formidable reputation as a skilled and dedicated doctor across the Upper Sindh Frontier region and Balochistan, where he was responsible for many social activities. Doctor saab When devastating floods struck Jacobabad in 1929, Hemandas led the relief efforts. He was again at the forefront during the Quetta earthquake of 1935, in which more than 40,000 lives were lost from a population of 60,000. He served as honorary secretary of the Indian Red Cross Society in Sindh, implementing global practices he had encountered while volunteering with the Red Cross Society Leagues in London and Paris. His MBBS degree was from Grant Medical College in Bombay. He had enhanced his skills in Vienna with specialised courses in diseases of the ear, nose and throat. A long-serving member of the Jacobabad Municipality and Chairman of both the Sanitary and Primary School Boards, he also established a Child Welfare Centre in the town. One of its most beloved initiatives was the annual baby show – a joyful community event with a public health purpose. Hemandas's greatest motivation was to promote hygiene and nutrition across the region. Grateful families credited him with significantly reducing maternal mortality in Jacobabad and with training midwives who later served across Sindh. Perhaps it was his dedication that earned him the title Kaiser-e-Hind from the British colonial government. One of his most enduring efforts was the establishment of Dow Medical College in Karachi. When Sir Hugh Dow, governor of Sindh, laid the foundation stone of the college, he reportedly said of Hemandas: 'His efforts were untiring; he would accept no discouragement, and it is certain that this scheme would not have been brought to the stage which we see today had it not been for his enthusiastic and dedicated work. I have done my best to second his efforts, but in my opinion the college might have been more appropriately named after him than after me.' As Hemandas rose to prominence across the province, he remained a kind and good-natured man, loved by his family and widely respected by the people of Upper Sindh Frontier and Balochistan. The rise to eminence When Sindh was separated from the Bombay Presidency in 1936 and established its own government, Hemandas was put up as the candidate of the Indian National Congress from Jacobabad and won a resounding victory. He was appointed minister of health for Sindh and his time was divided between Jacobabad and Karachi. In Karachi, he set up a nursing home next to his residence and the road was named in his honour: Hemandas Wadhwani Road. Although the British government had postponed independence until the Second World War had ended, negotiations were already underway. Among the senior officials involved in these high-level discussions was Hemandas Wadhwani. Were these the reasons he was honoured as one of 16 eminent citizens of Pakistan with a ceremonial gate bearing his name on the day the country was born? He stayed on as long as he could Gradually, things began to change. Sindh had not been partitioned. Hindus had lived there as a peaceful and prosperous minority for centuries and at first, there was no reason for them to leave. But Partition had created a tide of desperate new arrivals – refugees who had been promised a homeland and who looked to Sindh to begin again. Kanu Wadhwani's family left in September 1947, after a traumatic incident in which their home was raided. He remembered his father walking calmly to the front door and opening it, as the police inspector in charge of the search entered. His terror turned to astonishment when the inspector bowed before Kaka and assured him that the house would not be searched. Hiranand had once been his headmaster at the Municipal High School in Jacobabad – how could he violate the home of a man he still respected? But the officer pleaded with Hiranand to leave Pakistan, warning that it was becoming increasingly dangerous for Hindus. It was Hemandas who arranged passage for the family on one of the ships evacuating non-Muslims from Karachi to Bombay. Kanu remembered his father weeping at the port and others around him trying to console him, saying there was nothing anyone could do. Hemandas and his family remained in Sindh until 1950. Who can imagine the shifts that finally forced them to leave: the disillusionment, the helplessness, the loss of all the goodwill and prestige he had built over decades of hard work? Their first home away from Sindh was in Udaipur, where Hemandas was welcomed as personal doctor to the Maharaja, whose treatment he continued for nearly a year. It's unclear how this association had formed, but the family already had links to Udaipur – it had been the first port of call for several relatives after Partition. This included Kanu's family, who were allotted two rooms in a large house known as Iron Bungalow, shared with seven other displaced Sindhi families. It was their first home as refugees. From Udaipur, Hemandas moved to Indore, where he tried, unsuccessfully, to set up a business selling steel vessels for his son Moti. Eventually, he, Totibai, and their differently-abled son Gopal moved to Bombay. Moti, his wife Kamala, and their sons Vijay and Ashok – both born in Sindh – and baby Ravi, born in Jhansi, settled in Pimpri. In time, the family came together again in Colaba, Bombay. Our family physician Building up a professional practice takes years. Hemandas was one of the hundreds of thousands of illustrious Sindhi professionals who had lost everything and did not have the resources to start all over. In time, patients came, largely from families who had known him in Sindh. Many travelled from the refugee camps in Kalyan, a journey of nearly three hours, having complete faith in his treatment. Colaba had a large Sindhi population too. Hemandas established the Colaba Sindhi Panchayat and Bombay Sindhi Panchayat where medical treatment was provided for free. Among the many Sindhi families who made Colaba their home was that of my grandfather, Presidency Magistrate KJ Bijlani. That home in Colaba remained a centre for gatherings and happy times for our family, all the way till 2003. When I asked two of my uncles if they remembered Hemandas, it turned out that his home had been right nearby. To my amazement, they recalled him vividly – because he had been the family physician. However, they had not the faintest idea that he had once been an important public figure in Sindh. What they did remember, the kind of detail children are so likely to retain, was the lisp with which he spoke. My uncle Hiru, who was born in February 1948 at the peak of post-Partition trauma (the family had migrated just months earlier in November 1947), had been sickly as a child. He remembered Dr Hemandas as kind and reassuring. On phone consultations he would say, 'Haa, haa, samjhi vyus' – yes, yes, I understand. Someone would then be sent over to collect the medicine he dispensed. The Ramayana mix-up For some years I believed that in the completely altered life after Partition, Hemandas revived a tradition initiated by his grandmother Chetibai when he was a little boy in Sindh, encouraging him, 'Ramayana ji katha budhaye', tell us a story from the Ramayana. People would gather round to sit and listen when he did. This became a daily routine and it gave the comfort of home to many who had carried on with stoic bravery after their lives had been upturned. However, in November 2024 I finally got the opportunity to meet Ashok Wadhwani, Hemandas's grandson, who had grown up in the Colaba home, and he was adamant that no such routine ever took place in their home. Kanu Wadhwani had passed on. There was no one else I could check with. Confused, somewhat sheepish that I seemed to have made a mistake, I went back to Kanu's recordings. Eventually it became clear that I had misheard. It was Rupchand, Hemandas's father, whose Ramayana katha was so popular. Seventy-four when Partition took place, Hiranand's brother Rupchand resolutely stayed on in Sindh. His wife Jasoda and their brother Thakurdas were both no more. While most of the family left Sindh, Rupchand chose to stay. He moved to his darbar – a traditional Sindhi place of worship usually maintained by generations of a family – in Kambar. There, he swept the floors himself and referred to himself humbly as 'Darbar jo naukar Rupo', Rupo, a servant of the darbar. After the pogrom of January 6, 1948, when mobs began attacking gurmandars, tikanos, darbars, and other Hindu places of worship across interior Sindh, the Kambar Darbar's devotees fled as well. With help from its followers, the community reconvened in the Bombay suburb of Kandivali. Rupchand went to live with his son – once the health minister of Sindh – now leading an unassuming life in Colaba. The memory of the daily katha was not Hemandas's. But it remains part of the family's atmosphere of comfort, continuity, and quiet reconstruction in a world turned upside down. A lasting legacy While in Bombay it is the memory of Hemandas's gentle lisp that lives on, in Sindh his legacy endures – not only through infrastructure and institutions, but through a model of civic service, compassion, and professional excellence. His contributions to Dow Medical College, the Indian Red Cross Society's work in Sindh and the Jacobabad Child Welfare Centre, along with the public health practices he pioneered, continued to shape the region's medical and social fabric long after his departure – and long after his name was erased from plaques and street signs. Hemandas was one of many illustrious Hindus of Sindh whose work lived on even as their names vanished from public memory. I felt a little better about this when my uncle Moti told me about Hemandas's funeral procession: that it had been enormous, with hundreds of mourners. The local population probably wondered what all the fuss was about.
USA Today
13-08-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Countdown to Kickoff: Hero Kanu ready for his chance to shine
Hero Kanu leads a slew of defensive tackle transfers for Texas this year. Kanu is quickly becoming one of the leaders on and off the field. The countdown to kickoff continues and so do the breakdowns of new faces along the defensive line. Hero Kanu, the senior transfer from Ohio State that has really started to turn heads at fall camp. Only totaling 14 tackles during his limited playing time at Ohio State, he is obviously hungry to have a successful senior season and raise his NFL Draft stock dramatically this year. 2024 Stats: 4 tackles, Only playing against Penn St, Indiana, Oregon & Texas 2024 was a very interesting year for Kanu. He was getting similar headlines this time last year in Columbus, but then injured his knee in practice and was down until the Penn State game on November 2nd. From there, Ty Hamilton and Tyliek Williams had locked down the starting jobs, with others rotating in comfortably, so Kanu did not get the playing time he was expected to in fall camp. From there, he jumped in the portal shortly after the season and made his way down to Austin, and it's been all go for him. It seems he is as serious about his craft as they come and will likely be the 'starter' at DT alongside Travis Shaw Week 1 against his former team. This is a player that has been waiting for his moment, and had it taken from him by injury last year. This year, he seems ready to pick up where he left off before he went down. Growing up in Germany, Kanu played soccer much of his childhood, but once he outgrew(physically) soccer, he moved to the United States for high school to explore football. He's still comparatively new to this sport, and seems to finally be fully clicking for him in the last couple of years. He's ready to roll against his former team, and one of his former teammates is getting serious about the extracurriculars. Along with Travis Shaw, Kanu is one of the veterans of the DT room, with Alex January and Maraad Watson still developing. He seems to have taken that seriously and is becoming an important leader for this team. Someone who has had the career, and life that he has had can be super helpful to this team, especially this position group. Texas brought in five transfers on the defensive line this year. This is my personal favorite of the bunch. He was shining, and likely set as a starter a year ago but an injury took that chance away. He's ready for his moment in the sun and he has all the tools to become the next star at DT for the Longhorns. That first game will not be one he needs a hype speech for. He will be ready to roll, and I think this could be one of the more pleasant surprises for Texas this year. Tomorrow, we get into the homegrown Longhorn that is ready for his chance, Alex January. The sophomore from Duncanville brings a very high ceiling and motor to the position, and he, unlike Kanu and Shaw, we get to enjoy for multiple years in burnt orange. Follow us on X/Twitter at @LonghornsWire.
India Today
15-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
From the India Today archives (2018)
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated Aug 6, 2018)A narrow, muddy lane in South Tokrer Chora village in Assam's westernmost district, Dhubri, bordering Bangladesh, leading to a railway overbridge, the other end of which opens into a local market. Standing on the bridge, one can see the Indo-Bangladesh border fencing, just over a kilometre away. Close by, on the ground, staring at the setting sun behind his bamboo hut overlooking a paddy field, Mohammad Hajer Ali, a 69-year-old farmer, ignores the pestering of his grandchildren to take them to the market. His mind is full of thoughts of that border he be forced across it after July 30? He doesn't know anyone on the other side. What will he do there? Ali says he was born in 1950 in India and has documentary evidence to support his claim. Yet he is a suspected Bangladeshi, or D-voter (doubtful voter), according to the electoral 10 kilometres away, in Sonakhuli village, Kabita Roy, 35, is increasingly losing patience with her husband, assistant sub-inspector Ramesh Chandra Roy, 43. For the past 15 years, the mother of two has been barred from voting because she is a suspected foreigner. The anger and frustration is writ large on her face, her husband is in the police force and she belongs to the Koch Rajboghshi community, a people indigenous to the region. Yet she has to live in constant fear of being declared a foreigner and jailed or, heaven forbid, even deported to Bangladesh. Far in the east, around 400 km away, in middle Assam's Moirabari, a Muslim majority village in Morigaon district, 50-year-old Durga Prasad Kanu, a daily wage earner, received a notice from the local police on June 7, asking his entire family to submit their citizenship records. Kanu claims his grandfather Dinanath Kanu had migrated to Assam from Uttar Pradesh in the 1950's. He owns a valid voter card and land records from UP, but the fear of a legal battle and the possibility of being declared a foreigner is giving Kanu sleepless Roy and Kanu could be among the more than two million people likely to be declared stateless in Assam on July 30, the day the National Register of Citizenship (NRC)a document that registers the names of all Indian citizens living within the geographic boundaries of Assam will be published in the state. The implication of this register could have a ripple effect in other parts of the country a majority of these stateless people are likely to be Muslims, a communal narrative is already taking hold. From spreading false information that seven million Muslims will be stripped of citizenship to direct threats of violence, there are already explicit attempts to convert Assam's battle against illegal immigrants into a religious conflict across India. It's an explosive situation, which can take the state back to the days of the Assam agitation between 1979 and 1985. While 855 people, taking part in that agitation against illegal immigration, lost their lives, the biggest flashpoint was the Nellie massacre in 1983 where over 2,000 Muslim immigrants were killed by tribals in central Assam's Morigaon chief of the Jamait Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, has already said that Assam will burn if 5 million Muslims are left out of the updated NRC. According to Assam police sources, extremist outfits such as the Popular Front of India (PFI) are working overtime to penetrate the Muslim-dominated areas of lower Assam, though till now it has been effectively tackled. This episode has the potential to turn into India's own Rohingya crisis with millions of people left with nowhere to go. It's no surprise then that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has already instructed three border district administrations to take measures to prevent the entry of people whose names are excluded from the to the confusion is the lack of clarity as to what will happen to the people whose names are missing from the NRC. Union home minister Rajnath Singh, in an attempt to assuage fears, has said that the missing people will not be kept in detention. They will get a chance to prove their citizenship before the final NRC is released at the end of the year. Everyone with documents can apply for inclusion between August 1 and September 28, says Prateek Hajela, the state coordinator preparing the NRC. The July 30 NRC will be the second and final draft. The first draft, which included 19 million of the 32 million people of Assam, was published on December 31, to sources, the Centre has been considering a proposal to provide long-term biometric work permits to all those who may be eventually declared foreigners. These people would not have any political or land rights (there is no clarity on what will happen to those who have already bought property in Assam). What can make matters explosive is that a substantial section to be excluded will be those who own to Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika, those excluded from the NRC will not automatically become foreigners. They have to be so declared by a tribunal, before any proceedings can be initiated. If, say, 2 million are excluded, there'll be 2 million cases before 100 tribunals. It will take years to dispose of them with further appeals to the high court and Supreme Court, he says. In some cases, the Gauhati High Court has directed authorities to acquire land owned by individuals declared foreigner by Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, this is the biggest challenge of his political career. Sonowal, whose political journey began with the All Assam Students Union (AASU), the organisation at the forefront of Assam's fight against the illegal influx, is hailed as Assam's hero for single-handedly getting the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) or IMDT Act repealed in Supreme Court in 2005. The act was seen as a big obstacle in the detection of illegal immigrants. Sonowal is aware that the NRC could bring the state to a boil and has already requested the Centre for more forces. Not taking any chances, the state police force has stepped up its vigil across the state, and in the virtual world NRC is the second such exercise in the state, necessitated by widespread allegations of massive, unabated illegal immigration from Bangladesh. The first NRC was published in 1951 by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during that year's census and was unique to the state of is hardly any precedent anywhere in the world for a legal exercise that will strip such a massive population of citizenship in a single day. Of course, the complexity of the issue of illegal immigration in Assam, estimates of illegal foreigners range from 4 million to 10 million, provoked this unique solution. Just one statistic, voter numbers in Assam grew by more than 50 per cent in less than a decade, from 5,701,805 in 1970 to 8,537,493 in 1979, triggered a six-year-long agitation against illegal infiltrators. This sudden surge was also a consequence of the 1971 war which forced massive influx from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to various parts of India, mainly 2005, while striking down the IMDT Act, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, Justice G.P. Mathur and Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan, said, reflecting the sentiment of Assam: The presence of such a large number of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which runs into millions, is in fact an aggression on the state of Assam and has also contributed significantly in causing serious internal disturbances in the shape of insurgency of alarming current process of updating the NRC is the consequence of a 2009 PIL filed by a Guwahati-based NGO, Assam Public Works (APW), which claimed that 4.1 million illegal Bangladeshis had found their way into Assam's voter list. Look at how national landmarks such as the Kaziranga national park, birthplace of the Vaishnavite saint Srimanta Sankardeva have been encroached by illegal immigrants. We can't turn a blind eye to these, says Abhijeet Sarma, head of APW. The decision to update the 1951 NRC was taken in the historic Assam Accord of 1985, but work started only after 2015 when the apex court started monitoring the the indigenous people have celebrated the process, the fear of being declared stateless has engulfed a large section of Bengali-speaking inhabitants who are often suspected of having sneaked into Assam after 1971. According to the Assam accord, 1971 was fixed as the cut-off year for focus of the government post-NRC is likely to be protecting the land rights of indigenous people. Assam, which ranks 17th among Indian states with a GDP of Rs 3.3 lakh crore, is primarily driven by agriculture. In most of Lower Assam, immigrants of Bangladeshi origin are mainly engaged in agriculture and other manual labour. Primarily landless, their hunger for land of their own has often resulted in ethnic conflicts, like the 2012 violence in 2017, the interim report of a six-member committee for protection of land rights of indigenous people of Assam, headed by former chief election commissioner H.S. Brahma said that illegal Bangladeshis dominated in as many as 15 of the 33 districts of Assam. Illegal migration is driven by the need for land and work. The only way to tackle this issue is by denying Bangladeshis any stake in resources, says lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika, who was appointed by the Supreme Court in 2015 to prepare a report on the various issues related to illegal immigrants in fears of the indigenous people got official validation in the Brahma report which commented that illegal Bangladeshis descend on the land like an army of marauding invaders armed with dangerous weapons, set up illegal villages, mostly on the char lands overnight, in the full view and with the tacit, if not active, connivance and encouragement of the corrupt government officers as also with abetment of communal political even as the process to update the NRC, taking March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date, nears completion, another legal battle in the Supreme Court, slated for the first week of August, threatens to nullify the entire process. In 2012, Motiur Rahman, working president of the Asom Sanmilita Mahasangha (ASM), an umbrella body of different ethnic and indigenous organisations, filed a petition in the Supreme Court against making 1971 the cut-off ASM claims that using March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date would ensure that millions of foreigners, who entered Assam between 1951 and March 1971, will get citizenship, threatening the existence of indigenous people. Between 1951 and 1961, the state's population leapt by 36 per cent, and by 35 per cent in the next decade as against national decadal growth of 22 and 25 per cent respectively. The Supreme Court will form a constitution bench in the first week of August and start hearings on the ASM's plea. If Rahman's plea is accepted, it will throw the entire NRC process out of the NRC will have equal impact on both Hindu and Muslim immigrants as is evident from the protests against the process emanating from the Barak river valley, dominated by Hindu Bengalis of Bangladeshi origin. The recent decision to put on hold in the NRC the names of family members of those declared foreigners by the Foreigners Tribunal has created a lot of apprehension in both the Barak and (the Assamese dominated) Brahmaputra tribunals (FT) adjudicate on cases referred to them by the local Foreigner Regional Registration Office, which itself works on the recommendations of the Assam Border Police Organisation. The FTs, set up in 1964, and the border police, set up in 1962, have been active even before the Assam agitation started. Governed by the Foreigners Act, 1946, there are currently 100 FTs in Assam, up from 36 till 2015. Since 1985, FTs have declared more than 92,000 individuals there have been some embarrassing lapses too. In October last year, the FT served notice to Mohammad Azmal Haque, a retired junior commissioned officer of the Indian army, asking him to prove his Indian citizenship. In March 2017, 11 descendants of the first deputy speaker of Assam, Moulavi Amiruddin, were served notice by an contentious issue has been the exclusion of D-voters from the NRC. A category in Assam's electoral rolls since 1997, their names and that of their descendants would not be included in the draft NRC, says Hajela. Inclusion of D-voters would be subject to the decision of the D-voter tag, however, has already taken several lives in the state. In June, a 40-year-old daily wage earner, Abola Roy, committed suicide in Dhubri's Hakakura area following a quarrel with his wife, Saharibala, who has been marked a D-voter. Saharibala blamed her husband for not being able to earn enough to fight her legal battle. In May, marginal farmer Gopal Das, 62, of Nichlamari in Udalguri district committed suicide after being unable to bear the financial burden of getting the D-voter tag removed from his have complained of randomness in tagging D-voters. In 1997, Shah Alom Bhuyan, who later served as a security officer in chief minister Sonowal's residence, was marked a D-voter. In Tezpur, retired nayak subedar Dilip Dutta got tagged as a D-voter. A senior official from the border police offered an explanation on why several individuals from the police and armed forces got tagged as D-voters: If a person doesn't vote in several elections, he is likely to get a D-tag. Policemen and soldiers rarely get a chance to these lapses and startling numbers, the perception game has added to the xenophobia in the state. The difference in dialect and attire of the Muslims of Bangladeshi origin, even if they crossed the border before 1971, has resulted in lesser acceptance for them among the indigenous population. Take the paradoxical story of a 32-year-old lawyer in the Gauhati High in Fabindia kurtas and clean-shaven, he speaks fluent English and Assamese. His great-grandfather came from what was then East Bengal and settled in Assam before Independence. He is well accepted as an Assamese, but his 27-year-old cousin, a rickshaw puller in Guwahati's Hatigaon area, is routinely regarded as Bangladeshi. Attire does make a difference. The emergence of Badruddin Ajmal (of the All India United Democratic Front) and his Muslim politics mixed with the Hindutva chauvinism of the BJP has poisoned the well further. The perceived existential threat to the natives has only hardened, says the recently released linguistic data of Census 2011 has also widened the already existing faultlines between the Assamese and Bengalis. The percentage of people speaking Assamese decreased from 58 per cent in 1991 to 48 per cent in 2011 while Bengali speakers in the state went up from 22 to 30 per cent in the same period. In several Muslim-dominated areas such as Kalgachia, Baghbor, Chenga, Morigaon and Dhubri, Bengali speaking people are a big majority. To think that the illegal migrants will accept Assamese culture is just naive. Once they reach significant numbers, they'll dump the Assamese language as the Bengalis in Barak valley have done, says Muslim immigrants being the crux of the foreigners issue in Assam, the states crusade against illegal infiltrators did not have a clear communal distinction till the Narendra Modi-led BJP introduced a bill in Parliament in 2016 to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to provide citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Though the bill covers refugees from three nations, it was primarily aimed at protecting the Bengali Hindu migrants from BJP tried to hardsell the bill in Assam, projecting it as a strategy to protect the Hindu identity of Assam against the influx of Muslims from Bangladesh but failed to take into account the fear among the Assamese of the cultural hegemony of the Hindu BJP had come to power in Assam after an election campaign promising to protect the states mati, bheti and jaati (land, home and community) from illegal settlers. The ploy to offer citizenship to the Hindu immigrants was seen as a betrayal of that electoral promise. Our position is very clear. Those who have come to Assam after 1971 cannot be Indian citizens. It doesn't matter whether they are Hindus or Muslims, says Samujjal Bhattacharya, AASU patron and a close friend of chief minister Sonowal. Sensing trouble, the Union government has put the bill in cold storage, at least till the 2019 general religion temporarily taken out of the picture, Assam is now waiting for a logical conclusion to the four-decade-long struggle to protect its land, resources and demography. It has been a battle between citizens and non-citizens, and that's how the people of Assam expect the rest of the world to see it. For better or worse, Ali, Roy and Kanu will have to stage a legal battle where their ethnicity will be of little to India Today Magazine- Ends
Time of India
04-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Nigeria: The true cost of separatist sit-at-home protests
Nigeria: The true cost of separatist sit-at-home protests Monday mornings in Onitsha, one of West Africa's busiest commercial cities, used to be the most chaotic day of the week. But these days, they unfold in eerie silence. The familiar blare of traders haggling prices has faded — replaced by an unsettling stillness as many residents of southeastern Nigeria live in fear. The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement — which is pushing for the independence of Nigeria's southeast — regularly calls for stay-at-home protests to demand the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu is on trial on terrorism charges in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. While the IPOB claimed it had suspended the stay-at-home order, locals continued to comply due to the fear of armed groups known to attack those who defy the measure, using enforcement tactics like arson, looting and targeted killings. "Mondays now feel so empty," said Gift Chigo, a resident in Imo, one of the hardest-hit states in the region. "Businesses are shut down and shops locked down. And to be honest, we don't necessarily sit at home because we support the IPOB, but out of fear. It's not about solidarity, it's about [protecting] ourselves. What can we do? Nothing," she told DW. Nigeria labels IPOB a terrorist organization Formed in 2012 by two UK-based Nigerians, Nnamdi Kanu and Uche Mefor, the IPOB has been at the forefront of the renewed call for an independent state of Biafra. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo Former Eastern region governor and military officer, Emeka Ojukwu, had declared the defunct state of Biafra in the 1960s following the killing of Igbos in northern Nigeria. However, that attempt to secede from the country ended with a bloody three-year civil war that led to the death of millions of people. The agitations still persist with groups like IPOB. In 2020, the IPOB launched its armed wing called the Eastern Security Network aimed at protecting the Igbos, but residents told DW it has instead inflicted more suffering on them. Since Kanu's arrest, the group has split into factions — some of which are more violent, exerting considerable influence and power, especially in rural communities, and targeting government facilities. Although IPOB has repeatedly dissociated itself from the region's violence, authorities have continued to accuse the group of several violent incidents in the area. The Nigerian government has labelled the group a terrorist organization. The cost of a sit-at-home order Apart from the sit-at-home protest every Monday, the region also observes the order on days Kanu appears in court. And, it has not only upended livelihoods and disrupted the economy of the region, but it has also led to the death of more than 700 people over the past four years. A recent report by SBM intelligence, a Lagos-based think tank, shows that the protest has resulted in economic losses of over $4.79 billion (€4.20 billion) with key sectors like transportation, trade, and micro businesses taking the biggest hit. In about 332 violent incidents, the protest's epicenter has been Imo state, where 332 people were killed, followed closely by neighboring Anambra with 202 deaths. Many of the victims were civilians who defied the weekly order or became caught up in clashes between the group and Nigerian security forces. Public institutions like schools and hospitals have also been disrupted by the protest. "I go to class three times a week even though I teach mathematics which was supposed to be taught every single day. We're seriously lagging behind due to the IPOB's order," King David, a teacher in Owerri, told DW. Schools suffer, economy stalls Dengiyefa Angalapu, a research analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Development, a think tank, shared David's concern. He noted that the educational sector has borne the most profound brunt of the sit-ins in the region. "Students preparing for exams often miss critical academic days or are even forced to travel under risky conditions," said Angalapu. "Beyond that, students missing out on school every Monday means they only have four days to learn, and I think that's really a very critical gap compared to other regions in the country." While there was a high rate of compliance with the order in 2021, representing about 83%, actual support is much lower now — about 29%. Nigeria's southeast is inhabited predominantly by the Igbo ethnic group who are known for their entrepreneurial skills. The impact of the sit-ins has been substantial, and these losses are not just contained in the southeast, said Ikemesit Effiong, head of research at the Lagos-based think tank. "People from the Niger Delta and the South South region who are looking to transit through the South East to get to other parts of the country are also materially affected because their goods cannot move over land through the region." Effiong mentioned that the loss in productivity has weakened economic competitiveness and discouraged external investments. "The economic loss in terms of reduced investability climate in the region is worrisome. Many projects that would have been greenlit have actually been held back or rerouted to other parts of the country because the cost of doing business has increased in the South East," he said. What's the way out? Dengiyefa said that, beyond economic loss, deepening unemployment and poverty, what lies ahead is even more staggering. "It's quite sad that a generation of youth are being raised in the southeast in a climate of fear and ideological extremism," Dengiyefa noted. Dengiyefa added that "with the intergenerational transfer of trauma, we're at a very big risk if this continues because we've a whole generation that has been radicalised and that's a very fundamental challenge." Dengiyefa suggested that the Nigerian government should invest in countering secessionist narratives, including engaging local leaders. "We need a non-military security presence such as community policing rather than having solely the armed forces which often escalate tensions" that would eventually lead to a peaceful dialogue for any political demands. Both analysts argued that the heavy-handedness of Kanu's prosecution could be softened through government transparency and fair judicial process. "People may not approve of Nnamdi Kanu's tactics within the region, but his message still has deep resonance. Many people see his treatment as emblematic of how Nigeria has generally treated the Southeast. So, changing that paradigm and changing that perception will be critical," Effiong added.
DW
04-06-2025
- Business
- DW
Nigeria: The true cost of separatist sit-at-home protests – DW – 06/04/2025
The Indigenous People of Biafra's sit-at-home protests have paralyzed southeast Nigeria. As fear grows and losses mount, what's the path to peace? Monday mornings in Onitsha, one of West Africa's busiest commercial cities, used to be the most chaotic day of the week. But these days, they unfold in eerie silence. The familiar blare of traders haggling prices has faded — replaced by an unsettling stillness as many residents of southeastern Nigeria live in fear. The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement — which is pushing for the independence of Nigeria's southeast — regularly calls for stay-at-home protests to demand the release of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Kanu is on trial on terrorism charges in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. While the IPOB claimed it had suspended the stay-at-home order, locals continued to comply due to the fear of armed groups known to attack those who defy the measure, using enforcement tactics like arson, looting and targeted killings. "Mondays now feel so empty," said Gift Chigo, a resident in Imo, one of the hardest-hit states in the region. "Businesses are shut down and shops locked down. And to be honest, we don't necessarily sit at home because we support the IPOB, but out of fear. It's not about solidarity, it's about [protecting] ourselves. What can we do? Nothing," she told DW. Nigeria labels IPOB a terrorist organization Formed in 2012 by two UK-based Nigerians, Nnamdi Kanu and Uche Mefor, the IPOB has been at the forefront of the renewed call for an independent state of Biafra. The familiar blare of traders haggling prices has faded — replaced by an unsettling stillness Image: Patrick Meinhardt/AFP Former Eastern region governor and military officer, Emeka Ojukwu, had declared the defunct state of Biafra in the 1960s following the killing of Igbos in northern Nigeria. However, that attempt to secede from the country ended with a bloody three-year civil war that led to the death of millions of people. The agitations still persist with groups like IPOB. In 2020, the IPOB launched its armed wing called the Eastern Security Network aimed at protecting the Igbos, but residents told DW it has instead inflicted more suffering on them. Since Kanu's arrest, the group has split into factions — some of which are more violent, exerting considerable influence and power, especially in rural communities, and targeting government facilities. Although IPOB has repeatedly dissociated itself from the region's violence, authorities have continued to accuse the group of several violent incidents in the area. The Nigerian government has labelled the group a terrorist organization. The cost of a sit-at-home order Apart from the sit-at-home protest every Monday, the region also observes the order on days Kanu appears in court. And, it has not only upended livelihoods and disrupted the economy of the region, but it has also led to the death of more than 700 people over the past four years. A recent report by SBM intelligence, a Lagos-based think tank, shows that the protest has resulted in economic losses of over $4.79 billion (€4.20 billion) with key sectors like transportation, trade, and micro businesses taking the biggest hit. In about 332 violent incidents, the protest's epicenter has been Imo state, where 332 people were killed, followed closely by neighboring Anambra with 202 deaths. Many of the victims were civilians who defied the weekly order or became caught up in clashes between the group and Nigerian security forces. Public institutions like schools and hospitals have also been disrupted by the protest. "I go to class three times a week even though I teach mathematics which was supposed to be taught every single day. We're seriously lagging behind due to the IPOB's order," King David, a teacher in Owerri, told DW. Former London estate agent and IPOB founder Nnamdi Kanu is on trial on terrorism charges in Nigeria's capital, Abuja Image: Katrin Gänsler/DW Schools suffer, economy stalls Dengiyefa Angalapu, a research analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Development, a think tank, shared David's concern. He noted that the educational sector has borne the most profound brunt of the sit-ins in the region. "Students preparing for exams often miss critical academic days or are even forced to travel under risky conditions," said Angalapu. "Beyond that, students missing out on school every Monday means they only have four days to learn, and I think that's really a very critical gap compared to other regions in the country." While there was a high rate of compliance with the order in 2021, representing about 83%, actual support is much lower now — about 29%. Nigeria's southeast is inhabited predominantly by the Igbo ethnic group who are known for their entrepreneurial skills. The impact of the sit-ins has been substantial, and these losses are not just contained in the southeast, said Ikemesit Effiong, head of research at the Lagos-based think tank. "People from the Niger Delta and the South South region who are looking to transit through the South East to get to other parts of the country are also materially affected because their goods cannot move over land through the region." Effiong mentioned that the loss in productivity has weakened economic competitiveness and discouraged external investments. "The economic loss in terms of reduced investability climate in the region is worrisome. Many projects that would have been greenlit have actually been held back or rerouted to other parts of the country because the cost of doing business has increased in the South East," he said. What's the way out? Dengiyefa said that, beyond economic loss, deepening unemployment and poverty, what lies ahead is even more staggering. "It's quite sad that a generation of youth are being raised in the southeast in a climate of fear and ideological extremism," Dengiyefa noted. Why don't Germans know about their part in the slave trade? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Dengiyefa added that "with the intergenerational transfer of trauma, we're at a very big risk if this continues because we've a whole generation that has been radicalised and that's a very fundamental challenge." Dengiyefa suggested that the Nigerian government should invest in countering secessionist narratives, including engaging local leaders. "We need a non-military security presence such as community policing rather than having solely the armed forces which often escalate tensions" that would eventually lead to a peaceful dialogue for any political demands. Both analysts argued that the heavy-handedness of Kanu's prosecution could be softened through government transparency and fair judicial process. "People may not approve of Nnamdi Kanu's tactics within the region, but his message still has deep resonance. Many people see his treatment as emblematic of how Nigeria has generally treated the Southeast. So, changing that paradigm and changing that perception will be critical," Effiong added. Cash for care: Boosting infant vaccination in rural Nigeria To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Keith Walker
