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Dublin, Ireland: Locals outraged against police and govt after 10-year-old girl was raped by illegal immigrant who was allowed to stay despite deportation orders

Rukma Rathore
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Dublin, Ireland: Locals outraged against police and govt after 10-year-old girl was raped by illegal immigrant who was allowed to stay despite deportation orders

The rape of a 10-year-old girl by a 30-year-old asylum seeker rocked Ireland, leading to significant anti-immigration agitation on 21st October. The shocking crime took place at the Citywest Hotel which shelters asylum applicants in Saggart, southwest of Dublin.

At least 2,000 people clashed with police (gardaí) and hurled abuses, fireworks, rockets, stones, bricks as well as glass bottles, resulting in six arrests. A police car was burned. One female officer was treated for a foot injury.

The demonstrators were stopped from reaching the hotel by a queue of riot police. They tried to break through the police perimeter by charging on horses and a horse-cart, according to the authorities but were driven away. Some carried tools and garden forks while others broke through barriers to obtain items to throw at cops.

Protesters who attempted to cross garda lines were even subjected to pepper spray. Metal fencing was also put up by police to block access to the facility’s entrance.

Meanwhile, a group of young men, some with their faces covered by hoodies, threw bricks, bottles, traffic cones and other projectiles at the police, as the situation continued to descend into violence. Additionally, bins were emptied and their contents were turned into missiles. Irish flags and placards with anti-immigrant slogans were displayed during the unrest.

There was a temporary suspension of the Dublin and Luas bus services to Saggart. Water cannon, the Mounted Unit, the Dog Unit, Air Support and the Garda Public Order Unit in full riot gear were deployed. It took two and a half hours for the people to disperse and peace to return. This is the first time the police brought its own water cannon which was acquired during the violence in Dublin’s downtown two years ago. However, the agitation ended before it could be utilised.

On 20th October, a minor demonstration outside the building ended amicably but the following night, a large group gathered at the spot. According to Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly, over half of the 300 policemen on duty were from the public order unit. They sent out a dog unit, officers on horses and a water cannon to implement law and order. The situation was back to normal by 10 pm.

“The actions can only be described as thuggery. This was a mob intent on violence against gardaí. I utterly condemn the attacks on gardaí who did their jobs professionally and with great courage to keep people safe,” he stated.

Detectives are collecting bodycam and CCTV footage which they revealed will be used to find aggressive protesters who would likely be prosecuted.

Irish politicians denounce the protests

Prime Minister Micheal Martin declared, “There can be no justification for the vile abuse against them or the attempted assaults and attacks on members of the force that will shock all right-thinking people. I pay tribute to the frontline gardaí who acted courageously and quickly to restore order.”

Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris conveyed, “There is no excuse for this type of violence and thuggery against the men and women who serve to protect us and victims of crime every day.”

“The scenes of public disorder we have witnessed at Citywest tonight must be condemned. People threw missiles at gardai, threw fireworks at them and set a garda vehicle on fire. This is unacceptable and will result in a forceful response from the gardai. Those involved will be brought to justice,” warned Minister for Justice, Home Affairs & Migration Jim O’Callaghan.

He claimed that the accused had been taken into custody and was facing charges in connection with the “alleged incident.” The minister mentioned, “While I am not in a position to comment any further on this criminal investigation, I have been advised that there is no ongoing threat to public safety in the area.”

“Unfortunately, the weaponising of a crime by people who wish to sow dissent in our society is not unexpected. It is clear to me from talking to colleagues during the day and this evening that this violence does not reflect the people of Saggart. Attacks on gardaí will not be tolerated. Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy. Violence is not. There is no excuse for the scenes we have witnessed tonight,” O’Callaghan added.

Independent candidate Catherine Connolly described the scenes in Citywest as “deeply disturbing” during the Prime Time Presidential Election discussion, reported RTE. “It’s very upsetting that we have hundreds of people gathered and the Public Order unit called from the gardaí,” she voiced. Heather Humphreys of Fine Gael called the events “awful” and urged those participating to “go home.”

Rape of a minor girl triggered the agitation, locals outraged against rampant crimes

A male foreign national considered to be from Africa is accused of sexually violating the 10-year-old Irish girl on 20th October morning outside the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, according to Irish Mirror. She is believed to be under the custody of Tusla, the state’s child and family agency and was found by officers after they were notified of the horrific scene.

According to Tusla, she was residing in a certified residential placement with full staffing which was supplied by a community and voluntary sector supported partner. Her family had volunteered her for its care.

The organisation has been caring for her since February but over the weekend she “absconded from staff whilst on a planned recreational trip with staff in the city centre.”

“She was later found to have returned to a relative’s home again absconding from that house later in the evening. She remained in phone contact with staff but would not identify her precise location. She subsequently told staff that she had been involved in a serious incident,” Staff did eventually ascertain her location through details she provided and alerted the police who did locate her,” Tusla alleged in its defence.

Afterward, gardaí secured a parking lot in front of the complex while officers of the garda technical bureau conducted a forensic investigation. They also roped off an area directly outside the main entrance.

The little girl was not staying at the hotel, according to sources and authorities are trying to figure out how she arrived there. It was recently bought by the government to shelter asylum seekers specifically and the police are probing if the perpetrator was housed at the property. He was apprehended at the spot and is an International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) applicant.

The man who committed the crime at Garter Lane of Saggart, Co Dublin was booked for violating section 2 of the Criminal Law (Rape) (Amendment) Act 1990 which was modified by section 37 of the Sex Offenders Act 2001 in relation to sexually assaulting the victim. The Republic of Ireland’s regulations on sexual assault proceedings prevent him from being named. He was recently taken to court.

“I have nothing to say” the offender responded when he was charged, a police officer told the court which provided him with free legal assistance as he was unemployed. He was placed under remand and scheduled to appear in court on 22nd October when a bail application will be submitted. An Arabic interpreter was requested by a defence attorney. Notably, he remained in the country, despite having a deportation order issued in March.

On the other hand, the public has been asked to help and police would like to talk to anyone who was in the City West Drive, Garter Lane, City West Luas stop, or Saggart Luas stop locations between 11:00 (local time) on 19th October and 01:30 on the next day.

Tusla under fire over blaming the victim, neglience

Tusla effectively blamed the victim in a statement after the occurrence was reported, terming her “unmanageable” and of “low morals” which led to severe criticism of the agency, based on Rebel News.

“What on earth is going on with Tusla,” echoed in Dáil, the lower house of the Irish parliament. “How did a ten year old child in the care of the state go missing and end up in Citywest,” Mary Louise McDonald, Leader of the Opposition in Ireland questioned.

The news of the child’s sexual assault sparked intense community outrage, she noted, adding that important questions must be addressed. “Taoiseach (prime minister), how could a 10-year-old in the care of Tusla go missing on a supervised trip? There is a disturbing pattern of children in the care of the state and of this agency being failed catastrophically,” McDonald accused.

“Why is this happening again and again,” she inquired drawing attention to similar cases. “How is it that in our small country, so many children can go missing? Our thoughts today are with this 10-year-old girl who has been so failed and violated, and with her family. Our thoughts are with all of the children that I have mentioned and with their families. They have experienced unimaginable loss, hurt and trauma,” she conveyed.

McDonald further probed, “Taoiseach, it’s also reported that the man now charged with this assault was subject to a deportation order issued in March of this year. Can I ask how it is that a person issued with the deportation order remains in the country six months later? People are now asking how this was allowed to happen, why the order wasn’t enforced and did the authorities know that he was still in the state?”

“The concerns are legitimate, the concerns of the people generally across the country and within the specific location are genuine. I want to acknowledge that. We will put the full rigours of the state behind this case in all facets, in all respects,” PM Martin admitted in the parliament.

Although he conceded that there had been “a failure of the system” in the case, McDonald asserted that there was “disturbing patterns that has emerged” in the case. “I think there has to be more action, because the most unnerving thing is that this happens to children in the care of provided accommodation, or who are known to Tusla and the state. Yet, again and again, we hear these unimaginable tales,” she expressed.

She likewise outlined that “there has to be confidence in the system of application for asylum, and in our immigration system. Any question mark around a person overstaying in the state when a deportation order has been made, again, is deeply unnerving and deeply, deeply unhelpful, and has to be addressed by the government.”

Tusla’s National Review Panel has been asked by Minister for Children Norma Foley to “immediately begin” an inquiry into the sexual assault case. According to her, the accusations show that what transpired was “a very, very worrying case” and a review would now be conducted.

Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female PM: Her connection with Shinzo Abe, India–Japan prospects, and challenges ahead

Aditi
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Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan’s first female PM: Her connection with Shinzo Abe, India–Japan prospects, and challenges ahead

Conservative politician Sanae Takaichi was elected the first woman Prime Minister of Japan on Tuesday (21st October), marking a landmark moment and an unprecedented development in the country’s patriarchal political landscape. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader first made history by becoming the first woman to become the president of her party, which paved the way for her election as the Prime Minister.

Takaichi was elected to the position by defeating Shinjirō Koizumi, who has been serving as the Minister of Defence. She secured a clear majority with 237 out of 465 votes in the lower house and 125 votes in the Upper House of Parliament to become the Prime Minister. Takaichi, 64, will be leading a minority government in coalition with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP).

The election of Takaichi, who is known as a hardliner conservative, indicates a shift in Japan’s political landscape. She has taken charge of the country during economically turbulent times in Japan. She is the fourth Prime Minister to be elected in a span of five years, after her predecessors failed to continue for their full terms due to different reasons.

Takaichi, a music lover and a talented metal drummer, is also referred to as the “Iron Lady” for her admiration of the British stateswoman Margaret Thatcher. She holds conservative views on a number of issues, including gender ideology and immigration.

Sanae Takaichi. (Images via X/@Tokyonobo)

PM Sanae Takaichi and her Abe connection

Takaichi was first elected to the Diet in 1993 and has held several ministerial posts since, including the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of State for Economic Security. She also served in the cabinet of the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and worked closely with him on several key policy fronts.

Sanae Takaichi with the former prime minister Shinzo Abe. (Image via Eugene Hoshiko/AP)

Takaichi served as the minister of international communications under the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, from 2014 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2020. She is known as a protégé of Abe, who endorsed her candidacy in several intra-party elections. She concurs with Abe’s vision on many aspects, including constitutional revision, stronger national security, assertive nationalism, and Abenomics, a set of economic policies implemented by Abe to revive the Japanese economy. Considering Shinzo Abe shared close ties with India, particularly with Prime Minister Modi, and that the period of his Prime Ministership is considered the golden period of India-Japan ties, Takaichi’s election to the Japanese Prime Minister’s office is being viewed as a positive development for India-Japan relations.

After her election, Prime Minister Modi extended wishes to Sanae Takaichi and expressed hope for the evolution of special strategic India-Japan partnership under her leadership of Japan. “I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Sanae Takaichi upon her appointment as Prime Minister of Japan. I look forward to working closely together to further evolve the special strategic global partnership that Japan and India have built. A stronger Japan-India relationship is an indispensable element for achieving peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond,” PM Modi posted on X on Tuesday.

PM Modi and Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi are expected to meet on the sidelines of the upcoming Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS).

Challenges before PM Sanae Takaichi

Days after Takaichi was elected as the leader of her party, the Komeito party, a key coalition partner of her party, withdrew their support, citing disagreement with her conservative views. As a result, Takaichi had to rush into an alliance with the opposition’s Japan Innovation Party (JIP), which was finalised just a day before she was elected the Prime Minister. A last-minute alliance with an opposition party may affect her government’s ability to implement reforms and take unpopular decisions.

Sanae Takaichi and leader of Japan Innovation Party, Hirofumi Yoshimura. (Image via AP)

Apart from the domestic economic challenges, Takaichi also faces the challenge of strengthening Japan-US ties. Takaichi previously served as the defence minister and is a vocal supporter of the ‘Japan First’ approach and constitutional revisions to expand Japan’s military role. The US had been pushing for increasing Japan’s share in its defence responsibilities, which led Japan to pledge to raise its defence spending up to 2% of its GDP by 2027.

Takaichi will have to maintain Japan’s relations with the US, without the latter looking subordinate to the former, and balance this against her nationalistic ideology, which calls for a greater strategic autonomy. She will have to navigate her way through volatile global circumstances, shaped by factors, including the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia-China relations and the impacts of US trade tariffs. For regional stability, Takaichi will have to ensure stable ties with China and South Korea.

I saw The Bengal Files and here is my message to Hindus as a Jew: If you wish to learn from us, don’t learn from our political blindness

Yeshaya Rosenman
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I saw The Bengal Files and here is my message to Hindus as a Jew: If you wish to learn from us, don’t learn from our political blindness

I saw The Bengal Files (TBF) in Hyderabad, where star actress Pallavi Joshi said it would be available with English subtitles. This 200-minute film is aimed to be epic, a clarion call for a tipping point in Indian history, a goal largely achieved by the previous film in this trilogy, the Kashmir Files (TKF). I interviewed Pallavi when TKF came out, and I was curious to see how this film compares to the previous sensation. 

To my best recollection, this film is even more gut-wrenching and disturbing than the previous. 

The violence is equally graphic but far greater in scale: TBF portrays a flashflood of murderous rampage unleashed on Kolkata on Aug. 16, 1946, when M.A. Jinnah and The Muslim League declared Direct Action Day with the senior local assistance of Prime Minister of Bengal H.S. Suharwardy, later to become PM of Pakistan. The subsequent Noakhali Riots of Oct.-Nov.1946 also feature prominently in our film at its shocking climax. 

I speak as a videshi outsider, an Israeli researcher of India with many beloved Kashmiri and Bengali friends, but no family there or direct recollection of either tragedy in Kashmir or Bengal.

But then again, as an Israeli, a graduate of the Religious Zionist education system which currently contributes disproportionately to the IDF fighting force in Gaza and its casualty tally, and as a grandson to my grandfather and namesake Yeshaya Hanft who’s family and entire village were massacred by the Nazis, watching this epic film was a loaded experience in a different way. It offered many comparisons to take note of and reflect upon, from gratitude for the security offered to me by the State of Israel, to rage at predicament of my Bengali friends, to theological reflections from Jewish classical literature on the ways of creating meaning out of collective tragedy and grief to amass the strength to rise from them. 

It is on these deeper themes that I wish to dwell on in this essay. I will recap various parts of the plot and assume that readers have already watched the film or intend to soon.

A Brief Recap

Shiva Pandit (Darshan Kumar) is a CBI officer sent to Kolkata to investigate the disappearance of a young woman. He is summarily notified that all evidence leads to Sardar Hussain (Saswata Chaterjee), an MLA from Murshidabad, but Sardar is so powerful, nobody will investigate him, and so, case closed. Shiva is indignant and refuses to comply. 

His lead informant is a senile elderly woman, Bharati Banerjee (Pallavi Joshi) whom Gita had been living with. As the film progresses Maa Bharati begins to talk, and recalls not only recent events, but lengthy flashbacks from her youth. In these flashbacks the young Bharati (Simrat Kaur) is a revolutionary, who barely survives the carnage of Direct Action Day with the help of her guardian angel, a young Sikh warrior, Amar Singh (Eklavya Sood).

Together the power couple assist Gopal Patha (Sourav Das) in organizing Hindus for self-defense and retaliation, and subsequentially continue to be active in the struggle for impendence, revolutionary journalism, and the frantic scramble for self-defense amid the evermore threatening postures of the Miyar Fauj, a local Muslim mob led by the young Gholam Sarwar,(Namashi Chakraborty), Pir of Daira Sharif and self-styled Pakistani revolutionary and thug.

In this cinematic framework, the flashbacks from the chaotic violence of Partition are projected by Bharati’s flashbacks into the plot set in present-day West Bengal, in a grand repeat of Bengali history: the same perpetrators, same enablers, same victims, same crimes, the same desperate heroes and the same collective ineptitude. “But there will be communal riots!” was the excuse for not stopping Gholam long before he led his mob at Noakhali and remains the excuse for privileging his next incarnation, Sardar, over his hapless victims.

“Is Bengal the new Kashmir?” asks the refrain of the twice-tormented Kashmiri refugee, Shiva Pandit. This movie cries out for a negative answer.

Who are the Villains?

While watching this film it becomes obvious that there is another villain beyond the parallel characters of Gholam-Sardar: Gandhi.

From the first moment, Gandhi is portrayed as a holy fool. When approached nervously by young Bharti posing her deepest thoughts on the choice between violent and non-violent struggle, his response is that he must go now and milk the goat, and if she wants she can join. In the same symbolic scene Gandhi has a live snake carefully carried away without being harmed, caring for the viper more than for Bengal. When he empathically states that non-violence will lead to justice, Bharti asks what will happen if it does not lead to justice and is left unanswered.

In a later scene, Gandhi is laying on a bed fasting for the end of the Calcutta Killings and collecting weapons from Hindus who organized themselves for self-defense. When Gopal Partha arrives, he asks Gandhi what will happen if the Muslims attack again and rape our women. Gandhi replies that these women should commit suicide.

Gopal talks back: I will not surrender my weapon. If I was fighting with a needle or nail, I would not surrender them either. You ask me to choose between your ego and my dharma, and I choose dharma. At this point the audience in the theater burst out clapping.

Gopal has intuitively learned the first Zionist lesson from the Holocaust: There is nothing saintly in dying powerless. Do not march quietly like a lamb to the slaughter. Arm yourself, be vigilant and defend yourself, because no foreign army will do it for you. Self-defense, not passive sacrifice, is the price of freedom.

The Jewish Point of View: From the Classics to the Holocaust and back

Watching this film requires a knowledge of Indian history and politics that Jews and Westerners don’t usually possess. But if they did, any Jew versed in tradition watching this movie would have a few immediate cross-cultural references. 

As a starting point, our prophets never promised us an easy life as God’s Chosen People. Quite the contrary to Gholam’s God who grants his ghazis booty and slaves as reward for their unmerited inherent superiority, in the Torah, privilege is inseparable from responsibility and accountability. To quote Amos (3;2): “You alone I have known intimately from all the families of the earth, therefore I will hold you to account for all your inequities”. 

Therefore, Moses warns in the Torah in two lengthy chapters (Leviticus 26;14-46, Deuteronomy 28;15-68) of curses of the horrors that will befall Israel if they sin. Scenes like the one where a pack of buzzards descends to feast on the corpses in the streets of Kolkata are prophesied by Moses, and later in real time by Jeremiah on the streets of besieged Jerusalem: “And your carcasses will be fodder to all birds of the sky and earthly beasts, and there will no one to frighten them off” (Deuteronomy 28:26).

The shock of Oct. 7 – an ISIS-inspired invasion referenced in TBF by Muslim rioters arriving in Toyota-style pickup trucksat the home of the Hindu zamindar of Noakhali – was not because such unspeakable atrocities had never been committed upon us, but because we thought they could never happen in the independent state of Israel protected by the IDF. We were taught that Israel meant “Never Again”. But God works mysterious ways, that we have yet to comprehend.

Other Jews would default to Holocaust references. Young Bharti would reference to Hannah Szenes, the young Zionist resistance fighter sent as a paratrooper from British Mandatory Palestine to assist the Jews and Allies in Nazi-Occupied Hungary.  Caught and tortured to death, her heroism is remembered by a poem she wrote before leaving for Europe. Set to a haunting tune by composer David Zehavi and sung on solemn occasions like Holocaust Remembrance Day, the poem written by an irreligious socialist Jew is a shrill prayer:

“My God, my God,
may it never end –
the sand and the sea,
the rustle of the water,
the lightning of the sky,
the prayer of man.”

Time and again, young Bharti is depicted in prayer to the Goddess or in her image: alight with the flames behind her, dagger in hand, waging war for her namesake, singing Vanda Mataram at moments of despair. “You are not allowed to die!” commands Amar, and Bharti remembers this for posterity.

The Biblical King David, poet and warrior, founder of our capital Jerusalem and of our only religiously legitimate royal dynasty, is the figure most associated with the Divine feminine in Jewish mysticism. In Psalms (118;16-18) he declares:

“God’s right hand is raised high! God right hand is waging war! I shall not die but I shall live and proclaim the works of God. God has ever tormented me but has not handed me over to death”.

Amar and Bharti conclude: “If there is an Ishwar, our sacrifice will not be in vain”.

Gandhi, King Saul and Amalek

But after these parallels, the stark differences cannot be missed. A starting point would be the question: Is there a Jewish Gandhi? We have a Biblical-inspired tradition justifying our collective powerlessness in exile from the Land of Israel as a punishment for our sins, but we do not have a substantial pacifist tradition. The end of all war is the most famous messianic vision (Isaiah ch. 11), but that was always a utopian vision, not a political program.

The closest figure I can reference is the biblical King Saul, our first king, coronated by the divine edict of prophet Samuel and later ousted by his edict for insubordination and replaced by King David and his line for eternity. The story of his insubordination (Samuel 1 chapter 15) is the most instructive biblical parallel to TBF, and it is worth recalling in full length.

King Saul was commanded to exterminate the nation/tribe of Amalek, the eternal and mortal enemy of Israel since the Exodus:

“Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys!”

He amasses an army and attacks, but at the end of the battle he has mercy and spares King Agag and the cattle and returns with them alive. According to rabbinical tradition, that night Agag procreated and kept Amalek alive.

God comes to Samuel and notifies him:

“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from Me and has not carried out My commands.”

A few verses later come the following narrative (Samuel 1 15;12-33):

Early in the morning Samuel went to meet Saul… When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “Blessed are you to God! I have fulfilled God’s command.” 

“Then what,” demanded Samuel, “is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?” 

Saul answered, “They were brought from the Amalekites, for the troops spared the choicest of the sheep and oxen for sacrificing to your God. And we proscribed the rest.” 

Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Let me tell you what God said to me last night!” “Speak,” he replied. 

And Samuel said, “You may look small to yourself, but you are the head of the tribes of Israel. God anointed you king over Israel, and God sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and proscribe the sinful Amalekites; make war on them until you have exterminated them. Why did you disobey God and swoop down on the spoil in defiance of God’s will?” 

Saul said to Samuel, “But I did obey God! I performed the mission on which God sent me: I captured King Agag of Amalek, and I proscribed Amalek, and the troops took from the spoil some sheep and oxen—the best of what had been proscribed—to sacrifice to your God at Gilgal.” 

But Samuel said: “Does God delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as much as in obedience to God’s command?  Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice, Compliance than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, defiance, like the iniquity of oracle idols. 
Because you rejected God’s command, [God] has rejected you as king.”

Saul said to Samuel, “I did wrong to transgress God’s command and your instructions; but I was afraid of the troops, and I yielded to them. Please, forgive my offense and come back with me, and I will bow low to God.”

But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you; for you have rejected God’s command, and God has rejected you as king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to leave, Saul seized the corner of his robe, and it tore. 

And Samuel said to him, “God has this day torn the kingship over Israel away from you and has given it to another who is worthier than you. Moreover, the Eternity of Israel does not deceive or have a change of heart, for [God] is not human to have a change of heart.” 

But [Saul] pleaded, “I did wrong. Please, honor me in the presence of the elders of my people and in the presence of Israel, and come back with me until I have bowed low to your God.” So Samuel followed Saul back, and Saul bowed low to God. 

Samuel said, “Bring forward to me King Agag of Amalek.” Agag approached him with faltering steps; and Agag said, “Ah, bitter death is at hand!” 

Samuel said: “As your sword has bereaved women, So shall your mother be bereaved among women.” And Samuel cut Agag down before God at Gilgal. 

…

Saul is Gandhi. First merciful and weak, then sanctimonious and self-righteous, but in summary, as the prophet insists, adharmic. When dharma demands war, no puja, tapas, or bhajan can replace it.  And the adharmic king must pay for his weakness with his throne. 

The commandment to exterminate Amalek is decried in modern times for its cruelty: How can any nation be worthy of full extermination? How can children be guilty? How can property be incriminated? 

While there is no realistic chance or aspiration by any faction in Israeli political life to kill every Gazan, the invoking of Amalek after Oct 7. by senior Israelis including PM Netanyahu could not have been more justified. A society in which all public voices openly applaud unspeakable acts fully in the realm of psychopathic fantasy, acts lauded by the mothers of the murderers and taught as holy gospel to small children, is unworthy of existence. The vast majority of Gazan houses were weaponized and boobytrapped (here is IDF Spox talking about this in 2014). Despite the Israeli government offering hefty reward and a free pass out of Gaza, not a single Gazan dissented enough to offer information leading to the Israeli hostages.

I’ll state it clearly: I don’t advocate for any war of annihilation nowadays. But I fully advocate for acknowledging danger and evil for what they are and what they mean, nothing more and nothing less, even if this means incriminating groups of millions of people right across our borders or even fellow citizens. Gholam and his men were a known threat from day one and dangerous men like them should be allowed no mercy or compassion and must be confronted with the full force of the law. As TBF points out, when Sardar is in power, there is no law.  The price of refusing to apply genuine law and order is the disappearance of the ability to do so.

Theology and National Karma

At the most fundamental level, what allows Israel to rise from the ashes is Jewish theology carefully crafted from Biblical times around Jewish history: The basic unit in Judaism is the nation, with the individual and the universal being second and third thoughts appearing at later stages in our tradition. 

Our nation has an eternal covenant with God, the “Eternity of Israel”, the master of unfolding history, who promised us the Holyland, Jerusalem and the return of rulers from the House of David. The Land of Israel is a living entity that spits out evildoers from its midst. If we sin, we are exiled, just as the evil Canaanites were decimated or the belligerent Palestinians received their Nakba. We have a theology to justify our demise by our own sins, and our rise and return to glory by our collective atonement and merit, guided by the very same Divine providence, love, zeal, and covenant.

Hindu Dharma is focused on the individual and then on the universal. The Indian nation plays no cosmic role as such, and Hindu intellectuals like Rajiv Malhotra takes the stance that history (and I will add politics, by extension of history to the present) has no divine significance and Hindus are liberated from its “tyranny of history-centrism” upon the Abrahamic theologies and mindset. There is the Ram Rajya, the dharmic kingdom led by the dharmic king, but there is no concept of “National Karma” that Judaism would apply to the nation of Israel. 

With these guidelines, how can Hindus make sense of a collective tragedy after it has happened? Can they only wallow in shame and sorrow at the inexplicable collective ineptitude, cowardess, and blindness of the Bhadrloks, Kashmiris, Hindus, or the Indian government? If it is inexplicable, is it unpreventable? How can a nation rise from tragedy it can’t process productively and can’t fit into a healing narrative?

If one wants to uphold the alleged Hindu disregard for history, then what Hindus can agree on is the present. There is no excuse for dereliction of your duty to protect the nation and every individual from violence and abuse from now on.

But one wants to ascribe importance to learning lessons from history – and Hindu historians like Vikram Sampath prefer this path – then one must think hard about the lessons to learn. Learning the dangers of political Islam is one part, but the lesson can’t merely amount to knowing the depravity of your enemy. That would teach you nothing about your role in history and your agency to play it.

One common historical lesson is nonetheless shred by Hindus and Jews: The importance of unity. Hindus and Jews are both argumentative with a proclivity for infighting and creating internal fault lines. We can both agree upon our most famous historical lesson: United we stand, divided we fall.

This was reiterated so vividly by all our enemies commenting on the opportunity to attack that they saw presented by the aggressive protests led by old elites in opposition to the proposed judicial reforms of 2023. It would be no less fitting in the playbooks of ISI and their Woke Western academic allies attempting to exploit the fault lines of Indian society. 

Whatever our political differences or fault lines are, we must never abandon our brethren. Never give up on “Bengalis”, “Diaspora” or any other group, and never attempt to sacrifice a political rival to save your own skin. 

Your enemy does not care who believes in “Ganga Yamuna Tehzeeb” and who is a “Hindutva Extremist”, who is a Zionist, a “Settler” or a fully assimilated American Jew. In the end you are a target as a Hindu or Jew, with no other qualifier necessary. You can be as politically blind as the patriotic Jews of Weimar Germany or the loyalist gentry of colonial Kolkata, but as long as you as you are not actively siding with the enemy, you are on our side, like it or not. And in times of battle, our sovereign governments are divine messengers that will send the armed forces to kill and die for you, without asking your opinion. That is the way it should be in a dharmic kingdom.

Saudi Arabia ends Kafala system: What it was, why it was dubbed ‘modern slavery,’ and how it will benefit millions of foreign workers? Explained

Divya Bharti
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Saudi Arabia ends Kafala system: What it was, why it was dubbed ‘modern slavery,’ and how it will benefit millions of foreign workers? Explained

Saudi Arabia has finally ended its much-criticised “Kafala” sponsorship system. The decision, announced in June 2025, brings to a close a 50-year-old system that left foreign workers with complete control in the hands of employers.

This is a big thing for the about 13 million migrant labourers in the kingdom, who are from countries such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Philippines. Their lives were shaped by this one system for decades. Now, as part of a grand modernisation initiative called Vision 2030, they are promised greater freedom and dignity.

What was the Kafala system

“Kafala” is the Arabic word that means “sponsorship.” The system was established in the 1950s when oil-rich Gulf countries needed a lot of low-cost labour to construct their cities and oil industries.

This is how it functioned: each and every foreign worker was required to be legally bound to a local sponsor, called “Kafeel.” This Kafeel was not just a boss; they determined the legal status of the worker. The Kafeel had complete authority over the workers’ immigration status, their work visa, residency card, and even the right to be in the country.

While it was supposed to manage foreign labour, it actually created a huge power imbalance. Workers were completely dependent on their sponsor’s (Kafeel’s) goodwill, so having a good boss was pure luck, while a bad one could make life hell.

Why did people call it ‘Modern-Day Slavery’

The Kafala system came under intense criticism for decades by human rights groups and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). They blamed it for facilitating forced labour and human trafficking by comparing it to “modern-day slavery” because the system took away worker’s most fundamental rights.

In the Kafala system, the foreign workers were completely trapped. Even if their boss treated them poorly, underpaid them, or forced them to work 18-hour days, they couldn’t just quit and find another job. They had to get their Kafeel’s (sponsor’s) permission to change employers. If any worker left without this permission, they were considered an “illegal resident” and could be arrested.

Workers couldn’t even leave the country, not even for a family emergency at home. They needed their employer to approve and get them an “exit visa,” but bosses would often refuse, essentially holding their employees hostage. To make the workers prisoners, it was a common practice for employers to take away the workers’ passports. With no ID and no way to travel, they were trapped.

And if workers weren’t paid their wages or were abused, they had almost no way to get help. They couldn’t report it to the authorities without their sponsor’s approval. Most were too afraid to speak up, fearing their own boss would have them jailed or deported.

Why Saudi Arabia made this significant change now

This massive reform is occurring for two primary reasons. First, it’s a central element of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030. That’s a huge plan to transform Saudi Arabia, get its economy of oil so that it doesn’t rely on it, and show the world a more modern face. A slave labour system appears very bad to international investors and talented professionals, but the kingdom is eager to recruit.

Second, there has been increasing global pressure. Human rights organisations, foreign governments, and international organisations have called for the abolition of Kafala for years. Other Gulf states, such as Qatar, also amended their labour laws similarly after being subjected to severe criticism before hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

How will this change life for millions of workers

The end of Kafala is Saudi Arabia transitioning to a regular, contract-based system of work, as in most other nations. It is aimed at providing employees with independence and autonomy over their own lives. Employees will be allowed to switch employment without prior permission from the current employer.

Workers will be free to leave the country whenever they want just by booking a ticket, with no one’s permission needed. It will also be easier for them to get legal help. This means they can report abuse and seek justice more safely.

Human rights groups say this is a big step in the right direction, but they also warn that this is just the beginning. The real test will be making sure these new rules are actually put into practice. Everyone needs to see if all employers will follow them, especially to protect the most vulnerable workers, like domestic helpers.

Anti-India racism in Trump’s party? Multiple Republicans exposed after chat leak shows pro-Nazi, hateful and racist conversations, jokes about slavery, rape and gas chambers found

Shraddha Pandey
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Anti-India racism in Trump’s party? Multiple Republicans exposed after chat leak shows pro-Nazi, hateful and racist conversations, jokes about slavery, rape and gas chambers found

The leaders of Young Republicans group have come under fire in the US after their racist chat over Telegram got leaked. Recently, POLITICO exposed the racist and homophobic messages spanning 2000 pages, exchanged by Young Republican group members in a Telegram group chat, “RESTOREYR WAR ROOM” – referring to an organisation called Restore YR, a young Republicans movement.

The chat group was created by Peter Giunta, the former chair of the New York State Young Republicans (NYSR). Giunta claimed that the group chat was created to rally support for his campaign to become the chair of NYSR.

The offensive messages were sent between early January and mid-August this year. Following the exposé, many Republican leaders have lost their positions as an outrage erupted in the political circles of the US.

The Republican leaders referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people”. They also discussed putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery, POLITICO reported.

The vice chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, William Hendrix, wrote the racist slurs “n–ga” and “n–guh” more than a dozen times during the conversation. At the time, Bobby Walker, the vice head of the New York State Young Republicans, called rape “epic.” In a June message, Peter Giunta, who was then the chair of the same group, stated that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”

“Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers,” Giunta in one of the messages.

In response, Joe Maligno, who previously identified himself as the general counsel for the New York State Young Republicans, wrote, “Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic.”

“I’m ready to watch people burn now,” Annie Kaykaty, New York’s national committee member also responded.

Source: POLITICO

In one of the messages, Bobby Wlaker wrote, “If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked”.

Members of the group chat openly discussed the president Donald Trump’s purported efforts to censor data pertaining to billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex offences, the love of Nazis within their party’s right wing, and the pressure to bow to Trump to avoid being labelled a RINO.

In one such case, Alex Dwyer, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, wrote, “Trumps too busy burning the Epstein files.”

Racist talks in America are now incomplete without mocking Indians. This Republican group chat was no exception.

Another group member Bobby Walker discussed about how a mutual friend of some in the chat “dated this very obese Indian woman for a period of time.” Doubling down on the hygiene stereotype, Giunta responded that the woman “was not Indian.”

Replying to Giunta, Samuel Douglass, a state senator from northern Vermont and the head of the state’s Young Republicans wrote, “She just didn’t bathe often.”

Walker was set to manage Republican Peter Oberacker’s campaign for Congress in upstate New York, however, a spokesperson for the campaign said Walker will not be brought onboard due to his outrageous commentary in the said Telegram group.

Paul Ingrassia, the newly-nominated lead for the Office of the Special Counsel in the Trump administration also expressed his pro-Nazi thoughts in the group chat. However, Ingrassia withdrew the nomination on Tuesday after the chats leaked. His nomination was pending for a congressional approval, and was scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) on Thursday.

“I will be withdrawing myself from Thursday’s HSGAC hearing to lead the Office of Special Counsel because unfortunately I do not have enough Republican votes at this time,” Ingrassia posted on X.

He said that the Martin Luther King Jr holiday should be abolished and that he has “a Nazi streak.” Ingrassia wrote, “MLK Jr/s was the 1960s George Floyd and his holiday should be tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs”.

In one of the messages sent in May 2024, a participant wrote, “Paul belongs in the Hitler Youth with Ubergruppenfuhrer Steve Bannon.” Ubergruppenfuhrer was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany.

Responding to this, Ingrassia wrote, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.” Ingrassia also made racist remark about Indian-American Republican leader Vivek Ramaswamy. “Never trust a Chinaman or Indian. NEVER,” he allegedly wrote.

While Paul Ingrassia withdrew from nonimation for the Office of the Special Counsel, he continues to serve as White House liaison to the Department of Homeland Security.

The GOP leaders also talked about Nazism with one of them writing, “an we get them to start releasing Nazi edits with her… Like pro Nazi and faciam [sic] propaganda.”

“Omg I love this plan,” Rachel Hope, the Arizona Young Republicans events chair, responded.

In another conversation, a member staying in a hotel asks its members to “GUESS WHAT ROOM WE’RE IN.”

Responding to this, Republican leader Dwyer wrote, “1488”. Here 14 is the number of words in the white supremacist slogan “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” Meanwhile, 88 used as a shorthand for “Heil Hitler.” In another message, Giunta wrote, “Great. I love Hitler.”

In a separate conversation, Mosiman tells the group that, “The Spanish came to America and had sex with every single woman.” “Sex is gay,” Dwyer writes.“Sex? It was rape,” Mosiman replies. “Epic,” Walker says.

Other anti-Asian barbs targeted Chinese Americans with slurs like “Ch—ks”. “Keep the ch—ks, though”.

The GOP leaders also expressed their antisemitic thoughts in the group. In one of the messages, Giunta slandered for the Young Republicans in states that were supporting or leaning toward Hayden Padgett’s faction and wrote, “Minnesota – f—-ts. Arkansas – inbred cow fuckers Nebraska – revolt in our favor; blocked their bind and have a majority of their delegates Maryland – fat stinky Jew … Rhode Island – traitorous c—s who I will eradicate from the face of this planet.”

Additionally, Giunta and other group chat members frequently used homophobic epithets to describe Padgett. Arizona Young Republicans Chair Luke Mosiman wrote, “RAPE HAYDEN.”

Giunta is reported to have apologised now after the chats surfaced in the media. However, he has lost his positionas chief of staff to a New York state assemblyman.

The chat leak has stirred an outrage among both Republicans and Democrats. Samuel Douglass, the Vermont state senator, who made racist remarks in the NYSR Telegram chat group has resigned.  

“I must resign. I know that this decision will upset many, and delight others, but in this political climate I must keep my family safe. If my governor asks me to do something, I will act, because I believe in what he’s trying to do,” Douglass said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Kansas Young Republicans Organization has also been disbanded after leaders of the group were revealed to have used the “N—a” word in the group chat.

New York Republican Party chair Ed Cox alleged that the GOP group in question was “already grossly mismanaged, and vile language of the sort made in the group chat has no place in our party or its subsidiary organizations”.

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus condemned these messages as a part of “vile tirade” sparing “no community”.

Last week, the New York Republican State Committee voted the Young Republicans group.  

Notably, racism against Asians, Indians and particularly Hindus in US politics is a bipartisan blot. While both Republicans and Democrats talk about diversity and inclusion, their racist mindset finds expression in jokes, in-party rhetoric and policy debates.

While racism and xenophobia are no strangers to US politics, there has been an unprecedented surge in online and offline racist attacks ever since Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign.

Last year, JD Vance’s wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, a Hindu by religion and a daughter of Indian immigrants was subjected to racist and Hinduphobic attacks from White Christian supremacists who mostly are Republican Party supporters. American commentator and author Ann Coulter told Vivek Ramaswamy on his podcast that she wouldn’t have voted for him because he is an Indian. On numerous occasions, during his stint for the Presidential nomination bid from the Republican party, he had to face questions on Hinduism. Even Tulsi Gabbard has been attacked for her Hindu faith and Indic roots.

Democrats too are not immune. Back in 2006, Joe Biden, who was Delaware senator at that time, addressed an event of Indian-Americans and said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking.”

In 2022,  the Teaneck Democratic Municipal Committee, a section of the New Jersey Democratic Party, approved a resolution labelling certain Hindu organisation as ‘dangerous hate groups’ and offshoots of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The motion urged that the government classify a number of American Hindu organisations, including the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), and SEWA International, as “domestic branches” of “foreign hate groups.”  

Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor and Republican leader earlier dismissed Indian tech workers as a “cottage industry” scam. His remarks added fuel to the MAGA narrative which portrays Indians as ‘job-stealing invaders’. His anti-H1-B rhetoric has added to online racist attacks on Indian-Americans, Indians and Hinduism.

More recently, Alexander Duncan, a Texas GOP officials demanded the removal of an idol of Lord Hanuman from public space, calling the Hindu deity a “false God.” In an X post published on 20th September, Duncan shared a video showcasing the 90-foot-tall statue of Lord Hanuman installed in the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in the town of Sugar Land, Texas, and wrote, “Why are we allowing a false statue of a false Hindu God to be here in Texas? We are a CHRISTIAN nation!”

Earlier this year, White and Christian supremacists ignited the H1-B visas debate after Donald Trump nominated American-born Indian Sriram Krishnan as senior policy advisor for Artificial Intelligence at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

What began as an online attack slandering Sriram soon snowballed into a full-fledged campaign against H1-B visas for highly-skilled Indians. This was followed by derision and insults directed at Hindus and Hinduism.

And this anti-Indian and anti-Hindu campaign has paid off well for the bigots who partook in it as Donald Trump has backtracked from his earlier stance supporting H1-B visa and skilled immigration, and imposed a $1,00,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions submitted by aliens outside the US. While this rule applies only to new applications, the MAGA faction saw it as a victory for its anti-Indian and anti-Hindu smear campaign.

Last month, Donald Trump’s Trade Adviser, Peter Navarro, who Trump has unleashed as his attack dog to vilify India over its Russian oil purchases, resorted to slandering the Brahmin community. In an interview with Fox News, Navarro invoked caste and accused the Brahmins of India of “profiteering at the expense of the Indian people.”

“So, you know, look, Modi’s a great leader… But I don’t understand why he’s getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping…when he’s the leader of the biggest democracy in the world. I would simply say to the Indian people. Please, understand what’s going on here. You’ve got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop…” Navarro said.

The Anti-Hindu lobby in the US has been actively running a sinister campaign to push a caste discrimination narrative aimed at undermining and villainising the Hindu community in the US, particularly the Brahmins. Many universities, including Harvard University, Colby College, Brown University, and California State University, have even added caste to their non-discrimination policy. In 2023, the California State Senate in the US passed legislation (SB-403) that banned caste-based discrimination in the State, although it was later vetoed. Not to forget the 2019 CISCO caste discrimination case, which was widely used to vilify the Hindu community as casteist and incompatible with American values. This case was dismissed after no wrongdoing was found.

In recent years, hate crimes against Indian Americans have also been on the rise. According to the FBI’s 2020 data, hate crimes against Indian Americans are up by 500 per cent.

Besides, politics and social media, even the American media and academia perpetuate anti-Hindu bias through selective outrage and erasure. OpIndia has on numerous occasions reported how newspapers like the New York Times, among others, have also been complicit in spinning and amplifying anti-Hindu narratives.

OpIndia earlier reported how DEI programs have been normalising hatred against Brahmins in the US. In their attempts to foment the same hate Nazis had for Jews, several DEI programs were creating prejudices against Hindus, particularly the so-called “upper-caste” Hindus like Brahmins, who are already at the receiving end of hate campaigns of the anti-Hindu elements.

There has been a rising tide of racism and religious hatred against the Hindus in the US. While not all crimes against Indian Americans are driven by religious hatred, the online hate against Hindus has also contributed to this. It must not be forgotten that even the H1-B visas debate began with ‘Indians are taking over our jobs’, but soon turned into blatant Hinduphobia. When politicians in power are filled with reckless racist bigotry there is little hope for a genuinely safe future for Indian-Americans and other communities hated by them for merely existing.

Francesca Orsini, who rallied against CAA, was deported due to visa violations: Why the ‘liberal’ tears are merely propaganda

Anurag
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Francesca Orsini, who rallied against CAA, was deported due to visa violations: Why the ‘liberal’ tears are merely propaganda

On 21st October, Francesca Orsini, a British academic known for her work on the Hindi language, was denied entry into India and deported from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport despite holding a valid five-year e-visa. As soon as she reached India, she was stopped by immigration officials and sent back to Hong Kong within hours.

The incident sparked outrage in some left-leaning academic and political circles, and obvious actors published op-eds and social media posts criticising the government for the deportation without specifying the reason. The BJP-ruled central government was hounded for an “anti-academic” stance based on ideology.

However, government sources later cleared the air, and reports emerged that Orsini was blacklisted in March 2025 itself for violating visa conditions. Her deportation, according to government sources, was a matter of routine enforcement, not ideological differences. But a deeper analysis of her ideology and thoughts about India and Hinduism, etc., needs to be scrutinised.

Government followed law, not ideology

The Ministry of Home Affairs has confirmed that Orsini had earlier visited India on a tourist visa, and during that visit, she engaged in unauthorised academic activity, which is a clear violation of visa norms. According to India’s immigration rules, tourist visas do not permit any form of professional work, research, or scholarly engagement. Official sources confirmed that this breach was the reason for her blacklisting. Once flagged, the system automatically denied her entry, irrespective of the validity of the visa.

The confirmation from the ministry made it clear that it was not a targeted action. There was no last-minute policy change, and no “political conspiracy”, as the left-leaning media houses and individuals have been claiming. It was just standard visa enforcement, which applies equally to any foreign national, regardless of profession or ideology. The fact that Orsini chose to ignore or sidestep these conditions is what led to her being denied entry.

During the research, OpIndia found that Orsini has a long history of anti-Hindu and anti-Indian establishment stands. Despite her history, she was allowed until March this year to visit India, which clearly shows that there was no ideological reason behind the ban.

Anti-CAA stance, targeting govt over Kashmir and academic posturing

Francesca Orsini is being projected as an apolitical scholar, which she is not. She was part of a group of academics who publicly condemned Indian police actions during the anti-CAA protests and accused the Government of India of sectarianism. Orsini has consistently aligned herself with left-liberal narratives critical of Indian policy and governance.

Coming to her views on Kashmir, in March 2016, she was among 150+ signatories worldwide who signed an open letter against the so-called “vilification” of pro-Naxal professor Nivedita Menon. At that time, Menon had faced a media furore after a JNU teach-in where she questioned India’s stance on Kashmir’s political status.

Orsini co-signed the solidarity statement and condemned the “vicious right-wing media campaign” branding Menon as “anti-national” for her views on Kashmir. The letter defended academics’ freedom to discuss Kashmir and urged JNU’s administration to protect her right to speak.

Apart from activism, Orsini has repeatedly shown her ideological tilt in her writings. For example, in a 2002 essay, she referred to the Ramayana and Mahabharata as “amoral” texts and contrasted them unfavourably with modern liberal literature. She highlighted with disapproval that figures like Bhagwan Ram could no longer be freely criticised in India of that time. Notably, Bharatiya Janata Party was the ruling party at the Centre under the NDA at that time.

In Orsini’s chapter titled ‘Na Turk Na Hindu’ in the book A Multilingual Nation: Translation and Language Dynamics in India, she criticised linguists for communalising languages through modern ideologies like the ‘Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan’ slogan. However, while raising alarms over this supposed communalisation, Orsini hypocritically constructed her own fictitious ‘Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan’ bogeyman by portraying the slogan as a purely modern, imposed nationalist fiction. She completely ignored the evidence of historical linguistic evolutions that aligned with cultural identities without erasing multilingualism and passed it off as objective critique.

She wrote, ‘Modern language ideologies firmly believe that languages “belong” to specific communities, be they ethnic, regional, or religious. These imagined communities, Benedict Anderson has taught us (1991), get simultaneously projected in the past, present, and future. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries the slogan “Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan” projected Hindi (in the Nagari script) as the language of Hindus in north India “from the beginning”, urged contemporary north Indian Hindus to embrace it, and claimed that Hindi would become the national language of all Indians, explicitly coded as Hindus.’

She added, ‘This modern imagination forged a continuum of script-language-community in the face of long histories of multi-scriptural and multilingual practices in which languages have commonly been written in more than one script and people learnt more than one language and knew how to navigate a multilingual social world.’ With this narrative, she framed the slogan as a deliberate nationalist reordering of complex, plural linguistic realities.

Liberal outrage follows a familiar script

The moment her deportation hit headlines, the usual names rushed to outrage. What none of them addressed was the simple legal reality: Orsini violated visa rules and was treated like anyone else would be in such a case.

Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, a propaganda-filled news portal that broke the news of her deportation, questioned why she was deported for doing research during her last visit. He claimed that since she is a professor of Hindi, why should she not speak to people in Hindi or meet friends who are Hindi scholars. While he was whitewashing the violation of visa norms, he conveniently omitted the fact that she had entered on a tourist visa, not a work visa, which is what she should have applied for if she intended to conduct any “research”.

Source: X

Journalist Kunal Purohit called it a “national shame” and claimed she has done “Hindi language than the petty-minded establishment that sees her as a threat”.

Rajdeep Sardesai said, “IRONY: a govt that claims to promote Hindi deports a leading academic who has researched Hindi all her life!”

Ramachandra Guha called the government “insecure, paranoid, and even stupid” for deporting her.

Propagandist, former journalist and TMC MP Sagarika Ghose wrote, “Shocking and sad. Francesca Orsini is a world renowned scholar of South Asian literature and Hindi who has been deported despite her valid visa. The narrow-minded and backward looking Narendra Modi regime is destroying the open-minded scholarship and excellence India has always stood for.”

These reactions are not about protecting academic freedom, they are about pushing a narrative. A narrative that seeks to paint every immigration check, every enforcement of law, as an act of oppression. The outrage is selective, the facts ignored, and the intent clear, that is, to weaponise isolated incidents to vilify a government they politically oppose.

Not the first and not a special case

Orsini is not the only foreign scholar to face consequences for visa misuse or an anti-India stance. Filippo Osella and Nitasha Kaul were also denied entry in recent years after they were found to have violated Indian regulations. In all such cases, the enforcement has followed due process. Yet, every time, it is presented as part of a mythical campaign against dissent.

India, like any sovereign country, has the full right to enforce its immigration policies. It does not owe automatic entry to those who disregard the rules, regardless of whether they quote Sanskrit texts to twist their meanings or publish papers on Hindi fiction. That Orsini is a “respected academic” does not grant her a free pass to violate visa norms, enter under false pretences, and then claim victimhood.

Facts matter more than feelings

Francesca Orsini was not deported because of her criticism of CAA or her academic views on Hindu texts. She was deported because she allegedly broke the terms of her visa, plain and simple. The liberal outrage that followed was not based on the facts, but on a compulsive need to politicise administrative decisions. In the end, it is not the Indian government but its critics who are undermining due process by spinning a legal issue into an ideological spectacle.

The real question is not why Orsini was deported. It’s why her defenders think she should not be held to the same legal standards as everyone else.

Ranchi restaurant owner killed for serving non-veg biriyani instead of veg? How a crime by career gangsters and land grabbers turned into an excuse to hate Hindus

Rukma Rathore
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Ranchi restaurant owner killed for serving non-veg biriyani instead of veg? How a crime by career gangsters and land grabbers turned into an excuse to hate Hindus

A 47-year-old restaurant owner named Vijay Nag was shot and killed when a vegetarian customer was allegedly given non-vegetarian food. The unfortunate incident took place at approximately 11:30 pm on 18th October. The victim was the proprietor of the Chowpatty restaurant situated on Kanke Road, in Ranchi of Jharkhand.

However, soon after the incident was reported in media, a raft of social media users, primarily the members of the Congress ecosystem, went in an overdrive to stereotype the entire Hindu community and paint it as a ‘Brahminical’ act perpetrated by ‘vegetarian supremacists’. Without delving into details of the matter, this cabal went about maligning the Hindu community, and by extension, blaming the BJP and the RSS, even though Jharkhand is ruled by an Opposition coalition.

The facts of the case are far murkier than the Congress ecosystem would have the public believe. The police press release in the matter reveals crucial details that were conveniently drowned out amid the noise of social media outrage.

Details of the case

The police have filed FIRs (First Information Reports) against four people at the Kanke and Pithoria police stations. Three people have been arrested and a search is ongoing for the fourth man named Amit Thakur.

Prashant Kumar Singh was apprehended on 19th October and action was taken to capture others, based on information obtained during his interrogation. The primary suspect named Abhishek Singh was en route in his car from Latehar to visit his family before fleeing with them from Ranchi. His vehicle sped past the Latehar checkpoint without halting, even after the personnel asked him to do so.

The in-charge of the Latehar police station pursued him and when Singh was passing through Cheri Manatu, he notified Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) headquarter-1 and Kanke Police Station in-charge. The officials then went to the route to try to stop Singh. He even exited the vehicle and ran while firing at the police officers.

Police had installed blockades at multiple locations and eventually surrounded him near the ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police) camp in the Kanke police station vicinity. Singh suffered two gunshot wounds to his foot and is receiving treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

Harendra Singh who had provided him with firearms was also intending to leave the area through Pithoria. Police set up checkpoints there after receiving the intel and he was was caught in an Innova vehicle. Harendra was a former constable in the Jharkhand Police and had been suspended for the past five years.

The cops retrieved a locally manufactured pistol and three rounds of ammunition from Harendra along with Rs 2 lakh. He also admitted to possessing additional firearms concealed in his residence. A search was conducted at his home where one rifle, two pistols and bullets were discovered. It was revealed that he worked as a land dealer who employed his thugs and the firearms to unlawfully occupy land.

“We seized four pistols, 31 cartridges, a rifle, Rs 2 lakh in cash, two four-wheelers and four mobile phones from their possession. Our investigation is underway into the case,” Superintendent of Police (Rural) Praveen Pushkar remarked, according to PTI.

The two were arrested in the Kanke police station area following an exchange of gunfire at approximately 10:30 pm on 19th October. Singh unleashed bullets on the cops and was wounded due to the retaliatory fire. He acknowledged that Harendra supplied him with weapons. The latter is facing three pending cases in Argora, Gonda and Patan in Palamu. Singh, who resides in Aurangabad of Bihar also has a criminal history.

Background of the instance

The accused was outraged after discovering a bone inside the meal which led to a heated exchange between the two sides over phone. The issue escalated and while Nag was dining at the restaurant, he showed up in a car with his companions. Afterward, an intense argument broke out that resulted in pushing and shoving.

“In the middle of the scuffle, the customer pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest before fleeing the scene,” an officer informed, reported The Indian Express. After hearing a gunshot, locals rushed to the area and found Nag lying on the ground. He was immediately taken to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) where the doctors declared him dead.

The family of the deceased demonstrated and demanded the arrest of all culprits within a period of 24 hours and threatened to start a large-scale protest. “Irate locals on Sunday morning blocked the Kanke-Pithoria Road for some time demanding action against the culprits. The blockade was later lifted after we assured them that the assailants would be nabbed soon,” remarked Kanke police station officer-in-charge Prakash Rajak.

Senior officials from the Kanke police station went to the crime scene and started barricading the area as well as examined CCTV footage in an effort to find the gunmen. Meanwhile, Congress MLA Suresh Kumar Baitha conveyed that the matter was not confined to biryani and some individuals have an interest in Nag’s property.

Hindus are terrorists, BJP-RSS is responsible: Islamist-Liberal gang spew venom on social media

The brutal murder of the restaurant owner was undeniably horrific, and the culprits must face the harshest punishment. Yet, instead of mourning the victim or standing with his grieving family, the Islamist–Liberal cabal pounced on the tragedy as an opportunity to vilify Hindus. Their instinct was not empathy but exploitation, turning a human tragedy into ammunition for their anti-Hindu propaganda.

Rather than demand justice, they saw the victim’s death as a convenient stage to spew hatred against the majority community and reinforce their tired “Hindu terror” narrative. What makes this worse is that the accused were not some hot-headed individuals acting in rage; police reports and even statements by a Congress leader indicate that they were seasoned criminals involved in land-grabbing, suggesting motives far murkier than mere personal enmity.

But, as always, this ecosystem never lets facts get in the way of its propaganda. The crime was cynically projected as a reflection of “Hindu violence” simply because both the accused and the victim happened to be Hindu, a grotesque distortion aimed at smearing the entire community. Yet, when similar incidents involve members of other faiths, the very same voices erupt in outrage at “stereotyping.” The hypocrisy is staggering, but sadly, not surprising.

A user asserted that the culprits were under the impression that Sanghis (a term referring to supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party) would come to his aid after he claimed that the murder was orchestrated by terrorists. It is not difficult to deduce whom the person was referring to as terrorists in his tweet.

The account further claimed that it has become exceedingly easy to commit such crimes due to the current political system. They insinuated that the offenders are protected by those in power conveniently forgetting that the state has a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led government.

An individual brought casteism and purity into the criminal matter. They maintained that non-vegetarian food is viewed as impure and even went to the extent of invoking the Brahminical mindset and blamed it for fostering casteism. Interestingly, attacking Hindus under the guise of Brahmin hatred is a common tactic of the Left-liberal faction and their Islamist associates.

Another identified the crime as Brahminical behavior, following the same trend and attempted to accuse the Modi government of state-led violence, disregarding that the state is ruled by their preferred I.N.D.I. Alliance.

A member of this online ecosystem did not even attempt to hide their animosity with words and openly blamed Sanatanis for the killing. However, if anyone from the Hindu community dares to act similarly regarding adherents of other beliefs, they are instantly labelled bigots and the secular brigade goes after them without a moment’s delay.

A netizen, driven by their animosity toward the BJP-led central government, went so far as to blame it for an incident that actually took place in opposition-ruled Jharkhand, besides the fact that law and order is state subject.

Another individual went a step further, branding Hindus as terrorists, a remark that not only reeked of bias but also betrayed a shocking ignorance of the clear distinction between an act of murder and an act of terrorism. More importantly, while it is indeed unfair to generalize the Muslim community as terrorists, one cannot ignore the uncomfortable reality that numerous terror attacks and suicide bombings across the world have been carried out in the name of jihad.

On the other hand, when an offence is committed by a Hindu, it is not only projected as representative of the entire community but also exaggerated to the extent of labelling Hindus as “terrorists.” The irony and double standards are striking, reflecting a deep-seated animosity towards Hindus that has taken root in certain minds.

Left-leaning liberal politicians were quick to jump in, pinning the blame for the murder on the BJP and the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). TMC MP Jawhar Sircar went so far as to directly accuse both organizations of fostering “thuggery” behind the crime. It bears emphasizing, however, that no evidence has surfaced to suggest any link between the accused and either the BJP or the RSS.

What makes Sircar’s outburst particularly ironic is his silence on the rampant crimes in his own backyard, West Bengal, where incidents of violence, including rapes and attacks on Hindus allegedly perpetrated by ruling party workers, are disturbingly common. The hypocrisy and selective outrage are nothing short of staggering.

The reactions from Islamists and their liberal allies followed a familiar script: either blame all Hindus and casteism for the crime or somehow drag the BJP and RSS into it. The murder may well have had a darker, personal motive or perhaps it was something as trivial as a fight over chicken biryani. Yet, even such an incident, utterly unrelated to religion, has been weaponised to malign Hindus and vilify the BJP-RSS, merely because they are seen as unapologetically pro-Hindu organisations.

What’s worse, the culpability of the state government — whose inaction and crumbling law and order have enabled such heinous crimes is conveniently brushed aside. Instead, the narrative-builders rush to blame the BJP and RSS, in a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the failures of the opposition-ruled state.

This episode once again exposes how this entrenched cabal treats human tragedy as political capital. For them, corpses are not a cause for empathy but a means to demonize Hindus and discredit the saffron government. Their loud cries for “secularism” and “humanity” are nothing more than masks for their cynical, hate-driven agenda.

As ‘liberals’ and propagandists whine about Delhi’s AQI post Diwali, here is how it has remained similar despite cracker ban in previous years: How stubble burning, not firecrackers, worsens AQI

Anurag
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As ‘liberals’ and propagandists whine about Delhi’s AQI post Diwali, here is how it has remained similar despite cracker ban in previous years: How stubble burning, not firecrackers, worsens AQI

For years, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) has remained between the ‘very poor’ and ‘severe’ categories during Diwali, irrespective of whether firecrackers were banned, restricted, or allowed in the form of ‘green crackers’, as happened this year.

Diwali has become a ‘festival of ridicule’ for liberals and propagandists. Every year, they come out and blame Hindus for bursting fireworks, claiming it worsens the air quality. Rocky Singh, who got famous from a food show, wrote, “DELHI AIR POLLUTION WAS AT LETHAL LEVELS YESTERDAY”.

Photographer Atul Kasbekar rote, “In the name of ‘religion’ people in north India are voluntarily destroying their health”.

X user “The Protagonist” wrote, “F**k all of you pathetic imbeciles for making life miserable. FYI India accounts for about 46% of global asthma deaths, and roughly 200,000 people die each year in India from asthma,” while showing an image of asthma inhaler.

X user Jatin Gupta wrote, “Delhi is a city full of buffoons and idiots. The air is unbreathable now because some dimwits think burning crackers=Diwali. Just dumb. Plain Dumb.”

Delhi AQI data reveals AQI remained same over years despite ban on firecrackers

According to the Central Pollution Control Board’s bulletin on 21st October, Delhi’s AQI was 351 compared to 345 on 20th October. OpIndia checked data since 2021 for the day before Diwali festivities and the following day.

In 2024, Diwali was celebrated on 31st October. On that day, the AQI was 328 and the next day, that is, on 1st November, the AQI was 339, as per CPCB respiratory data.

In 2023, Diwali was celebrated on 12th November. On that day, the AQI was 218 and the next day, that is, on 13th November, the AQI was 358.

In 2022, Diwali was celebrated on 24th October. On that day, the AQI was 312 and the next day, that is, on 25th October, the AQI was 302.

In 2021, Diwali was celebrated on 4th November. On that day, the AQI was 382 and the next day, that is, on 5th November, the AQI was 462.

Despite variations in enforcement, the data shows no significant improvement, which indicates that there are factors beyond Diwali celebrations that are primarily responsible for the city’s toxic air.

BJP blames AAP-led Punjab for worsening air

On 21st October, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab of aggravating Delhi’s pollution through unchecked stubble burning incidents. BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, in a post on X, said that farmers in Punjab set their paddy stubble ablaze during Diwali to pass it off as firecracker smoke and evade police action.

He wrote, “Don’t blame Deepawali for the poor air quality in Delhi-NCR,” and added that AAP is effectively incentivising stubble burning to malign the Hindu festival.

What data says about stubble burning

According to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s (ICAR) Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modelling from Space (CREAMS) data, stubble burning incidents have increased substantially over the past few days. On 21st October, 268 stubble burning incidents were reported, out of which 62 were from Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh took the lead with 103 incidents.

Similarly, on 20th October, the number of incidents was 217, out of which 45 were from Punjab and 77 from Uttar Pradesh. On 19th October, Punjab reported 67 incidents and Uttar Pradesh reported 12. It is evident that stubble burning incidents have increased and farmers, not only in Punjab but also in Uttar Pradesh and other states, have contributed extensively to air pollution. Notably, the peak stubble burning season has only just begun, and it will get worse in the coming days if states fail to enforce regulations to stop stubble burning.

Though Punjab has shown fewer number of stubble burning incidents compared to UP this year, previous year data of stubble burning showed Punjab was the top state in stubble burning incidents. Furthermore, the “stubble burning season” has just begun and in coming days, Punjab may possibly surpass UP and other states.

The myth of ‘green Diwali’ and unchanged AQI levels

Over the years, data has painted a clear picture. Even when courts restricted firecrackers and Delhi promoted a “green Diwali”, pollution levels hardly shifted. The difference in AQI numbers is negligible.

Experts have also pointed to the coincidence of Diwali with the peak stubble burning season in Punjab and Haryana. The crop residue fires, combined with low wind speed and temperature inversion during October and November, trap pollutants in the atmosphere, worsening Delhi’s air. Even before Diwali, AQI levels tend to fall in the ‘poor’ category, indicating that the city’s pollution crisis is not caused solely by crackers.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of messages on social media blaming Hindus and Diwali for the poor air quality. However, data narrates a different story. Instead of blaming the Hindu festival for pollution, it is necessary to examine the real cause behind the rising air pollution and falling air quality in the national capital. The Delhi government has planned to conduct cloud seeding between 24th and 26th October to bring down air pollution in Delhi. It will be interesting to see if artificial rain is going to help in curbing pollution as stubble burning incidents continue to rise across North India.

Kerala govt does u-turn after crying “saffronisation of education”, joins PM SHRI scheme so it can pay teachers after mounting arrears: What the scheme is, why Kerala had opposed it and the NEP controversy

Anurag
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Kerala govt does u-turn after crying “saffronisation of education”, joins PM SHRI scheme so it can pay teachers after mounting arrears: What the scheme is, why Kerala had opposed it and the NEP controversy

In a major development, the CPI(M)-led government of Kerala has finally agreed to join the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme of the Central Government. PM SHRI is a flagship initiative aimed at upgrading existing schools and strengthening the quality of education across the country. The decision of the Kerala government is a complete reversal from its earlier stand, as it had accused the Centre of attempting to “saffronise” education through the scheme.

Kerala’s earlier opposition to PM SHRI

For almost a year, the Government of Kerala had refused to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) needed to participate in the PM SHRI scheme. The state government claimed that the initiative, which is aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, would undermine the state’s autonomy in the education sector. The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, had termed NEP “a danger to the nation”. Kerala’s Education Minister V Sivankutty alleged that NEP could lead to “central interference” in syllabus design.

As a result of the refusal by the state, the Centre decided to withhold Rs 1,000 crore in education funds meant for the state. Kerala and a couple of other states refused to sign the MoU, while the majority of the states and UTs have already signed it.

What led to the U-turn

On 19th October, Education Minister Sivankutty admitted that the state had no reason to stay away from the scheme meant for national development. He said, “Funds worth Rs 1,466 crore belong to our children. Many of our education-related expenses, including salaries of the teachers and student grants, depend on this support. The Centre’s funds belong to every citizen of the country.” He added that the government would take a “practical approach”.

ABVP’s role and student-led pressure

Notably, for months, various quarters had been pressuring the state government, including student bodies such as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), to join the PM SHRI scheme. ABVP held state-wide campaigns demanding Kerala’s inclusion in the scheme.

The student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ABVP, had been at the forefront of the movement. They argued that the Left government’s ideological resistance was depriving students of central benefits. Its activists had submitted memoranda, organised protests, and even faced attacks during their campaigns.

ABVP’s Kerala State Secretary EU Eswaraprasad welcomed the state government’s decision and said, “This is a big victory for students who stood for educational progress. Around 336 schools in Kerala will benefit from PM SHRI, reaching standards comparable to Kendriya Vidyalayas.”

The fund freeze and its consequences

The Central Government runs an umbrella programme named Samagra Shiksha, under which states and UTs receive education funds that have been linked to the signing of the PM SHRI MoU. Since Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu were the only states that refused to sign, 2024-25 funds were not allocated to them. On the other hand, states including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and others received thousands of crores under the same scheme.

Centre’s firm stand pays off

The Central Government stood firm on its stance that all states must align with the NEP and PM SHRI to ensure uniform national standards. By insisting on compliance before fund release, the Union Government reinforced accountability and avoided politically selective implementation of central schemes.

The Centre’s position on the PM SHRI and Samagra Shiksha funding issue was clarified in the Lok Sabha by the Union Education Minister. On 21st July, Dharmendra Pradhan, Education Minister of the Government of India, replied to a question jointly raised by Bapi Haldar and Kodikunnil Suresh regarding state-wise information on funds released, withheld, or delayed under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and PM SHRI schemes between 2023 and 2025.

The MPs also asked about pending proposals for school upgradation in West Bengal’s Mathurapur constituency, the reasons behind the withholding of more than Rs 1,500 crore from the state, and whether such delays had affected teacher training and ICT programmes in Kerala.

In a detailed reply, Pradhan underlined that education falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India and that the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) are implemented jointly with states that must meet certain fiscal and administrative conditions. He added that the release of funds by the Ministry is possible only after states fulfil requirements laid down by the Ministry of Finance, such as matching state share, audited accounts, and up-to-date utilisation certificates.

The minister reaffirmed that alignment with NEP 2020 is integral to both the Samagra Shiksha and PM SHRI frameworks. Furthermore, it was clarified that 33 out of 36 states and UTs have already signed the PM SHRI MoU, with West Bengal, Kerala and one more state (Tamil Nadu) pending.

According to the details provided by the Education Ministry, Kerala received Rs 141.66 crore under Samagra Shiksha in 2023–24 but no allocation was made in 2024-25 as the state had not signed the PM SHRI MoU. Similarly, Tamil Nadu received Rs 1,876 crore in 2023-24 but nothing in 2024-25.

In contrast, states that signed the MoU continued to receive full support. Uttar Pradesh received Rs 6,264.79 crore under SSA and Rs 246.86 crore under PM SHRI, while Madhya Pradesh got Rs 3,434.71 crore under SSA and Rs 145.32 crore under PM SHRI.

He said that the government has repeatedly urged non-signatory states to participate in PM SHRI so that their schools too can serve as models of NEP-driven excellence. Kerala’s decision to sign the MoU therefore reflects a larger acceptance of the idea that development cannot be held hostage to ideological bias.

Political posturing versus practical governance

While CPI leaders such as Binoy Viswam maintained their ideological objections, describing NEP as “reflecting the RSS agenda”, the state government appears to have accepted the practical necessity of cooperation with the Centre. Sivankutty clarified that Kerala would continue to uphold its own educational traditions while availing of central aid.

He stated that the funds would be utilised for essential activities such as textbook printing, exam preparation, student grants, hostel facilities for SC and ST students, and special education initiatives.

Failed attempt at confrontation

Earlier in May, the Kerala government had threatened to take legal action against the Central Government for withholding funds. At that time, the Kerala Government held meetings with the Tamil Nadu government to explore a joint front against NEP. However, the strategy did not yield any results.

Kerala’s earlier claim of already meeting PM SHRI goals

Despite its refusal, Kerala had often boasted of having already implemented key components of PM SHRI, citing the presence of 40,000 smart classrooms with broadband facilities across government and aided schools. Yet, without joining the scheme, the state had no access to central grants for further modernisation or teacher training.

Now, under the new agreement, over 260 to 336 schools in Kerala will be upgraded as PM SHRI model schools, joining 12,400 others across 670 districts in the country.

What is PM SHRI

The Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) is a flagship education initiative of the Central Government, announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget of 2022. The objective of the scheme is to transform existing government and government-aided schools across the country into model institutions of excellence. A total of 14,500 schools have been targeted under the programme, with at least two schools selected from every block in each district.

These schools are designed to play a leadership role for other government schools, serving as benchmarks of quality education in infrastructure, teaching standards, and learning outcomes. PM SHRI schools will showcase the successful implementation of every key objective outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, making them exemplars of the policy in action.

The funding structure is shared, with the Centre contributing 60% and the states bearing 40% of the total expenditure. Each selected school will receive an average of Rs 1 crore annually for five years, aimed at improving physical infrastructure, digital learning facilities, and capacity building for teachers. The overall financial outlay for the scheme is approximately Rs 27,000 crore, making it one of India’s most ambitious education modernisation programmes.

The Shaniwar Wada namaz row: A warning against the silent encroachment of Hindu heritage sites

Jinit Jain
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The Shaniwar Wada namaz row: A warning against the silent encroachment of Hindu heritage sites

When three Muslim women were caught on video offering namaz inside the historic Shaniwar Wada Fort in Pune, it was initially brushed aside as an innocuous act of faith. But those familiar with India’s long history of cultural dilution and land encroachment saw it for what it truly was: a deliberate act of symbolism.

For Hindus, Shaniwar Wada is not just another monument. It is the beating heart of the Maratha Empire, built in 1732 by Bajirao I, the Peshwa who restored Hindu sovereignty across much of India. The fort stands as a civilizational reminder of a time when Bharat reclaimed its pride from centuries of foreign subjugation.

To offer namaz within its walls, therefore, is not merely an act of religious expression. It is a symbolic intrusion into a space that represents the Hindu civilizational ethos. And when BJP MP Medha Kulkarni responded by holding a shuddhikaran (purification) ritual and protest, it wasn’t political theatre as accused by the opposition parties. It was a cultural defence, an act of reclaiming what history has already sanctified.

Predictably, her detractors accused her of “communalising” the issue. But that framing misses the real point. The Shaniwar Wada namaz is not an isolated incident; it is part of a larger continuum of encroachment, one that begins with normalisation and ends with ownership.

The normalisation tactic: How devotion becomes dominion

Across India, the public offering of namaz on roads, in parks, on railway platforms, or in government compounds has grown steadily over the past two decades. Initially justified as a necessity due to a lack of mosques, these open-air prayers are now seen by many as exercises in visibility and claim-making.

The process typically unfolds predictably. It begins with namaz being offered in a public or non-Islamic space, justified as a temporary arrangement. As the act continues, it becomes routine, and society begins to accept it as part of the local landscape. Gradually, the repeated performance of namaz at the same location transforms into a claim of historical or religious significance. Finally, the Waqf Board steps in, citing this continuity to assert ownership of the land as Waqf property.

Once that happens, the transformation from faith to legal possession is complete. This pattern from temporary tolerance to permanent claim is now visible across multiple states, from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. And it is precisely why what happened inside Shaniwar Wada must not be dismissed as trivial.

From Makhni to Srirangapatna: The expanding shadow of the Waqf Board

In Madhya Pradesh’s Makhni village, located in Raisen district, the Waqf Board issued notices claiming ownership of three acres of land, including private homes, farmlands, and even a village Shivling. Villagers who have lived there for generations were suddenly told that their land belonged to the Waqf. The Board’s justification was that the area was once a graveyard, allegedly donated by a man named Qadir Khan. No documentary proof was provided. The villagers have no record or even memory of such a person ever existing in their community.

Shockingly, the Waqf Board’s claim extended to state-owned land, despite official revenue documents showing clear government ownership. For locals, the inclusion of their Shivling in the list of claimed properties crossed every line of religious and cultural decency. The outrage in Raisen is a vivid reminder of how unchecked Waqf powers can destabilise entire communities.

Under the Waqf Act of 1995, once land is declared Waqf property, it becomes perpetual, inalienable, and immune to challenge in regular civil courts. Only a Waqf Tribunal, often composed of individuals aligned with or sympathetic to the Waqf establishment, can adjudicate such disputes. This asymmetry leaves ordinary citizens powerless against arbitrary claims.

The Makhni incident is not a rural anomaly. It is part of a nationwide pattern, and nowhere is that pattern more alarming than in Karnataka.

Karnataka: When even heritage belongs to Waqf

Earlier this year, a report published in the Star of Mysore revealed a stunning development: the Karnataka Waqf Board had laid claim to more than 70 properties in Srirangapatna taluk, including government-owned lands, ASI-protected monuments, and even Hindu temples.

Among the listed sites were the Tipu Armoury, a heritage monument under the Archaeological Survey of India; the Sri Chamarajendra Memorial Government Museum, a building belonging to the Department of Archaeology, Museums, and Heritage; the Chikkamma Chikkadevi Temple in Mahadevpura village; and even a government school in Chandagalu village. In addition, agricultural lands owned by local farmers were recorded as Waqf properties in official RTC (Record of Rights, Tenancy, and Crops) documents.

These claims followed a similar controversy in Vijaypura, where the Waqf Board attempted to take over 1,200 acres of farmland in Honwada village of Tikota taluk, declaring it as property of the Shah Aminuddin Dargah. Villagers pointed out that no such dargah had existed for centuries and that their families had owned the land for generations. Only after massive protests did the Karnataka government intervene, issuing a circular on November 9, 2024, ordering District Commissioners to withdraw all Waqf-related notices, reverse land mutations, and take disciplinary action against any official who had facilitated illegal encroachments.

That the Waqf Board could list ASI monuments, temples, museums, schools, and private farms as its property should alarm every citizen who values India’s civilizational integrity. It exposes how legal loopholes and bureaucratic complicity are being used to convert faith-based assertions into administrative facts.

The Shaniwar Wada connection: When history is rewritten by precedent

Seen in this light, the offering of namaz inside Shaniwarwada is not a random act; it is a symbolic precursor. Once a religious act is performed in a historically Hindu or state-protected space, it can later be invoked to claim “historic usage.” That is how soft encroachments evolve into hard claims.

If the Waqf Boards can list the Tipu Armoury or the Chikkamma Chikkadevi Temple as their property today, what stops similar claims tomorrow if religious rituals at Hindu monuments go unchallenged? Legally, under the current Waqf Act, such assertions can be made with minimal scrutiny. Culturally, they gain legitimacy if society continues to treat them as harmless acts of devotion.

That is why the Shaniwarwada namaz must be seen as an act of testing boundaries, a probe into how far such symbolic incursions can go without resistance.

Selective secularism and the erosion of heritage

India’s secular discourse has long operated on a one-way street. If Hindus were to conduct Hanuman Chalisa inside Haji Ali Dargah or Jama Masjid, outrage would erupt across leftwing cabals, and FIRs would follow within hours. Yet, when non-Hindu rituals are performed inside Hindu or national heritage sites, the same commentators appeal for calm and tolerance.

This selective secularism has allowed the gradual erosion of Hindu cultural spaces under the guise of inclusivity. The protests led by Medha Kulkarni and others in Pune were, therefore, not acts of intolerance but of preservation, a reminder that Hindu spaces are not open grounds for religious experimentation. “It is our duty to preserve Hindu culture and traditions,” Kulkarni declared. That sentiment echoes beyond Pune, from Makhni to Srirangapatna.

Civilizational vigilance: Beyond law, beyond politics

To its credit, the Government of India has begun addressing these distortions. The Waqf Amendment Bill, whose Joint Parliamentary Committee report was tabled in February 2025, seeks to make land declarations more transparent, introduce third-party audits, and curb arbitrary claims. But legislative reform alone cannot safeguard heritage. What is required is civilizational vigilance, the collective determination to protect spaces that define India’s identity.

Because civilisations rarely fall through invasion alone. They crumble when they surrender their cultural confidence, ritual by ritual, concession by concession. The namaz at Shaniwar Wada was not merely a breach of ASI rules; it was a psychological test of whether Hindus would once again stay silent as their heritage is slowly redefined.

The outrage in Pune suggests that silence is finally breaking. And that matters.

Because in the end, the Shaniwar Wada namaz was not a prayer. It was a precedent. And if the examples of Makhni and Srirangapatna are any guide, precedents, once ignored, have a way of turning into property deeds.

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