Much awaited portfolio allocation of Maharashtra’s ministers took place on 14th August 2022. In the last few days, the state has seen a heated political debate over the cabinet expansion and the subsequent allocation of portfolios after the much-delayed cabinet expansion of the Shinde government. After 18 new ministers had taken the oath on August 9 to join the govt that only had CM Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis for more than a month, there was again a delay in the allocation of portfolios., The government was then heavily criticized by the opposition for delaying the allocation of portfolios which has finally been announced by the state government.
After distributing portfolios among the 18 ministers, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has kept 13 portfolios for himself. His departments include general administration, urban development, information and technology, information and public relations, public works (public projects), transport, marketing, social justice and special assistance, relief and rehabilitation, disaster management, soil and water conservation, environment and climate change, minority and Auqaf departments. He will also be responsible for the portfolios not allocated to any of the ministers in the cabinet.
Portfolios allocated to Maharashtra ministers – CM Eknath Shinde to handle Urban Development, Environment, Minority, Transport, Disaster Mgmt; Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis gets Home and Finance
Deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will handle the home ministry as well as the ministry of finance and planning. Besides, he will hold other ministries including law and justice, water resources and catchment area development, housing, energy, and ministry of the protocol.
The CM holding the departments of environment, relief and rehabilitation, along with departments of transport, urban development and public transport assumes significance in the backdrop of massive opposition to infrastructure projects in the name of the environment by left-liberal activists and Shiv Sena. The outgoing Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP govt had blocked several vital projects including Mumbai Metro and the High-Speed Rail project, causing delays and cost overruns for the projects. With the CM himself in charge of all the relevant departments now, it is accepted that hurdles to infrastructure projects will be removed in the state.
The portfolios given to other Ministers are as follows:
Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (BJP) – Revenue, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy
Sudhir Mungantiwar (BJP) – Forest, Cultural Affairs, and Fisheries
Chandrakant Patil (BJP) – Higher and Technical Education, Textile Industry, and Parliamentary Work
Dr. Vijaykumar Gavit (BJP) – Tribal Development
Girish Mahajan (BJP) – Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Medical Education, Sports, and Youth Welfare
Gulabrao Patil (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Water Supply and Sanitation
Dada Bhuse (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Ports and Mining
Sanjay Rathod (Shiv Sena – Shinde)- Food and Drugs Administration
Suresh Khade(BJP) – Labour
Sandipan Bhumre (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Employment Guarantee Scheme and Fruits Production
Uday Samant (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Industries
Tanaji Sawant (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Public Health and Family Welfare
Ravindra Chavhan (BJP) – Public Works (excluding Public Projects), Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection
Abdul Sattar (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Agriculture
Deepak Kesarkar (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – Education and Marathi Language
Atul Save (BJP) – Co-Operation, Other Backward Bahujan Welfare
Shambhuraj Desai (Shiv Sena – Shinde) – State Excise Duty
Mangal Prabhat Lodha (BJP) – Tourism, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Women and Children Development
The 18 ministers in the ministry include 9 each from the BJP and the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena. Reportedly, the cabinet will be expanded again after the monsoon session of the Maharashtra assembly.
On Sunday, a day ahead of Independence day, NDTV changed the display image for their Twitter handle to a tricolour one, but it quickly changed it back. Netizens criticised NDTV for their conduct, emphasising how insulting this was to the tricolour.
Several social media users pointed out that the act by NDTV just a day ahead of Independence day was disgraceful. A user pointed out that NDTV written on the display touches only the green part and not the saffron one. Twitter user Ankur Singh wrote, “NDTV is always on Green side, not even touching narrow Saffron.”
After reverting to its logo for the Twitter DP, NDTV later again changed it to an independence day themed image. The image has the words ‘India @ 75’, with thin saffron and green bands above it. However curiously, the green band is placed above the saffron band, which is opposite of the order of the colours on the national flag.
Screenshot of NDTV Twitter DP
Netizens called out the dubious behaviour of NDTV. It is worth noting that this is not the first time that NDTV has demonstrated questionable behaviour when it comes to protecting national interests or respecting national symbols such as the flag. Many times, NDTV’s hostility for India as a nation and culture has been shown in its reportage. For recent examples, NDTV’s coverage of the repeal of Articles 370 and 35a, as well as its coverage of the Pulwama terror can be referred.
Former Pakistani governing party PTI supported NDTV’s reporting on the repeal of Articles 370 and 35A by releasing a video clip from one of their shows in which they claim Kashmiris are waiting for the curfew to be lifted so they may “show” India how they feel.
In 2019, Nidhi Sethi, Deputy News Editor of NDTV, posted a comment on Facebook which seemed to glorify the terror attack by Jaish-e-Muhammad. She had written, “where a grisly 44 has been proven to be greater than the mythical 56”. With this, she had added a hashtag #HowstheJaish, a take on the famous dialogue ‘How’s the Josh’ from the recent movie Uri: The Surgical Strike. She was later suspended by NDTV.
The Uttar Pradesh Police’s Lucknow Cyber Cell arrested one Sarfaraz from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district in the Mewat region for threatening to bomb UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. On Monday (August 8), the UP Police’s Dial 112 service got a WhatsApp message threatening to kill Yogi Adityanath. The message threatened to bomb the chief minister.
Subhash Kumar, the headquarters station commander, filed an FIR at the Sushant Golf City police station on Monday. According to the police, various teams were organised to apprehend the offenders. They also stated that cyber cell and surveillance teams were working on it.
On Saturday, another man named Salman Siddiqui addressed a letter to Bharatiya Kisan Manch (BKM) national president Devendra Tiwari, threatening him and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with death. According to Aaj Tak, the accused threatened to blow him and Yogi Adityanath up with a bomb in a letter delivered to the Hindu leader. The cause for the death threat, as described in the letter, was a PIL filed by Tiwari requesting action against illegal slaughterhouses in the state.
The letter sent to Devendra Tiwari reads, “Devendra Tiwari it has been stated to you several times, yet you do not understand. Your PIL has resulted in the closure of multiple slaughterhouses in the state, robbing other Muslim brothers of their livelihood. Now you see what will happen to you. You escaped Deoband deftly, but now you and Yogi Adityanath will be blown up with a bomb. You will see the outcome within the next 15 days. The others have had their necks severed but you two (Devendra Tiwari and Yogi Adityanath) will be blown up with bombs.”
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Madani’s names were also mentioned in the threat letter. The letter further stated, “You have made our mentors Asaduddin Owaisi and Maulana Madani cry. We shall avenge every single drop of tears they have shed.”
Mewat: A “mini Pakistan”
As this recent arrest comes from the Mewat region of Rajasthan and Haryana, it is crucial to recall that the region has been dubbed “Mini Pakistan” due to the nature of the region’s implicit crimes.
Hindus have always been the victims of atrocities committed in Mewat. Numerous Hindu organisations have condemned the criminal acts in Mewat against Hindus, especially Dalits. In addition to RSS and VHP activists, several other organizations have expressed concern over the rise in criminal activity in Mewat.
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti said in 2013 that these occurrences in Mewat are not recent. Instead, the mindset of the Muslim majority has endured for a very long period, leading many activists to call it a “mini-Pakistan.”
After it was revealed last month that Canada has put several persons on no-fly list two years ago for suspected Khalistan terror links, the federal court of the country has upheld that decision. The court ruled that the no-fly list maintained by the Canadian govt is constitutional, rejecting a plea by two persons that feature in the list.
The plea was submitted by Bhagat Singh Brar, son of Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode who is the nephew of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, and Parvkar Singh Dulai, business partner of Brar. The Federal Court said while there were problems with the way the police handled the cases of putting them on the no-fly list, it is reasonable to keep them on the list. Brar and Dulai were put on the no-fly list under the Secure Air Travel Act.
One of the main reasons of putting them on the no-fly list is the fact that Bhagat Singh Brar’s father Lakhbir is the leader of the Khalistsani organisation International Sikh Youth Federation, which is designated as a terrorist organisation in Canada. Apart from Canada, it is also banned in several other countries including India, USA, Australia, EU, Japan etc.
They were put on the no-fly list as they were suspected of being “facilitator of terrorist-related activities”, based on inputs from Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada’s spy agency. Following it, Brar and Dulai had approached the court challenging the constitutionality of the no-fly list and the way it was slapped on them.
The Canadian govt objected to the plea, saying there were reasonable grounds to suspect they would either engage or attempt to engage in a terror act that would threaten air travel, according to the ruling. Accepting the arguments of the government, Justice Simon Noël said that “ensuring safety in air transportation and limiting air travel for terrorist purposes necessarily involves some infringement of mobility rights.” The judge said that while flying to and out of Canada is a necessity and not a privilege, it is necessary to curb such rights to prevent terror attacks and save lives.
While the judge said that lives of the appellants have been affected due to the flying ban and being labelled as terrorist is extremely damaging to one’s reputation, he ruled that the process of no-fly list is constitutional as it is backed by proper procedure. “As part of Canada’s societal commitment, it is a top priority to guarantee that all Canadians live in a safe environment. The threat posed by individuals suspected of travelling abroad to engage in extremist activity is significant and presents difficult challenges to both Canada and its allies,” the court said.
However, the judge said that there should not be problem with domestic air travel, and the ban should only apply to international travel.
While Bhagat Singh Brar and Parvkar Singh Dulai were put on the no-fly list in 2018 itself, it was revealed last month only. Both of them had discovered in 2018 that they were on the no-fly list while attempting to board flights in April and May respectively. Since then, they have been trying to get off the list, by approaching govt agencies and courts. However, the entire matter was kept confidential and even the court proceedings took place in secrecy. Canadian media houses reported the matter only in July 2022, after some redacted versions of the documents were made available during the court hearing.
According to documents obtained by Canadian media house Global News, Brar and Dulai have been called “terrorism facilitators.” According to people who have seen Public Safety Canada reports that were used to place them on the no-fly list, the allegations against them are very serious. Even though only redacted versions of the documents were made available, they show that CSIS has reasonable grounds to believe that they were involved in terror activities in Canada.
Global News quoted from a secret case brief report by CSIS that says, “The service believes that Brar is a Canada-based Khalistani extremist who has been engaged in [redacted] terrorist-related activities, particularly in fundraising in support of terrorist attacks overseas.”
According to the charges against Brar, he is involved in “promoting extremism, including the radicalization of youth, with the aim of achieving Khalistan independence; and attack planning and facilitation, including weapons procurement, to conduct attacks in India.”
The documents also allege that Brar is the leader of the youth wing of ISYF in Canada. He is alleged to have travelled to Pakistan in 2015 to plan a terror attack in India. Intelligence reports say he had indoctrinated two Indian Punjabi youths and had motivated them to carry out terror acts, and he was also in charge of providing arms and ammunitions in India. However, the terror attack plan had failed after the recruits were arrested near the border while retrieving the weapons.
Bhagat Singh Brar had also visited India and imparted theoretical training in handling of weapons including AK-47 rifles, according to the intelligence report. He had also raised fund and sent to his father who is based in Pakistan.
On the other hand, Dulai is suspected to be a facilitator of terrorist-related activities. The CSIS secret documents say that he has shown an ongoing pattern of involvement within the Khalistani extremist milieu.”
However, none of them has been charged yet for the allegations so far, and the only action taken against them is putting them on the no-fly list.
It is interesting to note that Brar and Dulai were put on the no-fly list in Canada in 2018, the same year when the then Punjab CM Amarinder Singh had handed over a list of Khalistani operatives active in Canada to Justin Trudeau. During Trudeau’s India visit in February 2018, Captain Amarinder Singh had given him a list of nine Khalistani terrorists active in Canada, and these nine names included the names of Brar and Dulai.
The list was given to Trudeau in February 2018, and Brar and Dulai found out about it in April and May. During the same India visit of the Canadian PM, India and Canada had agreed on a Framework for Cooperation on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism, the objective of which is to facilitate effective cooperation between law enforcement and security agencies and legal and policy practitioners.
A nine-year-old Dalit child succumbed to his injuries on Saturday after reportedly being beaten up by a teacher in a private school in the Jalore district of Rajasthan for touching a drinking water pot. According to police, Chail Singh (40), the teacher who assaulted the child, has been detained and charged with murder and violating the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
According to authorities, the nine-year-old kid Indra Meghwal was apparently beaten up by the teacher on July 20 and died on Saturday in a hospital in Ahmedabad due to his injuries. Harsh Vardhan Agarwalla, the SP of Jalore, said that the youngster had been severely assaulted.
According to a complaint letter handed to the Saila police station on Saturday by the victim’s father, Devaram Meghwal, Singh beat up Indra while taunting him with casteist insults for drinking water from an earthen pot intended for upper caste people. Indra’s father also stated that he suffered damage to his right ear and eye as a result of Singh’s thrashing and eventually became unconscious. The kid was taken to the district hospital, from where he was referred to a hospital in Udaipur.
According to the father, Indra was hospitalised in the hospital in Udaipur for almost a week but his health did not improve. He was subsequently transferred to Ahmedabad, where he died on Saturday.
Following the incident, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticized the Congress government in Rajasthan on Sunday. BJP National Secretary Y Satya said that the incident was shameful. “Incidents of atrocities on Dalits are increasing continuously in the state. Rahul Gandhi, who has commented on every subject of the country, has been silent,” Satya said.
राजस्थान का यह किस्सा शर्मसार करने वाला है।
राज्य में लगातार दलितों पर अत्याचार की घटनायें बढ़ रही है।
According to reports, the state education department has launched a probe into the incident, and Rajasthan SC Commission chairman Khiladi Lal Bairwa has directed that it be handled under the case officer’s scheme for expedited investigation.
The world of literature has not recovered from the shock surrounding the terror attack on novelist Salman Rushdie on August 12 this year.
The author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ received multiple stab wounds after he was attacked by a man during an event at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York. The accused, identified as a 24-year-old Islamist named Hadi Matar, jumped onto the stage and attacked the novelist with a knife.
Although Rushdie is said to be recovering well, it is worth noting that his life was under threat since the publication of ‘The Satanic Verses’ in 1988, as several fatwas and bounties were announced against him by Islamists for the book. While it is well known that Iran’s first Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called upon all Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, Pakistanis had enacted it out in a bizarre film named ‘International Gorillay.’
Flying Quran kills Salman Rushdie with electric rays
The contentious movie, released in 1990, featured actor Afzaal Ahmad in the role of Salman Rushdie. The novelist’s character has been portrayed as that of a criminal mastermind, leading an international conspiracy to destroy Islam.
As expected, Rushdie was shown to have the support of ‘Yahudi (Jewish)’ Israeli army. The story highlighted the characters of three ‘Muslim’ brothers who decide to go to Philippines, where Rushdie had been hiding with his Israeli henchmen.
The film showed that the three men were aghast at the publication of ‘The Satanic Verses’ and wanted to restore ‘world peace’ by killing Salman Rushdie. A video clip from the film is now doing the rounds of the internet.
In the final scene, Rushdie was shown to be surrounded by the three Muslim men (who happen to be the International Gorillay). Three giant copies of the Holy Quran were also seen flying in the sky and punishing the novelist for committing blasphemy.
“Look, this is the Book, you non-Believer,” said one of the brothers. Another added, “Concede to the fact that this is the Book to which we have no doubt.” The last of three men announced, “Concede, Satan, that God Himself has vowed to protect the holy Book.”
A woman, who was present at the scene, warned, “Today, your death is going to be a warning for all non-believers.” The movie ended with electric rays emitting from the 3 copies of the Quran and burning Rushdie for supposedly conspiring against Islam.
Ban on ‘International Gorillay’ in UK was lifted after appeal by Salman Rushdie
As per a report by the New York Times, the Board of Film Classification imposed a ban on the distribution of ‘International Gorillay’s videocassettes in Britain in July 1990.
“The classification board denied ‘International Gorillay’ a certificate that would allow people over 18 to rent it for home viewing because, it said, the film constituted criminal libel against Mr. Rushdie,” the report underlined.
However, the decision was challenged by none other than Salman Rushdie. This was despite the fact that the movie portrayed his murder with electric bolts from the Holy Quran. The novelist appealed that he did not support censorship of any kind.
Screengrab of the news report by New York Times
Although the lawyer representing the Britain Board of Film Classification pointed out that the film had the potential to inflame ‘audience susceptible to such influences’, the author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ argued otherwise.
He stated, “As a writer, I am opposed in principle to the use of the archaic criminal laws of blasphemy, sedition and criminal libel against creative works, even in the case of a film which quite plainly vilifies me.”
“Censorship is usually counterproductive and can actually exacerbate the risks which it seeks to reduce,” he stated, adding that the audience will realise that the film is an incompetent piece of trash. As a result, Britain’s Video Appeals Committee lifted the ban on the home distribution of the film.
When Shekhar Gupta watched the film in Pakistan
In his July 1st segment of ‘Cut the Clutter’, Shekhar Gupta narrated how he was in Pakistan at the time of the film’s release.
Given that ‘International Gorillay’ had a cast of top Pakistani actors such as Babra Sharif, Neeli and Javed Shaikh, he went to watch the film at the Nasheman cinema hall in Karachi city of Sindh province.
‘The Print’ Editor even wrote a review of the bizarre film in an article in India Today.
“In comes the Salman Rushdie look-alike – who some say is better looking than the original – spectacles resting on the bridge of his prominent nose. He accepts the challenge of destroying Islam despite the risk of facing death squads and being called “kutta” for the rest of the film,” Shekhar Gupta wrote.
He continued, “Lightning. A clash of cymbals. The camera zeroes in on a sizeable derriere. Then an ample bosom. “Babra Sharif” shouts the audience even before the face comes on screen. Immediately, the lady breaks into a raunchy dance-in the course of which she changes her cabaret-type attire four times.”
“But just when it seems too late for divine intervention, copies of the holy book appear from all corners of the room and send out beams of electricity that electrocute Rushdie to the accompaniment of wild cheering. This in a city where the mother of the real Rushdie lives!” he described the climax of the movie in all earnest.
Screengrab of the movie review by Shekhar Gupta
In the aftermath of the deadly attack, several Islamists from Pakistan took to social media to celebrate the incident and hail the assailant as a ‘Ghazi.’
The Karnataka Congress has placed posters of the Islamic dictator Tipu Sultan in Bengaluru’s Hudson Circle and several other places in celebration of the Aazadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The posters were later allegedly damaged by some people as per some reports. The Karnataka Congress has put up posters of Tipu along with several freedom fighters across Bengaluru.
The Congress party protested the damage inflicted to the posters by unknown people. Talking to reporters, State President DK Shivkumar said that some people are not able to digest the “Freedom March” by the Congress party. “Someone is trying to create disturbance in the state. They are not able to digest Congress’ Freedom March,” Shivakumar said.
Bengaluru | Someone is trying to create disturbance in the state. They are not able to digest Congress’ Freedom March’: Karnataka Congress Chief DK Shivakumar on a poster featuring Tipu Sultan torn by miscreants pic.twitter.com/F7OXuFxk97
The Congress party’s affection for Tipu Sultan has long been clear in the acts committed by the party from time to time. When the Karnataka government led by the Congress party chose to commemorate Tipu Sultan Jayanti in 2018, there were huge protests. The Karnataka government’s plan to commemorate Tipu Jayanti was harshly criticised by the BJP and Hindu organisations such as Sri Ram Sena and the Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti.
As the Congress party commemorates Tipu Sultan as a freedom warrior, one of the most often believed falsehoods is that Tipu was a patriot who fought the British. Tipu Sultan’s multiple correspondences with the French are kept in the India Office in London and show how he planned with them to drive away the British and divide India. Tipu also invited Afghanistan’s King Zaman Shah to invade India and aid the Islamic cause. His correspondence with Turkey’s Ottoman Sultan confirms this.
It’s worth remembering that Tipu Sultan massacred the entire Hindu population of various villages, including women and children. Tipu’s exaggerated acts of claimed valour are sanitised tales of tyranny endured by lakhs of Hindu families who were victims of a religious zealot turned bloodthirsty dictator.
‘This is another thaali moment for Modi,’ I saw someone tweet, cynically. ‘Thaali moment’ here refers to how during the first lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic on one call of PM Modi people across India, many cutting through political ideologies, gathered in their balconies, roofs and clapped to appreciate the efforts of healthcare workers who were putting their own lives at risk to save ours.
Many, even then, mocked and scoffed at this initiative on how clapping and banging thaalis is not how it should be done. But for those few minutes, it brought many Indians together, the feeling of community that we are all in this together. That we shall overcome and better days will prevail. Everyone was terrified of this unknown virus with which we are still fighting. But for those few minutes, it brought us hope, a glimmer of optimism. Those were tough times and last two years have been life altering for many of us.
And whether you like him or not, Narendra Modi as a leader has that charisma that on one call, the nation came together to fight the unknown enemy so to say.
Which is why, when he gave a call to Indians to hoist the flag in their homes on 15th August 2022 to celebrate 75 years of Indian Independence, it does not come as a surprise that the country is flooded with the Tricolour.
Almost every house in my residential society, both in Ahmedabad and Delhi-NCR has a flag in their balcony, on their gates. The main gate of my society has multiple flags, crossroads have one in each direction, every shop here has a flag outside. Autorickshawwalas have put up the flag and if you know Amdavadi Rickshawwalas you’d know how riding one is an adventure sport. These autorickshawwalas zoom past you with the flags flying high.
There is a ‘Lion Circle’ near my place here, where there is a lion, lioness and cub statues. Gujarat is home to Asiatic lions, which is why their statues. The flag is hoisted there such that the lion is holding the stick on which the flag is hoisted. It looks beautiful when the flag flutters in a gust of wind. Like a scene straight out of movies.
Residential societies have procured flags, either on their own or through corporation or politicians or whatever and they’ve distributed them to every house. The local cafe I frequent, even they spent an hour on Saturday figuring out best way to hoist the flag so that it stays flying high and it is not insulted.
There are, of course, some homes which do not have them. And it is fine. Putting up the flag is not a testament to your patriotism. It most likely makes you come across as a sore loser who can’t even put up the flag just because someone you disagree with politically asked you to. The ‘wokes’ especially are upset and while some of them had expressed desire to poison their parents for participating in the ‘thaali’ campaign by PM Modi, this time, they haven’t made their views that vocal, yet.
But other than a few sour grapes, the country is painted in the Tricolour and it looks resplendent. India feels like one community. And like the ‘thaali moment’, one is again infused with optimism that we’re in it together and that together we shall overcome, get better.
Which is why Congress and opposition leaders appear upset. They are upset that even after their ‘Adani Ambani’ rhetorics, the ‘intolerance’ bogey, the whole ‘minority under threat’ farce, Modi still has popular support. That on his one call, millions have put up the flag in their homes. Something, no other leader has been able to do till now.
Har Ghar Tiranga campaign shows that 75 years after India had a tryst with destiny, we will now wake up to a new dawn.
Today marks the second Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, which was announced by prime minister Narendra Modi last year to commemorate the victims and sufferings of people during the Partition of India. During the partition of India which had spilt British India into three parts into two countries of India and Pakistan, millions of people were displaced and suffered, while the estimates of deaths due to partition-related death range from 2,00,000 to 20,00,000.
While it is the Muslims who had demanded a separate state Islamic state during the freedom movement, some ‘secular-liberals’ tend to blame Hindus for the demand. The Congress party and others specifically target Veer Savarkar in this regard, claiming that he was the first to propose the two-nation theory. Just like they keep making false allegations regarding his letter to the British govt seeking release from the Cellular Jail, they also keep making this claim that Savarkar had proposed the partition first.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said in 2020 that Savarkar was first to advocate two-nation theory. He claimed that before the Muslim League had made a formal proposal for partition in its Lahore session in 1940, Savarkar had already advocated the theory. “In the historical sense, the first advocate of the two-nation theory was actually Savarkar, who as the head of the Hindu Mahasabha called upon India to recognise Hindus and Muslims as part of two separate nations three years before the Pakistan Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution in Lahore in 1940,” Shashi Tharoor said at Jaipur Literature Festival in 2020.
Similar claims are made by most Congress leaders and people in the left-liberal ecosystem. These claims are based on a comment of Savarkar in his presidential address at the All India Hindu Mahasabha convention in Ahmedabad in 1937. In his speech, Savarkar had said, “India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogeneous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main; the Hindus and the Moslems, in India.”
While this line seems to suggest that Veer Savarkar proposed the two-nation theory, the fact is completely opposite. Because this phrase was actually taken out of context and almost a distorted version of his speech published by the media at that time. Savarkar himself had said later he never talked about the two-nation theory. “Journalists conveniently published a brief and out-of-context report; this they did so as per their convenience,” Savarkar had said later while clarifying that his comments were taken out of context.
Result of distorted media reports at that time
The statement made by Savarkar in his 1937 speech was:
“Let the Indian State be purely Indian. Let it not recognize any invidious distinctions whatsoever as regards the franchise, public services, offices, taxation on the grounds of religion and race. Let no cognizance be taken whatsoever of man being Hindu or Mohammedan, Christian or Jew. Let all citizens of that Indian State be treated according to their individual worth irrespective of their religious or racial percentage in the general population.
India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogeneous nation. But on the contrary there are two nations in the main; the Hindu and Muslim. If such an Indian State is kept in view, the Hindu Sanghatanists will, in the interest of Hindu Sangathan itself, be the first to offer their whole-hearted loyalty to it. I for one and thousands of the Mahasabhaites like me have set this ideal of an Indian State as our political goal ever since the beginning of our political career and shall continue to work for its consummation to the end of our life.”
This makes it clear that Savarkar had called for Hindus and Muslims to work together in one common nation, and was not suggesting separate states for them. He had even pointed out the dangers of separation. “And as it has happened in many a country in similar situations in the world, the utmost that we can do under the circumstances is to form an Indian state in which none is allowed a special weightage or representation and none is paid an extra price to buy his loyalty,” he had said in the same speech.
Savarkar also clarified that by the word ‘nation’ in his statement he was not talking about a nation-state. By nation, he meant communities that need to live peacefully in the Indian state. He had said, “We should not confuse between nation and state. Even if the state goes, the nation remains. When the Mussulmans were ruling over us, the government (state) was theirs. But the existence of the Hindus was most certainly intact.”
Talking about how there were several states in India which kept mingling with each other, he had said, “If the Mussulmans want, they could amicably stay with Hindus as a minority community. In the past, nations such as Prussia, Bavaria etc. existed in Germany. But today, they have all together formed the German nation. By law, no one in Germany may call himself Prussian or Bavarian but German only.”
However, he had added that if Muslims want to go a separate way, Hindus can’t do anything with that. He had said, “Hindus are a nation unto themselves. Considering this, the Hindus should continue the freedom struggle by consolidating themselves irrespective of whether the Mussulmans come with them or not. If they so desire, they may stay here, else they shall go where it pleases them.”
Therefore, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar never proposed the two-nation theory, he had actually called for Hindus and Muslims to work together in a common state. His comments were distorted media immediately after his speech in Ahmedabad, and the distorted version still continues today, even used by well-read persons like Shashi Tharoor to peddle their own agenda.
Savarkar acknowledged the split between the two communities
While Savarkar had appealed to Hindus and Muslims to work together, he had realised that there was a huge fissure between the two communities, and he was not delusional about the non-existent communal harmony that many believed in. In the same 1937 speech, he highlighted how there were conflicts between Hindus and Muslims for centuries.
Savarkar had said, “As it is, there are two antagonistic nations living side by side in India. Several infantile politicians commit the serious mistake in supposing that India is already welded into a harmonious nation, or that it could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so. These our well-meaning but unthinking friends take their dreams for realities. But the solid fact is that the so-called communal question is but a legacy handed down to us by centuries of cultural, religious and national antagonism between the Hindus and the Moslems. When time is ripe you can solve them, but you cannot suppress them by merely refusing recognition of them”.
Savarkar had made it clear that there are no harmonies between Hindus and Muslims, and the problem will not go away by ignoring or hiding it. In this comment also, he used the word nation to mean different communities in the same state and didn’t mean nation-state.
It is also alleged that in 1943, Savarkar had said that he has no objection to Jinnah’s two-nation theory. But this was also a distorted media report, and he had clarified within days that he never made such comments. Some reports cite his book Hindu Rashtra Darshan for the comment, but actually, the book doesn’t mention it, and therefore it is a completely fake claim that Savarkar endorsed Jinnah.
The Two-Nation Theory
Did Veer Savarkar ‘propose’ two-nation theory? How Islamists and Congress have lied about the idea that is inherent in Islamic theology
Syed Ahmad Khan said in 1876, “I am convinced now that Hindus and Muslims could never become one nation as their religion and way of life was quite distinct from each other.” Seven years later, he voiced similar sentiments. He said, “Friends, in India, there live two prominent nations which are distinguished by the names of Hindus and Mussalmans…To be a Hindu or a Muslim is a matter of internal faith which has nothing to do with mutual relationships and external conditions…Hence, leave God’s share to God and concern yourself with the share that is yours…India is the home of both of us…By living so long in India, the blood of both have [sic] changed.”
Khan made several statements in the following years proposing the two-nation theory and gaining supports from Muslims. He said that after British leaves with their army and weapons, it will be impossible for Hindus and Muslims to live together and share power. He had said that they will need to conquer the other, and there will be no peace until that happens.
Savarkar was born in 1883, therefore the two-nation theory predates him.
Partition and violence
Even before the two-nation theory was officially adopted by Jinnah, Muslims had started working towards partition by spewing hate and violence on Hindus, before Savarkar’s 1937 speech. In 1921, the Moplah Massacre led to the killing of hundreds and thousands of Hindus in Kerala.
Annie Besant spoke of the massacre in her book ‘The Future of Indian Politics’, “They murdered and plundered abundantly, and killed or drove away all Hindus who would not apostatize. Somewhere about a lakh of people were driven from their homes with nothing but the clothes they had on, stripped of everything. Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule still means, and we do not want to see another specimen of the Khilafat Raj in India.”
Then in 1929, Mahashay Rajpal was murdered for publishing Rangeela Rasool, a satirical take on the domestic life of the prophet Mohammed. The killer was defended in court by Jinnah himself and Muhammad Iqbal.
All this continuous violence had culminated in the Direct Action Day on 16th August in 1946, when Mohammed Ali Jinnah gave a call for nationwide protests demanding the creation of Pakistan. It had resulted in the Great Calcutta Killing, which saw the streets of Kolkata littered with corpses. The violence then spread to Noakhali in Bengal, Bihar, Rawalpindi and several other places in the country.
When the British govt formally announced the partition and transfer of power in June 1947, it caused one of the most horrific chapters in modern Indian history as millions of people died during the population transfer. The scenes of trains filled with corpses of Hindus and Sikhs arriving from Lahore to Amritsar are well documented. The western and eastern borders of India with newly formed West Pakistan and East Pakistan saw massive killings, most of which had taken place in Punjab and Bengal, two states split between the two countries.
‘Vultures of Calcutta’ by Margaret Bourke-White shows the results of the Great Calcutta Killings
Women were raped, and entire families were wiped out but even then, it was not to be the worst that India would see. The partition of the country would spark migrations of the population to an extent hitherto unheard of. There are stories of how the male head of the family killed their own daughters because they did not want the women to be raped by the Islamist hordes.
People lost their homes, they had to flee lands their ancestors had lived in for generations and generations. Centuries-old connection to their native land ended in a matter of days. And yet, after all the horrors Hindus had to endure, the Indian Secular State for its own cynical objectives did not even provide an opportunity for national mourning and reconciliation.
The horrors of the past continue to haunt generations to this day. The ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ is only the first step, a lot more should be done to ensure that India never forgets the horror in its past. It is necessary because those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.
Muslims and demands of Islamic state
While Muslim League had demanded and achieved partition, and now separatists in Kashmir are doing the same, it is not an India-specific issue. Muslims worldwide refuse to live in secular nations, and demand separate countries based on religion.
And such separatism is often justified with allegations of persecution. But such allegations were often dubious, if not downright ridiculous. As Sitaram Goel says in his book ‘Muslim Separatism: Causes and Consequences’, “If the Hindus sang Vande Mãtaram in a public meeting, it was a ‘conspiracy’ to convert Muslims into kãfirs. If the Hindus blew a conch, or broke a coconut, or garlanded the portrait of a revered patriot, it was an attempt to ‘force’ Muslims into ‘idolatry’. If the Hindus spoke in any of their native languages, it was an ‘affront’ to the culture of Islam. If the Hindus took pride in their pre-Islamic heroes, it was a ‘devaluation’ of Islamic history. And so on, there were many more objections, major and minor, to every national self-expression. In short, it was a demand that Hindus should cease to be Hindus and become instead a faceless conglomeration of rootless individuals.”
He continued, “On the other hand, the ‘minority community’ was not prepared to make the slightest concession in what they regarded as their religious and cultural rights. If the Hindus requested that cow-killing should stop, it was a demand for renouncing an ‘established Islamic practice’. If the Hindus objected to an open sale of beef in the bazars, it was an ‘encroachment’ on the ‘civil rights’ of the Muslims. If the Hindus demanded that cows meant for ritual slaughter should not be decorated and marched through Hindu localities, it was ‘trampling upon time-honoured Islamic traditions’. If the Hindus appealed that Hindu religious processions passing through a public thoroughfare should not be obstructed, it was an attempt to ‘disturb the peace of Muslim prayers’. If the Hindus wanted their native languages to attain an equal status with Urdu in the courts and the administration, it was an ‘assault on Muslim culture’. If the Hindus taught to their children the true history of Muslim tyrants, it was a ‘hate campaign against Islamic heroes’. And the ‘minority community’ was always ready to ‘defend’ its ‘religion and culture’ by taking recourse to street riots.
What Sitaram Goel wrote was not imaginary, as we can see the exactly same things happening around us today. Now we have cancellations of Hindu festivals as they offend Muslims. We have seen on ban on Hindu religious processions through ‘Muslim areas’. And we have seen increasing demand for Shariah law provisions like beheading for allegations of blasphemy.
The demands for a separate state usually begin with allegations of persecution followed by forcing their own laws in areas where they are in the majority, which leads to demands for Sharia law to be applicable in their localities, a distinct legal code separate from national law, and before long escalates into full-blown separatism. The initial stages of it are observed in France where President Macron has decided to take the battle against Islamism.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka skipped Jawaharlal Nehru from the list of freedom fighters in an advertisement to promote the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. This caused a meltdown of Congress leaders. Many Congress leaders and supporters including the former chief minister Siddaramaiah took to Twitter to criticize this move. It is notable that Jawaharlal Nehru’s sketch appears in the advertisement alongside the drawings of other great leaders from that time like Veer Savarkar.
The advertisement mentions, “Let’s be inspired by the sacrifices of our freedom fighters and emulate their selfless patriotism. The history of India’s freedom movement is filled with the sacrifices of millions of Indians. Today, as we celebrate India’s 76th year of independence, we must remember and pay tribute to them and take the pledge to emulate their selfless patriotism.”
Reacting to this advertisement for the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah tweeted, “When we thought slavery ended with the British gone, chief minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai proved everyone wrong by showing that he is still a slave to RSS. Not including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the list of freedom fighters in today’s govt ad shows how low a CM can go to save his chair.”
When we thought slavery ended with the British gone, @CMofKarnataka@BSBommai proved everyone wrong by showing that he is still a slave to @RSSorg
Another Congress leader Sudhakar Kamble tweeted, “Jawaharlal Nehru has been deliberately omitted from the Independence Day advertisement released by the BJP government in Karnataka. This is called sheer shamelessness.”
Another Twitter user Guruprasad tweeted, “BJP’s Karnataka govt went all-time low by removing Nehru from below ad, and shoving British bootlicker Savarkar. The only schools of fools think they can re-write history. History is a set of events, carried by generations.”
@BJP4Karnataka govt went all time low by removing Nehru from below ad. And shoving British bootlicker Savarkar.
Only school of fools think they can re-write history. History is set of events, carried by generations.
Another Twitter user The Fact Finder posted, “Someone spent 9 years in Jail & was one of India’s biggest freedom fighters is missing from the below ad QUIZ: who is he?”
#someone is spent 9 years in Jail & was one of India biggest freedom fighters is missing from the below ad ….. QUIZ: who is he ? pic.twitter.com/nmf1jMhbmP
Jailed Jawaharlal Nehru was aided by his influential father
It is notable that Jawaharlal Nehru preferred to benefit from his father and influential lawyer Motilal Nehru to get an early release from prison rather than serving a long-term punishment when he was jailed in 1923. In sharp contrast with Veer Savarkar who endured limitless hardships in the cellular jail of Andaman, Jawaharlal Nehru began to wear out in jail in Jaitu in Nabha because it had no arrangements for new clothes and showers.
In the case of political arrests, the usual policy for accused freedom fighters has been to not defend themselves in case of arrests. Although the former PM initially thought that he would only be tried for violating State orders, the invocation of ‘conspiracy’ by the prosecution made him baffled. It implied a jail term of 2 years. And Jawaharlal Nehru, who had earlier pledged to not defend himself, began seeking an outside lawyer. However, he was not provided with counsel and was instead sentenced to 6 months for violation of State orders and 18-24 months for conspiracy.
Motilal Nehru then deputed lawyer K D Malviya, who later became a Cabinet Minister after India’s independence. And surprisingly, his sentence was suspended on the same evening. In the words of Professor Chaman Lal, he said, “Nehru was released from the Nabha jail only after he signed a bond that he would never enter the princely state again.” This is how Jawaharlal Nehru was quick to get his sentence suspended by signing a bond with the aide of his influential father.
India celebrates 75 years of Independence on 15th August 2022.
