India Archive

Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, Congress’ latest favorite Maulana who has bayed for Hindu blood in the recent past has now threatened a TV anchor because he failed to answer some tough questions posed to him. In an interview with News18 India TV anchor Aman Chopra, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan threatened to cause bodily harm simply because he was unable to answer the questions posed to him.

On January 20, Gurpatwant Singh Pannu of the Khalistani terrorist organization Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) released a video urging “Kashmiri Freedom Fighters” to ‘leave valley – reach Delhi’ to sabotage Republic Day. SFJ’s Pannu has called the anti-India separatists and terrorists “freedom fighters” in the video and the statement was on the line of Pakistan’s ISI’s call of ‘now or never’ for Khalistan.

Earlier this month I spent a five days in South Gujarat, specifically Surat and Bharuch where I got to speak to a young woman Pooja (name changed), who had been the victim of grooming jihad herself when she was a minor. She put her faith in me and narrated her ordeal in hopes that her story will perhaps help other victims to get courage that there is still hope.

Bharuch, on the mouth of river Narmada, is about 200 km from Ahmedabad. I have very early memories of visiting the place with family. My grandmother was born and brought up in Bharuch and I have grown up hearing stories of how she had seen Gandhiji walk towards the Dandi beach on the historic Salt March in 1930.

To be on the wrong side of history is a choice – more so when the attempts to reclaim an invader identity are unapologetic. Be it inventing fictional military commanders in his cavalry to claiming false religious associations with forts built by him, the attempts to paint Chhatrapati Shivaji a ‘secular’ king have come a long way. For the unabashed Chhatrapati of the Hindavi Swarajya that he was, Shivaji Maharaj was no bigot.

Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth, said Hitler’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Though there are many opinions on who exactly said these words, the words are a depressing and scary reality. A blatant lie, often garbed in attires of nuance, perspective and doubt, often does end up becoming the widely believed truth.

In this tweet by Saba Naqvi, she talks of articles on her by Media. Saba Naqvi is hailed as a so-called ‘secular’ journalist. However, her reality is horrific and another full proper article is needed to expose her true face.

The 19th of January, 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. A lot has changed since then but the more things change the more they remain the same. It is an undeniable fact that the same sentiments that led to the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Hindus are very much alive and thriving today. The only thing that is markedly different is the political dispensation that is in power today and the manner in which they perceive the world.

In 2014, a Jain Sadhvi who stayed in Surat’s Gopipura area wrote a letter to the President of India, Governor of Gujarat, Prime Minister Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Anandiben Patel, and other leaders about the harassment she was facing in Gopipura, a traditionally Jain locality in Surat, which has slowly turned into a Muslim majority area.

The foreign aggressions and wars remain in the collective memory of every Indian as a reminder of sacrifices made by our freedom fighters and soldiers. While we are indebted to the Indian Army, Air force, and Navy for protecting our sovereignty, integrity, and national interests, the role of the Indian Army is paramount, keeping in mind that any confrontation with either neighbour – China or Pakistan – will be mainly fought by Indian ground forces.