n the night of the tyrants,Who calls
my name from afar? I must climb the
scaffolding of the gallows to see be-
yond the prison parapets. Have they
waylaid the caravan of the new
dawn?
“Majrooh Sultanpuri”I had turned up in
Mumbai to cover the aftermath of the 1993
bomb blasts. On my way to meet Rusi
Karanjia editor of Blitz and journalist Olga
Tellis, at the U.S. Club in Cuff Parade, I
tried to engage with my Muslim taxi driver.
“How were Muslims reacting to the blasts.”
He was abrupt to the point of being
rude. He said he was a hard-working man
who did not have time to concern himself
“with riots and blasts”. He asked me if I
was a Muslim. “Recite the Kalma”, he de-
manded. Then, reluctantly, he pulled the
taxi by the side of the road.
“Dekho, sab barabar ho gaya.”(Look, it
is even now). “Ab train mein enter karo aur
kaho ‘Assalamalaikum’, sub raaste dete
hain.” (Now, enter the train and greet them
like a Muslim and they make way for you.)
This precisely, was the sentiment that had
to be crushed, Karanjia said, after I told
him the story. Since the collapse of the So-
viet Union, Karanjia had shed all left wing
pretensions. He now spoke the language of
the extreme right.
The way he juxtaposed the Mumbai
riots of January-February against the
blasts of March took my breath away. His
brazen endorsement of majoritarianism
planted the first doubts in my mind that
towards the end, Rusi Karanjia did not al-
ways know what he was saying.
The Babri Masjid was demolished on
December 6, 1992, leading to agitations
across the country which was attacked by
mobs, with the police standing by or giv-
ing the mobs a hand, by a helpful round of
firing. On January 5, 1993 riots erupted in
Mumbai in similar fashion. An orgy of
arson, loot, murder of Muslims by Shiv
Sainiks, abetted by the police crossed the
borders of the macabre. This was not dis-
similar to the Gujarat riots of 1969 where I
found myself in my capacity as Press Offi-
cer to the Frontier Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar
Khan, then on a year long visit to India.
The Congress chief minister was Hitendra
Desai. Over 500 people, mostly Muslims,
were murdered. The great singer Rasoolan
Bai’s house was gutted.
It is a fallacy that the Gujarat pogrom of
2002 were worse than the one sided mas-
sacre in the January-February Mumbai
mayhem supervised by Bal Thackeray and
overseen by the Congress chief minister,
Sudhakar Naik. He, alas, was not in the
good books of Pawar who, at that crucial
stage, was defense minister in Delhi,
smarting under the fact that P.V.
Narasimha Rao had bypassed Pranab
Mukherjee and him to the top job.
As Mumbai burnt, Sharad Pawar and
Sudhakar Naik locked themselves into a
stalemate. Pawar, as defense minister,
would not send sufficient troops. He was
content that the scale of the pogrom
would expose Sudhakar Naik’s incompe-
tence. Also, the troops would come di-
rectly into conflict with the Marathas on a
rampage. Carrying the banner of Maratha
pride, he did not wish that to happen.
Naik was sacked. Pawar took over as
chief minister. Just then the blasts hap-
pened. Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is gener-
ally believed to have been critical of the
Gujarat pogrom, did, nevertheless, de-
scribe it as a “reaction” to the Godhara
train burning. Surely, the Mumbai pogrom
and the blasts can be likewise equated.
The hanging of Yaqub Memon has di-
vided India. There is the largely Hindu es-
tablishment seeking revenge in the guise
of justice. In competition is the softer,
compassionate Hinduism taking the battle
for justice almost to the moment of Yaqub
Memon’s hanging.
This is the India that has held the coun-
try together. Former judges, lawyers, bu-
reaucrats, social workers, teachers,
journalists, students, other professionals
who spoke on TV and congregated at the
Jantar Mantar, and held meetings across
the nation – this is the India that Muslims
in their phase of alienation would natu-
rally gravitate towards, the clergy willing,
of course. But this precisely is the large
swathe of India without an identifiable
platform or a party. The BJP, and the Con-
gress too, increasingly, are an anathema to
these groups and the minorities.
In this situation, almost by default, the
man on the white charger happens to be
Asaduddin Owaisi. He pulls no punches,
and is more articulate than most political
leaders and TV panellists. For his oppo-
nents he is flawed because he holds his
ground firmly with expert references to the
Constitution. How this Sole Spokesman
phenomena plays itself out has to be
watched.
While there was no mercy for Memon
despite the gaping holes in the case, the
open and shut case of Rajiv Gandhi’s mur-
derer, was considered worthy of a pardon.
Likewise, Devinder Singh Bhullar, con-
victed for the Delhi blasts, has escaped
being hanged. There is a straightforward
political angle. Karunanidhi and Parkash
Singh Badal can pull strings with the cen-
tre for individuals from their respective
states because of their participation in na-
tional coalitions.
While regional leaders can protect their
murderers, the 180 millionMuslim, the
second largest Muslim population in the
world, ironically have no comparable pull.
How Owaisi harvests this incrementally
ghettoized anger has to be monitored. He
can cast a spell onMuslim youth but he
cannot have this translated into votes by
playing solo in a crowded field. He will
have to select coalition partners. These will
not be the Congress nor the BJP.
I
Saeed
Naqvi
Retired Admiral
of the Indian Navy
Chairman & Publisher
Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh
Editor
Sunil Adam
Managing Editor
Ela Dutt
Consulting Editor
Suman GuhaMozumder
Chicago Bureau
Sunthar Visuvalingam
Ahmedabad Bureau Chief
Digant Sompura
Tel. 26446947
ContributingWriters
Shilpi Paul, Joanne Flynn Black,
Swathi Reddy
Layout & Design
Shashikant Warik
Photographers
YogeshMehta,
Peter Ferreira, Deval Parikh
Chief Operating Officer
Ilyas Qureshi
Executive Vice President
Bhailal M. Patel
Advertising Manager
Sonia Lalwani
Advertising NewYork
Shailu Desai, Manoj Vyas
Advertising Chicago
Syed Sheeraz Mahmood
(773) 807-7925
Editorial & Corporate Headquarters
115West 30th Street, Suite 1206
NewYork, NY 10001
Tel. (212) 675-7515
Fax. (212) 675-7624
E-mails
Website
Chicago Office
2652West Devon Avenue, Suite B
Chicago ,IL 60659
Tel. (773) 856-0545
Fax. (773) 856-3537
California Office
650Vermont Ave, Suite #46
Anaheim ,CA 92805
Tel. (661) 468 -3851
Ahmedabad Office
303 Kashiparekh Complex
C.G. Road, 29 Adarsh Society
Ahmedabad 380009
Tel. 26446947
Fax. 26565596
Published weekly, Founded in 1975.The views
expressed on the opinion page and in the Letters to
the Editor column are those of the writers and do
not necessarily reflect those of News IndiaTimes.
Copyright © 2015, News IndiaTimes
News IndiaTimes (ISSN 0199-901X) is published
every Friday by ParikhWorldwide Media Inc.,
115West 30th Street, Suite 1206, NewYork, NY 10001.
Periodicals postage paid at NewYork, N.Y.,
and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send
address change to News IndiaTimes, 115West 30th
Street, Suite 1206, NewYork, N.Y. 10001
Annual Subscription: United States: $28
AfterMemon,Muslims TurnToOwaisi
While regional leaders can protect their murderers, the 180 million Muslim, the second
largest Muslim population in the world, ironically have no comparable pull
Opinion
3
News India Times August 21, 2015
n Sunday, Mumbai’s police chief
announced that he has ordered
an investigation into raids on ho-
tels and lodges in the city’s sub-
urbs in which unmarried couples
were pulled out of their rooms and accused
of “indecent public behavior.”
According to the Hindu newspaper,
many of those found in the rooms were stu-
dents, and some reports say that a number
of women were made to call up their par-
ents. Thirteen couples were apprehended,
though all were released after a few hours
in custody and the payment of a fine
amounting to $18.
There is no law against unmarried cou-
ples sharing a hotel room in India. The
Supreme Court has said that live-in rela-
tionships between unmarried couples are
neither a crime nor a sin in the country. In-
dian laws offer a broad remit for police offi-
cers investigating prostitution, however,
which may have allowed the officers in this
case to raid the rooms. And hotels often re-
fuse rooms to unmarried couples.
In India, many view the raids as just an-
other example of what has been called
“moral policing,” whereby conservative
groups impose strict moral codes on the
population. In recent years, this has been
blamed for a sometimes-violent backlash
against Valentine’s Day and an attempt to
ban internet pornography.
Speaking to the Indian Ex-
press newspaper, one hotel
owner complained that the po-
lice officers never identified
themselves and did little to ex-
plain what the raid was about.
“They raided my hotel at 4 pm
and didn’t leave until 7 pm. My
guests were humiliated,” Har-
ish Shetty, owner of Mantra
Residency, said. “They were
asked to come to the com-
pound and then questioned for
hours as if they were terrorists.”
Police say that they raided the hotels in
the Madh Island and Aksa Beach area after
an “unverified” tip-off about prostitution.
“I am not a prostitute,” one 21-year-old
woman told the newspaper Mid-Day. “I am
an adult who was out with my fiance, who I
am supposed to marry next month, to find
some privacy.”
– TheWashington Post
Latest Target Of India’sMoralityPolice
O
By Adam
Taylor
