Local

HIJAB ROW EXPOSES INDIA’S VEILED ISLAMOPHOBIA

Published

2 years ago

13/02/2022

As the row over classroom Hijab ban escalates in India, after Muskaan Khan, a young college student was heckled and harassed by a group of aggressive Hindu nationalist activists in the southern province of Karnataka, an old image of determined Muslim women protesting the discriminatory Citizenship Act couple of years ago flashed through my mind. Standing at Park Circus Maidan – a huge public park with a spacious playground, which hosted Calcutta’s resistance to an alleged ploy to marginalize India’s largest minority group, the Muslims, by default – and witnessing history unfold, I realized, India is quietly undergoing a radical shift in the structure and pattern of democratic dissent. Women, particularly from Muslim families with ordinary background and without any political ambition whatsoever, were no longer hesitant in spearheading a mass revolt in public, quite unprecedentedly. Ably supported by their male counterparts, they strived hard to preserve and protect India’s hallowed Constitution and syncretic cultural ethos, threatened by a discriminatory law. And I saw in their effort a celebration of national solidarity – in anger and togetherness. Somehow, my journalistic instinct was overshadowed by an esprit de corps, as I felt overwhelmed by emotion, watching homemakers, who never ever imagined of taking the leadership role even in domestic space, leading the public dissent with a dream in their eyes – that of ensuring a dignified life for their children in an increasingly intolerant India. A wheelchair bound quinquagenarian cancer patient Asmat Jamil’s indomitable spirit was one of the strongest pillars of the struggle that Muslim women had embarked on. She was resolute in her commitment of not letting politicians, flirting with divisive ideology, tear into shreds the priceless unity and secular fabric of India. It might have been an unequal confrontation against the might of the State, desperate to identify the ordinary people by their religion only, but the sweeping winds of change that the courageous ladies heralded had the potential to purify and reform India, currently obsessed with majoritarian tyranny. A young Muskaan, who overnight turned into the face of resistance for all oppressed Muslim women across the globe, carried the torch of a legacy that the anti-citizenship law activists left behind.

PLURALISM DISMANTLED

Pluralism has always been central to the idea of India as a nation, and her founding fathers envisioned a secular country based on religious pluralism, despite a communal split of the Indian subcontinent to create two independent entities. Unfortunately, the eventual triumph of religious nationalism over secular nationalism and certain events and policies, in addition to vitriolic barb against minorities, especially during election time to accrue political dividend, feeds into the fundamentalist narrative that India is in grip of. The consequent radical shift in the country’s societal psyche, vis-à-vis embracing Hindu fundamentalist values, has been so far reaching that an alarming Islamophobic trait is reflected in governance too. Votaries of majoritarianism argues, this radicalization of the Hindu mindset has roots in the pain of partition, which still runs very high in the Indian subcontinent. Regrettably, the communal poison has spread far and wide in “champion of minorities” Mahatma Gandhi’s India, which in itself is an outcome of the popularity that Hindu identity politics has gained since the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992. So vitiated is the atmosphere that even a province like Tripura, with less than 10 percent Muslim population, recently witnessed its maiden Hindu-Muslim communal riot since the 1947 partition. Alas, democracy in India is no longer an instrument for the people to exercise power. Rather, the democratic base has shrunk significantly because the State has started usurping the rights of the people. The guardians of Hindutva, the ideology governing political Hinduism, does not recognize the diversity of ideas or the concept of dialogue and debate. Monologue is the favourite tool of the leadership to disseminate views, while a methodical onslaught on the institutions of democracy has ensured that the freedom India’s hallowed Constitution provides to the citizenry excludes the freedom to oppose. Even, the great revolutionary Marxist Rosa Luxemburg had underscored the necessity of freedom for dissenters, as she famously said, “freedom only for the members of one party is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.”

EXECUTIVE INDIFFERENCE

The worst part of this Hijab controversy is the complete lack of response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which made me go back in time. While spending a quiet birthday on March 15, 2019, the most terrible live stream of a brutal massacre of Muslim devotees anywhere on earth left me nauseated. The very fact of the remorseless extremist pouring out his radical inner-thoughts brazenly, in the form of an open manifesto, proved beyond doubt that this was part of a larger design to spread hate across the world in a calibrated manner. But for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the outcome of such a grisly crime could have been a chain of global retribution, equally horrific. Ardern’s prompt intervention halted – even if temporarily – the process of breathing life into another Frankenstein. She conveyed to me her resolve to stand by the Muslim community through thick and thin and strictly contain the spread of toxic ideology, when I could not hide my astonishment at New Zealand – a nation far removed from the epidemic of hatred – enduring such carnage. In contrast, Arden’s Indian counterpart showed no desire to take on jingoism head on, when invasion of incivility is ruining the colourful canvas that India is – made up of a unique socio-cultural diversity. In the words of English liberal historian and moralist Lord Acton, “despotic power is always accompanied by corruption of morality.” Thus, Modi could not become an exemplary role model in a world grappling with the upsurge of majoritarian supremacism, and uphold the true spirit of Loksamgraha – as advanced in the Hindu religious scripture Bhagavad Gita, which encourages welfare of all by rising above self. Ironically, humanism, empathy and fostering harmony – the attributes integral to Hinduism, are all missing from the Hindu nationalist governance in India.

Local

Nasheed to form new party

Published

11 months ago

17/05/2023

The main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s leader Mohamed Nasheed has decided to form a new political party.

Nasheed initiated a separate political movement within MDP, ‘Fikuregge Dhirun’, following his loss in MDP’s presidential primary held back in January. After major conflicts with the government and its policies – all lawmakers from the faction tendered their resignation from MDP on Wednesday.

The move came after Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim was expelled from the party on Tuesday and banned from rejoining for at least one year over involvement in opposition political activities surrounding the Chagos archipelago dispute.

The 12 members who resigned from MDP on Wednesday are;

Parliament’s Deputy Speaker, North Galolhu MP Eva Abdulla
Ungoofaaru MP Mohamed Waheed (Wadde)
North Maafannu MP Imthiyaz Fahumy (Inthi)
West Henveiru MP Hassan Latheef
Hulhudhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb
North Kulhudhuffushi MP Yasir Abdul Latheef
Vilufushi MP Hassan Afeef
Central Maafannu MP Ibrahim Rasheed (Bonde)
Madaveli MP Hussain Firushan
Thoddoo MP Hassan Shiyan (Gita)
North Mahchangoalhi MP Mohamed Rasheed (Boadhigu)
Gadhdhoo MP Ahmed Zahir
All 12 members are close acquittances of Nasheed. MP Hassan Latheef, during a meeting at Bodufenvalhuge on Wednesday, announced Nasheed’s decision to form a new political party. The meeting was attended by supporters of Nasheed.

Should Nasheed form a new political party, that party would be the largest opposition party in terms of members in the parliament, thereby, the minority party. The minority party at present, opposition PPM-PNC coalition has only eight members in the parliament.

Despite the resignation of the 12 MPs, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih continues to hold full control of the Parliament with 56 MPs.

Source(s): sun.mv

Local

MPs loyal to Nasheed leave MDP

Published

11 months ago

17/05/2023

Multiple members of the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) loyal to the party’s leader Mohamed Nasheed have left the party.

The members who resigned from MDP include 12 MPs. They include Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla, MP Mohamed Waheed, MP Imthiyaz Fahmy (Inthi), MP Hassan Latheef, MP Ilyas Labeeb, MP Yasir Abdul Latheef, MP Hassan Afeef, MP Ibrahim Rasheed (Bonde), MP Hussain Firushan, MP Hassan Shiyan, MP Mohamed Rasheed (Boadhigu), and MP Ahmed Zahir.

They submitted their resignation letters Wednesday.

The move comes after MDP’s parliamentary group had requested action against Inthi, Hassan Latheef, Ilyas, Yasir, and Central Henveiru MP Ali Azim earlier this week, for forming an alliance with the opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Jumhoory Party (JP) and Maldives National Party (MNP), after accusing the government of failure to protect the interests of the Maldivian people in the case lodged with the International Tribunal of the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) over the disputed maritime territory between Maldives and Mauritius.

The party’s disciplinary committee decided to expel Azim from the party on Tuesday.

They are all members of Nasheed’s ‘Fikuregge Dhirun’ faction.

However, Nasheed has yet to resign from the party.

Despite the resignation of the 12 MPs, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih continues to hold full control of the Parliament with 56 MPs.

Source(s): sun.mv

Local

The Cambodian Prime Minister arrives in the Maldives on an official visit

Published

1 year ago

15/01/2023

The Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, arrived Sunday morning on an official visit to the Maldives at the invitation of H.E. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. It is Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen’s first visit to the Maldives.

The Cambodian Prime Minister and accompanying delegation were received at Velana International Airport (VIA) by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdulla Shahid (ODRI). The government will hold a ceremony on Monday to officially welcome the Cambodian Prime Minister to the Maldives.

During the visit, President Solih would meet with Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen and hold official talks on strengthening bilateral cooperation, followed by the exchange of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between the two countries. President Solih and the Cambodian Prime Minister would also deliver a joint statement on the outcomes of their discussions.

The Maldives and Cambodia established diplomatic relations on September 21, 1995.

Source(s): President Office.