Category: India

‘Do not buy from Muslims Vendors’: BJP leader calls for social boycott

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India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued a notice to one of its leaders after a video showing him asking people not to buy vegetables from Muslims surfaced amid a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. “Keep one thing in mind. I am telling everyone openly. There is no need to buy vegetables from ‘miyans’ [Muslims],” legislator Suresh Tiwari from Deoria town in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was heard saying in the mobile phone video that went viral on Tuesday. Millions in India are facing unprecedented job losses and hunger…

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Arab World up in arms against India’s Corona-virus related Islamophobia

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Thanks to anti-Muslim bias in the media and even official messaging over the coronavirus, the intelligentsia in India-friendly Gulf countries has started critically examining the ruling BJP’s attitudes towards Muslims and Arabs. A pandemic that has claimed the lives of 170,000 people and infected close to 2.5 million people worldwide (at last count), acquired a religion on its arrival on Indian shores. The spread of the virus has not only created a health emergency in the country but also brought India on the verge of a new kind of polarisation, thanks…

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How the coronavirus outbreak in India was blamed on Muslims

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been turned into yet another Islamophobic conspiracy theory. The outbreak of COVID-19 in India has presented yet another opportunity to launch a fresh attack on the Muslim community. Physical, verbal and psychological warfare is being waged against Muslims, pushing further their ostracisation in Indian society. Violent attacks on Muslims perceived to be carriers of the virus have been reported from different parts of the country. There have been reports of meetings in gated communities discussing the prohibition on Muslims being allowed in. Elsewhere, gangs of youth…

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OIC, Imran Khan criticize India over the treatment of Muslims

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In recent months, Khan has repeatedly criticised the Indian government’s attitude towards the country’s Muslim minority and the external affairs ministry has pushed back against his remarks. Pakistan’s top leadership and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday criticised what they described as the deliberate targeting of Muslims by the Indian government against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Imran Khan followed up on tweets by the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the OIC on the issue and compared the Indian government’s treatment of Muslims to…

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‘No agreement’ on Ayodhya, mediation report submitted; SC takes it up today

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The three-member mediation panel looking into the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute has been unable to get the various parties involved in it to come to an agreement, one of the persons aware of the development said on condition of anonymity. The panel submitted its report to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope on Thursday, drawing the curtain on almost four-and-a-half month-long negotiations between Hindu and Muslim litigants to explore the possibility of an out-of-court settlement to the decades-long Ayodhya land dispute. A five-judge constitution bench, comprising Chief Justice of…

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Fury across India as Trump claims Modi asked for Kashmir mediation, opposition wants Modi to clarify claim

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India’s foreign minister issued a strenuous denial to an infuriated opposition in parliament on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited him to mediate in the bloody conflict with Pakistan over Kashmir. While Pakistan has often sought third-party mediation in the decades-old dispute which has cost tens of thousands of lives, the idea is anathema to India, which has always insisted the issue can only be resolved bilaterally. Trump set off a political storm in India by claiming during a meeting in Washington on…

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Mediate on Kashmir: India rebuts Trump on claim that PM Modi asked him mediate

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US President Donald Trump on Monday offered to help resolve the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan in initial remarks with visiting Prime Minister Imran Khan. Trump said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a similar request when they met a few weeks ago — a claim that was rejected by India. “If I can help, I would love to be a mediator,” Trump said, following up on Khan’s request during a joint appearance in the White House that he would like the United States to help resolve the…

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Modi govt will never misuse NIA law: Amit Shah

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Refuting opposition’s claims of “misuse” of the NIA law, Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday asserted that the Modi government will never abuse it to target anyone but will ensure that terrorism is finished off irrespective of the religion of the accused. In an intervention during a discussion in Lok Sabha on the National Investigation Agency (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Shah also targeted the Congress-led UPA government for repealing the anti-terror act POTA, saying it was not done because of its alleged misuse but to “save its vote bank”. He said…

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I am no longer Congress Chief: Rahul Gandhi

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who resigned following the party’s dismal show in the Lok Sabha elections, on Wednesday said that the party must quickly decide on the new chief and that its highest decision making body, the Congress Working Committee, must meet at the earliest to pick a new president, reports ANI. “Party should decide on the new president quickly without further delay, I’m nowhere in this process. I have already submitted my resignation and I am no longer the party president. CWC should convene a meeting at the earliest…

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Mumbai records highest rainfall in 10 years, 16 dead in Mumbai, Thane in overnight rains; govt declares public holiday

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At least 16 people were killed in Mumbai and Thane as the cities received heavy rains throughout the day and night on Monday forcing authorities to declare a public holiday amid forecast of more showers. According to Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials, 13 people died after a wall collapsed on a few hutments built on a hill slope in Kurar village at Malad East. The incident was reported at around 1am on Tuesday after which the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and NDRF officials reached…

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