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US Congressman Ro Khanna rejects Hindutva, speaks for Equal Rights of all Indians

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Ro Khanna’s recent tweet in reply to an article critiquing Hindutva – and speaking up for the equal rights of Hindus, Muslims, Sikh, Buddhist & Christian Indians –marks a shift in South Asian diaspora’s debate and compels a new debate among South Asian Americans

RO Khanna

Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) tweeted the following on Aug. 29: “It’s the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians.” There is more. The dapper Congressman, who was replying to an article by Pieter Friedrich also said, “ That is the vision of India my grandfather, Amarnath Vidyalankar fought for.”

That such a comment should draw attention and of course the predictable string of ‘hate’ from the hired trolls of the current Indian regime is expected. That significant voices from the South Asian diaspora are challenging majoritarian hegemony is even more significant.

Last month, Caravan published a longform exposé by South Asian analyst, Pieter Friedrich. The article analysed the history of Hindutva organizing in the US and how these ultra-right organisations cultivated political allies. Today, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard tops the list. She is a candidate for the US presidency, who has developed deep ties to the Hindutva movement! She not only solicits money from American Hindutva organizers –even inviting leaders of Hindutva organisations to her intimate wedding ceremony – but is also seen at their important functions. On Aug. 12, the author of the Caravan article tweet-replied to a Gabbard campaign post, providing a link to the piece. Khanna also replied. Some of the exchanges are interesting:

Ro Khanna’s statement was immediately recognized by South Asian politicos as a seismic shift in Indo-centric politics. Amar Shergill in SanJoseInside said, “He is the highest ranking American elected official of Indian origin, with a deep understanding of and connection to South Asian politics, and, yet, he stated in decisive moral terms that the dominant political ideology of India must be rejected as a matter of fundamental human rights… This is brave new ground for South Asian policy discourse in the US.”

Khanna’s statement on twitter drew the predictable torrent of hate and criticism, too. While pro-Hindutva political supporters launched their offensive, the progressives and anti-Hindutva activists welcomed this courageous stance. However, the full measure of Khanna’s words are yet to be felt.  Modi and the Indian government are certain to be dismayed by this challenge to the inroads they have made within certain sectors of the Indian community in the US. In coming months, this debate within the South Asian American community will deepen. It will also be reflected in the Democratic Party that will finally be compelled to grapple with the morality of Hindutva.  Khanna’s statement goes to the heart of this debate by laying bare the obvious hypocrisy of Hindutva’s American supporters. Can South Asian Americans claim to support civil rights and equality for all Americans while simultaneously advocating for religious supremacy that results in violence –often rape, torture, murder and oppression of minorities– in India?

Over the past months, Sabrangindia has been reporting on other such signs of change among the Indian diaspora. Sadhana, a coalition of Hindus in the United States and around the world formed to assert a progressive Hindu voice that speaks up –and acts for –progressive social values and social justice. This group, with about 2000 followers on Facebook, seems like a small online group but is countering Hindutva hatred with its counter-narrative. Their website blog is a treasure trove of articles on current issues with parallels drawn from Hindu scriptures and literature.

Their website says, “Since 2011, Sadhana has been building a progressive Hindu movement. We practice our sadhana, or faith in action, by advocating for those social justice principles we believe are at the heart of Hinduism. We have mobilized Hindus in New York City and beyond to stand up for social justice causes including environmental justice, racial and economic justice, gender equity, immigrant rights, and anti-casteism. We bring a Hindu voice to the interfaith justice movement. We have chapters and members around the country and abroad. We engage and mobilize progressive Hindus nationally and internationally using social media.”
 
“ I simply don’t accept that Hindu people don’t care about lynching, mob violence, says Sunita Vishwananth, founder member of Sadhana, USA has stated publicly while continuing to mobilise Hindus in the US against Hindutva.

The history of India, and the South Asian subcontinent is complex and diverse with a plethora of language, religion, ethnicity and caste. Indian democracy has been managing this complexity with mixed success since its independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Despite being founded on constitutional and republican principles of equality and non-discrimination, the inroads of majoritarian politics have vitiated the political and public sphere: violence against minorities has often been a path to electoral success. Although there are many examples, the most recent and infamous are the 1984 Genocide of Sikhs in Delhi and the 2002 Gujarat Massacre of Muslims. Post 2014 and the election of a Hindu supremacist (read Hindutva) government in the saddle, fear and hatred against minorities has reached new dimensions. (See the US Commission on International Religious Freedom Reports for detail.) Modi’s political party (BJP) and its cultural counterpart organizations (RSS, VHP, etc.) form the backbone of the Hindutva movement.

Every institution of Indian democracy has been permeated by men and women who carry this majoritarian ideology. Progressive movements across South Asia have been mobilizing to ask the world for solidarity as they continue to bravely resist the volatile conditions in the region. The Hindutva right have been keenly set on a path to influence U.S. policy from within the American political system, which makes these recent elements noteworthy.

 

India to UN: All is well and lawful in Assam

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After a series of concerns raised by the United Nations, via repeated letters and communiques, about the brewing humanitarian crisis in Assam, the Indian Government has finally issued a formal response. In a letter dated August 23, a representative of the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations Offices at Geneva wrote to the Chief of the Special Procedures Branch claiming every step being taken in Assam is in accordance with the law.

UN

The Indian government’s response says that the preparation of the NRC is a statutory exercise and the update of the NRC is conducted under provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955. The 1951 NRC was prepared after consulting all stakeholder. The letter also says that entire process is being monitored by the Supreme Court.

In their latest communication with the Indian government four Special Rapporteurs of the UN had in a letter dated May 27, 2019 reminded the Indian government about “specific concerns were noted with regard to the NRC process and the role of Assam administrative and judicial authorities, namely the absence of official policy outlining the implications for those excluded from the final NRC; inconsistencies and errors during the application and registration process; entrenched bias and arbitrary application of the required procedures by the verifying
authorities disproportionately affecting members of the Bengali-speaking Muslim and Hindu minorities, as well as the Nepali and Hindi linguistic minorities and tribal groups; challenges in accessing the required documentation and serious inconsistencies with regard to the creation and maintenance of historic and family records, with a disproportionate impact on women and children; the tight deadlines imposed on all those excluded from the draft NRC to file a revision claim; the reported complexity of the “Claims and Objections” process and its Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) authorized by the Supreme Court in November 2018; the composition and capacity of the Assam Foreigners’ Tribunals to process the cases referred to them, and the alleged pressure by state authorities on members of these Foreigners’ Tribunals to “improve results”; the prolonged detention of those designated as “foreigners; and, the vulnerability of the family members of all those declared as “foreigners”.”

In response, the Indian government has said that “the entire process is comprehensive, fair, objective and inclusive”and that adequate grievance redressal remedies are available. The letter also assures that “adequate arrangements will be made by the state government to provide full opportunity” to people to appeal against non-inclusion. The entire response by the Indian Government may be read here:


 

Related:

“Rising tide of bigotry, stigmatization and scapegoating” in NRC process: UN demands GOI response
UN questions ‘statelessness and disenfranchisement’ of ‘minority groups’ in Assam
UN raises concerns over exclusion of people from NRC in Assam and subsequent ‘statelessness’
Alarming Rise in Racism and Xenophobia
UN raises questions about NRC Claims and Objections process

NWMI-FCS Report paints a “grim and despairing” picture of media in Kashmir

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It has been a month since Kashmir went dark in wake of a virtual communication and media blockade, and now a report has emerged that exposes what is going on in that darkness. Prepared by the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) and the Free Speech Collective (FSC), the report titled News Behind the Barbed Wire: Kashmir’s Information Blockade shows how “the continuing shutdown of communication in the Kashmir valley has resulted in the throttling of independent media.”

Barbed wire
Image: Danish Ismail/Reuters

The report is based on the findings of a two-member team comprising Laxmi Murthy and Geeta Seshu who visited the region between August 30 and September 3. They interacted with and observed several journalists, correspondents and editors of newspapers and news-sites in Srinagar and South Kashmir, members of the local administration and citizens.
 
The report states, “As journalists continue to face severe restrictions in all the processes of news-gathering, verification and dissemination, the free flow of information has been blocked, leaving in its wake a troubled silence that bodes ill for freedom of expression and media freedom.”
 
It further says, “In the absence of reportage from the ground, the government’s influence of the narrative of normalcy is near total. Its official proclamations of the creation of a ‘Naya Kashmir’ have become vociferous. In contrast, there is a deafening silence and invisibilisation of voices from Kashmir expressing alienation, anger and disillusionment at perceived breach of trust. The government’s control of communication processes is intrinsically undemocratic and harmful, as it privileges the voices of authority and weakens those who speak truth to power.”
 
Key findings of the report are as follows:
 
• Surveillance, informal ‘investigations’ and harassment of journalists who publish reports considered adverse to the government or security force
• Blockade of verifiable information from the ground
• Restrictions on mobility in select areas including hospitals
• Controls on facilities available for print publication
• Three journalists reporting for international and credible national media who have been allotted government quarters, received verbal directions to vacate
• Restrictions despite no official curfew, no official notification for the shutdown
• Landlines are working only in certain areas but not in the press enclave, which houses most of the newspaper offices
• The inability to respond to playbacks and queries from editors on email and phone, especially regarding fact-checks, has meant that stories cannot be carried in the national media
• A clear ‘unofficial’ directive regarding what is permissible content.
• Absence of the editorial voice in major newspapers in Kashmir; instead, editorials on ‘soft’ subjects such as vitamin consumption
• Lack of safety for women journalists

In a press statement, NWMI and FSC said, “Our examination revealed a grim and despairing picture of the media in Kashmir, fighting for survival against the most incredible of odds, as it works in the shadow of security forces in one of the most highly militarised zones of the world and a myriad government controls.” The statement further says, “he communication blockade and the ban on the Internet has caused unimaginable and inhuman problems for all citizens. But it has also sounded the death-knell for the media.”
The organisations behind the report now demand that the government undertake the following measures to “demonstrate a commitment to freedom of expression,” adding “Anything less will only be hollow pronouncements and proclamations.”
Immediately lift the internet shutdown and enable high speed internet connectivity.
 

  • Restore all landlines and mobile telephones with priority to journalists and media houses.
     
  • Lift restriction on movement to journalists to enable on-the-ground reporting and verification of authentic news.
     
  • Desist from monitoring and surveillance of journalists and immediately cease intimidatory tactics such as summons to police stations, threat of arrest and detention, and the lodging of false cases etc.
     
  • Create a level playing field for all local, national and international media so as to ensure equal access to official sources and information.
     
  • Set up a transparent and accountable mechanism for disbursal of government advertising.
     
  • Ensure an enabling environment for the safety and dignity of working journalists, a robust and viable media that can guarantee just wages and other protections for working journalists, thus enabling the full exercise of the right to Freedom of Expression.

The entire report may be read here:

 

 

Citizens in Support of Journalist Pawan Jaiswal

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Not a one-man’s fight, it’s the struggle for children’s everyday rights, the online petition demands withdrawal of cases against UP journo. Pawan Jaiswal had shot a video showing children being served roti and salt as part of mid day meal scheme

Pawan Jaiswal
 
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government booked a local journalist for “trying to defame” the government through a ‘conspiracy’. Now, citizens have come out in support of the journalist: To support Pawan Jaiswal and demand the withdrawal of cases against him, you can sign the petition here
 
The journalist in question was Pawan Jaiswal, a print journalist for a Hindi daily Jansandesh Times and his only ‘crime’ was exposing the condition of mid-day meal schemes in a primary school in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
 
Jaiswal had filmed children of the school eating roti and salt. The video went viral on social media after the news agency ANI picked it up. In the damning video, children can be seen squatting on the floor, tearing off pieces of roti, dipping them in salt and eating them.
 
Jaiswal was charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and providing false evidence. The Block Education Officer from Mirzapur, Prem Shankar Ram lodged a complaint on which the FIR was based. Along with the scribe, Raj Kumar Patel, a representative of the village pradhan, who had reportedly tipped off the journalist about the bad quality of food being served at the primary school in Jamalpur block, was also booked.
 
 However, in the same FIR, the administration admits that only roti and salt were being served to the children till the noon of August 22, when the reporter filmed the video. But the FIR accused Jaiswal and Pal of ‘stitching up a conspiracy’ to “defame” the scheme and “malign the government”.
 
The administration alleged that instead of arranging for the vegetables, Pal called a reported to the school premises and asked him to shoot a video showing students being served only roti and salt.
 
The government said Mr. Jaiswal not only shot the videos but also forwarded it to agency ANI following which it was made viral on social media. The action against the reported seems excessive, especially in the light of the fact that District Magistrate Anurag Patel had found the complaints to be true after reportedly holding two independent probes at the local level.
 
Patel said, “Both reports showed that it was true that the students were being fed roti and salt,” announcing the suspension of the teacher-in-charge and the gram panchayat supervisor for the lapse.
 
However, Jaiswal has stood his ground and said that he reported what he saw at the primary school. “I saw at 12:07 minutes that the children were eating salt and roti,” he said referring to his footage.
 
Jaiswal also said that after he received information about the mid-day meal, he had even brought it to the notice of the assistant basic Siksha Adhikari Brijesh Kumar Singh before heading out to the school.
 
After this stringent step was taken against the journalist for doing his job, the Editors guild of UP criticized the government’s action and has demanded that all the cases against him should be withdrawn. The guild also said, “Instead of investigating the situation of the mid-day meal scheme, the government has lodged FIR against the journalist which is shocking”.

The guidelines by UP government lay down that mid day meals must consist of either roti and vegetable with soyabean, or tehri (pulao), or roti with dal. This is in keeping with Central government requirements that each child be served a meal of 450 calories, with 12 grams of protein, per day.

Providing children nutritious meals is an attempt to tackle the problem of stunting –impaired growth – that afflicts 466 lakh Indians under the age of five. A third of all the world’s children whose height is low for their age are Indian, according to the Global Nutrition Report, 2018. A direct consequence of under-nutrition, stunting hinders the cognitive growth of children and leaves them more susceptible to infections and non-communicable diseases.

Launched under the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 1995, the mid-day meal scheme aimed to serve every child in a government or government-aided primary school one nutritious meal a day. The scheme also has associated goals: the guarantee of a meal keeps children coming to school, and communal eating promotes tolerance.

Statistics show that in Mirzapur one in two children are stunted. Other areas too have such haunting statistics and there is a dire need for the UP government to improve how it’s functioning when it comes to this scheme. As many as 46 percent of the state’s children are stunted.
 
In what seems to be a case of mistaken priorities, instead of improving upon the deliverance of the scheme, the government has targeted the journalist.
 
 

Meet Hari Om, part of a Mob that killed Mohd Akhlaque

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Hari Om is a rockstar among criminals. He, Hari Om was part of the mob that killed Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri. Then he was arrested and sent to jail. In jail, he reportedly built a network of criminals. Hari Om then obtained bail in the mob lynching case. On bail, he and his gang members pull off robberies in Ghaziabad. When the UP police finally found him, he opened fire at them. At the end of the “encounter”, the police managed to catch him alive. Now he will go back to jail. This brings us to the moot question once again:

Was the meat inside Mohammad Akhlaq’s fridge beef, buffalo or mutton?

When those accused of the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaque had then been out on bail, some of them had even attended a pre-Lok Sabha election event addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Bishada village in March 2019. According to a report in The Hindu, BJP MLA Tejpal Singh Nagar had facilitated the recruitment of the 15 youngsters along with NTPC officials on October 9.(2017). Political patronage of the criminals got them a job in a public sector undertaking even! The New Indian Express tentatively reported that, “in perhaps an unkindly turn of events, the (15) accused persons in the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, have reportedly got jobs in public sector undertaking and power utility major NTPC Limited. What’s more, they have reportedly landed the jobs with the help of a BJP MLA.”
 
Who says that some crimes at least, do not pay?  
 
When Hari Om was finally arrested recently, the Times of India reported that the officer added that Hari Om had been active in crime over the past one year and is named in at least four cases of robberies in Ghaziabad’s Masuri police station. “He was involved in snatchings. He told us he had met several men in jail who brought him into the world of crime,” said the police official.

Before the lynching, Hari Om was also named in three cases of criminal intimidation, rioting and obscenity in public place. 
 
The Telegraph reported that, “Hari Om is wanted in 11 criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder, arms act, robbery in Greater Noida and Ghaziabad. Early on Monday, he opened fire at a police team when he was intercepted for checking. The cops also opened fire in retaliation in which he was injured in his left leg and slumped to the ground,” said a Noida police official.

Hari Om was arrested and the police seized a country-made gun and a motorcycle from him.

This 30-year-old, identified as Hari Om, a resident of Bishada, is currently out on bail after he was arrested in Mohammed Akhlaq’s murder case.

 

Sikh businessman’s eco-friendly Initiative involving Hindu God gives Hope

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As the world is grappling with growing bigotry, social inequalities and climate crisis, a Sikh businessman has raised some hopes for a better future. Ludhiana-based bakery owner Harinder Singh Kukreja has been crafting chocolate Ganesha for the past four years.

Ganesha is one of the most revered Hindu gods. Known for his elephant head, Ganesha’s festival falls this month. It is an auspicious occasion for Hindus who often build big idols of him and immerse them into the water. The practice has raised concerns over the years as the paint and material used for making such statues is not good for the environment.

Kukreja came up with an idea of chocolate Ganesha to not only save water from pollutants, but also to bring smiles on the faces of poor and underprivileged kids. His Ganesha is immersed into milk and the kids are given free chocolate milk as a Prasad.  

The most inspiring part of the story is that Kukreja involved a Muslim artist to craft Ganesha idol with 106 kg Belgian chocolate this time. Thus he has set a great example of making cross cultural bridges when minorities, especially Muslims continue to be targeted by Hindu extremists under a right wing Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi.  

Both Kukreja and the Muslim artist involved in the project belong to the minority communities which do not believe in idol worshipping and yet they came together to give their respect to a Hindu god in an unusual manner that goes long way in saving the environment and embracing the poor, besides sending a strong message to those who are trying to divide people on religious lines to stay in power.

Foreign Journalists asked to “leave” Assam, post NRC, state declared “protected area”

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Assam has suddenly been placed under the “protected area category” by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) following several questions being raised over the politicisation of the entire process of publication of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) reports the Assam Tribune.

Media Ban

As a consequence, all foreign journalists working in Assam have been asked to leave the state. For example, the Assam Tribune reports, that a female reporter of the wire agency, Associated Press (AP) was recently escorted by the Assam Police to the airport and put in the next available flight to Delhi, sources in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia told this newspaper. “She was politely told by Assam government officials to leave the State and first procure the necessary permission from the Government of India,” sources added. Last weekend too correspondents of other foreign newspapers were not allowed entry.

Until this “order”, foreign media were barred from entering only Jammu and Kashmir and a few hills states of the Northeast on reporting assignments. But now, Assam has been added in the protected area list along with other north-eastern states, Indian Home Ministry sources said.

When contacted sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said that foreign journalists will now have to seek permission from the MEA and subject to final clearance by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the go ahead will be given. This recent development comes in the wake of the final publication of the NRC in Assam (August 31) and widespread news reports in foreign media, several of which were critical of the NRC exercise.

MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Sunday clarifed that the NRC was not an executive-driven process, but rather an exercise mandated and monitored by the Supreme Court. “There have been some commentaries in a section of foreign media about aspects of final NRC which are incorrect,” he added.

It is not insignificant that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi has also voiced concern at the publication of the NRC in Assam that could leave some 1.9 million people in danger of becoming stateless. “I appeal to India to ensure that no one is rendered stateless by this action, including by ensuring adequate access to information, legal aid, and legal recourse in accordance with the highest standards of due process,” he said in a statement in Geneva. Although the nationality status of the approximately 1.9 million people left off the NRC is not known, many are at risk of statelessness if they do not have another nationality, the UNHCR warned.

“Any process that could leave large numbers of people without a nationality would be an enormous blow to global efforts to eradicate statelessness,” Grandi warned in his reaction late last Sunday.The UNHCR also urged the government to take action over any similar processes that could occur in other Indian states and urged authorities not to deport anyone whose nationality had not been verified.

The UN agency also repeated its offer to help the Indian government determine people’s nationality and prevent statelessness “in accordance with its mandate and international standards”.

In July 2019, the Economist, a prestigious UK based weekly journal, was among the first to comment on the consequences of the on-going NRC exercise. In a leader titles, Madness in the hills–India is declaring millions of its citizens to be foreigners (The unlucky victims must then prove the opposite in special courts) the journal commented:
“Since 2016 this hilly tea-growing state in India’s north-eastern corner has been compiling a National Register of Citizens (NRC). Billed as a scientific method for sorting pukka Indians from a suspected mass of unwanted Bangladeshi intruders, the seemingly banal administrative procedure has instead encoiled millions of people in a cruelly absurdist game.

“Rather than find and prosecute illegal immigrants, Assam has instead tasked its 33m people, many of them poor and illiterate, with proving to bureaucrats that they deserve citizenship. Those who fail risk being locked up. Some 1,000 people currently moulder in Assam’s six existing detention centres for “foreigners”. The Indian public has lately been shocked by stories of people, such as a decorated war hero and a 59-year-old widow, who have found themselves jailed for failing to prove their Indian-ness. But the state of Assam is clearly expecting a lot more to come. Ten purpose-built camps are planned.”

The Guardian, also carried a significant report, ‘A nightmarish mess’: millions in Assam brace for loss of citizenship:
Campaigners describe a system of callous bureaucracy and political interference that has torn families apart and left the most vulnerable facing spells in detention centres and unaffordable legal fees.
The United Nations special rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, said the exercise “raises quite a few red flags” and “may be considered to be a discriminatory process and approach”. De Varennes said the number of people potentially affected could make this the biggest exercise in statelessness since the second world war.”
 
Clearly stung by this criticism, the government has decided to act! By curtailing access of the foreign media to Assam!

Related Articles:
1. “Rising tide of bigotry, stigmatization and scapegoating” in NRC process: UN demands GOI response

Knickers in a twist, Right says Assam NRC is wrong!

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Ever since the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published in Assam, the Indian right wing has had the wind blown out of its sails. While the July 2018 final draft left out over 40 lakh people, who were promptly dubbed “termites” and “infiltrators” by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the sharp drop in the number of people excluded from the final NRC published on August 31, 2019, has them scratching their heads.  


Image: Times of India

The most vociferous of the lot appears to be Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who alleges that the NRC is flawed. Taking to twitter Sarma said, “Names of many Indian citizens who migrated from Bangladesh as refugees prior to 1971 have not been included in the NRC because authorities refused to accept refugee certificates. Many names got included because of manipulation of legacy data as alleged by many.” He added, “I reiterate that as requested by Central and State governments at least 20% reverification (bordering districts) and 10% re-verification(remaining districts) should be allowed by Honble Apex court for a correct and fair NRC.”

But Sarma didn’t stop there. He appeared determined to turn what was originally an ethnic divide where the Assamese feared a demography change due to the alleged influx of Bengali origin people, into a full blown communal divide. Sample this interview given to India Today where Sarma says Hindus of Bangladeshi origin will be welcome, but Muslims will not.

Yet another spirited exchange between Sarma and AIMIM chief Assauddin Owaisi on Twitter may be viewed here:

Sarma now plans to move Supreme Court for reverification of NRC in areas along the Bangladesh border.

Another group all set to knock on the apex court’s door is the All Assam Students Union (AASU) that is unhappy with the exclusion figures and alleges that the NRC is replete with “faults and discrepancies”. AASU president DK Nath claimed, “The Assam and central governments failed to prepare an error-free NRC and lost a historic opportunity.”

Next door in West Bengal, mercurial chief minister Mamata Bannerjee who has often been accused of minority appeasement and threatened with a version of NRC in her state, decided to take the opportunity to give it back to her detractors. She tweeted, “The NRC fiasco has exposed all those who tried to take political mileage out of it. They have a lot to answer to the nation. This is what happens when an act is guided by an ulterior motive rather than the good of the society and the larger interest of the nation.” She also raised questions about exclusion of members of the Gorkha community, CRPF jawans and family members of former Indian president Fakruddin Ali Ahmed. 

With the communal agenda out in the open, though temporarily derailed, one can only expect more drama in the region. Meanwhile, BJP President Amit Shah is expected to visit Assam on September 8 and 9, purportedly to attend a meeting of the North Eastern Council.
 

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