The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished a 122-year-old cross in suburban Bandra on the order of the Bombay High Court directing the civic body to remove unauthorized religious structures-the demolition of the cross has now evoked sharp reactions from the Christian community, with the Bombay Catholic Sabha terming the action as an “insult” to the community. The HC had recently ordered removal of as many as 32 temples and 6 crosses from H west ward, which fall under ‘B’ Category. But as per Christian activists the matter will be legally pursued by the Archdiocese of Bombay, and presently makeshift cross has been installed on the site in an effort to offer reassurance to worshipers.

According to Fr Nigel Barrett, spokesman for the archdiocese of Bombay who said, “A notice by Sharad Ughade, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, pertains to a 2010 PIL pending before the Bombay HC, which relates to structures on public property but this was invalid since the cross which was demolished was on private land. Ughade was met with documentary evidence by the owner and community organizations, who had replied in time to the BMC notice. The matter will be pursued legally since the cross was demolished despite this. This move by BMC is an insult to our religion”.

Dolphy D’souza-the Former President of the Bombay Catholic Sabha; Former National Vice-President- All India Catholic Union; and spokesperson for SOUL-Save Our Land, and also convener of Police Reforms Watch speaking to Team Mangalorean over the phone said, ” Mumbai civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) decision to demolish a cross at Bandra in Mumbai has sparked controversy. Members of the Christian community in the area allege there is selective action by the civic body, demand action against the Assistant Municipal Commissioner who carried out the act and want Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene over the issue.”

“The cross was on a private property and not on any public or disputed property-so it should be restored to its original place. There are photographs and evidence to prove that the cross has been there at the particular place since 1895, and the court order which says illegal religious structures should be removed from public places should not apply to this structure since it is on a private land. Though the residents have provided evidence to the civic body officials, it has not been taken into considerations and the razing of the structure by BMC is an ‘unjust’ act. A formal complaint has been given by the residents at the local police station, and an FIR is registered over the issue. A massive protest rally is planned for tomorrow, where we request the Christians to join in large numbers, so that justice is served in this regard” added D’souza.

Images Courtesy: Mangolerean.com

In the meantime, sources from BMC reveal that the Category B structures are the ones which did interfere with the DP (Development Plan) of the city. The letters of the court order were sent to the concerned people and they were requested to remove these religious structures. Also, a meeting was arranged with the representatives of the religious structures along with local councilors. During the meeting, the court order was explained and another request was made to remove the unauthorized religious structures. Accordingly, six temples were found to be removed by themselves. On April 29 a temple and the cross, which were on the road and obstructing traffic movement, were removed. Action will continue in the next week on remaining structures of ‘B’ Category. Police has been providing good support to BMC in this regard.

However, Rita D’sa of Bombay Catholic Sabha termed the demolition of the 19th century cross as an “insult” of the Christian community. “This PIL (in the high court) only relates to religious structures on public property. The notice issued has no application to the said Holy Cross since it was constructed on a private property,” D’sa claimed. The court had directed that all illegal religious structures that have come up after September 29, 2009 should be demolished. A May 2011 Government Resolution (GR) had divided illegal religious structures into various categories. Category B pertains to illegal shrines that interfere with the city’s development plan.

Images Courtesy: Mangolerean.com

Also Read Related Statement Released and sent to the Municipal Commissioner, Mumbai and the Police Commissioner, Mumbai.
*WE DEMAND ARREST OF SHRI SHARAD UGADE, ASSISTANT MUNICIPAL COMMISSIONER H WEST WARD, BMC, FOR BLASPHEMY.*
On behalf of the entire Christian Community, we hereby register our strongest protest and displeasure against the Assistant Municipal Commissioner Shri Sharad Ughade, who has illegally and deliberately by taking law in his own hands with the help of Staff of H West Ward, BMC along with Police Protection from Bandra West Police Station intentionally demolished the Holy Cross ( erected in or about 1895) with a Bulldozer with an intent to damage/defile the place of worship which is held sacred by Christians thereby insulting the religion of Christians with clear knowledge by doing so he and others would insult the Christian Community.
– The said Holy Cross is situated on a private land being Plot No.38 situate at C.S. No.A/650 near D’monte Street and Bazar Road, Bandra West Mumbai 400 050.
-The notice issued on 26th April 2017 Assistant Municipal Commissioner Sharad Ughade gives reference to Public Interest Litigation No.104 of 2010 pending Hon’ble Bombay High Court. This PIL only relates to religious structures on public property. As such the notice in question issued to the said Holy Cross had no application to the said Holy Cross since same is constructed on a private property. The Owner /the Community Organizations had written/replied few days to the said notice and even met Shri Sharad Ughade with documentary evidence including Revenue Plan/Property Card and explained the legal position.
– However, today (29 April 2017) at about 10.30 am Assistant Municipal Commissioner Sharad Ughade along with staff of H/West Ward along with Police Officials arrived at the site, but the locals vehemently opposed the said illegal and deliberate demolition but Shri Ugade was adamant even quoted that “Humne EK Mandir Toda Hai to ek Cross bhi todna padega”. Thereafter Sharad Ughade along with staff of H/West Ward along with Police Officials demolished the said Holy Cross. ( photographs attached )
– This is nothing but blasphemy. An outrageously ridiculous reasoning which not only defies law of land but does not appeal to reason. This wanton and deliberate action on the part of Sharad Ughade and H/West Staff.
– How can a responsible Public Servant make such an irresponsible statement in full public view. This statement by Shri Ugade has been knowingly made by him disobeying the law thereby caused injury to the members of the Christian Community.
-This is record that one Kaka Shidu Maske, AMC had filed a detailed Affidavit in Writ Petition No.2063 of 2002, giving therein detailed list of alleged illegal religious structures and shrines, wherein 67 such structures have been then noticed by BMC in H/West Ward, but nowhere the Holy Cross mentioned above and which has been demolished today figures. it cannot figure for the simple reason that the said Holy Cross was on private property.
– As such we kindly request you to immediately file an FIR against Sharad Ughade and H/West Staff and also request hon’ble Municipal Commissioner to suspend Sharad Ughade and H/West Staff, who have conspired with each other with common intention and offence be registered under Sections, 34, 120B, 166, 295, 298, 425, 441 and 506 of IPC.
-We are alive of the facts that some local Politicians will now rush to the hon’ble Chief Minister to smooth the ruffled feathers.
– We hereby demand that the cost of re-erection of this Holy Cross may be recovered from the salary of Sharad Ughade and concerned H/West Staff.
– IN CASE OF YOUR FAILURE TO TAKE ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH LAW, WE WILL BE CONSTRAINED TO TAKE FURTHER ACTIONS AS DEEMED FIT.
– Bombay Catholic Sabha (Rita D’Sa)
– Save Our Land (Dolphy D’Souza/Greg Pereira/Stanley Fernandez.com)
– Watchdog Foundation (Nicholas Almeida/Godfrey)
– Bombay East Indian Association (Adv. Vivian D’Souza)

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Masjids were few and far between, they didn't seem to get in your way on random roads. For years, the only Masjid I knew was this quaint, faded pink, single minar structure called Ek Minar ki Masjid. It was on the way to Qabristan and I had an eerie fascination for it. Once when a friend asked us to go in with him, I ran back the moment my feet touched the cold marble floor spreading out into a resounding silence. 

I don't remember if it had a loudspeaker those days. Azan was an alarm clock for parents, a curfew to get back home for us kids, a segue into night after a cluttered day filled with school, friends and random visits from relatives  – it was a lot of things to a lot of people – but never a war cry or an announcement of faith. 

Later, as the town started spreading haphazardly beyond the neat rows of elegant University residential quarters or old kothis, Masjids started sprouting up here and there. These were not quaint – but belligerent. They got in your face at corners, Squatted in the middle of playgrounds, they grabbed breathing spaces between houses and screamed for attention. They had protruding corners and stubborn pointy towers. Some were a screaming white, some looked like they had been dropped in a tub of loud green by mistake. Grown ups scoffed at them complaining about gulf money. 

While earlier one single familiar voice of the muazzin wafted across,  knitting many mohallas together – gently inviting or marking time… now azans barged into homes from many directions. Loudspeakers amplified the harshness of untrained muazzins. These were not artists but more like raw zealots – There was more passion than reverence in their voices. We giggled, laughed poked fun at them and called them phata baans… irreverent, irreligious people like me and devout aunties who covered their heads when they heard the azan – we all called an unpleasant intrusion by it's name. No one judged us for laughing at the muazzins and covering our ears or for running indoors and shutting the door to keep the noise out. Religion was not a live bomb that could go off with the slightest touch of irreverence, it was more like a favourite delicate curio which people wanted to protect from harsh glare. You were free to not share their enthusiasm without being branded as an enemy of faith.

Around the same time in school, a teacher poked fun at azan quoting Kabir, 
'Kankar, pathar jod ke, Masjid liye banaye
Taa chadh mulla baang de, kya behra hua khudaye.' 

The doha appealed to me. I was impressed with the idea of calling out the stupidity in screaming at the top of your voice to a God you claimed was omnipresent anyway! 

My father, the staunch atheist, explained why the doha was faulty on a factual point. Azan is not a call or a prayer to Allah neither is it in praise of Allah, it is a call to the faithful to remind them that it's time for prayers. It's more like an alarm, a reminder and was needed in the time, when clocks and alarms had not been invented. 

This was a harsh blow to my reverence for both, my teacher’s knowledge and for Kabir’s wisdom. I had just discovered that I liked Kabir for his thought process, his ambivalent identity and the fun he had with language. I don’t know if it came to me later or if my father spoke that day about how a single person cannot have all the right answers. Later too, instead of dogma, Daddy always fed us with the importance of questioning, seeking, finding our own answers. He said there are other ways to interpret the doha, and that Kabir was critical of outward expression in all religions. But facts are sacrosanct, so it’s important to know exactly what one is criticising. 

I think we agreed on the redundancy of loudspeakers in the time of alarm clocks and wrist watches (now mobile phones too). If someone really cared for their God, they would find a way to remind themselves – after all you do not forget to do things that you really care for.

Loudspeakers then, it seems – in a masjid, mandir, mandap or pandal – are not about religion, reverence or spirituality. They are attempts at forcing your idea of your god or your leader down my throat. They are a war cry, an announcement of your supremacy, a gaudy display of your shallow faith or power and a rude invasion into someone else's space. 

Kabir and Sonu Nigam are both right if we carefully consider the essence of their criticism about imposing our faith on others or inconveniencing others for what we consider sacred.

(The writer wrote this on her facebook page)

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The attack also marks Donald Trump’s first major foreign policy test as US president. It represents a 180-degree shift from his previous position of opposing intervention in Syria. And the sudden about-face sends a worrying signal for how his administration may handle future crises in international relations.

The operation

On Thursday, April 6, the US unilaterally launched strikes against the al-Shayrat airforce base in Homs. This base primarily houses Mig-23 and SU-22 strike craft and Mig-25 interceptors.

The attack consisted of 59 sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles, which targeted airframes and supporting infrastructure. It reportedly led to casualties among Syrian military personnel.

Unlike the actions of his predecessor, Barack Obama, prior to the 2012 Libya intervention, Trump sought no international legal sanction for the strike.

The attack has been justified as a punitive response to the Syrian military’s likely use of sarin chemical nerve agents against civilians in Idlib province. This led to at least 70 deaths and drew worldwide condemnation.

The Idlib incident was a much smaller repeat of a major sarin deployment in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta in 2013. That attack led to hundreds of civilian deaths – many of them children.

The Ghouta atrocity led the US to the brink of war with Syria; the Syrian government was alleged to have crossed Obama’s infamous “red line”. Ultimately, however, diplomatic manoeuvring by senior US, Russian and Syrian officials de-escalated the situation. They were able to negotiate the apparent dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons program.

Recent events, however, suggest this dismantling was not as extensive as previously thought.

Trump’s humanitarian intervention?

What’s concerning is how the strikes have been rationalised. Trump has described the strikes as aimed at protecting a “vital national security interest”. However, this appears to contradict one of the fundamental themes that buoyed Trump’s rise to power.

Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump emphasised the need to embrace a transactional approach to foreign relations that placed little value on human rights.

The then-presidential candidate was criticised for appearing to be open to accommodating the anti-human-rights predilections of authoritarian rulers provided they served US economic and security interests.

Trump condemned the Obama administration’s response to the Ghouta attacks when strikes were under consideration. He explicitly and repeatedly indicated that, as president, he would adopt a non-interventionist position in Syria in spite of the humanitarian crisis.

This story was first published on The Conversation. Read the original.

Home Page Image Courtesy: Reuters

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In the first political intervention after the gross lynching, to death, of a dairy farmer in Rajasthan , Pehlu Khan, last week,  leaders of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) yesterday visited Jaisinghpur of Nuh District of Haryana to console the bereaved family members of Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer who was allegedly killed by organisations reported to be a part of the sangh parivar. AIKS leaders including Hannan Mollah, former Member of Parliament (MP) and Polit Bureau Member, Subhashini Ali, General Secretary, P Krishnaprasad, Finance Secretary, Master Sher Singh, President of Haryana Kisan Sabha and Manoj Kumar visited the family of the victims.   Satvir Singh, state president of CITU, Major S L Prajapathy, Gurgaon District secretary of CPIM were also part of the delegation. 

The delegation met Pehlu Khan’s mother Ankuri Begam, wife Jebuna Begam, and two children Irshad and Arif who were also injured in the same incident. Pehlu Khan had six children including four daughters. The delegation also visited Ajmat who is bed ridden at home since he was forcefully discharged from the Alwar Hospital. 

Hundreds villagers gathered to receive the Kisan Sabha leaders.  Ajmal Khan, former MLA,  Kalekhan, former sarpanch, Sarfudheen and Khaleel Ahamad Akthar Hassan of Sahdani Sabha Mewat, Raj Singh and Adv. Arshad khan among others attended the meeting.  The meeting decided to call a panchayath of the people of neighborhood villagers in the next week to mobilise and protest the incidents that signal India's sliding into rank vigilantism.The family of Pehlu Khan has around 1.5 acres of land and is dependant on wheat cultivation and dairying as a means of livelihood. On that fateful day, Pehlu Khan, his two children, his nephew and two other villagers went to Jaipur to purchase milching animals since they hope they could get animals cheap in the Cattle fair of Jaipur Hatwada. 

The Mewat region, dominated by a Muslim population has a rich tradition of Hindu Muslim amity and brotherhood, termed “Gothpal”. The Muslim families are traditionally peasants and cattle breeders. This has been eroded over the decades by the politics of division and othering. The brutal killing of Pehlu Khan by RSS organisations has created fear psychosis and nervousness among the peace loving people. 

The FIR on the lynching clearly states that the mob which attacked the farmers belonged to the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal(BD) and also points to the role of the parent organisation, the RSS. After Pehlu Khan died succumbing to his injuries, district-level leaders of the VHP had even threatened the senior police officers of dire consequences if they arrest any of their activists. The Police, then registered a false FIR against Pehlu Khan and other innocent farmers despite the fact that they have records of the cattle purchase issued by the Jaipur Municipal Corporation.  The Home Minister of Rajasthan has been, shockingly, accusing farmers of 'smuggling' cows by violating the law and even the Union Minister Mukhthar Abbas Naqvi has misguided the Rajya Sabha by denying that any such incident of murder even occurred in Rajasthan.  All this exposes the role of RSS and BJP leaders who appear set to defend the lynch mob in general and those responsible for this gross murder, in particular.

The situation is serious, dragging the country towards anarchy and lawlessness which needs to be fought tooth and nail to protect the democratic rights of the people and to preserve the secular fabric of the society.  The AIKS leadership has demanded a high level enquiry to unearth the conspiracy behind the Alwar Killing. The AIKS leaders also assured the village people and the family members all help to ensure strong action and stringent punishment to the entire culprits as per law including legal aid.

Home Page Photo Courtesy: Indian Express

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