Times Headline Bureau
Umar Khalid: FREEDOM for Seven Days!
Injustice continues to stalk former JNU student leader and brilliant scholar, Umar Khalid, even after languishing in jail for almost four years.
Widely perceived to be in prison on fake charges with no real evidence, he has been denied bail repeatedly. His case, and that of other young Muslim scholars, still rotting in prison (while people who have done much worse are free), is considered by observers as a classic case of vindictive politics being played against a minority community.
They argue, that according to the code of this revengeful politics, young, brilliant and modern Muslim scholars and dissenters are being deliberately targeted by the current BJP regime, to send a message to the new generation of students and youth, who choose to be peaceful dissenters, or, who, don’t agree with the policies of the government.
His supporters argue that there has been no evidence whatsoever of Umar Khalid having done any violence, or that he was a part of any violent ‘conspiracy’ during the massive anti-CAA peaceful agitation in Delhi and all over India. They say that he was not evenly remotely involved in the riots which happened in northeast Delhi, soon after the assembly polls in 2020, in which the BJP lost.
He has no record of having made inflammatory speeches in JNU or outside. Instead, in his speeches, which were often loaded with facts and figures, he would always stand for non-violence and peaceful dissent, while defending the Indian Constitution. Indeed, the defense of the Indian Constitution was the central theme in the anti-CAA protests, because the partisan CAA was considered to be going against the secular and pluralist ethos of the Constitution.
He has been granted interim bail for seven days by a Delhi court on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, to attend his cousin’s wedding, scheduled from December 28 to January 3. A brilliant scholar who has done his PhD from the Centre for Historical Studies in JNU, he had requested a 10-day interim bail through his lawyer.
He has been in custody since September 2020, charged under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), in connection with the riots. Over the past four years, he has applied for bail multiple times, with his most recent attempt on December 6 being rejected by the Delhi High Court.
After the high court dismissed his bail plea in October 2022, he approached the court again, seeking parity with the other co-accused — Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal, Asif Iqbal Tanha and Ishrat Jahan, who were released on bail in June, 2021.
His lawyer argued that during the CAA protests, Umar was not even present in northeast Delhi and had promoted a “Gandhian principle” of non-violence in a speech delivered in Amravati. Senior advocate Trideep Pais, appearing before Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, also questioned the reason for his being an accused. It was further asserted during the December 6 hearing that no physical evidence had been found to link him to the 2020 Delhi riots.
Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar… Amit Shah’s Freudian slip?
The Congress did a nationwide protest on Thursday, December 19, 2024, demanding the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, following the controversial remarks he recently made about Dr BR Ambedkar during a speech in the Rajya Sabha on December 17, as part of Parliament’s Winter Session. Shah’s comments have sparked an outcry across the country, with the Congress-led Opposition using his controversial statement to politically target the BJP-led central government.
Opposition parties of the INDIA alliance, including Congress, TMC, DMK, RJD, the Left parties, and Shiv Sena-UBT, have all condemned and criticized the remark, leading to the adjournment of both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday last. In response, the BJP, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm, has defended Shah.
The controversy began with Shah’s remarks in the Rajya Sabha, where he suggested that Congress leaders would have earned a place in heaven if they had chanted the name of God instead of repeatedly invoking Ambedkar’s name. He said, “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. If they had chanted God’s name that many times, they would have secured a place in heaven.”
The Congress had earlier led the Lok Sabha campaign defending the Indian Constitution drafted by Ambedkar. Rahul Gandhi would hold the ‘red book’ in almost all his rallies and claim that the BJP was hell-bent on subverting this sacred book of India’s secular and plural democracy. Indeed, the BJP was pushed to the corner because their claim that they would score more than 400 seats (‘abki baar, 400 paar’) was widely interpreted, especially by the Dalits, minorities and OBCs, as an attempt to change the Constitution.
The BJP did its best to change the narrative, but, finally, failed to convince a large section of people. Consequently, they could not even muster a majority in Parliament, and is now holding power with the crutches of two political parties.
Clearly, Amit Shah’s remark (a Freudian slip?) will cost it politically in the days to come. Besides, political observers believe that the BJP, with its strong support base among the upper caste communities, never really believed in the Indian Constitution. In the Hindutva perspective, instead, it is the retrograde, casteist and anti-woman Manusmriti, which has been sacrosanct since the days of the non-violent freedom struggle against the British — in which these forces did not participate.
Uniform Civil Code: BJP goes for it in Uttarakhand
The Uttarakhand government, led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, is set to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state by January 2025. This will make Uttarakhand the first state in India to adopt the UCC. The state government has developed a portal and mobile app to facilitate the registration, appeals, and other services online, aiming to make the process more convenient for the public. Dhami has emphasized that the UCC would guide society in line with the principles of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, and ‘Sabka Vishwas’, bringing new opportunities for empowerment, particularly for women and children in Devbhoomi.
The CM has directed officials to ensure adequate facilities and proper training for the personnel involved in implementing the UCC. In March 2023, the president signed the UCC Bill into law, following which the state government formed a nine-member committee to draft the rules and procedures for its implementation.
The bill consists of seven schedules and 392 sections, covering four key areas: marriage, divorce, inheritance and live-in relationships. It also includes provisions to abolish practices like polygamy, polyandry, halala, and iddat, while ensuring equal inheritance rights for men and women.
The UCC will require couples to register their marriages within six months. A few weeks ago, the PM had commended the Uttarakhand government for its UCC law, referring to it as the “Secular Civil Code”. He added, “After an extensive study, the Uttarakhand government has introduced the UCC, and I believe it represents a true ‘Secular Civil Code’. The country is discussing the UCC, and its necessity is being increasingly recognized.”