Hong Kong has appointed Sukhdeep Kaur (24), a native of Tarn Taran in Punjab, as a prison officer. An amritdhari, she becomes the first Sikh woman to get the prison officer’s post. Sukhdeep speaks Cantonese fluently. Talking to The Sunday Guardian on telephone, she said a lot of people ask her many questions about Sikhism. She said that she was the first baptized Sikh woman to be given recognition to be placed with the Correctional Services Department (CSD). “They respect and accept me for who I am,” she added. Her job requires her to communicate with persons in custody. “A turbaned Indian woman speaking Cantonese with them makes them more comfortable in opening up and the conversation occasionally starts with my religious look.”
MOST Protesters Ignorant About CAA
One is surprised over the bhed-chal noticed among many protesters, especially youth, agitating against the Citizenship Amendment Act. This correspondent spoke to a number of people, including young boy and girl students, at several agitation sites in the national capital and shockingly, they did not know the CAA’s contents and its intent. Like parrots, most of them just said, “It is discriminatory and against Indian Muslims.” When told that the CAA had nothing to do with Indian citizens, including Muslims, they were not ready to believe this. An old Muslim tailor at Red Fort said, “We have been told by our local leaders. We have received messages on WhatsApp telling us that the CAA and the National Register of Citizens will throw all Muslims out of India; we would be forced to cut our beard and won’t be able to wear skull cap.”
It was futile to convince them that no such thing was going to happen with the CAA. This was the same story at every agitation site in Seelampur, Jamia Millia Islamia, ITO and Mandi House. Rumour mongers had done the damage.
Some BJP MPs off-the-record told The Sunday Guardian that their party had erred in announcing in Parliament House at the time of the debate on the Citizenship Amendment Bill that “no Muslim will be allowed to come to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan”.
“The CAA is only meant to give citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists, who have come to India to take shelter (till 31 December 2014) after their religious persecution in the three Islamic nations. We should have just maintained this stand, instead of further announcing that ‘no Muslim’ from these countries will be allowed to take citizenship in India.” Well, the damage has been done.
OLD WOUNDS
Babri Mosque ‘Re-Demolished’
A school in Karnataka some days ago revived old wounds by making its students “recreate” the demolition of the Babri masjid. It happened at a cultural event at the Sri Rama Vidyakendra High School (in the Dakshin Kannada district), owned by Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, an RSS leader.
Hundreds of students from Classes 11 and 12 dressed in white shirts donning saffron dhotis and flags charged towards a Babri Masjid poster and tore it. Someone on the loudspeaker announced, “With whatever they could find, they demolished the Babri Masjid. They are devotees of Hanuman, high on emotions.” Union Minister Sadananda Gowda was the chief guest. Puducherry Governor Kiran Bedi was also present.
TURNING REBEL
SAD State Of Affairs In Punjab
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is angry because one of the oldest leaders of the party, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has turned a rebel. Some days ago, Dhindsa, a Rajya Sabha member showed up at a dinner hosted by Congress MLA Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon to celebrate the birth of his daughter. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was the chief guest at the event. Everyone was surprised when Dhindsa and Amarinder Singh hugged each other warmly and exchanged pleasantries. Dhindsa was the only Akali leader present at the dinner. Dhindsa’s son and former Finance Minister Parminder Dhindsa did not turn up. Dhindsa and the host MLA said they were family friends for long. Earlier, addressing his supporters at his Sangrur house, Dhindsa targeted Sukhbir Badal, former CM, and sought his resignation for “destroying the democratic set-up of the party to get himself elected as the party head”. Dhindsa alleged that the Badals had been controlling the SGPC and requested social workers, farmers and student organisations to free the SGPC from their clutches.