IB fears counter attacks against lynch mobs
New Intelligence Bureau chief Arvind Kumar may soon be sounding an alarm bell for Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the rising angry voices on social media platforms, especially WhatsApp groups of some Muslim and Dalit persons and organisations, against the mob lynching of their community members allegedly by right wing Hindu religious activists. “Enough is Enough,” is being said loudly on these countrywide social media platforms. “Where are our so-called Maulnas? They all are made for ‘chanda’ (donation) and ‘biryani’ only. We along with our Dalit brothers should come on the streets to protest against this kind of atrocities,” a WhatsApp group member wrote, which was instantly endorsed by almost all other members of this group. “If we continue to sit in the air conditioned rooms and only play forwarding the messages game, then we all should be ready to face the same music soon,” another angry message said. Another one cautiously said, “It doesn’t mean that we should take law and order in our hand,but we can at least protest in a democratic way. The Dalit brothers are also humiliated, killed, and their women raped openly. We have to support them and take them along with us. These fundamentalist goons are just defaming Lord Ram’s name and doing lynching and all kind of criminal activities. Muslims and Dalits must assemble under one umbrella to fight the goons,” a third one said.
A senior IB officer acknowledged that an alarming situation is developing in many northern and central states. “We are monitoring many aggressive WhatsApp groups of Muslims and Dalit organisations,” he told The Sunday Guardian. “We are also keeping a close watch on many Hindu religious fundamentalists’ social media platforms, one of which has asked its members to move in big numbers to attack beef eaters and ‘Love Jihadis’. Frankly, we fear counter-attacks against those who are indulging in mob lynching these days.”
Didi’s SOS to Left, Congress
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee finally seems to have realised that her power days are numbered unless she goes for a new political strategy to counter the BJP’s pincer attacks on her empire. Her arch rival—the CPM—as wells as the Congress were surprised when Banerjee on Wednesday reached out to them to join hands with her to fight the BJP’s onslaught. Speaking in the state Assembly on the Governor’s address, Banerjee said the BJP was trying to run a parallel government in West Bengal and parties like the Congress and CPM should come with the Trinamool Congress to fight against it. It must have shocked her when both the parties immediately rejected her appeal saying “your policies are solely responsible for the saffron party’s growth”. Veteran Communist leader S. Sudhakar Reddy described Didi’s appeal as “meaningless.” The national General Secretary of the CPI said Banerjee still sees the Left parties as “enemies and not as political opponents”. He asked: “It is Mamata who is responsible for forcibly using violence against the Left in a very big way, and weaken the Left in West Bengal in the most undemocratic way and now what’s the meaning of this appeal?” The Left parties see the BJP as an “enemy” and would like to fight against it, “but at the same time view Trinamool as equally a rival”, he said, accusing the TMC of attacking and destroying the Left.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh statue installed in Lahore
It was certainly a nice gesture from across the border to permit the installation of a life-size sculpture of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the legendary Sikh ruler, in Lahore on Thursday. It was to commemorate his 180th death anniversary. The statue has been sculpted by various Lahore artists. It has been installed opposite the haveli of Rani Jindan in the Lahore Fort. The sculpture shows Maharaja Ranjit riding his favourite Arabic horse, Kahar Bahar, a gift from Dost Muhammad Khan, the founder of the Barakzai Dynasty. The sculpture was commissioned by the S.K. Foundation, UK, along with Raj Kapany of the U.S. Foundation president Bobby Singh Bansal said that the project was initiated in 2016 with aim to commemorate the 180th death anniversary of the legendary Sikh ruler and to promote the Sikh heritage and tourism in Pakistan. Earlier, the Foundation had installed a bust of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in France in 2016 and in Italy last month.
Captain Amarinder dances in Chandimandir
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh showed some dance steps with a “bhangra” troupe of army officers and jawans of a Sikh Regiment at Chandimandir, headquarters of the western army command in Panchkula, near Chandigarh, some days ago. The occasion was to mark 100 years of the Patiala royal family’s association with the battalion and the Army. He visited the junior commissioned officers’ mess and later joined the regiment officers and guests for dinner. A military historian, Singh had served as an Army Captain during the 1965 India-Pakistan war. The CM engaged freely with 2 Sikh Regiment (erstwhile 15 Ludhiana Sikhs) in which he served from 1963 to 1969, though he left for a short period in between to take over his family responsibilities. His father, Lt. Gen. Maharaja Yadavinder Singh, served in the regiment in 1935 and was the Colonel of 2/11 Royal Sikhs from 1938 to 1950 and of 2 Sikhs between 1950 and 1971.