Ehsan Jafri's daughter Nishrin writes an open letter to Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt
Dear Shweta Sanjiv Bhatt,
Fighting for Justice and human rights in India is a long and lonely battle. Once Teesta Setalvad mentioned this in an interview and for days I kept to myself trying to understand the depth of her sentence. I felt this loneliness from day one but I didn’t know how to express myself. So let me tell you how lonely this road that your husband has taken is and how long, lonely and difficult is the road ahead for you, your children and family, just in case you have not figured it out yet.
My mother was just 23 when she moved to Ahmedabad sometimes in 1960 and in 2002 at the age of 60 that night when she left her house and walked on the streets with the same saree she had on from the morning of Feb 28th, and on the same streets that she walked for 40+ years there was not a single door from her home in Chamanpura all the way to Gandhinagar where she ended up in a family friends house the next day that was open for her, open to take her with open arms.
-- You think that the city you call home and the people you call “mere desh wasi” even care of what you are going through.
None of the big wigs who live in Ahmedabad and were my father’s long- time friends came for her. Even those, who sat in her kitchen and ate meat curry and Biryani with my father, A million people in Ahmedabad with whom my father worked, fought elections, fought court cases, walked in rallies, sat on protests, played Holi, celebrated Eid, Diwali and any number of things they did together. Even when she was found in Gandhinagar and the news of my father’s brutal murder along with hundreds from his community was spread.
-- You think because your husbands work in this state and city, your husband’s education and service, his dream to serve his country, honesty and dedication is going to be considered here and these people will join you in your struggle.
If an incident with such magnitude took place in Canada and an Ex Member of Parliament was so brutally burned and murdered with 169 others in his home, Justin Trudeau and his entire cabinet would have shut down the parliament and stood to help each one of the victim. Most of the big businesses would have started the work on Gulberg Society and other areas to rebuild the homes and resettle the homeless. In 2002 and even now three richest businessmen of India are from Gujarat but even the women of those families who take pride in charity work did not come out to help or gather other rich and famous women to line up and show their talent of unity and love.
-- You think just because you wear a saree and put a beautiful bindi on your forehead that they will consider you a human being and think of what you are going through as a mother, a wife and a daughter and will join you in your struggle.
Over a million Indian women in the early morning of their day go to a place of worship in our cities, towns and villages, but none thought that day, that in city they share together, an entire community is on streets looking for a place to sit and sleep with young children and old parents. Schools of Gujarat full of teachers, colleges and Universities full of lady professors, businesses full of working women went by their day to day when a section of a community was not only thrown out of their home but some of them where carring their injured children or parents in the same clothes for days, some were looking for their loved one’s dead bodies among the thousand charred bodies dumped, and some were sitting and trying to sleep on hard floors of schools in the Muslim areas now converted as a refugee camp and or some who were trying to find a place and adjust in a corner of a Kabrastaan.
--You think these same people are worried about what you are going through while your husband is in Jail fighting with the fascists.
In any other era or country not only all the IPS Officers but all government officers of not just state of Gujarat but entire India would have gone on strike and demanded a stop to this harassment that Sanjivji is being put through. But you are in India my friend; here we are raised with a daily dose of hate on number of things that work on dividing us. If disaster has to strike us I pray it is a natural disaster and not a religious or politically based hate disaster. Only those who are victims of such hate truly know how lonely this road is.
With all my love, prayers for you and your determined husband, Sir Mr. Sanjiv Bhatt.
Yours truly,
Nishrin Jafri Hussain.
The original facebook post of Nishrin Jafri Hussain Is here below:
Sanjiv Bhat
Shweta Bhat
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Top leaders of INDIA bloc will scramble for PM's post if it comes to power: Shah
Jhanjarpur (Bihar), Apr 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday warned that a victory of the opposition INDIA bloc, “even by mistake”, will lead to a scramble among top leaders of the alliance for the prime minister’s post.
Shah claimed that leaders like M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad and Mamata Banerjee may agree to a year each of premiership, by turns, and “Rahul baba (Rahul Gandhi) will have to settle for whatever is left of the tenure”.
In contrast, he said, “a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead to elimination of corruption from the entire country, including Bihar, and eradication of casteism in the state”.
“Modi’s return to power is certain. But, suppose, even by mistake, if the INDIA alliance comes to power, what will happen? Who will be the prime minister? Will it be Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee or Rahul Gandhi? They will all settle for sharing the top post for a year each. Is it how the country can be run?” Shah said.
The senior BJP leader, who addressed election rallies in Jhanjharpur and Begusarai Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar, also charged the opposition bloc with seeking restoration of triple talaq.
"Should we have triple talaq? INDI alliance leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad say they will protect Muslim Personal Law. They should forget their plans. The BJP government will implement a Uniform Civil Code across the country,” Shah asserted.
Claiming that Modi’s victory and a third term in office were certain, he also cautioned against "political instability" that may follow if the INDIA coalition manages to form a government “even by mistake”.
"We need a leadership that is strong and not helpless. If the INDIA alliance comes to power... M K Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad, all of them may become PM for a year each. Rahul baba will settle for whatever is left of the tenure,” Shah said.
The home minister, who is often credited with abrogation of Article 370, also accused the Congress and its allies with having protected special status to Jammu and Kashmir like an "auras Putra” (one's own offspring).
"Rahul Gandhi had tried to scare us by claiming that scrapping Article 370 will cause rivers of blood to flow. But, when the Modi government made the move, nobody even dared to throw a pebble,” said Shah.
Slamming Gandhi for his “new-found concern for OBCs”, the home minister said “the Congress party has always been against the Other Backward Classes. It had opposed the Mandal Commission. Modi has emerged from among the OBCs and the community has been empowered during his tenure as never before”.
He also showered encomiums on Modi for abrogation of Article 370 and strong counter-terrorism steps like surgical strikes in contrast with the previous Congress-led UPA regime, “when for 10 years, terrorists struck at will”.
Attacking the opposition for alleging misuse of central agencies, Shah said, “Should there be no action against the corrupt? Whoever is found guilty of swindling money meant for the poor people of the country, must be in jail”.
He also said the opposition camp had neither leaders nor resolve, alleging “Sonia Gandhi’s sole concern is making her son the prime minister, while Lalu Prasad wants to make his son the chief minister of Bihar”.
Shah alleged that the Congress and the RJD supremo did not give due respect to former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, but the BJP recognised his contribution and conferred the Bharat Ratna on him.
In Begusarai, where Union minister Giriraj Singh seeks to retain the seat for BJP, Shah mockingly referred to main rival CPI as "laal bhai" and urged the people to vote for the sitting MP "in huge numbers so that the next time they do not muster the courage to enter the fray".
