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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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
