BJP leaders target minorities, contribute to vigilantism: UN human rights expert
New Delhi : A report submitted before the United Nations has accused leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of making "inflammatory remarks" against minority groups and contributing in "vigilantism targeted against Muslims and Dalits".
The report has been prepared by Tendayi Achiume, a United Nations special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. This post is held by an independent human rights expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.
The report was prepared in response to a 2017 UN General Assembly resolution that asked special rapporteur to profile countries on counts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
In her report, Achiume has said that the victory of the "Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has been linked to incidents of violence against members of Dalit, Muslim, tribal and Christian communities".
It said that reports have documented the "use of inflammatory remarks by BJP leaders against minority groups" and the "rise of vigilantism targeting Muslims and Dalits".
The mandate of the report was to analyse "threats posed by nationalist populism to the fundamental human rights principles of non-discrimination and equality". The report says that it focused on the threats to racial equality due to "fuelling of discrimination, intolerance and the creation of institutions and structures that will have enduring legacies of racial exclusion".
Besides the attacks on Muslims and Dalits, the special UN Special Rapporteur has also outlined her reservations on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.
She said that in many countries, nationalists populist parties have brought in administrative reforms that effectively result in excluding minority groups from official citizen registries "on the basis of claims that they are irregular migrants", resulting in statelessness, disenfranchisement and exclusion of minorities.
The special rapporteur mentioned that in May this year, she had written to the Indian government and expressed concerns about the NRC. In the report she says that she had mentioned the "heightened concerns of the Bengali Muslim minority" in Assam who have "historically been portrayed as foreigners".
The report says that the Election Commission's identification of 'doubtful voters' in Assam is "arbitrary". It said since 1997, this identification process has resulted in "further disenfranchisement and loss of entitlements to social protection as Indian citizens" for the Bengali Muslims in Assam.
Besides these, the report submitted before the United Nations raises questions on the conduct of local authorities in Assam who are engaged in updating the NRC.
It raises apprehensions that the local authorities, "who are deemed to be particularly hostile towards Muslims and people of Bengali descent, may manipulate the verification system in an attempt to exclude many genuine Indian citizens from the updated Register".
courtesy : indiatoday.in
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Davanagere South bypoll: Cong Muslim leaders allege internal conspiracy to defeat party candidate
Bengaluru (PTI): A rift within the Karnataka Congress surfaced on Friday, a day after the bypolls to two Assembly constituencies in the state, as a group of Muslim leaders alleged a "conspiracy" by some of their own senior party leaders to defeat the official candidate in Davanagere South.
However, they asserted that despite efforts by some within to project that Congress "betrayed" Muslims, the party candidate Samarth Mallikarjun will win in Davanagere South, the constituency where the community has a significant presence.
Chief Whip in the Legislative Council Saleem Ahmed, MLAs Rizwan Arshad, Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, MLC Bilkis Bano, and other Congress leaders addressed a joint press conference regarding this at the party office here.
"It is a sad thing that some senior leaders of our own party have conspired to defeat the Congress, despite this minorities have voted for the Congress. KPCC President (D K Shivakumar), the Chief Minister (Siddaramaiah) and the AICC General Secretary (Randeep Singh Surjewala) are aware of this. People have voted for Congress, its ideology and its five guarantee schemes," Ahmed said.
Noting that Samath Mallikarjun was given a ticket after taking all minority leaders of the party into confidence and following their consent, he said, "But after that because of some misconceptions, conspiracies have been hatched. But still, I'm confident that Congress candidate Samarth will win".
According to party sources, these Muslim leaders have also complained to AICC and state party leadership regarding attempts for "internal sabotage" in Davanagere South.
Though the leaders did not indicate who they were accusing. Several party sources said their attack was directed at Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan, among a few others.
Khan, who had openly demanded the Davanagere South ticket for a Muslim candidate, had initially stayed away from campaigning in the segment, citing his Kerala poll responsibilities. However, he addressed a press meet along with Samarth's father and Minister SS Mallikarjun at the request of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
MLA Arshad said that there was a massive social media campaign against the Congress party, by the BJP, SDPI and Independents, alleging "betrayal" of the minorities by the Congress. Some within the party, too, tried to project the same.
"We indeed demanded a ticket for the minority, and the party considered it. However, since we, as minority leaders, had to provide a unanimous candidate, we only put forward Abdul Jabbar's name because he is the MLC from the region, and he also pressured us. I think we first failed there, as ground-level party workers did not accept it and some other leaders believed he wasn't that popular," he said.
Arshad noted that the party finally named Samarth Mallikarjun as the candidate "after considering all factors and taking all Muslim leaders into confidence".
"However, some of us Muslim leaders who worked for the party's official candidate were projected as anti-Muslim on social media," he claimed.
Some leaders who accepted the party's decision to nominate Samarth as the party candidate during the meeting called to decide it later showed indirect signs of resistance, he said. "An attempt was made by others, including some within the Congress, to project that the Congress has betrayed the Muslims. This has caused us pain."
Bypolls for Davanagere South were held along with Bagalkot on Thursday. The election was necessitated following the death of sitting MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti respectively.
Muslim disgruntlement appears to be a concern for the Congress in Davanagere South. With 14 of the 25 candidates in the fray belonging to the community, there are apprehensions within the party about a split in votes, which could benefit the BJP.
Given its significant presence in the constituency, the Muslim community strongly demanded the Congress ticket for Davanagere South. Some party factions had opposed giving the ticket to the Shamanur family.
Although the Congress was successful in persuading rebel candidate Sadiq Pailwan to withdraw from the contest, he remained in the fray as the move came after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations.
