Modi misused Gandhi's name to promote himself: Ramchandra Guha
Ahmedabad, Jan 30: Renowned historian Ramchandra Guha on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi misused Mahatma Gandhi's name to "promote himself", and asked if he was "fond of" Gandhi before becoming prime minister.
Guha, here to deliver a lecture on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary, also slammed the BJP-led Union government over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), saying Gandhi would have opposed it if he were alive.
In a piece of advise for Kartikeya Sarabhai, a trustee of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust, Guha said the Ashram should have maintained a distance from Modi after he became prime minister.
He also criticised Sabarmati Ashram and other Gandhian institutions such as Gujarat Vidyapith (which was founded by Gandhi himself) for not speaking up against the CAA.
"After May 2014, you (Sarabhai and other trustees) should have kept the PM at arm's length. Was he fond of Gandhi before he became PM? He misused Gandhi's name to promote himself," Guha, who has penned a two-volume biography of the Mahatma, said.
"If Gandhi was alive, he would have opposed CAA. It is deceitful for the PM to misquote Gandhi," said Guha during a question-hour session after his lecture.
The CAA -- which grants citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh -- is "illogical, immoral and ill-timed", he said.
Any morally upright person who believes in the Constitution and non-violence would oppose it, he added.
"Even if the Supreme Court upholds it, CAA must be resisted, but non-violently," the historian said, before slamming Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his comments about the ongoing protest at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi.
"It's the obligation of political class to try and contain, manage, tame and overcome violence. But here, record of our political leadership has been unfortunate," Guha said.
"Just look at the violence in the language of the two of the most important people in India," he said.
"For the Home Minister of India, the remarks he made about the women in Shaheen Bagh are unconstitutional. In any decent democracy, he should have been dismissed overnight. It is because of what the Home Minister said, the junior minister said even worse things," said Guha.
He did not specify exactly which remarks he was referring to.
Guha also accused the PM of using "abusive and demeaning" language for his political opponents.
To a question about why he declined to accept Ahmedabad University's offer of a teaching post in 2018, Guha blamed the BJP, saying "the ruling party did not allow me".
The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the RSS, had submitted a memorandum to the private university, seeking cancellation of Guha's appointment.
"Remember, there was Gujarat before Modi and Shah, and there will be Gujarat after Modi and Shah," said Guha, addressing the audience which included prominent intellectuals, lawyers, university students and civil rights activists.
After the lecture, Guha visited Rakhial area of the city where Muslim women have been staging a Shaheen Bagh-like sit-in protest for the last one week against the CAA.
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Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
Cairo (AP): Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.
Iran's joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait's reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.
The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Control over the strait has proven to be one of Iran's main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the US and Iran.
Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran's approval.
US forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
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The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel's war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
