Starting July 7, 2022 none of BJP's 395 MPs will be Muslims
Rare occasion when Union council of ministers will not have a Muslim member
New Delhi, Jul 6: With the Rajya Sabha term of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ending on Thursday, the BJP will have no Muslim MP among its 395 Members of Parliament.
Naqvi, who resigned from the Cabinet on Wednesday, was among the three BJP Muslim MPs whose term ended during the recent round of Rajya Sabha polls to 57 seats across 15 states but none of them were renominated by the party.
The term of two others, former Union minister M J Akbar and Syed Zafar Islam, has already ended.
The opposition has been accusing the BJP of not giving adequate representation to Muslims, but the saffron party has maintained that its MPs work for all communities and are not representatives of any religion.
Over the decades, Muslim BJP MPs have had a nominal presence in Parliament. Naqvi himself has been a Rajya Sabha member for three terms, Najma Heptulla for two terms and Shahnawaz Hussain, currently a minister in the Bihar government, was elected to Lok Sabha twice. Naqvi was a Lok Sabha member for one term as well.
Sikander Bakht, a founder member of the party and one of its first three general secretaries, was a Rajya Sabha member twice.
It will be after a considerable period of time that the BJP will not have any Muslim MP. With Naqvi quitting as a minister on Wednesday, this will be a rare occasion when the Union council of ministers will not have a Muslim member.
To questions about the development, BJP minority morcha chief Jamal Siddiqui asserted that politics should not be attached with religion and that MPs are elected as representatives of the people and not of any religion.
"So even if someone from our religion or caste is not there, we should understand that our own countrymen are there. Responsibilities keep on changing in the BJP and I am confident that the party will ensure representation of all communities," he said.
The party also has Muslim lawmakers in some states, including one each in Bihar and UP.
However, there is a buzz about the party's outreach to Muslims, India's largest minority community, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked BJP leaders at its recent national executive meeting in Hyderabad to cultivate deprived sections in communities other than Hindus as well.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also highlighted the party's good performance in local polls in some regions with a sizeable Muslim population.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
