Why doesn't BJP appoint a Muslim as its president: Digvijaya on PM's jibe at Congress
Bhopal, Apr 15 (PTI): Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said the BJP should appoint a Muslim as its party president instead of suggesting his party to do so, and added that prominent leaders from the Muslim community held that position in the grand old party in the past.
He also alleged that a "disturbing trend" was being observed in the country wherein minority communities were being treated as enemies and falsely implicated by the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in states.
His statement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Haryana that if the Congress really has sympathy for Muslims, it should appoint a Muslim as its president and give 50 percent tickets to people from the community.
When reporters asked Digvijaya Singh about the PM's remark, he said, "Muslims had earlier held the position of presidents (of Congress) and we are proud of it. If they (BJP) are so concerned, why don't they make a person from the Muslim community its party president?"
During the pre-Independence period, prominent Muslim leaders, including Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Syed Hasan Imam and Nawab Syed Mohammed Bahadur, had served as Congress presidents.
When asked if he feels that a minority community was being targeted, Singh said, "A disturbing trend is taking place in the country where minority communities are being treated as enemies by the central government and in states ruled by the BJP's so-called double engine government."
"They are being falsely implicated, harassed and the constitutional provisions meant to protect their interests are being ignored. In April 2021, when riots broke out at several places, the Supreme Court had issued detailed guidelines on how states should act to control communal violence," the Rajya Sabha member said.
Those guidelines clearly outlined the steps governments must take to prevent such incidents, he said.
On a query about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that she will not allow the new Waqf law to be implemented in her state, Singh said, "...I want to say one thing, whoever spreads communalism in this country and whether it is radical Hindu, radical Muslim radical Sikh or any sect, action should be taken against them."
He alleged that Indian Secular Front was instigating the Muslim youth there.
"For 10 years (as Madhya Pradesh chief minister), I did not spare anyone spreading hatred towards other religions - be it Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. Because of that, not a single riot or incident of disturbance took place in Madhya Pradesh," he said.
Singh was the CM from 1993 to 2003.
On the issue of a Dalit groom not allowed to sit on a horse during a marriage ceremony in Indore district, Singh said it was a matter of shame for all that untouchability was still in vogue today.
"Yesterday, Chief Minister went to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's memorial and gave a long speech in which he talked about following the path as shown by Dr Ambedkar, but even today a groom from a Scheduled Caste cannot ride a horse and cannot enter the temple, this is a crime. Action should be taken against all those people who stopped his entry into the temple and objected to his sitting on a horse."
On the controversy surrounding BJP MLA's son forcibly entering a temple in Dewas district even after it was closed, Singh said even if the people associated with BJP do whatever they want, the police do not take any action against them.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
