Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena party demands return of statehood to Jammu & Kashmir
Activists of the Hindu right-wing group Shiv Sena held a demonstration on Tuesday in Jammu, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government restore statehood for Jammu and Kashmir that was withdrawn in 2019.
Shiv Sena President of the Jammu & Kashmir unit, Manish Sahni, said it was the right of the people to have certain privileges on the lines of other states in India’s northeast.
Sahni criticized the Modi government’s decision in 2019 to split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, one being Jammu and Kashmir, and the other being Ladakh.
“The central government promised development, employment along with protection to our cultural identity and rights. None of the promises were fulfilled,” Sahni said.
He added that they have not received any benefit from being a Union Territory and urged for “protection of their rights over land and jobs besides our cultural identity.”
Since 1950, Jammu and Kashmir had held special status under Indian Constitution’s Article 370, which was withdrawn in 2019.
Hindu extremist mob lynches Muslim man to death in Jharkhand
In yet another case of public lynching, a 22-year-old Muslim man named Ejaz Khan was brutally murdered by a Hindu mob in Jharkhand. A group of at least 30 men relentlessly attacked Khan with axes, sticks, and rods, until he died on the spot.
Local new media reported bystanders made no efforts to save Khan.
Khan’s death comes just days after another Muslim youth Shahbaz Ansari was brutally lynched in Jharkhand during an outing with two of his Hindu friends for being friendly with their sister.
Jharkhand police registered a case in relation to Khan’s death while all of the accused are on the run. No arrests have been made so far.
University sacks visiting Dalit teacher for writing on Facebook about women’s rights
A Dalit academician, Mithilesh Gautam, was dismissed from Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith (MGKVP) University in Varanasi over a social media post, in which he said, “For women, it is better to read the Constitution of India and the Hindu Code Bill than fasting for nine days during Navratra. Their lives will be free from fear and slavery. Jai Bheem.”
Gautam’s comments caused widespread anger in the university, especially among students. Considering the backlash from the post could impact the university’s environment and examination, the university registrar Sunita Pandey removed Gautam from his post. He is also banned from the campus.
Despite being dismissed, Gautam maintains that his intention was simply to “talk about the constitutional rights of women.”
“Women’s participation in different spheres of life is still very less. Either we don’t consider them capable of that, or they themselves do not want to participate due to a lack of awareness… I am not stopping anyone from fasting or following anything else. But awareness about our rights should be considered the most important,” he said.
