Tag: arvind kejriwal

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Urdu for the soul

A recent study proves that reading Urdu and Urdu couplets could aid brain development, even help in staving off dementia.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

Will our politics never settle down? Are we condemned to be in a constant state of flux? Going by what is happening in Delhi and Kashmir, one would have to agree that things are not going well for the country. One trend to emerge from all of this is the new ‘fashion’ of politicians going on retreats, either to introspect or to get back their health. So while Rahul Gandhi ‘retreated’ to introspect on the future of the Congress party, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal decided to get away from the capital to help settle his blood sugar levels. Every day we are entertained with pictures of him in the media, either practicing yoga or some natural remedy for his cough and cold, so at least it seems he is getting what he signed up for.

Arvind’s battle with diabetes will be a much simpler one, I’m afraid, than the battle of facing what is happening in the AAP at the moment. Brewing revolt, too many ambitious party members and a host of information leaks are plaguing the AAP. While Delhi watches in suspense about development unfolding every day, there is another battle brewing in Jammu and Kashmir, where opportunism recently joined hands and came to power. Till last autumn, I noticed that the saffron brigade was flourishing only in the Pampore region of the Kashmir Valley, but now it seems to be spreading everywhere. The BJP has not been able to grab any plum ministries in the State Government, but the RSS has now got an opportunity to spread its network. Don’t be surprised if, within a year, you hear of RSS shakhas and RSS-run schools spring up in the Kashmir Valley. The saffron will go much beyond Pampore from now on.

Moving on from these mind-boggling developments to some mind-clearing ones.

A recent study by the Lucknow-based Centre for Biomedical Researches (CBMR) reveals that Urdu can save our brains. Published in a recent edition of the international journal, ‘Neuroscience Letters’, the study states that reading the Urdu script and Urdu couplets helps in brain development. It is a detailed report that outlines how reading Urdu couplets and reciting them helps in controlling emotions, cope with stress and even delay dementia. It is also helpful for children with learning disabilities.

This means that reading Urdu could have large implications for one’s mental faculties. What’s more, Urdu couplets are steeped in passing and romance, so reading them is doubly enjoyable!

I would go as far as suggesting that Urdu be introduced as one of the prime languages in our primary schools, however, I am also aware of how this sentiment will be attacked with communal propaganda. But why see Urdu as a language of the Musalmaans of this country? Let State Governments introduce it in schools as a pilot project and let every child, irrespective of religion, learn to read it. There is nothing religious about Urdu, just as there is nothing religious about any language. Urdu derives many of its words and phrases from different languages such as Hindi, Braj, Persian, Sanskrit and Arabic. In that sense, it is a connecting language – and in today’s times, don’t we all need that connection with each other?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.theguardian.com)

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Election winds

Based on the current level of sloganeering and speeches by political parties, the upcoming elections should go exactly as planned.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

The upcoming elections will probably move along expected lines, judging from the preparations for it. The so-called leaders of the country are running all over the place giving speeches, all hoping to convert their words into votes.

Funnily enough, when the SP’s Mulayam Singh tried going towards the Aligarh Muslim University to address a seminar there, he was stopped even before he could set foot on the campus; there were strong protests by students and teachers. The seminar was cancelled and Mulayam beat a hasty retreat.

The BJP’s Narendra Modi comes to the national capital this week, at the Habitat Centre, where he will launch two books and brag about what his State is doing for the welfare of women. Women’s Day comes next week, and Modi is not one to let go of an opportunity to boast of his many achievements.

I wish someone in the audience would quiz Modi on the blatant gender bias and factual blunders in the text books teaching children in his State. These books in the syllabi are published and printed by his State Government. His own knowledge of basic history is pathetic, to say the least, and now he is doing the unpardonable – relaying factually twisted and wrong information to school children of Gujarat.

His Government is also trying to do what the earlier NDA-led Government at the Center had done, with the then HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi trying to twist the facts pertaining to minority communities. In this context, the text books in the State of Gujarat are trying to omit some important facts. A recent news report carries this vital input: ‘Apart from gender stereotyping, instances of gender bias abound. The chapter on the Supreme Court in the social science textbook does not mention the first woman SC judge Justice M Fathima Beevi…’ 

Meanwhile, the AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal addressed Muslims at the India Islamic Cultural Centre. He spoke of the disasters that communal politics drags along with it, and focussed on communal politicians.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.blog.sagmart.com) 

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Of blackouts and divided States

What could have been a crucial political debate was blacked out on Lok Sabha TV. We can only wonder why.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

It was a crucial moment in the country’s history – a debate preceding a process to carve out a new State in the country. The Lok Sabha TV, which has monopoly rights over the telecast of house proceedings, would have shown the country what transpired during those 90 minutes set aside for the exercise.

And what happened? There was a blackout!

At the end of it all, the expected result still stood – there was to be a partitioning of the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh. Yes, the Congress party managed to secure the Lok Sabha’s nod for the creation of Telangana State, albeit amid an unprecedented TV blackout. Lok Sabha TV went mysteriously blank during the crucial 90-minute long debate.

Amidst the fury that citizens expressed over the blackout of the proceedings, also stood the rather apparent support of the BJP in the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill. Or did you not notice this? 

Any such division is like a divorce, causing innumerable fault lines to surface. And what stops others from demanding separate States – Vidarbha has been clamouring for a separate State from Maharashtra for a while now. Even before the actual divisions are announced and marked, we stand to divide people who earlier shared a common geography, as well as a history, as contentious as it may be!

There are too many loopholes in the system, which the top brass of leadership seems to take easy advantage of, but which common citizens like you and I can never hope to touch. It has never been tougher than the present time to fight the establishment, and tougher still is to fight it from outside the system.

You would have to be an Arvind Kejriwal to take to political recourse. I admire Kejriwal’s idea of moving away from Anna Hazare and getting right into the thick of politics. This paved the way not just for his own success, but his ability to attack popular notions and emphasise his opinions. As an apolitical citizen, he couldn’t have moved ahead – he would have been sidetracked for years to come, until at last he would run out of steam…

We’re all still waiting to see what Kejriwal does next, now that he is no longer CM of Delhi.

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Picture courtesy www.livemint.com)

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“If there is a re-election, we will get more votes”

Yogendra Yadav, strategist and one of AAP’s key leaders, talks of getting more Muslim support if Delhi goes into reelection.
by Humra Quraishi

In 30 years of my journalism career, I have had the toughest chase on my hands only lately – I have been trying for the longest time to get an interview with the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal, and also Yogendra Yadav, but the party’s functionaries have been working round the clock. Finally, I managed to get Yadav for an interview, and though the interview happened on the phone and well past midnight, he was his usual affable, forthright self.

I spoke to him after he and other members of the AAP had just finished their crucial meet ahead of Saturday morning’s meeting with the Lt Governor of New Delhi. It now transpires that the AAP has sent the Congress party, which is willing to support it, an 18-point conditional letter prior to deciding on forming a Government with them.

Excerpts from the interview:

Late night TV news informed us that the Congress had decided to offer your party support to form the Government here in New Delhi. Will AAP form the Government?

Even we came to know of this news (of Congress’s support to AAP) through the television! Anyway, you will soon come to know of our decision. As of now, all I can say is that we are not following those old political games, we are not into that type of politics. In fact, our strength lies in the fact that we are not following the usual rules of the game. AAP has already brought about a change.

Yogendra Yadav Comment on this latest spat between Anna Hazare and your AAP colleague, Gopal Rai. It’s said to be one of those distracting strategies by your political rivals.

It could have been an avoidable distraction. Gopalbhai and our other colleagues had gone from here to lend support to Anna’s fast, but after this incident, we advised them to return.

The general perception is that AAP is softer on the BJP than on the Congress…

Where does this perception come from? In fact, because of AAP’s presence, it’s the BJP which has suffered the most in the capital city. They are more angry with us because we have spoilt their game!

Will AAP take on Narendra Modi?

We will. We have been carrying out exposes vis-a-vis Narendra Modi, of his links with certain industrialists of Gujarat. Also, don’t overlook the fact that in these Delhi elections, Modi was not a factor, but let the general elections come…we will bring out more exposes.

If there is a re-election in Delhi, will AAP have an advantage?

AAP will have an advantage on two fronts – lots of people who did not vote for us in these elections would now vote for us and we will get more Muslim votes. Also, we will be able to reduce the Congress to the position that it is reduced to in UP and Bihar and then we, the AAP, will take on the BJP.

Do you think the Muslims of Delhi voted for AAP in a major way?

Earlier, the Muslims of Delhi had no choice but to vote for the Congress but this time, the AAP made inroads. It takes time to make a dent or an inroad in a traditional stronghold, but a lot of the young and educated Muslims voted for the AAP.

(Pictures courtesy www.aninews.in, www.prokerala.com)

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Where basic questions go unanswered

This election will hinge on big issues and bigger controversies, but what about the small questions that need immediate answers?
by Humra Quraishi

The election scene is hotting up in the capital city. Of course, no concrete plans or discussions on future policies have been touched upon yet – there is a lot of silly posturing and even sillier allegations being levelled against opponents. The Government could not give us enough bijli-paani and the Opposition claims that it did, the Government didn’t erect this or that building, while the other side laid out the entire Games Village.

And so on.

Delhi smogAnd yet, no politician is even remotely addressing a basic problem we’re seeing her for the last few days. Nobody’s talking of the smog that is enveloping this city, nor of the mess on the ground. The smog is causing every fifth person to cough or get a viral infection. Compounding this situation are piles of dirt all over the city, dogs foraging around in them, and roads and lanes in a severely pitiable condition.

Our dear politicians don’t care about these things, because they don’t have to walk on the roads or travel by foot or public transport. Their airconditioned cars have so far insulated them from the harsh realities of the lives of us mere mortals. The only party seemingly removed from this usual style of rule in our country is Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP; of course, this could be because they want to keep their aam aadmi profile very much alive.

However, there are doubts about this party cropping up – with allegations of foreign funding. I am however, more disappointed that Arvind KejriwalKejriwal too has not spoken about some basic issues – why are more private hospitals-medical centres coming up in the capital city? Why are we constantly coughing and falling ill? Why are so many getting bitten by dogs? Why are street urchins treated worse than animals? Why is the place a mosquito capital – is dengue being used as a measure of population control?

And why are so many of us being deprived of the joys of a solitary walk without the fear of being molested or chased by stray dogs or being bitten to the bones by mosquitoes? Of what use is our freedom if we can’t enjoy small joys?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.livemint.com, www.thehindu.com, www.indiatvnews.com)

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AAP Pawar pe chup kyun hain?

While Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘black paper’ on Maha irrigation irregularities tears into Sunil Tatkare, it says nothing on Ajit Pawar.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Yesterday was clearly Ajit Pawar’s day. The decks were cleared for his return to the Deputy Chief Minister’s post he resigned from on September this year, owing to his name being mired in alleged irregularities in the irrigation sector, and on the other hand, the ‘black paper’ submitted by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vehemently tore into Water Resources Minister (WRD) Sunil Tatkare, but did not name Ajit Pawar.

The AAP presented its black paper to State Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan yesterday, following which, Chavan had a meeting with the party’s activists Anjali Damania and Praful Vora, among others. In the paper, AAP has called the white paper on irrigation brought out by the Tatkare-led WRD a “total farce” and demanded for Tatkare’s resignation, but does not name Ajit Pawar anywhere.

Like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP has also demanded for an SIT-level probe in the matter.

In black and white

In its black paper, AAP has countered almost all of the white paper’s claims, starting with the area under irrigation in the State. While the white paper claims that the area under irrigation increased by 5.17 per cent from 2001 to 2010, the black paper calls this as an attempt to mislead people.

Further, the black paper says that water was illegally diverted from irrigation projects to non-irrigation purposes, and that there were plans to approve 71 new water-intensive thermal power projects in the suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha.

The black paper blames the WRD for rampant corruption and violation, and calls for Tatkare’s resignation, an SIT probe in the irrigation scam and action against politicians, officials and contractors responsible for the mess, apart from demanding an immediate stop on projects that have committed violations. The paper also criticises Chavan, adding that the white paper presented by the WRD to the Government was merely a ‘status paper’ that toed the coalition politics line.

AAP will most likely bring out another black paper on irrigation soon.

(Picture courtesy forbesindia.com)

 

 

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