My Opinion

The decision of All India Shia Personal Law Board to support a ban on beef eating and cow slaughter, and its call to make strict law against misuse of triple talaq is a welcome step. The Board has said that it has issued a fatwa against cow slaughter and beef consumption after consulting its top Shia cleric from Iraq Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Najafi. The Ayatollah has asked all Shia Muslims in India not to slaughter cows and respect the sentiments of people at large in India. The Shia Personal Law Board has also called on the government to make strict law to ensure that the provision of triple talaq is not misused. It has also favoured resolution of Ayodhya Babri Masjid dispute through negotiations. Islamic scholars have a big role in bringing progressive changes in society on contentious issues like cow slaughter, triple talaq and Ayodhya dispute. On the triple talaq issue, the views of most of the Muslim women are clear. They are against this outdated practice. There are 22 Islamic countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen and Morocco, where triple talaq is prohibited. Indian Muslims should also come forward to bring about this radical change.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has fulfilled PM Narendra Modi’s poll promise to the farmers to waive off their loans.

This is a welcome step. For the last three years, farmers in the state were in distress because of failed crops and mounting loans, and Tuesday’s cabinet decision will bring relief to many of them.

Looking at other major decisions taken at the cabinet meeting, it appears that Yogi Adityanath has a clearcut roadmap in front of him. He will not only be fulfilling populist promises, but also try to bring about reforms in governance.

Exodus of people from the state due to agrarian crisis and unemployment is one major problem. Yogi has sought to address this by formulating a new industrial policy that can create new jobs.

He has also tried to offer better prices for farm produce. All in all, we can say that Yogi has made a good beginning. What is required is careful implementation of these policies with the same seriousness with which they have been formulated.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is fighting a personal legal battle with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but the Delhi government wants the people of the capital to pay for his defence. The criminal defamation case was filed against Kejriwal by Arun Jaitley, and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani had appeared for the chief minister in court. It has now come out in the open that Jethmalani has sent bills for Rs 3.42 crore to Kejriwal so far, and the latter has sent it to his deputy for clearance. Documents reveal that deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has written on the file that the bills be cleared by the government. It is strange that Kejriwal first levels baseless allegations against an individual, and when the defamation case is filed by the aggrieved party, he wants the people of Delhi to pay for his legal defence. Similarly, Kejriwal campaigned for his party in several states, issued advertisments and splurged Rs 97 crore from the state exchequer. On one hand Kejriwal claims, he would not allow a single paisa of taxpayers’ money to go waste, but the question now arises: why should the people of Delhi pay for his baseless allegations and party campaigns? Let Kejriwal pay for the bills from his own pocket or from his party funds.

The former minister of UP Azam Khan is embroiled in a waqf properties scam worth more than Rs 500 crore, not only in his home district of Rampur, but also in several other cities of the state.

The Central Waqf Council has prepared a detailed report of irregularities committed by Khan and his cronies, who parcelled off several Waqf properties to trusts operated by his yes-men.

The report clearly calls for registering FIRs against Azam Khan and his cronies for these irregularities.

Till two weeks ago, Azam Khan was the most powerful minister in Uttar Pradesh, and common people were afraid of publicly airing their grievances. Now that his party is no more in power, people are coming forward with numerous charges of irregularities against the former minister.

While reacting to all these charges, Azam Khan has started to cry foul, saying he was being targeted, but it would be better if he replies to all the hard facts narrated in the report, point by point. The facts and figures speak for themselves.

The unsavoury incident that took place in Meerut Municipal Corporation over the singing of national song, Vande Mataram, by councillors makes all of us hang our heads in shame. A section of councillors refused to sing the song and stayed away from the meeting, citing religious reasons. It is really surprising that people who live in India are openly opposing Vande Mataram, the song that fired up several generations of Indians during the freedom movement. Such persons should emulate revolutionaries like Ashfaqullah Khan and Ghaus Khan who chanted Vande Mataram during the freedom struggle. Param Vir Chakra awardee Abdul Hamid laid his life for the nation during the 1965 War. Were they not Indians? Actually, the majority of Muslims have no objection to the song Vande Mataram, per se, but some of their leaders are indulging in vote bank politics. The Meerut civic body polls are due after four months, and Vande Mataram is being leveraged as an issue to polarize the voters. The sorry part is that the Samajwadi Party is yet to learn its lessons from the UP assembly poll rout. What Muslims really need are education, employment and a better life. Raking up religious issues will not benefit anybody in the least.

On Tuesday, Yogi Adityanath began his stay at the official residence of the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. The residence at 5, Kalidas Marg, which had an opulent look during the regimes of his predecessors, is now completely austere. Gone are the plush leather sofas, costly furniture and crockery items and airconditioners. The king-size bed, on which the UP CM sleeps, has been removed. Yogi will now sleep on a wooden plank put inside his bedroom. Such is the austere lifestyle of a yogi, and the ministers and MLAs of UP government should learn a lesson or two from their chief minister. Yogi’s message is clear and unambiguous. No more splurge and wasteful expenditure. Normally, whenever a change of government takes place in India, ministers splurge on redecorating their offices and residences. It will be good for the people of Uttar Pradesh, if the ministers follow their CM and promote austerity.

The sordid incident in Kashmir’s Budgam, where stone pelters were openly used by separatists to target security forces, at a time when they were busy fighting terrorists hiding inside a building, clearly shows the unholy nexus between terrorists, stone pelters and their masters sitting across the border.

The diabolical plan of terrorists and their handlers sitting in Pakistan is to create frenzy in the Valley so that security forces are forced to open fire on crowds of stone pelters. The ground reality is that sons and daughters of most of the separatist leaders in Kashmir are studying outside the state.

These pro-Pakistan leaders are misguiding gullible youths by asking them to pelt stones, and when firing takes place, they give calls for strike in the Valley. The day the common people of the Valley understand the nefarious motives of these leaders, most of their prob

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal has come out with a pre-poll promise to discontinue house tax in the capital, days ahead of the MCD polls. Till last year, he was seeking hike in house tax rates in Delhi, but has now changed his tune.

It seems Kejriwal is daydreaming. He thinks voters are gullible, but the common man has the power to give him a stinging reply.

The Delhi CM has not learnt any lesson from his party’s ignominous defeats in Punjab and Goa assembly polls. It is because of his attitude and the coterie that surrounds him that his colleagues have begun deserting him. On Monday, an AAP MLA in Delhi resigned and joined BJP.

He was among those who had joined Kejriwal’s bandwagon and had high hopes from AAP brand of ‘aam aadmi’ politics.

Normally, an MLA of a ruling party never resigns with nearly three years of tenure remaining, but this MLA disclosed one significant fact. He said, AAP ministers including Kejriwal have stopped taking even telephone calls from their own MLAs.

On the Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, there are still diverse opinions. Some want the matter to be sorted out through negotiations, while others want the Supreme Court to have the final say. But on one point, all parties to the dispute are unanimous. They want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appoint a mediator. If all parties do not agree on resolving the dispute, the apex court should start a day-to-day- hearing and decide. The issue now before the court is: who should be given the ownership title right. It has been established that Babri mosque was built after demolishing a temple. The Supreme Court has to decide about the title issue. Even now, if all parties agree, the Prime Minister should appoint a mediator, and all parties should accept his/her decision.

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad not only thrashed an Air India staffer with his sandal 25 times, but openly boasted in front of media that he had done the right thing. The reason: he had a business class ticket, but was given a seat in an all-economy flight. One should praise the Managing Director of Air India Ashwini Lohani who stood with his staff and directed them to contact his office immediately if any passenger misbehaved. Nobody, whether he is a leader, an MP or a minister, has the right to beat any airline staffer. Stringest action must be taken against the Shiv Sena MP. The action should be such that it should act as a deterrent and a lesson for such unruly people.

Like tobacco products, pan masala and gutkha are injurious to health, and yet, a large section of people are unable to discontinue the habit of chewing gutkha and pan masala. People who chew these products, more often than not, spit on roadside, on staircases, on walls, inside washrooms and in public places. With Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in place, it is the duty of every citizen to contribute towards cleanliness, and the decision of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath to ban the use of pan masala and gutkha in government offices and hospitals is a welcome step. I appeal to the people of India to discard the habit of chewing pan masala and gutkha. This would be their greatest contribution to cleanliness in public places, and would definitely make our Prime Minister’s Swacch Bharat Abhiyan a success.

The Ayodhya dispute lingering over last several decades, can be resolved only if all parties read the underlying message behind the Supreme Court’s advice given to all parties on Tuesday. The stand taken by Chief Justice J S Khehar is truly praiseworthy. He did not speak on legal issues, nor stood his ground on technicalities, but called for reconciliation through talks. The apex court has correctly understood the sensitivity of the people at large. The most important part of Tuesday’s proceedings was that the Chief Justice of India himself offered mediation. Chief Justice Khehar’s observation that “all must adopt a ‘give a bit and take a bit’ approach to find a solution”, is indeed praiseworthy. He also observed that “this is not one of those issues which can be decided in a huff. Given the sensitivity attached to the issues in question, it is better to settle the differences through negotiations between parties.” It is now time that the government, leaders and religious heads from both sides sit together and find an amicable way out, so that brotherhood among communities can prevail.