My Thoughts

Indian Express

Does CM read Constitution Of IndiaBy: Naim Naqvi | Saturday , 7 Nov ‘09 12:42:18 PM Reply | Forward The doublespeak of the BJP has come full circle. It has plumbed a new low in the politics of somersaults, contradiction and shifting sands. The party, whose principal plank was AKAHAND BHARAT had stooped low before MARATHI MANUS reservation agenda of Shiva Sena and now listen a clarion call, a latest diatribe by Shivraj Singh Chouhan - the roar of Lion Of Madhya Pradesh at Satna, “He would not allow Biharis to usurp jobs in the area. Karkhana lagega Satna mein aur naukri karne aayenge Bihar se, ye hum honey nahin denge. (Factories will be set up in Satna, but people from Bihar will get jobs in them, I wont allow this) .The chief minister said he had asked factories to employ local people. They will have to train local youths and employ them”. Article 16 says: Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment (1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State. Does he ever read it?

Does CM read——-By: romesh.sharma | Saturday , 7 Nov ‘09 14:52:54 PM Reply | Forward Mr.Naqvi,your introspection and self-analysis are not atall congenial to the topic though most of the times you try your best to impress the readers with verbiage.Do you know BJP is a political Party and there is no poltical Party and a politician who won’t use what you call Double-Speak.This is part of politics and diplomacy.What one has to care is the impact of such speaks on the people and the nation.Inconsistency is no necessary condemnation of a politician or of a party.There are times when most crucial problems/measures are advocated and the same are strennously resisted the next time.Changed circumstances,party strategy and indivisualinterests contribute to such mutations.Sudden reversals do have negative effect on moral-weights but if meant sincere for good and can be justified no one should dispute the integrity of the motives.The thought and desire behind Akhand Bharat was/is not what is being exaggeratedly propagated,which is merely meant to unite the people of existing Nation-Bharat.The internal uncontrolled/unplanned/undesired migration is a reason of hinderence of Nation’s prosperity and shockingly filthy infrastructure.Pushing/encouring the people to greener pastures like animal is no solution but it the state Govts to improve job opportunities and other facilities for poor and needy within own regions where thy will feel more comfortable and achieve some happiness.Moreover the respionsible(irresponsibly)politicians of biharUP or other states remain inert and enjoy the luxuries of idleness for they don’t have to do/care much.Naturally its the locals who have first rights to be employed/engaged.States like Maharashtra,Punjab,Assam,Karnatka are worst effected demographically and financially;and ofcourse low level crimes because of this inter-state migration.True,Equality of opportunity in matter of——-but if its so why muslims and othr socalled minorities are yammering for Reservations and special treatments!Reading or knowing Constitution is not all but practising it truely/sincerely is important.Constitutions are nothing but a book or document in which a system of fundamental Laws and principles are layed/written or recorded.This has always a space for changes/reforms or amendments.Indian Constitution needs immidiate reform for its no more compatible to the existing times/circumstances the country is going through.Its BJP/RSS main agenda/policy.They wish to see all equal Indians first before religions.I know you are anti-BJP/RSS and your tactfull and refined comments do leave a tinge of antipathy against not only BJP but Hindus,which is not for everyone to realize. Shameless OpprutnistsBy: southindian | Saturday , 7 Nov ‘09 18:02:12 PM Reply | Forward RSS was dividing hindus and Muslims now it is dividing Hindus vs Hindus. Shame on You RSS moroons

Indian Express

To Mr. Sudarshan and YD with loveBy: Naim Naqvi | 06-Nov-2009 Reply | Forward Cultural Nationalism or Apartheid died the unsung death with the convincing defeat of RSS’s ideologies in last several elections. Why not CHECK with Sudarshan of RSS or Rajah Jaswant Singh, the leaders of your ilk, who was responsible for partition. Muslims have shed more blood for India and the Indian history bears witness to that. From Siraj-ud-Daulah of Bengal, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan or Mysore, 15 children of Emperor Bhahdur Shah Zafar to Shaheed Ashfaque Ullah and Haweldar Abdul Hameed there in infinite list of Muslim martyrs. Check your own history of Local Self Rule of 1934 and find out who cheated on whom? Don’t challenge my culture and my nationalism! I’m writing in these columns and places for quite some time and I need no certificate from Patelites and Saffronites. My ancestors could have migrated to Pakistan and would have made big there but the decision of staying back in our Mother Land was based on love of our Mother Land, which’s not only your’s ! It’s my India Sir !

Indian Express

Don’t dig the controversial issues now !By: Naim Naqvi | Friday , 6 Nov ‘09 10:45:19 AM Reply | Forward Sardar Patel and Indra Gandhi were diametrically opposite in their approach towards minorities. Patel was not free from communal bias. It is not surprising that Patel’s speeches upset Maulana Azad and Nehru. Gandhi reprimanded him: “I have heard many complaints against you. Your speeches are inflammatory and play to the gallery. ” His daughter, Maniben Patel published her diary which recounted other such situations. She writes that he was happy to see Guru Golwalkar, the then RSS chief, released from jail and wanted to welcome RSS workers into the Congress. On August 3, 1949, says the diary: “Glad at release of Golwalkar ready to welcome in Congress. Bapu (Sardar) task to make their entry easy.” We can’t equate Ms Gandhi with Sardar and he can’t be held in the same esteem as Indra Gandhi.There is no point in digging into controversial past as many skeltons would fall from it. Sardar has done a great job in unifying nation but he was not a priest. He had serious pitfalls also.

Naim is secular By: Sudarshan | Friday , 6 Nov ‘09 16:33:34 PM Reply | Forward He did not appease people, he did not create terrorists orgns, some people are born to thrive on other tax payers money, they cannot know what is true nationalism. . culture is a part of nationalism . . naim i can understand what culture and nationalism u have

Shameless CongressBy: YD | Friday , 6 Nov ‘09 16:05:11 PM Reply | Forward How come you “forget” that 96% Muslims fought for Pakistan and then stayed back ? Patel was right to mention who was responsible for the partition of India. Look at India today, full of Islamic terrorism and Congress vote bank of Muslims. Indira Gandhi was the distroyer, Patel was preserver.

MSN India

Sherlyn Chopra: A saving grace in Bigg Boss

- by Naim Naqvi 24 Oct 2009
This story has been read 2419 times. Category: Entertainment
Topic: What do you think about the Reality-TV shows
Kamal Khan and Sherlyn Chopra - A sunshine and an eclipse respectively!
“Big Boss - n th” - a slice of life, a stream of fantasy and a congeries of events and impressions; all seem to be stage-managed with a poor script and one big name !
However, this time there is still a sliver lining which, it seems, ready to disappear very soon - Sherlyn Chopra.
Raju Shrivastava is out of his wits. Funny or amusing quips do longer slip from his mouth automatically and he is badly in need of some rest to replenish or re-construct his humour. Vindu and Ismael are waste of time. There is some manly spark in Bakhtiar Irani but no meat. He is good mannered but devoid of intellect.
If I call Sherlyn a silver lining I have a reason of two to back my claim.
Watching the rest of content- less, insipid and purposeless cauldron of Big Boss, I feel the only one that has a sense of direction is S.C.
It is feast for the sour eyes to look at her timid face and down-cast eyes. Look at rest of suave, goody-goody, frightened, dolled- up females of the house and you could easily notice the difference. They are all afraid of the youngest and most inexperienced girl. Her cold stares freezes them all. It is fascinating to observe the enviable splendid aloofness of Sherlyn. How cheap of Tanaz to blurt about Sherlyn’s visit to the Surgeon ! The screen lives up when S.C. makes her fleeting appearance. The youthful and ethereal profile, the charm of her sensitive face and her ingenuous artless frankness about herself and her back-ground are the rare traits for someone who is struggling hard with realities of life since she was 16. You can share her feelings as she looks agonizingly at the chirpy snide comments of her conferees. She is refusing to accept the terms the other wants to force upon her. She is stubborn, persistent and resolute. She takes cleaning as religion. She explains her inability to engage in small talks : “I have never been in a merry company and I’m ignorant about its customs. I can’t and don’t enjoy the society the way others do. I’ve different background1”. An honest and straightforward confession that makes her different.
She invites males at her body show. It was perhaps a candid slap on the morality of much wedded or unwedded curious males of the house or all of us - males. The invitation card reminded the dialogs of “Pakeezah.” It was short, succinct and to the point.
This lady with conviction and resolution has a long way to go even if the low-brow of the ‘House of Big Boss’ throw her out sooner or later.
Kamal Khan was miserable flop. He has desperately disappointed if he had written his own script or the one handed over to him by producers. He was a villain without plot; a rebel without cause; a senseless brute and clod and a stigma upon his upbringing and class. His attitude made no head or tail from beginning to end. He was earlier admired for his Desh Drohi but proved unwittingly that you can’t convert a cabbage into a rose.

MSN India

A parrot from Bukhara

- by Naim Naqvi 30 Oct 2009
This story has been read 910 times. Category: Technology
Topic: Others

There were times when father used to be a ‘father’ and not ‘my old man’; when the parents used to be the parents and not ‘friends’ and ‘yars’; and when elders were respected as it was their due upon those plants they had nurtured and protected when the furious winds of time were gusting and ragging to devour them. It was before the flood of prosperity and modernity overwhelmed and submerged every virtue, every value, every custom and every tradition of our society. Yes, I ’m discussing India - my own Bharat.
Yes, we have the dawn of a new era. Now our ‘old man’ is aging faster than the natural process demands; quicker than he should. He is still engaged in a losing battle against the tide. For him the process of climb-down is rapid , curious and critical. He moves like the shadows, dragging his feet, remembering better times he had and cursing the circumstances he was born. Little by little everyone is abandoning him like the song of ‘Kagaz ke Phool’ - Bichre sabhi baree baree………………….He has recoiled in his helpless solitude, in his lonely cocoon. He has been allocated a room at the remotest corner of the house he had once built with the toil of his hard work; with the sweat of his brow; by dint of his labor. He has become a nuisance for his family now. He tries to write without paper; sing without voice and craft things out of nothingness. No one has time to communicate with him. The old man is saying something to someone as he imagines in shadows and he talks with them. He blathers out something in groping monologues. One or two stray kids of the family come near him and turn around as they can’t comprehend what he conveys. He feels kids are still hovering. A violent fit of cough attacks his breath and shakes his existence to the roots. It takes long for this interruption to subside and when the paroxysm is over the kids are already gone. It is now pitch dark night. The sordid dark room has acquired a forlorn look. Pain and memories hangs heavy here. There is pin drop silence except the discordant gargle sound that occasionally emanates from his throat. Perhaps he is sleeping; and his breath is exhaling an odour of a sleeping animal. No one knows when the moon disappeared in clouds - the very dark cloud that have left no silver lining. Now, there is no signs of heaving from his body. Perhaps he is dead. He has attained the final peace. There is an eternal tranquility upon his face. He was my father or might have been your’s either. A long chapter our own life is finally closed. The main pillar of our citadel is gone. Only remains the vestiges of a fallen tower -as Dickens would say.

A young trader with a long face is standing near a golden cage. A sprightly parrot is perched on silver swing inside the cage. The bird flutters in the limited space as the trader addresses to him. “I’m going to Bokhara, your ancestral land from where I had purchased you last time I visited. There must be some of your relatives still living there on the banyan tree. Would you like to convey some message to them ?”
The parrot flutters again - this time with more vigor.
“Tell them I’m living in a golden cage. My master gives me the best of the fruits and nuts to eat and he loves me too much. He puts my cage at the most comfortable place where the pleasant wind blows. I’m really very very happy. Give my regards to all of them.”
Trader leaves for Bokhara and arrives under the banyan tree. Hundred and hundred of parrots were hopping and fluttering in the branches as he stood momentarily confused in this cacophony under the shadows of the giant tree. He starts his message - “Lend me your ears my dear parrots ! I’ve a message for you.”
All the activity in the branches and surrounding comes to standstill. All parrots take their place.
“I’m coming from the land of saints and seers. Back home I have got a guest young parrot who belongs to your fraternity and I had purchased him from your keeper last year. He has send his regards to all of you, especially to his parents if they are still alive”. After that the trader repeated the message verbatim without any addition or subtraction of his own.
Suddenly, before the trader concluded his address an old parrot swooned and he fell dead from the top of the tree. It was an unwarranted climax. Everything became normal in a little while. The parrots on the tree resumed their discussions without paying any heed to their dead colleague or the trader. As there was nothing coming from either direction the trader decided to leave the place.
He realized the shock his message had inflicted at the heart of the old parrot. He was, he thought, perhaps the father of the young prisoner back home.
Puzzled and worried he came back to his country. The bird welcomed the return of its master with the violent fluttering inside the cage.
“Did you give my message to my relatives master?” He asks.
“Yes I gave your message and an strange reaction occurred there. Hearing your message an old parrot suddenly fell dead from the top of the tree. No one gave any other message in return.”
Before the trader could have concluded his words, the prisoner in the cage dropped dead from the perch.
“Strange destiny, what an empathy ! What a great mutual shock; what a coincidence !” In a pensive mood and with great reluctance trader removes the dead body of the prisoner from its cage and throws upon the garbage dump. Even before the dead bird reached its intended place it comes back to life. And presto it flutters up with a surprising somersault and occupies a pleasant and windy place upon a branch of a tree in the courtyard. Enjoying the first whiff of air of freedom, perched comfortably upon the green twigs the young parrot smiles and talks with his old master.
“Do you know that the parrot who fell in Bukhara was not dead. I had asked him a way to escape from your prison and he had shown me one.”
The trader was bit wiser today. Perhaps everyone of us can learn a lesson or two from this story

Indian Express

Old wine in not-so-new bottle.By: Naim Naqvi | Monday , 2 Nov ‘09 10:09:57 AM Reply | Forward “There is a need for a law which would give freedom to people to choose their religion.” The same old ruses to pollute and misrepresent the facts; harping the same old string; the same paronia and fear of minority domination just to remain relevant to escape from falling into wilderness. Religion is relationship between individual and God. State and Laws come into picture when there is even an iota of coercion in conversion. State should and must protect against any sort of exploitation. However, state can’t arrest the exchange of ideas and streams of free thinking. All the religions are like shops in free market. It’s the customer who has to decide which product is attractive, reasonable, logical and can withstand the challenge of Science. I think ‘Hinduism’ is a strong and beautiful religion which has withered the drift of times and tides. The call of Mr. Rajnath conveys not his apprehensions but the frailty of his own understanding of a golden religion. Put up or shut up Sir !

Indian Express

M.F. should give a written undertakingBy: Naim Naqvi | Sunday , 1 Nov ‘09 21:50:30 PM Reply | Forward It is not for M.F. Hussain alone but should be a lesson for everyone who thinks religious sentiments are inconsequent before the intellectual urges of a writer or an artist. Granted that there should always be open spaces for dialog and variance of opinions upon any topic under the sun inclding the tenets of religion but it should be within the well defined limits of decency. No writer or creative artist should violate the limits that are based upon the universal constants of decency and tolerance. While M.F. Hussain should accept his mistake, we should also keep a check on wily politicans who want to welcome with open hands the writers and cartoonist who had hurt the feeling of other communities. Condemning Hussain and welcoming Salman Rushdi are double standards and can’t qualify the standards of democratic norms. Husaain must apologise to Indians and should refrain making such idiotic drawing in future and he should give written undertaking to Government of India before his return.

M.F. should give a written undertakingBy: N.V.SANKARAN | Monday , 2 Nov ‘09 13:11:23 PM Reply | Forward I fully agree with you Mr. Naqvi. If everybody starts exercising his personal freedoms(artistic and journalistic freedoms and freedom of expression) as he likes, there will only be chaos and conflicts in the society. One should apply some restraint while using one’s freedom and should be careful not to hurt the feelings of others and should ponder how one would react when the other person offends one’s feelings. This is necessary for societal harmony. Unfortunately, the self-centred intellectuals do not care about other’s feelings and paint or write whatever they feel with scant respect for the feelings of lesser and ordinary people under the guise of freedom of expression and artistic freedom.

Highest level of social philosophyBy: Hary Nambiar | Monday , 2 Nov ‘09 0:02:00 AM Reply | Forward Naim Naqvi’s remarks are that of a wise man who has a mind cultivated with highest form of social and cultural philosophy. I agree with his and Anjum’s comment. I will also add that no one should express complete disrespect and maliciousness towards faiths which has molded, guided and directed the lives of billions of people throughout history. To that extent, I regard Salman Rushdie on the same footing. Naim has expressed it well in his first sentence. I cannot agree more.

B

Indian Express

Mohan Bhagwat’s Statements

The statements of RSS Chief simply reflect that he himself has been an over-rated individual till date. It is RSS and its stooges in BJP who have brought disaster to a otherwise buoyant party. Atal Bihari was a leader who tried to explore new possibilities for BJP but RSS defeated all his good intentions with the help of Advani and Modi. BJP still has some sensible leaders who can extricate this hapless party if RSS let it breathe on its own oxygen. The ideology of RSS is no longer relevant and minorities of India are shrewd enough, as they have learnt through trial and error, to torpedo any of the RSS chicanery. Even RSS, as an act of repentance and compunction, after the assassination of father of nation, should have given up its obnoxious strategies. Unfortunately, it is a fascist organization which loves to enjoy basking in its backward-looking certitudes. It can’t look ahead from its hate-muslim agenda. It can’t see that a new dawn is waiting for the country if we all live in unity.

Deccan Chronicle

Jerusalem: Warning that time is running out to prevent a major confrontation, France has warned of a possible Israeli pre-emptive strike against Iran’s nuclear installations if the West does not end the current nuclear deadlock. “They [the Israelis] will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us. So that is an additional risk and that is why we must decrease the tension and solve the problem,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was quoted by local media today as saying ‘The Daily Telegraph’. “Hopefully we are going to stop this race to a confrontation…,” he said while stressing on the urgency of the matter. During an official visit to Beirut, the French Foreign Minister said that Israel could launch attacks if they felt there were chances of “a threat”. “There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat,” he was quoted as saying. Western nations are waiting for an official Iranian response to a United Nations drafted deal for Tehran to send low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing.

* 1 Comment * Post your comment

Latest Comments Submitted by Naim Naqvi on Tue, 27/10/2009 - 9:57am. Let me remind the myopic President of France that it was no other country but France which had sold nuclear know-how to Israel. It was with the connivance of the West that Israel has been allowed to carry on its nuclear activities unchecked at Dimona in the Negev desert. Israel has never respected international rules for peace and security. Who is deciding that the regional monopoly of Israel’s nuclear weapons is solely for deterrent purposes? Israel continues to occupy the Golan Heights, terrorises its neighbors like Lebanon and the threats to Iran are a routine affair. At the IAEA’s recent annual conference, member states in Vienna urged Israel to accede to the NPT and place all atomic sites under UN inspections. Israel cares two hoots about IAEA. The double standards of West are glaringly obvious when it comes to Israeli settlements, its illegal outposts and nuclear power. It seems the West has learnt no lesson in Afghanistan and Iraq. Giving respect to Israel’s threat to destroy the Iranian facility is like acting as Cat’s paw for Israel. “They won’t tolerate…..” Who is this “they” Mr. President? A country founded on usurped land? The power hungry Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now planning to launch a military attack on any fledgling Iranian nuclear capability without a proof that it is involved in making the bomb. What about the Israeli nuclear weapons which really do exist ? The world in in for very curious challenge. However, in the end ‘Only the truth will prevail.”

www.merinews.com

SIR SYED Ahmed Khan was a legend in his life time; a rebel with a cause; a social reformer with a transparent and clear vision; a leader who changed the destiny of his community. He was born in Delhi on 17 October 1817. He was brought up in the finest of ’Elite Indian Muslim Traditions’.

He had witnessed with his own eyes the devastation, death and destruction - the untrammeled fire of vengeance and hate; and he had seen his own community being trampled underfoot by the White rulers. He had realized that animosity between British and Muslims, in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny 1857, had not only marginalized the Indian Muslims but pushed them into an unenviable abyss of poverty, ignorance and shame. They had been relegated to the backwardness of many many centuries. He also felt that the socio-economic future of Indian Muslims had been put into jeopardy by their aversion to modern science and technology.

In that dusky gloom that was soured by the defeat of the last Moughal Emperor Bhahdur Shah Zafar he rose with a hope; trudged on the graveled road with a roadmap that is still a floating light-house in the sea of darkness.
Illusions, willfulness, cruelty, pride and illiteracy were the curious elements that comprised the Muslim society and feudalism persisted despite the horrific apocalypse it brought to ordinary Muslims. He tried to solve this jigsaw puzzle with all the resources or the scarcity of resources at his disposal. He wrote stinging articles and books rebuking the dogmas and practices which were prevalent in Muslim society. He was blunt, honest and straight and never demonstrated the indulgent savity of a fashionable healer. He was an assured and competent surgeon with an ability to overcome the fate of his community with his scissors of reforms.

He advised them to concentrate on education; he was against the involvement of his community into politics. He was great advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity and it is worth remembering that the first graduate of Aligarh was a Hindu.

Sir Syed challenged the orthodox Muslim clergy of his time and propagated a liberal and rational ideology based on modern concepts in the light of Holy Quran and Hadees (the traditions of Prophet Mohd P.B.U.H). His views were rejected by Muslim clergy and he was condemned as KAFIR by them. As he was personally affected by the Indian Mutiny he wrote the famous historical book - ‘Asbab-e-Baghawate- Hind’ (The Causes of Indian Mutiny) in which he audaciously criticized the British rulers and their policies. He did boldly and explicitly blamed the British for the causes of revolt.

During a visit to England (1869-70) he prepared plans for a great educational institution -”a Muslim Cambridge.” On his return he set up a committee for this purpose and also started an influential journal, Tahdhib al-Akhlaq “Social Reform”, for the uplift and reform of the Muslims. He founded the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh, U.P. in 1875 which later bloomed as the A.M.U.
Sir Syed was an individual with exceptional qualities of leadership and he was a modern priest, a great tribune of Muslim society who, with a mighty grasp, shook it free from the shackles of sloth; ignorance and vermin that fed upon it.

His career as an author (in Urdu) started at the age of 23 with religious tracts. In 1847 he brought out a noteworthy book, “Assar Assanadid“- Monuments Seen Through His Eyes, on the antiquities of Delhi.
This great statesman, reformer and visionary man died on 27 March, 1898, in Aligarh.

‘Hazaron Saal Nargis apni be-noori pa roti hai,
Bari mushkil se hota hai chaman men deedawar paida.’

By Naim Naqvi