Rajasthan rally demands end of "targeting" of Muslim cow breeders: Civil society, TUs, Left protest lynching incidents

By A Representative
A major rally in Jaipur, organized by several civil society organizations of Rajasthan, has demanded peace and justice in the state, even as bringing an end to frequent lynching of Muslims. Between April and December as many as five cases of lynching of Muslims have taken place in the state. The rally decided to set up district-level peace committees to end the “targeting” of minorities.
Slogans at the rally included "Vasundhara Raje stop hate politics", "Bring justice to all killed in hate politics", "Long live Constitution”, “Down with the Sangh Parivar”, and “Death to RSS ideology”. The demands included immediate arrest the “real killers” of Pehlu Khan, Zafar Khan, Umar Khan, Talim Hussain and Afrazul, the victims of lynching since April.
Organized jointly by civil society organizations in alliance with Dalit, Muslim and women groups, citizens’ and students’ bodies, trade unions, left parties and their organizations, the speakers at the rally said, the state was “burning” in the fire of hate and the brutal killing in Rajsamand of Afrazul by one Shambhu Lal Regar had opened a new chapter in the book of hate.
The killing was videotaped, following which several videos, including those justifying the killing, were put on the social media “There was effort to instantly make the killer a hero. The killing took place on the day that the demolition of Babri Masjid took place”, recalled Kavita Shrivastava of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), one of the organizers of the rally. “Shockingly, a day was observed by Hindutva forces as Shaurya Diwas, as domination over Muslims.”
Shrivastava said, “In almost all the cases of lynching the culprits are still at large. Hate speeches have been delivered by BJP MLAs Gyan Dev Ahuja, who said all cow smugglers should be shot dead and Banwari Lal Singhal, who said, Muslims were reproducing at the rate of 12 to 14 children per family to finish off Hindu domination in the country.”

Speakers at the rally demanded booking and arrest of the two MLA, even as seeking to restore peace by arresting of all the accused involved in lynching incidents. They wondered whether the state government has made a policy of lodging false FIRs against cow rearers and dairy farmers if they are Muslims.
“Would Pratapgarh's Zafar Khan killing be treated as a death due to natural circumstance and the killers would be allowed to go scot free? Would the killers of Umar Khan be arrested after the by-polls of Alwar? Would Talim Hussain's killers in Khakhi ever be booked for their crime?”, she asked.
The rally decided to form peace, justice and brotherhood committees in all districts, even as starting a “Save Constitution” yatra in a run up to the Republic Day. A resolution passed condemning the Government of Maharashtra for not protecting Dalits, allowing dominant caste people to attack them, leading to the killing of a Dalit in Koregaon.
“Is it the government agenda to destroy the livelihoods of Muslims of the Mewat area”, Shrivastava said, wondering whether the killers named by Pehlu Khan before he died would ever be arrested. The rally took place on January 3, which happened to be birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule, well-known fighter against untouchability and for women's empowerment in Maharashtra.
A memorandum was handed over to the district magistrate, to be forwarded to the chief minister, by former MLA Ayub Khan from Alwar, who spoke of the deteriorating condition in the state. Among others those who spoke were Suman Devathiya of the All India Dalit Mahila Manch, Ravindra Shukla of the CPI-M, Nisha Sidhu of the CPI, and Manjulata of the National Federation of Indian Women.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog