Shujaat Mirza @shujaat_mirza@mastodon.social

@vimoh it's also our lack of vetting of things and everyone who is elderly has to be deferred to and his/her wisdom taken as the divine word. And no culture of cross checking handed down biases. This goes across all cultures and religions.

"When the powerful and favor seekers don't want to be seen as having it easy while the masses suffer. It's an image thing, which surely will become an image trap"

On the day of a verdict that needs us all to be more and more tied together within a common humanity a poem I wrote off the cuff:

Prayer for Light

Let's all be safe anchors where
Hearts can dock
Let's come around and protect
That spark
That lights up the cut corners
Dark
And be an end to end sunrise
Even if for a while we assume
It's difficult to be right
Given the circumstances of the
Night
Let's huddle up close upright!

Shujaat Mirza

The Muslim who saved a Hindu temple from a mob in Pakistan | Religion | Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/muslim-saved-hindu-temple-mob-pakistan-191128133210411.html

Why does the year 1857 ring a bell? Because it also marks the First War of Independence (named the Great Mutiny by the British), when Hindus and Muslims heroically united and almost defeated the British. In other words, even as Hindus and Muslims joined hands in the battlefield to oust the British, the latter found it convenient to stoke a potential religious conflict in Ayodhya.

A lesser-known narrative of Ayodhya from 1857 — and the dispute | The Indian Express
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ayodhya-verdict-muslims-review-plea-ram-mandir-babri-masjid-demolition-6149206/

Kashmiris Are Disappearing From WhatsApp
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/hundreds-of-kashmiris-are-disappearing-from-their-whatsapp

In 2014, after Modi had made a big show of kneeling before Parliament, he rammed money bills and ordinances through the House, and showed what he thought of consultative policy by springing demonetisation on us. So, when in 2019, he made a big show of bowing before the Constitution, my blood ran cold. His attention appears to be the kiss of death.

Ask what Modi can do to you | Deccan Herald
https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/ask-what-modi-can-do-to-you-781404.html

So there has been a course correction and the omission has been corrected....
Great work....

"We rode in silence for a while. I suggested that maybe it was time for her to leave India—that Muslims didn’t have a future there. But Ayyub was going through a notebook. “I’m not leaving,” she said. “I have to stay. I’m going to write all this down and tell everyone what happened."

Blood and Soil in Narendra Modi’s India | The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-india

Jash-e-Rekhta whitewashes an entire language riding on whose back it has come this far.
Urdu is an officially recognised Indian language. Why is it shying away from saying so after all these years.
Hope it clears the air soon.

Govt owes Air India Rs 798 crore; more than half of it for PM's travel - The Week
https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/2019/12/02/govt-owes-air-india-rs-798-crore-more-than-half-of-it-for-pm-travel.html

This artist chronicles biodiversity in Western Ghats through her art | The News Minute
https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/artist-chronicles-biodiversity-western-ghats-through-her-art-113298

Those who say what difference non bjp govt makes in maharashtra. It does. The less brutal a majority the lesser chances of fiddling with the constitution. The extra-constitutional body whose leaders wouldn't be taken seriously if they didn't have power has assumed a strong grip. Their next target is removing reservations, once they sell off govt companies to their cronies.