Ajmer Sharif Shrine Reopens For Devotees

Ajmer Sharif dargah reopened for people on Monday, months after it was closed due to COVID-19, with the devotees following the safety norms as they visited the shrine to pay their obeisance.

Devotees wore masks and followed social distancing and stood in lines. There were markings on the floor to ensure proper social distancing.

The management of the dargah of 12th-century Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti has taken precautions in accordance with COVID-19 guidelines. The temperature of devotees is being taken and they enter the shrine after sanitising their hands.

“The dargah was closed for people for the last five-six months due to the COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions. However, prayers were being conducted by the priest here regularly. Today the dargah has finally been reopened for the public. The devotees are happy as they had been waiting for this day,” a priest told ANI.

Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah re-opened for people on Sunday with COVID-19 precautions in place. The first namaz was offered by the devotees at 5 am.

The Unlock 4 guidelines, under which more relaxations have been given in the COVID-19 restrictions by the government, came into force from September 1. (ANI)

Xi Toes Ultra Nationalist Line To Tighten Grip On China

Chinese President Xi Jinping is looking to further cement his position by doubling down on an ultra-nationalist agenda, indefinite one-man rule and ideological conformity.

In an op-ed article written by Simon Tisdall for The Guardian, China has been enveloped in a ring of fire due to Xi’s authoritarian and expansionist policies, ever since becoming the President and Chinese Communist Party chief in 2012-13.

Coupled with increasing vehemence of the Xi administration, China is locked in conflict and confrontation from Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, South China Sea and Taiwan.

“A leader bound by conventional political and institutional checks and subject to public scrutiny might be expected to pause and take stock at such a moment. But in regimented, censored and heavily surveilled one-party China, Xi faces few such constraints. Instead, he is doubling down on an ultra-nationalist agenda, indefinite one-man rule and ideological conformity, as defined by him,” Tisdall said.

According to the writer, it is rumoured that the Chinese President might declare himself as “Chairman Xi” soon.

Battered by the coronavirus, China’s manufacturing heartlands are recovering from the pandemic at a faster rate. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), 1.2 per cent of growth is predicted for this year and above 5 per cent annually thereafter, well placed ahead of other major economies.

However, there exists an increasing rich-poor divide, which is symbolised by Xi, whose unaccountably large personal fortune is put at USD 1.5 billion. There is evidence that a widening wealth gap is weakening social cohesion. With the pandemic originating in Wuhan last year, China’s reputation abroad has been severely hit.

Recently, Xi instructed his party cadres in Tibet to build an “impregnable fortress” to guard against “splitism” and ensure frontier security. Outlining his hardline approach towards the ethnic minorities, he called on further subjugating Tibetan Buddhism to socialist principles.

Oppressive measures and actions practised in Tibet were applied against the Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, Tibetan activist Kelsang Dolma said.

“Chen Quanguo, then a rising star, arrived in Tibet as the new (Chinese Communist) Party secretary in 2011 and rapidly transformed Tibet into one of the most pervasive police states in the world. In 2016, Chen became Xinjiang’s party secretary … bringing techniques practised on Tibetans to Xinjiang,” Dolma wrote.

Up to a million Uyghurs and other minorities have been incarcerated in detention camps in Xinjiang for “extremist” activities like praying. Reports emerged in June regarding a campaign of forced sterilisation, contraception and abortion aimed at reducing the birth rate of Uyghurs.

Also, testimony on state-ordered hysterectomies on Uyghur women was broadcast on television. Such repressions amount to crimes against humanity, said Tisdall.

Xi’s obsession with conformity, security and total obedience led to protests against the move to curb the teaching of Mongolian language in schools in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in China. Students in Hohhot shouted slogans, “Mongolian is our mother language! We are Mongolian until death!” students shouted. Inner Mongolia became an independent republic in 1945, which lasted for just two months.

“As in Tibet and Xinjiang, Mongolian unrest reflects wider hostility to the attempted absorption of ethnic minorities into dominant Han Chinese culture, a central tenet of Xi’s pursuit of a common national identity. Yet it also suggests that despite all the coercive tools at his disposal, his ruthless methods are stimulating rather than reducing domestic resistance,” Tisdall wrote.

In Hong Kong, massive protests erupted against China’s move to introduce a draconian national security law, which “effectively threw down a gauntlet to the UK and the international community”.

Shifting to Taiwan, which Xi considers the self-governing island as a “renegade province”, China is steadily building its military presence in the region. The Chinese President has warned of seizing Taiwan by force.

“Some dismiss this as sabre-rattling. But encouraged by the west’s tame surrender of Hong Kong, Xi may yet dump Beijing’s failing policy of gradual, peaceful reunification. He may calculate instead that Donald Trump’s chaotic America, busy fighting itself, will not come to Taiwan’s defence. That could bring calamity,” Tisdall wrote in The Guardian.

The author noted that as China rises to become a global superpower, he perhaps fears genuinely for the nation’s unity and internal security.

Recently, Cai Xia, a Beijing professor, was expelled from the Communist Party for lashing out at Xi and compared him to a mafia boss.

“Under the regime of Xi, the CCP is not a force for progress for China. In fact, it is an obstacle to China’s progress,” Cai was quoted as saying by South China Morning Post last month.

“I believe I am not the only one who wants to leave this party. More people would like to withdraw or quit this party. I had intended to quit the party years ago when there was no more room to speak and my voice was completely blocked,” she had said. (ANI)

Protest Against Extra-Judicial Killing Of Hayat Baloch

The Free Balochistan Movement organized a demonstration and a protest rally against the murder of Hayat Mirza Baloch in the Hamburg city of Germany.

According to details, the demonstration was organized on Saturday at 5 PM at Hachmannplatz Hamburg where the protesters marched from different streets of the city to Gaensemarkt.

Protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with different slogans demanding justice for Hayat Baloch. Protesters also distributed thousands of pamphlets and leaflets during the protest.

People from the German civil society and representatives from different political parties also participated in the protest to show their solidarity with Baloch people and express their anger against the extra-judicial murder of Baloch students by the Pakistan Army.

Stephen Brant, during his speech, said that Balochistan was divided into three parts by Britain during their colonial rule in the region, by drawing two arbitrary lines, which are at the moment being ruled by three different countries.

Mentioning the Golsmid line he said Iran is building a wall which is approximately 900 kilometres long to divide a nation. Citing the example of the Berlin Wall he said, “Germans have gone through this and we know how difficult it is to be divided.”

It’s worth mentioning the wall on the Goldsmid line is 9 times longer than the Berlin Wall, he added.

Stephan Brant further said, in 2001 and 2018 only Germany supplied weapons to Pakistan worth one billion Euros which are being used by Pakistan against suppressed nations like Baloch, Pashtoon, and Sindhis. “We have to raise our voices against this in our public,” he said adding that “we support the Baloch freedom movement along with all other occupied nations which are going to establish a democratic country in future.”

Nicola Hofediener from Women Movement Courage said during her speech that this is so alarming that the Baloch nation, women, and children are victims of Pakistani state barbarism and are being butchered daily just because they want their independence and are struggling for the creation of a sovereign democratic state.

She further said that the capitalist world is silent over such genocide to increase the wealth (capital) and human blood has become a source for the same.

Baloch political activist Wajid Baloch during his speech said that Balochistan has been made a region where Baloch youths are being killed daily. Hayat Baloch’s murder is also an example of state genocidal policies and he was martyred just because he was an educated Baloch youth.

He further said, “we need to unite in the struggle of an independent democratic county so that in free Balochistan every class is provided with equality and social justice.”

Free Balochistan Movement activist Naveed Baloch said that 25-year-old Karachi University Student Hayat Mirza Baloch and the military and government is trying to protect his murderer.

He also said that we demand the arrest of heads of FC and all those officials who were present at the time of Hayat’s killing.

Hayat Baloch was killed extra-judicially on August 13 by occupying Pakistani forces in front of his elderly parents shot eight (8) times in the Turbat region of Balochistan.

Entire Balochistan erupted with protest after the brutal murder of the young Baloch student and demands for justice for Hayat Baloch continue to grow. (ANI)

Jwala Gutta Gets Engaged To Boyfriend Vishnu Vishal

Shuttler Jwala Gutta on Monday announced her engagement with boyfriend Vishnu Vishal.

The Commonwealth gold medalist is celebrating her 37th birthday today, and she took to Twitter to let the world know about a special birthday gift from boyfriend and actor Vishnu Vishal and it was an “engagement ring”.

“N dis happened last nite n what a beautiful surprise it was! Today when I think of my life what a journey it has been n 2day I realise there is so much more to look forward to! Towards our family, Aryan, friends, and work! its gonna be another great journey am sure (sic),” Jwala Gutta tweeted.

Jwala Gutta was last seen on BWF badminton action in 2017.

In December 2019, she had launched her academy in Hyderabad and it will provide facilities for various sports such as cricket and badminton.

Jwala Gutta had also won the World Championships doubles bronze in 2011.

Gutta was married to fellow badminton player Chetan Anand, before her divorce in 2011. (ANI)

Covid Care

‘It Was Hard To Get A Hospital Bed For Covid Care’

Geeta Shintre (43), a homemaker in Mumbai city, narrates her month-long battle with Coronavirus, which also ruined her 25th marriage anniversary plans

This year, we were about to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on May 12 when Coronavirus became the third wheel and ruined our plans. I developed high fever on May 8. My husband took me for a test at a camp immediately.

Apart from running his cable business, my husband also plays an active role in the social arena. He had been helping authorities as well as common people during the pandemic which is why he had a fair idea about how to go about things and didn’t panic. He had also been following all the measures and precautions etc. However, that didn’t make things easy for us.

After testing positive I was sent to the Kalina IT Park at Santa Cruz for quarantine. The facilities were good. My fever subsided but by May 15, I started having breathing issues. For two days, I was kept under observation and on May 18 the doctors advised that I needed to be admitted to a hospital.

ALSO READ: ‘I Not Only Fought Covid-19, But Stigma Too’

Thus, not only did I spend my 25th anniversary away from my husband, I was also left wondering if I would ever get to see him again. My son was also away in Chennai. The pandemic was raging and Mumbai was the worst hit.

On May 18, my husband and I first went to Cooper Hospital in an ambulance provided by the quarantine facility but there were no beds available. Next we went to 7 Hill Hospital at Andheri around 10.30 am. My temperature as well as oxygen level was normal, so I was denied a bed there. For 2.30 hours nothing moved and I was feeling extremely suffocated while waiting inside the ambulance.

We next asked our contacts to help us and then with great hope drove towards Nanavati Hospital. The same story was repeated there too. By this time, the ambulance driver was getting restless because he had to return to resume duty. We let him go and finally reached Nair Hospital in our own car. Thankfully, I was given a bed but by then my condition had worsened. Finally, my treatment started around evening in the fourth hospital.

Geeta Shintre with her husband

My second test came positive as well. I was finally discharged on June 5. So, I spent nearly a month away from home. My extended family had been taking care of my husband all this while. I must admit that I still suffer from breathing problems even though I don’t have coronavirus anymore.

ALSO READ: Virus Is There But The Fear Is Gone

We consulted various doctors until one doctor diagnosed that breathing problems were stress-induced. He counselled me and advised us to keep an oxymeter handy. I was supposed to consult a doctor if the oxygen level ever went below 95. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. But I did lose around 10 kg of weight in this ordeal.

First of all, to enhance my mental health I have stopped watching news altogether. My son has also finally been able to reach home. We enjoy and laugh a lot and also regularly keep in touch with our extended family and friends through digital mediums. Community interactions and support are very important to build immunity. Thankfully my 53 year old husband and I will be able to celebrate another anniversary together.

Record 70,000 Covid-19 Patients Discharged In 24 Hrs

The recovery rate of coronavirus in the country touched a record high of more than 70,000 patients being discharged in a single day, said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

“The highest ever single-day recoveries of 70,072 were recorded on September 5 and currently, the recovery rate now is 77.23 per cent. This has also led to the declining Case Fatality Rate (CFR), which stands at a new low of 1.73 per cent,” Ministry said in a statement.

According to a graph of the Ministry, there were 68,584 recoveries on September 3, 65,081 on September 1 and 57,469 on August 24.

“There has been a steep exponential rise in COVID19 recoveries- from 50,000 in May to over 30 lakh in September. The total number of recoveries have crossed 31 lakh and it stands at 31,07,223,” the ministry stated.

“Five States have contributed to 60 per cent of the total recoveries. Maharashtra has contributed the maximum recoveries amounting to almost 21 per cent, followed by Tamil Nadu with 12.63 per cent, Andhra Pradesh with 11.91 per cent, Karnataka with 8.82 per cent and Uttar Pradesh with 6.14 per cent,” it added.

The Health Ministry further said that India has posted more than 22.6 lakh recoveries than the active cases which stand at 846,395.

“The active cases currently comprise only 21.04 per cent of the total positive cases. More than 75 per cent of the total cases have recovered,” it said.

India registered the highest single-day jump of 86,432 new coronavirus cases taking the national caseload past 40-lakh mark on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With 1,089 more deaths, the cumulative toll reached 69,561.

The total case tally stands at 40,23,179 including 8,46,395 active cases, 31,07,223 cured/discharged/migrated cases. (ANI)

Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora Test Covid-19 Positive

Actors Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora have tested positive. Kapoor on Sunday said that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The actor issued a statement and said that he is asymptomatic and “will be under home quarantine.”

Malaika Arora on Monday said that she has tested positive for coronavirus and stated that she is feeling fine, is asymptomatic and will be quarantined at home.

“Today I have tested positive for coronavirus but I want to inform you all that I am feeling fine,” she said in her Instagram post.

“I am asymptomatic and following all the required protocols and will be quarantined at home as instructed by my doctor and authorities,” she further said.

“It is my duty to inform all of you that I have tested positive for coronavirus,” wrote the ‘Panipat’ actor as he issued a statement on Instagram.

Kapoor further shared that he is in home isolation and added, “I’m feeling ok and I’m asymptomatic. I have isolated myself at home under the advice of doctors and authorities and will be under home quarantine.”

Thanking his family, friends and fans in advance for their support, the ‘Gunday’ actor’s statement further read, “I thank you all in advance for your support and I will keep you all updated about my health in the days to come. These are extraordinary and unprecedented times and I have faith that all of humanity will overcome this virus.” (ANI)

From Nixon To Trump, India Has Come A Long Way

The “Bass Bomb” that exploded last week may not damage the Americans, even Indian Americans, as they prepare to vote in the United States’ presidential elections, come November 3, when incumbent Donald Trump has staked his all for a second term.

The ‘bomb’ is in the shape of confirmation of what is known about how the American leadership of 1971 – President Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger – enforced their ‘tilt’ against India and favouring Pakistan, fully aware that the latter was ‘cleansing’ East Pakistan of ‘rebels’ who had voted overwhelmingly against the west-wing.

The duo thought India had contrived or encouraged the flow of ten million-plus refugees. With China factor looming large – Pakistan had facilitated the reach-out to Beijing – the two condoned one of the grimmest man-made disasters, and invited their own diplomatic one, that the last century’s cold war had witnessed.

What is new are official details contained in White House tapes, now declassified and acquired by Prof. Gary J Bass of the Princeton University. They unmistakably paint the two in darkest colours. As they worked their South Asia policy, they frequently engaged in racist remarks and misogyny targeting Indians in general, especially then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling them names.

What we know are the un-bleeped, or less-bleeped taped conversations. Should one be surprised at Trump’s racism and misogyny (he is not alone) in the current electoral discourse? It shatters the image the Americans and their successive leaderships have wanted to cultivate of them being the world’s greatest democrats.

The Bass confirmations, rather than revelations, may not impact Trump who may win. Analysts who predict this, in the same breath, disapprove of him and his policies. They point to his improving his position in the presidential race precisely for the type of racism and misogyny that his peers had engaged in the 1970s.

Analysts predict a likely Trump victory even as they criticise his turning a thriving economy into a jobless one and his handling of the Coronavirus pandemic that has killed more Americans than the two World Wars. Not just the Americans, much of the world today is witnessing strange times, of being ruled by right-wing demagogues.

It would thus be naïve to think that the American voter will be influenced by a diplomatic disasters that occurred nearly half-a-century back. As elsewhere, foreign policy does not impact American elections.

Equally, the Indian American numbers matter but marginally, be it for partly-Indian Kamala Harris, the running mate of Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden, or for Trump who did make a bee-line to India, especially Gujarat, being hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While showing Americans the mirror, Bass’ account painfully reminds of the Americans’ low esteem when the Indians’ rush to California was gathering momentum in the 1970s and even later, in the 1980s. They can look back with some satisfaction of having done well in the last three decades. Whether they will retain their traditional Democratic preference or vote with “Howdy Modi” will need watching.

ALSO READ: From Howdy Modi To Kem Chho Trump

Of course, India is no longer the US’ Cold War adversary. Four million Indians, many of them prosperous and many related to India’s policy-making elite, enjoying visa preference over others, study and work there. The two are tied in a strategic partnership that has significantly altered geopolitics of the region well beyond South Asia.

For Indians at home, who have seen many American presidents and many premiers of their own, the “Bass bomb” could revive a measure of anti-American feelings. The Indian political class of that era, it needs reminding, was united in its criticism of the US and had wholeheartedly welcomed Bangladesh’ emergence. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, at least, had called Indira goddess ‘Durga’. The argumentative Indian was never so united – and never since.

The Bass account draws a positive picture of Indira when the Congress party she once led is at its lowest and she and her entire family are being systematically vilified. Will the party want to dwell on her 1971 role, and to what effect, in the face of the hostile Modi/media/middle class juggernaut?

Did Nixon-Kissinger know enough Indians before calling them, among other names, ‘bastards’ and wondered how Indian women “sexless and pathetic people reproduce in large numbers?” Kissinger called Indians “superb flatterers” whose “great skill” was to “suck up to people in key positions”. It is not worth exploring.

ALSO READ: The Future Of America

Some explanation for their personal peeves and prejudices is, however, available from the account of Maharaj Krishna Rasgotra, whom Indira sent as envoy to the US and was later India’s Foreign Secretary. He had met Kissinger in 1969 in the first few weeks of reaching Washington.

In his 2016 book A Life in Diplomacy, he quotes Indira as saying before posting him: “Richard Nixon means trouble for India. He dislikes India and he hates me.” The ‘hatred’, it turned out, was mutual.

For Nixon and Kissinger, often used to dictators grovelling at their feet – Pakistan’s General Yahya khan was a ‘friend’ — “it was a novel and unpleasant experience to be defied by an Asian leader”, one who led the world’s largest democracy. “In their frustration, Nixon and Kissinger heaped insults and abuses on the Indian prime minister,” writes Rasgotra whose overall worldview shows no anti-US bias.

How did Indira respond? “She bore all that with unwonted sang froid, but left no doubt in her talks with Nixon in 1971, that Pakistan’s pushing ten million of its nationals into India was tantamount to an aggression on her country and would be dealt with as such. She ignored their threats of aid cuts and made it clear that if the US were to embark on a course of hostility, she would live with that too and explore other options.”

Although India received food under American Law PL480, it was no ‘Banana Republic’. Mind you, by that time in August, India had already signed the Peace and Friendship Treaty with the Soviet Union. The US was blind to its likely implications. Nixon relied on Kissinger’s doctrine about establishing ‘linkages’ of bringing in China if Pakistan was in trouble. That never happened. Today, when Pakistan’s economy is dovetailed into Chinese, Trump wants to ‘help’ India against Chinese border incursions. Times have changed.

Rasgotra recalls: “Henry knew (and so did President Nixon) that their policy was in shambles. There were rumours in Washington that Dr Kissinger was in a state of deep depression and that for three or four days, even President Nixon had shunned him.”

Till she lived, Indira never uttered a word about the duo’s ill-treatment. She showed what she and India could do in December 1971. She is no more. Nixon, who had to leave the White House in disgrace over Watergate Scandal, is dead.

Kissinger is around. He has repeatedly apologised. He has visited India and interacted with Indians. Hopefully, he has changed his views of them. Even Bass records that Kissinger may have just echoed Nixon’s prejudices probably without really believing in them.

Rasgotra, who admires Kissinger – nonagenarians both, he is a year younger — records that the latter, at one of their meetings, insisted that he was “not anti-India”. “I let that pass,” Rasgotra concludes.

The writer can be reached at mahendraved07@gmail.com

200 Sikh Families From Afghanistan In Delhi Gurdwaras

Close to 200 families belonging to the Sikh Community who have arrived here from Afghanistan have been put up at Gurdwaras that are run by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

“Close to 200 families have come here and are staying in Gurdwaras. We are making the arrangements for their accommodation and ticket as well till the time they do not get permanent citizenship. We are also providing them assistance in employment as well,” Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjinder Singh Sirsa told ANI.

He added that all the cost would be borne by the management committee. He also thanked the Central government, particularly Home Minister Amit Shah for facilitating visas for these families.

“Home Minister Amit Shah Ji from Day 1 gave the assurance that they can stay here for as long as they want and if they want to be permanent citizens of India, we would make them permanent citizens as well,” he added.

“There are 138 persons in 31 rooms living over here. We are providing them with all the basic amenities to live. We will also try to have the children enrolled in Guru Harkishan Public Schools and will teach them free of cost if the need arises,” Harjit S Bedi, Chief VC, Gurudwara, Motibagh said while speaking to ANI.

Bedi further said that the persons could stay in the gurudwara for as long as they need to. “In the case of earning bread and butter, they need to be emotionally secure. In the case of residential, they are secure over here,” he added.

63-year-old Balbir Singh, a resident in Afghanistan, one of the Sikhs who along with his family were brought here by the Government of India, from Afghanistan over the attacks faced by minorities in the country, said that he was grateful to the gurudwara for looking after him and his family.

“We are very thankful to them. They provided us with everything and ensured that we did not face any shortage of anything,” he said while speaking to ANI.

“We left everything including our houses–I had a clothes store. Our lives were in danger but now, we feel safe here,” he added.

Ministry of External Affairs recently announced that India has decided to facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India.

The decision comes after a terror attack at a gurdwara in Kabul’s Shor Bazaar in March killed at least 25 members of the community.

India has condemned the “targeting and persecution” of minority community members by terrorists in Afghanistan at the behest of their external supporters remains a matter of grave concern.

Leaders of the Afghan Sikh community have appealed to the Indian government to accommodate the Sikhs and Hindus from Afghanistan and grant them legal entry with long term residency multiple entry visas.

Once a community of nearly 250,000 people, the Sikh and Hindu community in Afghanistan has endured years of discrimination and violence from extremists, and the community is now estimated to comprise fewer than 100 families across the country. (ANI)

Wouldn’t Trust Trump On Covid-19 Vaccine: Kamala

Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Saturday (local time) said that she would not trust Donald Trump alone on a coronavirus vaccine adding that it would have to be a “credible source” that talks about “the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about”.

In an interview with CNN, Harris said that it was “going to be an issue for all of us” to get a vaccine that was approved and distributed before the presidential elections.

“I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about. I would not take his word,” CNN reported quoting Harris.

The California Senator further said that public health experts would be “suppressed, sidelined” with regard to getting the last word on the efficacy of the vaccine.

“If past is the prologue that they will not, they’ll be muzzled, they’ll be suppressed, they will be sidelined because he’s looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days and he’s grasping to get whatever he can to pretend he has been a leader on this issue when he is not.”

As per the latest update, the US has a total of 6,232,889 COVID-19 cases and 188,252 deaths due to the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Presidential elections are scheduled to be held on November 3. (ANI)