Mumbai: Film director and producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah talked about his film ‘The Kerala Story’, in which actress Adah Sharma is playing the role of Fathima Ba, a Hindu Malayali nurse, who is among the 32,000 women who went missing from Kerala and were then recruited to the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) after being forced to convert to Islam.
As the story is based on true events, Vipul said that it involved a lot of research and it is an attempt to bring out the truth in front of everyone.
He said: “The film is an amalgamation of years of research and true stories which have never been dared to be told before, it will uncover many hidden truths that have been hidden for long. It will uncover the dangerous threat radicalisation poses to the women of our nation and will create awareness about this conspiracy being hatched against India.”
Directed by Sudipto Sen, it is a story of four women and how from being regular college students in Kerala, they became part of a terror organisations.
“The film aims to become the voice of tens of thousands of women across the globe who have been indoctrinated and exploited for terrorism and other crimes,” added Vipul.
Apart from Adah, the film also features Yogita Bihani, Sonia Balani and Siddhi Idnani.
In the dying days of the German Democratic Republic, a group of peace activists gather in a church in Dresden to discuss the more bottom-up, less authoritarian country they would like to see emerge out of the crumbling socialist state.
A mixed-race man on one of the back rows speaks up. “You have no idea of the rage that’s out there”, he says. “If you lock people up in a cage for life then at some point they will find someone to blame for that. Someone who’s different. And you want to abolish this state? The last bit that keeps people from going crazy?”
The scene, from the opening episode of Sam: A Saxon, a seven-part mini-series that premieres on Disney+ on Wednesday, is designed to explain what could have motivated the young man on the back row to do what he did next.
Samuel Meffire, the real-life inspiration for the character played by the German actor Malick Bauer, went on to join the police, becoming the first officer of African descent in the former East Germany, which at the time was notorious for racist violence, and the face of a poster campaign to show a different side to the former GDR. He would soon grow frustrated with his employer’s sluggish bureaucracy, switch sides and end up on Germany’s most wanted list for armed robbery.
The series – Disney’s first original series produced in Germany – does not aspire to challenge storytelling conventions, but it manages in unexpected ways to cut across the often told story of the “peaceful revolution” of 1989 – as well as contemporary debates about law enforcement’s treatment of black people.
“The GDR was not colour-blind,” Meffire, 52, said in an interview with the Guardian. “But it made public spaces colour-blind enough that I could move safely in them. No one would have dared do me harm in public because they would have known that the men with the iron brooms would have swept them up if they did.”
“Of course, that’s an incredibly fine line, to sing a hymn to law enforcement in a dictatorship,” he added. “I don’t mean to sing the praises of a dictatorship, but of the fact that it was safe for me. And I want our democratic state to make us equally safe, wherever we go.”
Now living in Bonn, in western Germany, he said he would not take his two children on a holiday to the eastern state where he grew up.
About 95,000 migrant workers from socialist “brother states” such as Mozambique, Angola, Cuba and Vietnam were registered as living in East Germany in the year that the Berlin Wall fell, though their stay was strictly limited and social mixing with the local population was discouraged by the regime.
Meffire’s father, a Cameroonian engineering student, died two hours before he was born in July 1970, in circumstances that remain unclear: one theory proposed by his mother is that he was poisoned by officials who tried to chemically castrate him.
For “Ossis [East Germans] of colour” such as Meffire, the end of the old regime nonetheless brought a dramatic loss of personal safety. In his memoir, Me, a Saxon, published in English translation by the British publisher Dialogue Books this spring and co-written by the playwright Lothar Kittstein, Meffire, a self-described “fantasy nerd”, describes the outbreak of racist violence in starker, quasi-apocalyptic terms.
“The neo-something is now part of the normal cityscape during the day, too,” he writes. “The vampires are bound to the night no longer. They have acquitted themselves from this spell. And the well-behaved, demoralised citizens applauded them.”
A string of racist attacks in the old eastern states made the east’s problem with the radical right hard for the reunified country to ignore. In September 1991, neo-Nazis rioted for five days in the Saxon town of Hoyerswerda, their attacks on an apartment block housing asylum seekers cheered on by some of the locals.
A western German PR company hired to improve Saxony’s image after these attacks seized on Meffire: a photograph of the shaven-headed police officer in a black rollneck underneath the words “A Saxon” was printed on billboards around Dresden and in newspapers across the entire country.
A scene from Sam: A Saxon, launching on Disney+ this week. Photograph: Yohana Papa Onyango
A friendship with Saxony’s reformist interior minister Heinz Eggert further boosted Meffire’s status as the poster boy for Saxony’s police force, but also made him new enemies among his colleagues. Two years after the publicity campaign, he left to set up his own private security agency but struggled to make the business pay.
In 1995, Meffire was involved in a string of armed robberies and went on the run in France and what was then Zaire – now the Democratic Republic of the Congo – where he was caught up in the first Congo war and eventually extradited to Germany. After serving seven years in prison, he now works as a social worker, security contractor and author.
Both the written and the filmic treatment of Meffire’s story explain his rapid disillusionment with the police by hinting at old political networks that held a protecting hand over the neo-Nazi scene. His verdict on his former colleagues, however, is surprisingly positive. “Hate stories and racism?” he writes. “Not towards me.” One officer who made abusive remarks about his skin colour was quickly reprimanded by his colleagues.
The Disney series, which Meffire and the film-maker Jörg Winger unsuccessfully pitched to Germany’s public broadcasters in 2006, achieves two rare feats for a German production, telling a story with a mainly afrodeutsch set of main characters, without presenting their experiences in a one-dimensional way.
In the third episode, Meffire falls in with a group of blackEast German men who have little time for black political activists from the west, who they dismiss as “beaten-down dogs”. That division, Meffire says, still runs through Germany’s black communities.
“When it comes to the police, there are two perspectives,” he said. “I am a victim – of state despotism, of racial profiling, or at the very least of an … ignorance towards things that shouldn’t take place.
“And then there’s the other view, which is absolutely a minority, that says if we want a diverse police force then we have to step up and shape that police force. And that doesn’t just apply to the police, but also the intelligence community, the military, the judiciary. Because speaking for myself, I don’t know a single black German public prosecutor and not a single black German judge.”
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( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )
London: Buckingham Palace would have been conscious about the potential for controversy around the colonial era Kohinoor diamond claimed by India and averted it becoming a side story of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s Coronation ceremony next month, a royal expert has said.
Camilla Tominey is the Associate Editor of The Daily Telegraph’ and has an inside track into the British royal family as the newspaper’s royal expert.
In an interview with PTI, she reflected upon the significance of Camilla choosing to forgo the traditional crown used for the monarch’s partner as the “consort crown” due to it being embedded with the Kohinoor also known as Koh-i-Noor. Among the crown jewels unveiled by the palace for the Coronation ceremony on May 6, it was confirmed that Queen Mary’s Crown has been chosen by Camilla.
“I think the palace were conscious about the Koh-i-Noor perhaps being controversial and therefore have decided that they don’t want there to be a side story about the provenance of these diamonds,” said Tominey.
“Basically, [the palace have] decided to do the safe and sensible thing, to not have a separate debate about the jewels in the crown,” noted Tominey.
Earlier this month, the palace said that minor changes and additions to Queen Mary’s Crown are being undertaken, such as the inclusion of the Cullinan III, IV and V diamonds which were part of Queen Elizabeth II’s personal jewellery collection for many years. The design has been inspired by Queen Alexandra’s Crown of 1902 which was originally encrusted with the Kohinoor, which now sits in the crown of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, since 1937.
Last month, Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that manages Britain’s palaces, said that the infamous diamond will instead be part of a new Jewel House exhibition at the Tower of London classed as a “symbol of conquest” for the first time. According to its assessment, the diamond probably originated from the Golconda mines in southern India and weighs 105.6 carats. It was once much larger but was re-cut in 1852 to improve its brilliance and conform to contemporary European tastes.
Kohinoor, which means mountain of light in Persian, came into Queen Victoria’s possession from the treasury of Maharaja Ranjit Singh a few years before she was to be crowned empress of India in the wake of the 1857 Revolt and has played a starring role in British coronations of the past until its conspicuous absence in next month’s ceremony.
Camilla’s choice of Queen Mary’s Crown also marks the first instance in modern times of an existing crown being used for the Coronation of the monarch’s consort, with all past crowns being specially made for a new consort. It is among a series of departures from tradition made by Charles, 74, and Camilla, 75, in an attempt to strike a more sustainable tone that resonates with the times and also incorporate modern elements into the ceremony.
Another key modern aspect of the largely Christian religious ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London for the Coronation on May 6 are reports of the King’s plans to reflect some multi-faith elements that connect with the wider British public, as well as the Indian diaspora. According to reports, House of Lords peers of Hindu, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh faiths will carry key pieces of Coronation regalia on the day at the Abbey.
“I think the King is wanting it to be as diverse and inclusive as possible and that means it isn’t just a service that represents people of faith but also those of none, and those of different faiths. Throughout the course of his time as heir apparent he has done quite a lot on multi-faith. He’s visited different places of worship, he’s ingratiated himself with different religious communities and so it’s not really surprising that he’s decided that the Coronation should reflect that,” said Tominey.
Charles also chose a multi-faith theme for his first Christmas message as King in December 2022, referencing the work of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and gurdwaras across the UK.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Within a few months after moving out of the classroom, a young reporter in TheNewsCaravan landed in a team that shot an infotainment series for Ramzan, the Muslim month of fasting. Unprecedented, the almost all-women initiative was a huge success. Babra Wani connects dots and anecdotes to offer the behind-the-camera story.
I was working on a new story when Sabreen Ashraf, my friend and classmate, entered the newsroom, in the first week of Ramzan. She sat exactly next to me and said, “We are recording a video series in Ramzan that will be webcast on daily basis”. Excited, I kept my laptop aside and asked her for more details. The details looked interesting.
The idea of the first-of-its-kind series, about Islam, the Quran and Muslims envisaged travelling across Kashmir. It was a bit of effort to somehow get associated with it. Quickly a research team was constituted and we were four in the team – me, Insha, our senior Humaira and a junior Maleeha Sofi. Peculiar to the TheNewsCaravan newsroom, as I understood later, the initiative was literally an all-woman affair. The entire research team was women, the anchor was a lady and the editor of the show was Iqra Akhoon, the head of TheNewsCaravan’s audio-visual vertical.
The entire camera work, however, was done by Shuaib Wani with Mushtaq Ahmad and Imran also joining on special shoots. One day, even online editor, Raashid Andrabi willingly handled the camera.
Once the team was ready, it still required a lot of brainstorming. Almost everybody contributed to making the programme better. It was named Jashn e Ramadhan because the members felt that the Muslim month of fasting is being observed in such a way that it is not visibly a celebration as it is in the rest of the Muslim world.
Unwilling to Talk
The journey for this series was not an easy one but very memorable. As we moved from one place to another, we encountered different experiences some pleasant others not so pleasant. From each one of these short day-long journeys, we learnt a lot. It never was what the classroom was all about. It evolved on its own, the excitement, the challenge, the locations, the tensions of deadlines, peoples’ unwillingness to talk and having the best photogenic spots.
However, the biggest lesson I believe all of us learnt through the series was that of patience and understanding. Patience while coming across rude people and understanding why people would not talk to us. We all grew through this series.
We also learnt camera fear is so real and convincing people to talk to us was a really daunting task. I saw people covering their faces and running away just at the sight of the camera. And even if people came to talk, once they knew the series had Islamic questions, they backed out. It was so difficult to get the people to talk. Sometimes we were able to give away all three prizes and sometimes we returned back with one. Sometimes we reached back home early and other times after iftar was done. The 15 minutes of every episode was not an easy task. These were hours of travel, interaction and desperation to locate people willing to talk. After all, outreach was key to the series.
From framing questions during the nights to researching locations we were travelling to, everything seemed tiring at times. Despite the limitation of resources and our lack of knowledge about Kashmir outside Srinagar, we kept going simply because the audience loved it. Every morning I wake up I make it a point that I read all the comments and seeing how positively our series was received and accepted gives us immense pleasure.
Rediscovering Kashmir
Jashn e Ramadhan took me and Sabreen to places we had never been to. We explored different places and learnt about different people all through this series. Our journey began with Jamia Masjid, the place of immense importance in the history of Kashmir. And North Kashmir was our last destination. And for us, the series showed us the beauty of places and people.
We saw the white orchards of Kulgam and the yellow fields of Pampore. We went through the green roads of Watlab and walked along the markets of Bijbehara. We went from shrine to shrine in Qaimoh and crossed the Sangam of rivers in Anantnag.
We drove to places we ourselves did not have any information about. Every episode we published offered some idea about the hard work the team put in. It gradually evolved. Every new episode was perhaps better than the earlier one and this series helped us know what a perfect episode is all about. The beauty of the series was how people instantly connected to it and enjoyed it thoroughly. We learnt and we grew together in this journey of Islam and Kashmir.
For the first time in my life, I visited Khankah e Moula and it was not any lesser than a dream come true. To be able to visit a place of such immense importance and to be able to witness people’s faith there seemed surreal. Every time I remember it I feel a sense of relief. When we visited Aali Masjid I was pleasantly surprised to be able to read the history of the beautiful mosque, to be able to relax under the shade of the Chinars there, to be able to see how much people knew.
Team Spirit
It was not an individual effort but a collective one. From Sabreen’s hosting to Shoaib Wani’s camera work to Mushtaq Sahab’s efforts to improve our research and to the flawless editing by Iqra Ma’am, each one of us had an important role to play and each one of us received credit. There were instances when some challenging episode was edited during the dead of the night. A few episodes, professionals may disagree, were shot, edited and used on the same day.
When we began the series our knowledge of Islam was limited, limited to a few basic things we have been taught in childhood. But Jashn eRamzan we learnt so many new things about Islam, the Quran and Muslim history. Framing even a single question took us hours of studies and scrolling through different Islamic websites and blogs, we read books about Islam about Seerat e Nabvi to set questions and for every episode, we needed to frame almost twenty questions. The questions went through various stages before getting finalised. Though the process was exhausting and tough, yet every time we learnt new things and every time we learnt more.
Yes, we committed mistakes. And, yes, we rectified them.
Partners and Prizes
The series could happen only when TheNewsCaravan got three partners – the Kanwal Food and Spices; the JamKash Vehicleads and Alloha. It was done by the business section and that took them their own time.
Every time somebody won a prize all of us felt really happy to know how people had such great knowledge about their faith. Every time Sabreen stood in front of the camera, she was very nervous, she rechecked everything more than thrice just not to make any mistakes. And every time we began shooting all of us prayed to Allah for confidence and help.
The memorable part, however, for me was how children everywhere were more than willing and excited to participate, talk, face the camera and try their luck. Some recited Qur’an for us while others chose to recite beautiful naats for us. Young girls came to us everywhere to talk to us and asked about who we are and what we are doing. These boys and girls made us happy and vindicated that the idea was not as small as it looked in the routine newsroom brainstorming.
Education
There were many places that I, Sabreen and Insha visited for the first time in my life and knowing about the place through its history, its people and its culture was such an amazing experience. For example, I never knew that Bandipora was such beautiful, but when I first saw it, I was mesmerized, by its picturesque beauty and by the politeness of the people there.
I never knew that stone carving was a thing in Bandipora as well, I had a concept that stone carving was just done in and around Pampore. However, through this series, I learnt that and I learnt about various issues the people involved were facing. Our team came across some different scenes, from a stone carver with hearing and speaking impairment to a woman who was selling vegetables in Sopore, every person we met had a story to share.
We learnt about the different shrines of different places, from the Khee Naag in Kulgam to the shrine of Baba Shakurdin in Sopore, we visited many places of cultural importance.
Through this series, we learnt about different types of bread. What naan khoashek is in the South is Kulche in North Kashmir, what is kandi kulche in the South is mitthe biscuit at other places. We learnt about different dialects. We learnt about different types of pickles. We travelled along Jhelum and Wular. We saw Sangam, not just of three rivers but of different people as well. We met people with immense knowledge and we met people who did not know anything at all.
Weak Economy
Shopkeepers and street vendors in every place we talked to said they have landed in a very economy. Every one of them wanted to talk to us about the severity of the issues they were facing.
As the series went public, people started to recognise us. There were many people who came to us and wanted to try their luck. A man with two daughters we met in Sopore came to us and gave us feedback. A young boy who talked to us in Anantnag said he watched all the episodes and recognised us while travelling with his father. Many people came and complimented our efforts especially Sabreen’s.
In some areas, however, we had some unpleasant experiences as well. There were places where the team was hounded by a crowd. People tried to take pictures and videos and when we stopped them, they argued. Generally, however, people were respectful and we were highly appreciative of that.
Hospitality
While we travelled in all directions from Srinagar, I witnessed the hospitality of people and how it was the same all across the valley. The people of Kulgam and Sopore asked us to stay at their places to make us feel comfortable.
This series not only took us to places but it showed us the rawer side of everything, every place, every person.
Before concluding this personal experience, I need to put on record that the team shot a lot more than what was used. The decision was to make it light and manage one area in one episode. Many episodes that were shot were not used because we could only publish 15 episodes. There was a thought process that the series should move to Shawaal, post-Eid, but its name did not permit that luxury.
I pray the Jashn continues in the 1445’s Ramzan too.
(The author is an intern with TheNewsCaravan and intends to hone her skills in the newsroom across print and audio-visual verticals.)
“I should’ve stopped. I should’ve turned and went home,” he continued. “For some reason I felt I didn’t have total control of my actions.“
Pezzola took the stand Wednesday to fend off charges that he and four Proud Boys leaders plotted to forcefully derail the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden. The seditious conspiracy charges he and his four codefendants face are the gravest leveled by prosecutors in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack.
Prosecutors are expected to cross-examine Pezzola Thursday and are sure to challenge many of the claims he made.
Pezzola is expected to be the final witness in a trial that has stretched more than four months and been marked by interminable delays, intense legal quarrels and high stakes testimony from cooperating witnesses and defendants. Alongside Pezzola, prosecutors have charged Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl with joining the alleged seditious conspiracy.
Pezzola’s testimony, like the riot itself, was chaotic. He described feeling in mortal danger from police crowd-control measures, the resolve to face down the “enemy” that he drew from his military training, an intensifying fear that he might not live to see his wife and daughters, fury at police for lobbing flashbangs in the area of women in the crowd and an “autopilot” that he said took over just before he smashed the window.
Pezzola told jurors he had no inkling of any plan to topple the government and was irritated at his Proud Boys allies for diverting the group away from Trump’s speech that morning for a march to the Capitol. But when he arrived, he nevertheless made his way toward the front of the gathering mob — a decision he attributed to “car crash syndrome.”
“Why I moved over there was basically out of curiosity,” he said.
That’s when the rubber bullets started raining down, Pezzola said, including one that cut through the cheek of rioter Joshua Black, spraying blood all over the ground at the front of the police line. Though Pezzola said he considered the crowd to have been passive at that moment, video of the scene shows skirmishes along the police line, which officers positioned on a nearby overhang were witnessing with a birds eye view.
“It felt like being under sniper fire,” Pezzola said, adding, “In my mind, this is pretty much what I felt like combat would be like, being shot at by the enemy.”
Pezzola, who was right behind Black, said the barrage of less-lethal munitions aimed at the crowd infuriated him and he attempted to engage officers in an argument about the appropriate use of force. He also lunged to grab a shield from a nearby Capitol Police officer — which he said was meant for self-protection — but came away empty-handed. Eventually, the swell of the crowd knocked him down, he said, and in the chaos, he observed another rioter wrest a shield from the same officer, and Pezzola managed to grab the loose shield for himself.
Pezzola’s lawyer, Steve Metcalf, repeatedly asked Pezzola why he didn’t just turn around and leave amid the chaos. He said he refused to leave the Capitol grounds even after police began firing rubber bullets in his direction because his “military training” had conditioned him to “keep your eye on where the threat is coming from.”
“I’m pissed off Steve, that’s all I can really say,” Pezzola said. “The adrenaline is so high at that point. You’re on autopilot. I guess I’m just programmed to charge toward danger.”
Pezzola later added that he was particularly infuriated when he saw munitions landing in the crowd near women, and he repeatedly asked his lawyer to pause video of those moments so he could highlight women who were visible in the crowd to the jurors.
Pezzola would take the shield back to fellow members of the Proud Boys and pose for a picture before returning to the front of the mob, surging to the foot of the Capitol and destroying a window leading to the Senate wing of the building. That breach, which prosecutors have described as the first time the Capitol was breached by hostile actors since the war of 1812, came at the precise minute the Senate shut down its effort to certify the results of the election.
Pezzola said that when he got inside, he had no plan and no knowledge of the Capitol’s layout, so he basically wandered around and followed the crowd while taking pictures and videos. POLITICO recently identified footage of Pezzola encountering the evacuation of Sen. Chuck Grassley, who had been presiding over the Senate just moments before.
He would soon shoot a celebratory selfie video that prosecutors view as a key piece of evidence in the case. “Victory smoke in the Capitol, boys. This is fucking awesome,” he said in the video while smoking a cigar. “I knew we could take this motherfucker over [if we] just tried hard enough.” Pezzola told jurors he took the video because he wanted to say something “profound” on a day he believed would be “historic.”
Moments later, Pezzola joined the portion of the mob that chased Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman to the edge of the Senate chamber, where a standoff ensued. All told, Pezzola said he was inside the building for about 20 minutes, and he handed the shield back to a police officer as he exited.
Asked by Metcalf to characterize his actions, Pezzola called it, “A bad reaction to a bad situation.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Mumbai: The upcoming biopic titled ‘Sumo Didi’ will tell the story of India’s only professional female sumo wrestler Hetal Dave, and will star Shriyam Bhagnani as its lead. The teaser of the film featuring actress Shriyam showcases her in a tough and determined character, grappling with ropes as she trains for her part of a sumo wrestler.
The film, which also stars Nitesh Pandey, Chaitanya Sharma, and Raghav Dhir, has been helmed by Jayant Rohatgi.
For Shriyam Bhagnani, portraying the character of Hetal Dave, is a “great honour”. She said, “Preparing for this role has been both demanding and rewarding, and I am thankful for the chance to embody such a courageous and influential figure on screen. I hope that our film will inspire women of all ages to chase their dreams and never give up, no matter the challenges they face”.
Hetal Dave, the inspiration behind the series, made history as India’s first and only female sumo wrestler, and in 2008, she even made it into the Limca Book of Records. She has represented India in various international championships, including Poland, Finland, Estonia, and Taiwan. In the 2009 World Games, she placed fifth in the women’s middleweight category.
Sumo wrestling is not among the recognized sports in India, even then Dave has represented India in several competitions, and has recorded her name in the world’s 150 fearless women.
Shriyam further mentioned, “For me, this is a grand debut, and I recognise the weight of the significant responsibility I am undertaking, quite literally. As a biopic based on a real-life individual, I consider it my greatest responsibility to portray Hetal Mam’s journey accurately in Sumo Didi. It’s my sincere desire to do justice to her story and legacy through my performance in the film”.
As per sources, Shriyam underwent several months of rigorous physical training to transform herself for the role, collaborating with celebrity trainer Sahil Rasheed to build muscle mass and enhance her athleticism. To achieve a more authentic appearance, the actress has also gained a considerable amount of weight.
The film, produced by Jio Studios, will be released soon.
Prayagraj: It began with a defeat in an election, and the bruised egos had a bloody fallout.
In 2004, after Atiq Ahmed won the Lok Sabha polls to Phulpur constituency here, his younger brother Ashraf contested from Allahabad West Assembly seat – polls necessitated after Atiq Ahmed resigned to become an MP – on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
For Ashraf, victory was a foregone conclusion but he surprisingly lost to Raju Pal, a novice candidate fielded by the BSP.
Atiq Ahmed could not digest the defeat since it came as a challenge to his own fiefdom.
The electoral tussle turned into political rivalry and on January 25, 2005, a day before Republic Day, when the BSP MLA was leaving for his home from Swaroop Rani Nehru hospital, a car overtook his SUV in the Sulem Sarai area of the city and Raju Pal was shot dead by assailants who heavily opened fire on his car.
Two other people along with Raju Pal were also killed in the attack and the post-mortem report had stated that around 18 bullets were found in Raju Pal’s body.
A CBI probe into the incident named 10 persons as accused including Atiq Ahmed and his younger brother.
Raju Pal’s wife, Puja Pal, whom he married just 11 days before his murder, then contested from the Allahabad West seat but lost to Ashraf. However, she was again given a ticket by the BSP in 2007 Assembly elections and she won.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, Puja lost to BJP’s Siddharth Nath Singh but won the 2022 polls from Chail seat.
Ashraf’s political career could not take off despite the best efforts of his brother and for this, he never forgave Raju Pal and his friends.
Umesh Pal, an associate of Raju Pal, was the main witness in his murder.
Since Umesh Pal refused to succumb to Atiq Ahmed’s pressure, he was abducted in 2006 and forced to give a statement in court in their favour of Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf in the Raju Pal murder.
Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were convicted and were awarded a life sentence in the abduction case, a month after Umesh Pal was shot dead in February this year.
In between, Umesh Pal’s stature grew independently and he was no longer comfortable tagging behind Puja Pal, widow of Raju Pal.
Sources claim that Umesh Pal was finding acceptance in the Karwariya camp.
Kapil Muni Karwariya is a former BJP MP and his brother Uday Bhan Karwariya, a former MLA – both were awarded a life sentence for the murder of SP leader Jawahar Yadav.
When Uday Bhan’s wife Neelam Karwariya won the Meja seat on a BJP ticket in 2017, Umesh Pal became friends with the family whose clout was growing by the day.
Interestingly, a number of Atiq Ahmed’s supporters also switched loyalties to the Karwariya family and photographs of Ghulam Mohd – who was shot dead with Asad on Thursday – posing with Neelam Karwariya at her birthday party are doing rounds on the social media.
After the murder of Umesh Pal, in one video Puja Pal is seen reprimanding Umesh Pal’s wife for ‘feeding parathas to those people despite my warning’.
The police, for some reason, did not pursue this angle.
Sources in Prayagraj now say that Umesh Pal was killed because his loyalty was suspected – both to Atiq and to Karwariyas.
Puja Pal’s studied silence on the Umesh Pal murder and its consequences also leaves much to be said.
However, since investigators are firmly focusing on Atiq Ahmed’s role in the murder, the truth, perhaps, will ‘never be known’.
They also point to the affirmative case for Biden, including two years of job growth, as well as steady leadership during the COVID pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Anne Caprara, who ran Hillary Clinton’s 2016 super PAC, Priorities USA, argued that 2024 is a fundamentally different political moment than when Trump defied the odds and captured the presidency.
“When we dealt with Trump the first time around, he was a different quantity. People knew him as an entertainer and he had this kind of bulletproof image … people saw him as this successful businessman who they’d grown up with or seen on TV for so many years,” she said. “And I just think he’s got a much different image now.”
It’s an image that she believes is far more flawed. “I think it’s absurd to think that the former president facing an indictment over allegations from Stormy Daniels is not a negative for him in the general election,” she said.
Joe Caiazzo, a Democratic strategist and Clinton campaign alumni, agreed. “It’s tough to tell where the public will be by the fall of 2024, but getting indicted has never served a candidate well,” he said.
But even as many Democrats are quietly betting that Trump is the most damaged potential GOP nominee, some are wondering whether that viewpoint misses something fundamental about his support. They fret that they might jinx the election too.
“Trump is a tremendously flawed candidate who has hurt his party in every election since 2016, but it’s impossible to say that he is the weakest because none of these other Republicans have been on the national stage before,” said Dan Pfeiffer, who served as an adviser to former President Barack Obama. “Given the Republican bias in the Electoral College — any Republican, including Trump, could win the election.”
Trump defied the odds once before. While his portion of the electorate may have shrunk since leaving office, he won more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016 and his MAGA base remains fervent.
In private conversations, top Biden allies share two chief concerns.
The first is Biden’s age. He’ll turn 82 years old soon after he faces voters again and he moves and speaks noticeably slower than even two years ago. If he were to suffer some sort of health crisis, that would rattle voters and dramatically intensify the scrutiny on the person who is just a heartbeat away from the Oval Office, Vice President Kamala Harris. Already, Biden advisors are preparing for a greater number of Republican attacks on Harris this coming campaign as a means of stoking fears about the president’s age and the vice president’s readiness.
The other concern is that there could be a significant economic downturn. Few incumbent presidents fare well in the face of stiff economic headwinds. And while Biden advisors aren’t predicting it, they do worry that a recession could drive some voters to decide to ignore the chaos surrounding Trump in favor of nostalgia for what he sold as a strong economy under his watch.
But while the White House was spooked by last month’s bank collapses and inflation that is still running too high, they believe that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And they see no need to rush into a campaign announcement, with some aides believing that Biden’s decision — and he is still expected to run — could slip until the summer or beyond.
They believe that they can take their time because of a lack of serious intraparty challengers as well as a slow-developing GOP field. Trump’s likely top rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, is not expected to kick off his campaign until late May or June.
They may not be in a rush or exuding any sense of panic. But other Trump opponents are beginning to.
Rick Wilson, the anti-Trump strategist who co-founded the Lincoln Project, listed all the ways that 2024 is shaping up to be like 2016: The media covering Trump wall-to-wall despite promises not to, Trump’s GOP opponents planning scripted zingers about him that don’t land, and Democrats feeling suspiciously confident that Trump will sink himself.
“A lot of Democrats in 2016 were like, ‘Oh yes, Hillary will wipe the floor with Donald Trump.’ And I warned them at the time: Don’t you bite that apple,” he said. “I feel like we’re in a very, very twisted time loop where God is punishing us for our sins.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
In the 40 years of its existence, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), a deemed university, has emerged as a key research and healthcare facility for the well-being of people within and outside Kashmir. While the scope of improvements is vast, interventions in its autonomous character may neither go well with the society it serves nor the institution it has evolved into, reports Yawar Hussain
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on one of his initial visits to SKIMS after the institute started functioning. Sheikh was the Chief Minister.
For millions of people within and around Kashmir, the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) is the only go-to place for sickness. Over the last around 40 years, it has emerged as a major institution that apart from treating millions of people is a major address for research and medical education.
“The work done at SKIMS on viral hepatitis, iodine deficiency, and influenza is global in nature and some of the world-shaking treatments in gastrointestinal bleed and other things that started here are now in vogue the world over,” a senior doctor who has spent his entire career at SKIMS said. “Can you believe that one of our seniors has 72000 citations in his field?”
SKIMS has time-tested collaborations in research with some of the best health research institutions in the world. “The importance of the work done at SKIMS is acknowledged to the extent that SKIMS incumbent director is the vice chair of Middle-East and Africa Influenza Surveillance Network (MENA-ISN) despite the fact that it has nothing much to do with Jammu and Kashmir,” the doctor said.
On the patient care front, SKIMS, insiders say has many firsts in the region. “We have 500 transplants to our credit and we have started bone marrow transplant as well,” the doctor said. “Our only problem is that the brand that SKIMS has emerged into is triggering massive footfalls and we neither have a right nor an ethical ground to stop it. It sometimes leads to problems.”
The Genesis
For a political restart, it was a key confidence-building measure (CBM) After the release of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’s founder and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah from years of captivity and just ahead of the Indira Abdullah Accord on February 24, 1975, the Sher-i-Kashmir National Medical Institute Trust (SKNMIT) was floated on May 19, 1973 by some of his friends for setting up a hospital in Srinagar’s Soura, the ancestral residence of Kashmir’s towering leader.
SKIMS Launch: In sitting row are Late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Late Dr Ali Jan and Dr Ajit Kumar Nagpal (the first director of SKIMS)
The SKNMIT’s creation paved the way for the commissioning of the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) a decade later. However, the construction of the premier health facility was not as smooth as the dates suggest.
In 1972, Jammu and Kashmir’s Housing Department acquired land measuring about 1000 kanals at Zoonimar village for the construction of a housing colony. Alternatively, the Jammu and Kashmir government had also been working on a plan of building a 500-bedded hospital at Soura.
The ‘Court’ History
The details of the evolution of this super-speciality hospital are part of a 2004 judgement of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court delivered in a petition challenging the government’s 2003 decision of taking over the hospital. It said some friends and admirers of the late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah had a meeting on November 21, 1972, in which they decided to set up a public charitable trust for the establishment of a Medical Institute at Srinagar.
In December 1972, Sheikh personally approached the Chief Minister, informing him that, on his birthday, some of his friends and admirers had presented to him a sum of Rs 1.5 lakh for instituting a benevolent trust and that the consensus was on building a hospital. He sought the cooperation of the State Government and requested for leasing out 230 kanals and 13 marlas of land situated to the West of Soura, acquired by the Government and the Government dispensary that existed at Soura, adjacent to the land in question, as also a contribution towards construction and maintenance of the hospital. Sheikh was made the lifetime Chairman of the Trust and Syed Mir Qasim, the then Chief Minister of the State, was one of the ten trustees.
The State Cancer Centre at SKIMS in Srinagar. KL Image: Masood Hussain
However, Dr Ajit Nagpal, the founder Director of SKIMS said that the idea was conceived by Sheikh Abdullah in 1976 so that the long-pending health needs of Kashmir are met, which got instant approval from Indira Gandhi. Gandhi is said to have been in the mood to reward the Sheikh for signing the accord.
“I was deputed as the Director, SKIMS, from the PGI, Chandigarh,” remembers Dr Nagpal. “Indira Gandhi got advisers from all over the country for establishing the institute and setting up state-of-the-art facilities there.”
One of the key officers involved in the making of the SKIMS was Narinder Nath Vohra, then a young civil servant, who later became Delhi’s Kashmir interlocutor from 2003 to 2008 and later the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir twice till 2018. He was handpicked for the project by Gandhi. He would often fly on weekends to oversee the implementation.
Following Shiekh’s request, the Qasim government through order No 872-HD of 1973 sanctioned the leasing out to the Trust of 292 kanals and 8 marlas of land comprising khasra Nos 415, 423, 424, 422, 5381/421, 5582/421, 425, 426, 429, 432, 430, 431, 433, 434, 416, 417, 418, 419, 437, 438, 411, 412, 413, 414, 388, 5379/390, 5380/390, 391, 392, 389, 394, 410, 405, 407, 408, 409/1, 409/2, 406, 398, 399 situated at Zoonimar for a period of 40 years at a consolidated rent of Rs 101 per annum.
“Earlier to that, vide Government order No 627-HD/G of 1973 sanction was accorded to transfer of Government Dispensary situated at Soura comprising main dispensary building, its kitchen block, chowkidar’s shed along with land underneath and appurtenant thereto, to the Trust,” the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s 2004 judgement has recorded.
However, the judgement mentions that no lease deed was executed between the government and the trust in 1973. In May 1974, the government through order no 232-MD/G of 1974 sanctioned allotment of another government property, namely, the Drug Research Laboratory situated at Moulana Azad Road, Srinagar, to the Trust on rent which was to be decided later.
In February of 1975, the SKNMIT Chairman, Sheikh took over as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Congressman Syed Mir Qasim, following the accord, stepped down and paved way for Sheikh’s takeover of the Congress majority house.
Immediately after, the High Court records that RK Sawhney, the then Secretary of the Trust, wrote to Sheikh on May 22, 1975, requesting him to amend Government Order No 872-HD of 1973 so that the trust can be made absolute owner of the 292 kanals and 8 marlas of the land at Zoonimar.
SKIMS Soura
Sheikh government sought the opinion of its law department, which highlighted that the land could only be transferred to the Trust if the Transfer of Property Act is amended. In follow-up, the Health Department processed a memorandum for the cabinet which was approved by the Cabinet on February 17, 1976. This paved the way for amendment of the Transfer of Property Act, Samvat 1977 on the proposed lines.
There were a lot of turns and twists. The court held that on August 27, 1976, the Sheikh government through order No 214-ME transferred Kashmir Nursing Home, Gupkar road, Srinagar along with its land, buildings and annexe and all its assets, including equipment, to the Trust on the condition that it shall use the premises solely and exclusively for maintaining a Nursing Home and shall provide adequate representation to the government on its Management Committee.
On August 5, 1977, Revenue Secretary was appointed as the coordinator on the land transfer case. The approved cabinet memorandum, however, said the properties to be transferred to the Trust would be a donation from the Jammu and Kashmir government. An order was issued in 1978. “Though there was no formal deed of transfer of the aforesaid properties to the Trust executed yet, the Trust got the aforesaid properties mutated in its name in the revenue records,” the High Court judgment recorded.
On January 18, 1977, the government renamed the 500-bedded hospital as Institute of Medical Sciences. It followed an agreement, the other day, which termed the SKIMS as a “joint venture”. The agreement laid down the constitution of an all-powerful Governing Body with the Chief Minister as Chairman; cabinet ministers as members; as the Trust nominated four members to the body.
The hospital started functioning in 1983. The 2004 judgement, however, said that the entire funds were mobilised by the government.
There were many players in establishing the SKIMS. One of them is a legend. Dr Ali Muhammad Jan. A household name, he turned down the post of Principal Government Medical College, Srinagar, and instead remained busy with the Trust of which he was Vice Chairman.
Launch and Growth
On December 5, 1982, the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science was formally inaugurated with an Outpatient Department and a 150-bed in-patient service.
This Institute soon started to flourish and the first batch of postgraduate students was enrolled in 1984 due to the hard work, grit and determination of its Director, Professor Anand. He retired in December 1985.
Dr Karan Singh being briefed about the construction of SKIMS when the multi floor structure was coming up.
Dr Nagpal, its founding Director said that Indira Gandhi in 1976, sent a team of 56 doctors outside Jammu and Kashmir to get trained in various specialities. “At the same time, Indira Gandhi got a group of reputed doctors from all over the country for heading faculties like neurosurgery, anaesthesia and cardiac surgery.”
Subsequently, the government relaxed norms for the Kashmir girls to undertake nursing courses. A scholarship of Rs 600 per month was offered to attract girls towards the nursing profession and strengthen medical assistance staff at the SKIMS.
“It was a Herculean task, but by the time we had the SKIMS building ready in 1982, the Board of Directors interviewed freshly trained doctors and inducted them into the staff,” said Dr Nagpal.
“I joined SKIMS on January 1, 1982. Back then, most of its faculty was from other states of India. I have been involved in establishing the first services at the hospital,” Dr M Sultan Khuroo, who eventually became the Director at the peak of militancy, said. He credits Dr Nagpal with building the institute structurally, and monetarily and envisioning it to be a tertiary care hospital. “Besides him, his successor, Dr BK Anand catapulted it to function as one of the best institutions in the country. There were 150 doctors under Anand.”
A Medical College
In 1989, the Jhelum Valley Medical College was started by the Trust as a private entity. However, in 1998, Farooq Abdullah-led government took over the college and named it as SKIMS Medical College, spread over around 400 kanals in Bemina.
“The trust started the hospital in 1993 but it did not pick up. The college had been running for seven years with three batches already graduating. The graduates of this college were unable to get any job or go for post-graduation pending the MCI recognition. To safeguard the interest of students the newly elected government of Dr Farooq Abdullah in a historic decision took over and attached this institute with the SKIMS Soura in 1998.”
An operation in progress. This is a well-equipped operation theatre of 1980s that is still n service.
The then Director SKIMS Soura, Dr Mehraj ud Din appointed Dr Yaqoob Khairadi as vice principal, which paved the way for the recruitment of faculty, nursing staff and other paramedical staff in various departments. Prof M Afzal Wani the next principal laid the foundation of new hostels and made policy decisions for the college.
Following the takeover by the government, the dysfunctional departments were streamlined and the plan was made to develop the whole campus on the requirement of a full-fledged Medical College based on MCI requirements.
Earlier on August 19, 1983, the government through an act of legislature had accorded the deemed university status to SKIMS.
“Its growth was swift. Till 1989 it grew much faster than any other health facility in India. We worked extraordinarily hard to make turn it into Deemed University. There were many medical procedures which set precedent in the institution itself,” Dr Khuroo said.
Tumultuous 1990s
In the tumultuous 1990s, the SKIMS played a crucial part in emerging as the last address for survival, especially for trauma patients. There were days when the bullet-hit or the splinter-splattered people would not get beds in the hospital and doctors had to work non-stop round the clock.
“During the 1990s, SKIMS doctors despite being ill-treated at their hospital by unwanted guests performed their duties with full dedication and sincerity,” the erstwhile adviser to Lt Governor, Farooq Khan told the gathering on SKIMS 37 Raising Day. He was a police officer heading the encounter-insurgency unit. “I personally know that during the turbulent ’90s, the institute (SKIMS) was affected very badly. Most of you who were there in the 90s may recall who used to run the institution. It was not the Director SKIMS. Some unwanted guests sitting in one of your rooms used to virtually run the show…SKIMS professionals were maltreated, they were harassed, but they continued to perform their duties. That tells you about fabulous work their teachers have done, who had trained them.”
Dr Khuroo said that unfortunately, after the 1990s the faculty plummeted from 250 to less than 60 as many migrated. “At times it plummeted to 40.”
To cater to footfall with fewer human resources, according to Khuroo, they had to get people vertically within the state at a fast pace as it was an urgent need.
“We could not repair equipment as people were unwilling to come to Kashmir and even buy new ones. We were badly affected due to it,” he said.
During his tenure as Director SKIMS, times were hard. “The local faculty kept the institutions functional along with thousands of employees. Many people including myself had to migrate in 1996 besides Pandits due to deteriorating security conditions. The local young faculty kept it functioning.”
The 1990s meant trouble from various quarters for the doctors and paramedical staff. Many times, SKIMS employees had to reach the hospital in the night hours amid curfews in place.
“During the early 1990s, being involved with tertiary care meant a call at any time of the hour. There were times when I left home early in the morning and come late. The security officials along the route would threaten me with a gun pointed towards me till I showed my identity card,” a senior SKIMS doctor wishing anonymity said. “During that era, the infrastructure became dilapidated, however, the government chipped in. We kept the ship sailing and prevented it from sinking.
In the early 2000s, the Mufti Sayeed-led coalition government took over the affairs of the hospital after rescinding the government orders from the 1970s.
The decision was challenged in the court but the judiciary sided with the government. A few patches of land initially granted by some members of the Abdullah family had been compensated while they had turned the Drug Research Laboratory at Maulana Azad Road into the Ali Jan Shopping Complex. The Court said the Trust’s desire to lease out the Kashmir Nursing Home to a third party had led to the Mufti government’s rescinding of the series of 1970s government orders.
Present Status
In July 2022, the government reconstituted SKIMS Governing Body with Lt Governor as chairman. The other members of the body include his Advisor(s) the Chief Secretary, the Union Health Secretary, the Secretary, the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology Government of India; the Director, AIIMS New Delhi (or one of his Deans in the absence of Director, AIIMS); Principal, Government Medical College Srinagar; Principal, Government Medical College Jammu and Principal SKIMS Medical College Bemina as its members.
Currently, SKIMS is manned by 5000 odd employees and incorporates more than 50 departments. The medical faculty of each department consists of Professors, Additional Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, and Senior and Junior residents where the senior-most professor functions as the head. The hospital is catering to 20,000 patients in 24 hours. Currently, the institute has 1200 odd-bed capacity with a requirement of 1000 beds still felt to cater to patient demand.
SKIMS, a deemed university offers post-doc degrees including Doctorate in Medicine (DM) courses; Magister Chirurgia courses; Doctorate of National Board courses; Doctor of Philosophy courses. At the PG level, the SKIMS offers Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) courses in all the major medical departments. Besides, the institute offers Master of Science courses as well as Bachelor of Science courses. At the undergraduate medical courses level, the SKIMS offers MBBS; MSc Nursing and BSc Nursing courses.
In 1988, the Journal of Medical Sciences (JMS) was started by SKIMS, which publishes in all categories of medical research work, together with invited articles/editorials from the doyens in varied specialities (native and abroad).
A former SKIMS Director, wishing anonymity said during his tenure he never had to deal with any of the Chief Ministers but only with the governors. “To me personally, the stripping of autonomy will not impact its functionality as the institute itself is a force to reckon with,” he said.
Recently when the LG administration asked the SKIMS to route its files through the health department, it was angrily reacted from various sides. “SKIMS should be a college now. That is what is happening to everything in Kashmir. First the university’s academic independence and now this institute,” former minister Naeem Akhter said. “The roller is on. They are trying to have a bonsai garden and reduce people to Lilliput size. It was a deemed university with autonomy.”
The Director, according to Akhtar, never reported to Health Department in the past as it had direct contact with the Chief Minister. Off late, the SKIMS Raising Day on December 5, has been a lacklustre event.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Dr AK Mehta formally inaugurated the SKIMS Cath lab on February 11, 2023.Pic: SKIMS
Even the veterans who have served the institution for their entire life are concerned. “Once the autonomy goes, the SKIMS will be reduced to a medical facility,” Dr Shikeh Aijaz Ahmad, former head of the oncology department said. “While we expect that the institution must grow, I am unable to understand why there are efforts to undo a medical university.
Insiders, however, said the situation on the ground has not changed. “It was way back in 1997 when SKIMS was tagged with health and medical education,” one insider in the government said. “However, it did not impact the status of the Director who remained ex-officio secretary to the government. It has not even changed now even though there were at least instances in the recent past when the ex-officio secretary status was stripped from the director.” If these insiders are to be believed then the files are still directly submitted to the Chief Secretary and not routed through Secretary of Health.
The Research Side
What makes the SKIMS different is that a lot research is also transacted while treating the patients. In 2020, when Stanford University came out with its list of the world’s top two per cent scientists, there were four Kashmiris – among whom, two were from SKIMS – gastroenterologist Dr Khuroo, and pulmonologist Dr Parvaiz A Koul – one a former director and another, the incumbent director.
In 2015, Dr Sameer Naqash, prominent Surgeon head of the upper GI Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic surgery unit at SKIMS was invited as a guest speaker at Prestigious International Gastric Cancer Congress, the highest international forum on gastric cancer in the world, which was held in Verona, Italy.
In January 2022, Hyder Mir, Scientist ‘C’ while working on Global Influenza Hospital Surveillance Network at SKIMS bagged the 2021 first MENA-ISN Research Award for his paper.
Dr Manijha Yaqoob, a Physician Scientist at Roche USA, started her successful medical professional from SKIMS.
“There are countless instances of SKIMS doctors making small or major intervention that is part of medical practices,” one doctor said. For commoners in Kashmir, however, it is the last address for a healthy survival or a dignified death. A general belief on the ground is that disturbing the autonomy of a major health facility is not a good idea.
Performing many firsts in the medical field in Jammu and Kashmir, the SKIMS is faced with two All India Institute of Medical Science facilities coming up, one each, in Jammu and Kashmir divisions. Would the clipped autonomy help SKIMS sustain its numero uno status or not, only time would tell.
While Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh continues to elude the Punjab police, hundreds are behind bars ever since the crackdown started on March 18.
The National Security Act (NSA) has been imposed on four of his aides – Daljeet Singh Kalsi, Bhagwant Singh, Gurmeet Singh, and ‘Pradhanmantri’ Bajeka. They are currently being lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, while Amritpal Singh’s uncle Harjit Singh was arrested on Monday.
Amritpal Singh vs Punjab police
Amritpal Singh came into the national public eye when viral videos surfaced when his followers clashed with officials of Ajnala police station where one of his close aid Lovepreet Singh Toofan was lodged.
Amritpal Singh and followers of his radical S!kh organization had gathered outside the Ajnala Police station after the arrest of his close aid Lovepreet Singh Toofan.Heavily-armed Amritpal supporters take over Ajnala PS in Punjab after clashing with & overwhelming Police. pic.twitter.com/cHO3SZKdux
They broke the police barricades and attacked with sharp objects while using Guru GranthSahib, the holy book for the Sikh community, as a shield.
Following a court’s order, Lovepreet Toofan was finally released on February 24. Pictures of him with Amritpal Singh along with other members visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar were shared on social media platforms.
The sudden meteoric rise of the Khalistani leader, now declared a fugitive by the Punjab Police is as interesting as how he evaded police arrest on Saturday.
‘Waris Punjab De’
Deep Sidhu
Translated as ‘heirs of Punjab’, the organisation was founded by the late lawyer actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu on September 30, 2021.
Sidhu described the organisation as one that would protect and fight for the rights of the people of Punjab.
“This is for those who are not satisfied with the social reality of current Punjab. It is a social platform, not a poll gimmick. We are not supporting any political party. Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, it is for all those who will fight with us for the rights of Punjab. Before 1947, we lived together in harmony, but the British snatched that brotherhood from us. Our Gurus fought against casteism,” Sidhu had said at the launch.
The Punjabi actor, who was arrested in connection with the violence at Red Fort during the 2020-2021 protest against the now-repealed controversial farm laws, died in a road crash near the Delhi border.
Who is Amritpal Singh
Born in Amritsar’s Jallupur Khera village in 1993, Amritpal Singh is a Dubai returnee hailing from a business family.
He describes himself as a Khalistani and influenced by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was killed during the Indian Army’s Operation Bluestar in 1984, finally leading to the assassination of India’s then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and ultimately the massacre of Sikhs.
Amritpal Singh before his transition as a radical leader
The once metrosexual Amritpal Singh now spots a heavy beard with a blue turban and is escorted by armed men.
Many say he copies Bhindranwale. However, in an interview, Amritpal Singh denied this but confessed he is inspired by him.
“Bhindranwale is my inspiration. I will walk the path shown by him. I want to be like him because that’s what every Sikh wants, but I am not copying him. I am not even equal to dust on his feet,” said Amritpal.
After Sidhu’s death, Amritpal Singh took over the reins. The ‘Dastaar bandi’ ceremony (a formal Sikh baptism) in Bhindranwale’s ancestral village Rode of Moga district was held on September 29 last year.
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale (left) and Amritpal Singh during ‘Dastaar bandi’ ceremony
Amritpal Singh transformed Waris Punjab De’s ideology to an open call for a separate state and urged young Sikhs to take up arms to fight for their rights, dissimilar to Sidhu’s ideology. According to Amritpal Singh, a separate state is the ‘only’ solution for Punjab’s issues mainly drug abuse.
This is not Sidhu’s Waris Punjab De: Family
Deep Sidhu’s family has cautiously distanced themselves from Amritpal Singh and his organisation. According to them, they were unaware of his ascent.
Sidhu’s elder brother Mandeep Singh Sidhu told The Indian Express, “We never met him before. Deep too never met him. He was in touch with Deep over the phone for some time but later Deep blocked him. We do not know how he declared himself as head of my brother’s organisation. He is misusing our name to propagate anti-social activities. He somehow got access to my brother’s social media accounts and started posting on them.”
“My brother made this organisation for a social cause, to raise issues of Punjab and to provide legal aid to the needy, not to propagate Khalistan. Amritpal is talking about creating unrest in Punjab. He is befooling people using my brother’s and Khalistan’s name. My brother was not a separatist,” Mandeep was quoted by Indian Express.
