Lakshadweep – Another Victim of the Hindutva Agenda

Mafazah Sharafuddin
May 28, 2021

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Several controversial legislative proposals in Lakshadweep have given way to protests by the indigenous population of the island. The legislation are said to attack their livelihood and lifestyle, and the locals of the island are fighting back. 

Praful Patel was appointed administrator of Lakshadweep in December 2020. Unlike what is customary, he is not an IAS officer and was formerly a BJP MP. He served as Home Minister of Gujarat while PM Modi was Chief Minister. He replaced Amit Shah after he resigned following the accusation of Sohrabuddin Sheikh Shah’s alleged extra-judicial killing. 

Prior to this, he was also Administrator in Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Like the legislations being protested in in Lakshadweep at the moment, they, too, saw a series of attacks against the livelihood of the indigenous people. 

A few of the legislations being implemented in Lakshadweep are the ban of cow, bull, calf slaughter and the ban of storage and selling of beef, the legalization of alcohol, the inability for anyone with more than two children to contest elections etc. There are also some very contentious policies about land ownership and modification. 

When taken individually, while they are still arbitrary and unnecessary, they seem almost innocuous. The sinister idea is visible only when one looks at them all at once. The big picture, as it has been since 2014 for Indian Muslims, is grim. 

Lakshadweep has an overwhelming majority of Muslims, standing at over 95% of the total populace. In addition to this, over 94% come under Scheduled Tribes. 

Keeping this in mind, it is not surprising that the archipelago does not see the sale of alcohol, and sees no issue with the consumption of beef. With the current push for a Brahmin-centered Hindutva ideology, mainland India’s obsession with homogeneity has not quite reached the island yet. 

Praful Patel’s policies have been called ‘anti-people.’ The people of Lakshadweep have accused him of taking advantage of the fact that people are unable to mobilize at the moment due to COVID to implement policies that hurt the indigenous people of Lakshadweep. They say that it not only destroys their livelihood, but also their culture. The internet has been taken by a storm of activists tweeting #SaveLakshadweep and demanding the recall of Praful Patel. 

The BJP does not keep their biases a secret. From the changing of the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj, the whole fiasco surrounding the destruction of Babri masjid, the various open statements by Pragya Thakur to the CAA-NRC conflict, their stance is clear. It has been clear for decades, now. 

When Article 370 was abrogated and Kashmir was put into lockdown, India expected it to be an exception to the rule. That the same could not occur in the rest of India. After all, Kashmir has been disputed land right from the time of independence. The atrocities committed in Kashmir, internationally acknowledged as human rights violations, seemed disconnected from India to a huge number of Indians. 

The jailing of student activists fighting against the CAA-NRC, the suppression of dissent, the lathi charges during protests, the existence of UAPA are all symptoms of a larger problem. The legislations in Lakshadweep are the latest in a long line of a bigoted pattern falling into place. 

When British colonizers went to America, they had several ways of suppressing the indigenous people, the Native Americans. One of the lesser known of them was bison hunting. Since bison, or buffaloes, were the primary food source for the Native Americans, the colonizers took to large scale hunting of bison. A slogan popularized by the colonizer army was “Kill every buffalo you can. Every buffalo dead is an Indian [Native American] gone.”

The act of genocide does not only involve brutal massacre. It is larger than that. It a systemic thing. It is an attempt to rewrite history and omit a community’s existence in that land. Erasure of culture is the first step to genocide. 

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News Network
March 28,2025

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Millions of people across Iran and the world took to the streets on International Quds Day, expressing solidarity with Palestinians and condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and head of the Intifada Committee in Tehran, stated that rallies began at 10:00 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) in over 900 cities across Iran.

Demonstrators from various walks of life carried Iranian and Palestinian flags, as well as banners reading “Free Palestine” and “Al-Quds Must Be Liberated.” Flags of regional resistance groups, including Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (Hashd al-Sha'abi), Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Yemen’s Ansarullah, were also displayed.

Mass rallies were held across West Asia, including in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, as well as in other parts of the world.

Iranian Leaders Condemn Western Stance

Senior Iranian officials participated in the rally in Tehran, where Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf addressed the gathering.

“Iranians have taken to the streets in a massive show of support for Palestine and the Islamic Ummah,” Qalibaf said. “The Palestinian struggle is not just an issue for the Islamic world but a lesson for all of humanity.”

He criticized the West’s response to Israeli actions in Gaza, calling it a stain on Western civilization. “These crimes will be remembered as a lasting ignominy, exposing the West’s duplicity in human rights advocacy,” he added.

Qalibaf also defended the October 7, 2023, Palestinian attack on Israeli-occupied territories, describing Operation al-Aqsa Flood as a “rightful and legitimate response to 77 years of oppression by Israel, the U.S., and Britain.” He further described Israel as a “spare regime” dependent on U.S. support.

Quds Day: A Global Symbol of Resistance

Al-Quds Day, observed annually on the last Friday of Ramadan, was established in 1979 by the late Imam Khomeini to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians and oppose Israeli occupation. The event has since become a symbol of resistance, with large rallies held worldwide, particularly amid Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

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News Network
March 20,2025

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Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s renewed savagery has led to the massacre of at least 970 people in 48 hours.

The wave of deadly airstrikes that shattered a fragile ceasefire in Gaza on Tuesday has so far claimed the lives of at least 970 people across the besieged territory, the health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Before the resumption of the offensive, the death toll from the regime’s 15 months of genocidal war recorded by the ministry at midday on March 17 stood at 48,577.

By midday on Wednesday, the figure had risen to 49,547, the ministry said.

The health ministry also registered "one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions.”

It said Israel attacked a UN headquarters in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.

The victims had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, the health ministry said.

Israel's military denied attacking a UN building in Gaza.

The UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) confirmed the death of one of its staff by an explosive that was "dropped or fired" on its building in Deir el-Balah.

"An explosive ordnance was dropped or fired at the infrastructure and detonated inside the building,” it said, adding that five others were injured.

UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said he was "shocked and devastated" by the death of a staff member.

“This was not an accident.”  he said, adding that "attacks against humanitarian premises are a breach of international law."

Bulgaria's foreign ministry said later in the day that one of its citizens working for the United Nations was killed in Gaza, without specifying where in the territory.

Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel threatened on Tuesday that the massacre of women and children in Gaza was “only the beginning.” He stands accused of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

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News Network
March 20,2025

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Hyderabad: A police case has been registered in Telangana against 25 celebrities, including prominent actors Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Devarakonda, and Manchu Lakshmi, for allegedly endorsing illegal betting apps. The FIR was lodged following a complaint by businessman Phanindra Sarma.

The list of accused celebrities and influencers also includes Praneetha, Nidhi Agarwal, Ananya Nagalla, Siri Hanumanthu, Sreemukhi, Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shoba Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padhmavathi, Imran Khan, Vishnu Priya, Harsha Sai, Sunny Yadav, Shyamala, Tasty Teja, and Bandaru Sheshayani Supritha.

According to the FIR, these individuals promoted betting platforms through social media advertisements, encouraging users to invest money in illegal online gambling. "These platforms deal with transactions worth thousands of lakhs of rupees, pushing several families—especially from middle-class and lower-middle-class backgrounds—into financial distress," states the complaint.

The complainant alleged that many people have lost their savings due to these apps. He claimed that he himself almost deposited money on one such platform but refrained after being warned by his family. The FIR further accuses the celebrities of accepting substantial remuneration to endorse these apps, thereby influencing the public—particularly those facing financial hardship—to invest and eventually fall into addiction, leading to severe financial consequences.

The case has been registered under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, and applicable state laws concerning cheating and online fraud.

Reacting to the FIR, actor Prakash Raj clarified that he had endorsed such a platform back in 2015 but opted out within a year. He stated that he is currently gathering more details about the case.

This development comes amid heightened scrutiny of Telugu cinema celebrities. Notably, it follows the controversial arrest of Allu Arjun in December after a tragic incident at the premiere of Pushpa 2: The Rule in Hyderabad, where a woman lost her life due to a chaotic crowd surge. Police had claimed the actor’s presence at the event was unplanned and that no security measures were in place to control the large turnout.

The arrest of Allu Arjun had ignited a heated debate, drawing criticism from political opponents of the ruling Congress and key figures in the film industry. In response to the controversy, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy met with a delegation of filmmakers and actors, reassuring them of the state’s support for the film industry while asserting that law and order would remain a priority.

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