The World is turning against Modi government

The World is turning against Modi Government

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The four largest blocs within the 751-member European Parliament (EP) have tabled Six Resolutions related to India’s Citizenship Amendment Act and India’s Kashmir situation. 

The different groups that have tabled the resolutions are working overtime for a consensus draft text and are confident to gain majority votes and then hand over to the European Commission (EC) for its consideration.

The Strasbourg-based EP is an independent body and one of the seven institutions of the EU. It is made up of 751 members that are elected by the 28 member states of the enlarged European Union (EU).

The EU’s ultimate decision-making body is the EC which comprises the heads of state or government of all EU countries and the EP resolutions are not legally binding on the country concerned because in matters related to foreign policy and security, EC is the supreme authority.

Notwithstanding, if any such resolutions of EP go through the motion of EC and any action taken in this regard can make a huge impact. It can be a matter of shame for India as a nation and will reflect upon the government of the day sitting in judgment to guide the destiny of this great nation.

The current move of the members of EP comes weeks after the Indian government conducted a guided tour of 23 members, mostly right wing of the European Parliament. India also took a group of 15 envoys to Jammu and Kashmir earlier in January.

Even though the group included US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster, envoys from European countries declined to participate as they are keen on making a “surprise visit” rather than a planned one to assess the “real situation” in Kashmir.

All these developments have put the current government in spot and have engaged its high level officials to do the damage control exercise. Indian ‘Babus’ have issued statement condemning members of European Parliament and said it is meddling into the India’s internal affairs.

The officials issued statement saying actions taken by the EP is “not legally binding” on India and the onus is on EC to accept its resolutions or not.

India has activated diplomatic channels to ensure the EC does not take any action against India and the resolutions gets nib in the bud.

Meanwhile, the resolutions tabled before the European Parliament has termed India’s Citizen Amendment Act as “discriminatory”. They also said the CAA “does not make reference to the other countries that border India, particularly Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It excludes minorities such as the Sri Lankan Tamils, who currently form the largest refugee group in India, and the Rohingya from Myanmar, who, according to the UN, are the world’s most persecuted minority”.

Most of the resolutions taken up by the members of the EP are scathingly critical of the CAA, while some also criticize the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and about the life and liberty of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

The resolution by the EPP Group, the largest group with 182 EP members say, the law could have negative consequences for “India’s international image and internal stability”.

The most critical is the resolution moved by the S&D Group, the second largest group with 154 EP members which states that the CAA has the potential to “create the largest statelessness crisis in the world”.

These resolutions can increase pressure on the Indian government at a time when the country is grappling with strong criticism from Western powers, including key European Union (EU) members such as Germany. Germany has been critical of India handling of the situation in Kashmir, the citizenship law, and the NRC implementation in Assam.

The EU has already expressed concern about the situation in Kashmir. A visit to the region by EU countries envoys is currently being discussed by the external affairs ministry and the EU mission in New Delhi.

The anti CAA resolutions are coming up at EP a crucial time when the Indian Prime Minister is expected to visit Brussels for the India-EU Summit on March 13. His itinerary has made one of the groups of member of EP to suggest in one of its resolution that the CAA matter should be raised during Indian Prime Minister’s visit to EU Summit.

The EU is India’s largest trading partner, accounting for 92 billion euros worth of trade in goods in 2018 or 12.9% of total Indian trade. It is also a key source of inward FDI, which was worth 5 billion euros in 2014.  The EU is also the leading destination for Indian exports, almost 18% of the total value.

International worry of India is not going to end with pacifying the EC or European Union. In April 2020, Organization of Islamic Conference is holding a special meeting in Islamabad on the situation in Kashmir, India’s citizenship laws as it all affects the Muslims in India.

The OIC comprises of 57 Muslim countries and is believed to be the protector of ‘UMMA’ united by all those who swears by One Allah, One Prophet One Holy Book. 

At the OIC meet it is for sure the issue of an Indian Security staff showing his contempt for Islam maybe raised as he is heard telling a waling Muslim “Now call your Allah to protect you.”

It is expected that at the OIC meet the Indian argument of “internal matter” may be countered as OIC is duty bound to protect persecuted Muslims anywhere in the world it is a matter of Islamic ‘Umma’. 

Well we may like it or not, the action of the current government has set the cat among the pigeon. Its actions like abrogation of article 370 in Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, one sided judgment on the Babari Masjid dispute, the Citizenship Amendment Act, the National People’s Register, and the National Citizen Register all has stirred a hornet’s nest.

The international community is incensed by the ‘Third Reich’, like rule in India operational since 2014.  The debate is on how these developments are going to wind up. Some say, it will fold up with Tienanmen Square kind of finish happening at many places in the country. Others say, India will see an era of Apartheid where countries will put pressure on India roll back its discriminatory laws. Other say, India may face sanctions from US, EU and OIC. Further on this some say, there will be an internal emergency imposed on the country soon.

Whatever may be the outcome of this unfolding drama, one thing that is positive about it is the way common Indian are united for such a cause.  This is unprecedented since the days of India’s freedom struggle. This is a moment of reckoning in India and it’s heartwarming.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

Is Davinder Singh made a Sacrificial Lamb?

Is Davinder Singh made a Sacrificial Lamb?

Syed Ali Mujtaba

The story that is fed through media that a Sikh officer was caught ferrying three terrorists out of the Kashmir valley, with alleged intention to disturb the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi has something deeper than the arrest of a DSP Davinder Singh from the Union Territory of  Jammu & Kashmir.

Let’s read the story once again; “Davinder Singh, posted as the deputy superintendent of police, was arrested along with Naveed Babu, self-styled district commander of banned Hizbul Mujahideen, a new recruit Atif and an advocate Irfan Mir. The four were caught with arms and ammunition while they were travelling in a car near Qazigund, on the national highway in South Kashmir.”

This childish story when read in cold print or coming from the mouth of news anchors on Television, evokes grin on the face and laughter of the lips because it can not be swallowed  without a pinch of salt.

How come, overnight a mid-ranking police officer who played a high profile in the conflict zone of J&K can become a black sheep and get arrested so childishly. Since the antecedents of this story cannot be independently verified, the first reaction is there is something fishy in this  reportage. It appears that this story is deliberately planted by the security agencies to ‘cover-up’ to some goof up in the counter terror operations in  J&K. 

As Davinder Singh story is hogging the lime light in the media, it is essential to go into the merits of this case and come out with some conjectures that our mind can digest?

There are five theories that can be built around Davinder Singh’s arrest case. The first is he was the cop who had links with terrorists and the state police intercepted his car on the national highway and arrested him along with three so called terrorists.

This story hardly appeals to human senses and raises questions that triggers our mind like busy bees making it to probe deeper into the varsity of this planted scoop.

This high profile cop who a few days ago was seen near the aircraft that disembarked foreign diplomats to Srinagar to assess the situation in the valley, suddenly gets arrested a few days later,  that too in a casual way sounds mysterious.  

Over night this poster boy of J&K police becomes a anti national and double agent who is hand in gloves with the terrorists. In a conflict zone like Kashmir, where even every civilian’s activity is marked by security sleuths, how come a uniformed police officer be allowed to operate without any surveillance? Certainly this baloney story deserves to be archived for journalism students to cite as examples of concocted and peddled stories in their term papers.  

The second theory is Davinder Singh was a corrupt police officer who can do anything for money. He worked for money, irrespective of the source of funding.  This theory by default makes Davinder Singh an entrepreneur cop who was making best use of the conflict situation.

Some facts are issued by the source to support the entrepreneur cop theory fails the test of logic and raises the fundamental questions; how a police officer with dubious records is allowed to function that too in such a high profile way in an extremely sensitive zone of conflict. So the entrepreneur theory looks blatantly untrue as again this is a one sided account peddled as true. 

The third theory that is making rounds is that Davinder Singh was working for some intelligence agency and has become victim of inter services rivalries while operating in the conflict situation. This theory looks more palatable if we link it with the words of Davinder Singh, who when questioned before  his arrest said, ‘this is a game and asked the sleuths not to spoil this game.'

 This means that this J&K cop was on a mission for any intelligence agency maybe secret police, administrative agencies, RAW, IB, bureaucracy etc. and was was taken as suspect due to lack of coordination among the secret services.  Such situation is common in a conflict situation is not un common where many state actors are at work but not necessarily in tandem and sometimes even at cross purposes with others with an intention to score some brownie points.

The fourth theory is that Davinder Singh was a pawn in government’s deep state operations. A deep state is a form of clandestine government’s operation made up of hidden or covert networks of power operates working independently n pursuit of some hidden agenda. The deep state agents are parallel operators who may work in opposition to the publicly stated agenda of the government. The government uses such  agents to pursue its hidden objectives. In return the agents gets job security, enhanced power and gains or favors from the government. 

In Davinder Singh case, the hidden objective was to bring some militants to the national capital through state channel and then plant a story in the media of government foiling a terrorist attack in Delhi on the eve of Republic day parade.

The deep state theory looks more palatable and exposes the chinks in the counter terror operations in J&K. It appears that there was a total lack of coordination among the nuts and bolts of deep state operators which had led to this goof up and Davinder Singh was sacrificed on the altar of deep state conspiracy.

The last theory has religious overtones and is related to the Sikh by faith of the J&K cop.  Davinder Singh was picked up because the Sikh community in J&K is siding with the overwhelming Kashmiri sentiments against the abrogation of Article 370. His faith seems to have irked the Central government that hatched up a conspiracy to trap him to set an example for other Sikhs to learn lessons from his arrest. As we know that  this is is a very sensitive theory but its true that it sets the cat before the pigeon. 

The latest news about Davinder Singh’s story is, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has received orders from the Union Home Ministry to register a case against J&K cop and others and it has started the investigation.

Well such probes will always be as one sided as the story being circulated in the media and it will never bring the real truth into the public domain. This is more so when there is some tacit involvement of the intelligence agencies or the central government in such cases. In sum, Davinder Singh has been put behind bars to cover up something fishy and has been made a sacrificial lamb.

    

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

“Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive but to be young was very heaven.”

“Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive but to be young was very heaven.”

Syed Ali Mujtaba

It’s a season of protest in India. The season began with the brave JNU students started protesting against the arbitrary fee hike since October 28 – mainly over the administration's decision to hike the hostel charges mid-session with a new manual.

The students were taken aback and started protesting first in the campus and then led the protest march to Parliament and Rashtrapati Bhawan. In the process they  were beaten up mercilessly by the police but defied the orders and kept on protesting. Their defiance continued till the government announced withdrawal of the fee hike and sought truce with students.

 As JNU students were winding up their protests, the BJP government came with the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Parliament. They hurriedly passed the bill in the Parliament and made it into an Act. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) triggered a protest in Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh in UP.

The CAA allowed Hindu, Christian, Parasi, Jain and Sikh from the neighboring countries to be eligible for Indian citizenship but omitted persecuted Muslims to be included in the government’s largesse of issuing citizenship. The communal nature of the CAA denying citizenship to Muslims while granting same to others was the main reason of the protest in the Muslim dominated University campuses of Jamia Millia and AMU.

The anti CAA protesters were brutally beaten up by the police forces that barged into these campuses and thrashed the students for protesting against the controversial Act.

This triggered a sympathy wave among the fellow students elsewhere and a wave of protests erupted in the entire nation. As all this was going on, some masked people entered the JNU campus and selectively picked up students belonging to left likening and brutally beat them up with iron rods and wooden sticks. This brutality on the innocent students further incensed the student’s community all over the country and there was further ground swell of mass support to anti CAA protesters. 

In fact the rank and file of anti CAA protesters bulging each day and in comparison to 5 lakh missed calls that the government has managed in CAA support, courtesy telecom operators, looked a pie in the sky. It was a delight to watch the protesters defying all odds and protesting against the CAA all over the country.

Their protest was against the government to temper with the preamble of the constitution that calls India secular and democratic republic. The protest was all about a secular country granting citizenship to people of the other country on the basis of their religion and denying the same to people Islamic faith? 

The protest was about government’s arrogance to be judgmental in deciding the citizen of few countries and declaring them to being persecuted minority and making law to grant them citizenship.  

The protesters argued that how the government of the day has come to the conclusion that the Muslim majority countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are persecuting their non-Muslims citizens and in Malaysia and Indonesia, which are Muslim majority countries non-Muslim citizens are being treated well. The protesters were asking does the Parliamentary majority have given the government the powers to foist its communal agenda on the secular fabric of the country.  

It is apparent in a crystal clear way that India is undergoing a metamorphosis, an ideological war between two sets of people. This tussle is between a section of the society that believes in composite culture, unity in diversity and peaceful coexistence, while other section envisages a Hindu India, based on religious supremacy of Hindus and subservience of Muslims.  

The way the Hindu nationalist has built their momentum since the demolition of the Babari mosque is quite phenomenal. They are emboldened lot and have little regard for constitutionalism and want to govern the country according to their world view of Hindu nationalism.

The Hindu nationalists want to supplant the secular vision of the country with their own world view and in the process monopolize the power structure of the country. Their message is quite clear that they want to see a tectonic change in the power structure and they may like to rule the country with their ideological vision of Hindu nationalism.  In the process they have built a strong support base and that was reflected in the national mandate of 2019.

It is in this scheme of things that the Citizenship Amendment Act was brought out by the BJP government. Some see its linkages with the National Citizen Register (NCR) of Assam where some 20 lakh people are going to denied citizenship of which 16 lakh are Hindus. In order to help the Hindus the CAA is brought in to make the Hindu migrants into Assam Indian  citizen, whereas denying the same to some 4 lakh Muslims who may be sent to detention camps and forfeit their right to vote.  

After the CAA the government wants bring in National People’s Register (NPR) and National Citizen Register (NCR) for the whole country to audit the identity and citizenship status of all the Indians.

This is the real agenda of the current government and that is to turn India from a secular country into a Hindu country where only Hindus will enjoy the citizenship rights and other minorities particularly Muslims will be made subservient citizen to the Hindus.   

These apprehensions were the main reasons of the massive protests currently seen in the country. As we are seeing there is no letup in the protest that so far has taken more than 18 live in the country.

The emerging situation is reminiscent of drank days of emergency of 1975. This state brutality is horrifying. First it was Jamia, then AMU and recently now in JNU where voices of dissent are being silenced through state oppression not only by the police in uniform but also by sponsoring lumpen elements to unleash a reign of terror.

These state repressions have triggered people's protests all over the country. The social unrest has reached its crescendo as it is a fight against those who have captured power through rigged EVMs and now trying to divide the country in the name of Hindu supremacy.  

The ground swell of people against the injustices that is happening in the country is indicative of the fact that they no longer want to remain fence sitter and want a participatory role in n the ongoing political tussle in the country.

So the question being asked is where we go from here? Will the government roll back CAA and make truce with the protesters or continue to ride the high horse of arrogance and say ‘come what may we shall not budge. This means the government would continue to run down the people’s sentiments and use state machinery to suppress the protestors.

 In such case the popular surge is going to grow more and more and boil down to a cudgel between those who have the EVM majority and those who have the majority on the streets. It is an interesting situation where the rulers of the country are going ahead with their own agenda to saffronize the country, the protesters are showing defiance to it and there is no sign of truce to be seen among either side.  

The buzz is that the rigged EVM majority to power is no more going to be tolerated by the people. The spar of protests has crossed the 30 days mark and has intensified instead of fading out.  It looks that that the street protests is a fight to finish against those who are dividing the people in the name of religion and identity.

The CAA protest is gaining new momentum each day as the noises on street is getting louder and aggressive in character. What is apparent is it's a final count down for bringing a political change in the country.

In such season of the protest, the words of William Wordsworth come handy to sum up the mood of the country: “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive but to be young was very heaven.”

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a Journalist based in Chennai. He has done his masters at AMU and PhD from JNU. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com

Project ‘Hindu Rashtra’ has pitted Indians against India

Project ‘Hindu Rashtra’ has pitted Indians against India

Syed Ali Mujtaba

In order to understand the pan India protests currently taking place across the country on the identity and citizenship issue, there is a need to first decode the Hindu political outlook and place it in the context of Indian nation’s formation.

The Hindu identity formation started since late 19th and early 20th centuries. The colonial policies had a big role to play in developing the identity of the Indians. The first step in this was the census of 1872 that defined communities and made them identity conscious. 

The headcount categorized communities on religious and caste lines and also defined their relationship with other communities, making ‘we’ and ‘they’ distinctions.  While on one hand it united Indians under the banner of Indian nationalism, on other it divided them on the basis of caste creed and religious identities. The party and politics further sharpened the identity formation in India.

In this context of identity formation, there emerged different shades of Hindu identity, each competing with other for political supremacy. The first shade of Hindu identity was synonym with Indian nationalism, seeking every entity’s cooperation in the fight against colonialism. This brand of Hindu identity was spearheaded Mahatma Gandhi, the torch bearer of Indian Nationalism with the preaching “Ishwar Allah Tero Nam.”  This shade of Hinduism externally made peace with Islam and internally reached out to the Scheduled Castes to ensure they remain in Hindu fold.

The second stream of Hindu identity was represented by figures like Lala Lajpat Rai and Madan Mohan Malaviya who believed in securing sectarian interests based on their Hindu identity. They did not see Islam as the clear ‘Other’ but believed to have a Hindu political platform to bargain for their interests.

The third stream of Hindu identity was represented by sections of the Arya Samaj and Hindu Mahasabha that harped in the golden ancient past of Hindus. They dub  medieval rule under the Muslim kings as dark period of Indian history because Hindus lost political power in India.  This shade of Hinduism wanted to revive the  glorious past of the Hindus and wanted to foundationally make India a Hindu nation with other religious grouping being a bystanders or side actors.

The fourth stream of Hindu identity was defined by VD Savarkar, the ideologue of the 

current rulers in power i.e the BJP. The main stay of political thinking under this shade of Hinduism was abhorrence towards Islam and Hindu religious nationalism.

Savarkar saw Islam is the main enemy of Indian nationhood and preached annihilation of Muslims to establish Hindu Rastra in India. Muslims should either live as slaves of Hindus or convert themselves to Hinduism to live in India. While this worldview permitted diversity within Hindu fold, it showed utter contempt for religious diversity outside it.

These different shades of Hindu identity are not monolithic or water-tight compartments, but have sufficient rooms for maneuvering to shift the goal posts. However, one thing that’s’ common about all the shades are that they are modern day phenomena with the aim to gain political power and has nothing to do with the Sanatan Dharma or Hindu religion.

It is for the sake of convenience, we divide the shades of Hindu identity into ‘Doves’ and ‘Hawks’ that have remained in tug of war struggling for political supremacy since India’s freedom struggle. During the last stages of freedom movement the Hawks got isolated from the main stream Indian politics primarily due to minorities, dalits and the left siding with the Doves.

The Doves made huge efforts to pull out India from the colonial rule and helped India achieve all round progress and in this the economic liberalization of 1990s being the catalyst. However, Hawks had always preyed on the Doves inventing strategies to unseat them from power.

The Hawks started building the project Hindu Rastra since 80’s and gained momentum with ‘Ram Mandir’ to shore up Hindu identity. The first achievement of the Hawks claimed was the demolition the Babari mosque on December 6, 1992.  As a result of this daylight assault on Indian secularism, the ‘Hawks’  were able to come to power in 1996  first just 13 days, then from 1998 to 1999 for a period of 13 months and finally for a full term from 1999 to 2004.

During 1999 to 2004 period was the BJP rule in India and it was during this period the project Hindu Rastra got another shot in the arm and that was the Gujarat riots in 2002. A spate of violence against Muslims in several places of Gujarat was instigated to avenge the burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, that caused the deaths of some ‘Hindu pilgrims’ returning from Ayodhya.

At that time the Chief Minister of Gujarat was Narendra Modi, and he is accused of abetting the rioters for violence against the Muslims. It is alleged that he made use of the government officials and police force to provide information to the rioters to initiate a communal pogrom against Muslims and to destroy their properties.  The BJP government at the Centre under Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee did nothing to stop the Gujarat riots and it is alleged was hand in gloves for the project Hindu Rastra.

The Gujarat mayhem was the catalyst for Doves came back to power in 2004. It remained in office for two terms and some semblance of social order, peace and harmony was restored during this period but again the Indian pendulum swung to the right from the center and the BJP rested power in 2014.

The work on project Hindu Rastra, again started and Muslims Kashmir and Pakistan become tried and tested glue for the promotion of Hindu Rastra. The first thing the government did was to make ‘Cow’ a mascot for Hindu Rastra. A hyper Hindu religious sentiment was built on cow protection and Muslims were made villain of this piece. Wariness of Islam prompted the cow vigilantes to target Muslims and lynch them in full public view. 

In Kathua in Jammu some Hindus kidnap ‘Asifa’ a Muslim tribal girl and brought her to a Hindu temple to rape and murder her. All this was to create fear in the Muslim community that their life liberty honor is at the mercy of the Hindus.

The project Hindu Rastra further redeemed itself courtesy government policies related to the meat, tannery, leather industry that are  traditionally controlled by the Muslims. This economically hit many Muslim and many were rendered unemployed.

The project Hindu Rastra further gained speed when BJP came back to power with in 2019 with resounding majority. Again Pakistan, Kashmir and Muslims became the war cry of the government.

The Hindu nationalist Prime Minister drummed up hatred against Pakistan to shore up hyper Hindu national identity. He conducted dubious land surgical strike to avenge the terrorist attack on the Indian Army’s camp in Uri. This singular act helped the BJP in the consolidation of Hindu national identity and to win the UP election.

Then the Balakot Air-force attack was done on Pakistan to avenge Phulwama terror attack on Indian forces convoy by allegedly Pakistani terrorists. Even though the success Air attack on Pakistan is being questioned, as India pilot was taken captive and two Indian jets were downed, yet this operation was declared unquestioned victory and helped the BJP came to power with a resounding victory.

Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim majority of the state of India has always been on the hit list of the protagonists of the Hindu Rastra. Buoyed by the Parliamentary majority the government hit on this state by bringing in legislation to abrogate its special powers given to it and to reduce its status to a union territory. 

Since August 5, 2019, undeclared curfew prevails and Kashmiri Muslims are kept hostage under the shadow of the gun. The government is not wary of saying that it has integrated the Muslim majority province into the Indian Union as per the design of the Hindu Rastra.

Muslims of India are the current target of the protagonist of Hindu Rastra. In order to operationalize the project, government of the day brought Citizenship Amendment Act, National People’s Register and National Citizen’s register to hit at the identity of the Indian Muslims. It’s a poly to identify multiple layers of Muslim citizens such as; nationalist, moderates, liberals, suspects and hyper-anti-Indian. The game plan is to create a citizenship register through which it can make targeted assaults on Indian Muslims with ambition to subsume Muslim identity under the Hindu fold or render them stateless.

As the project Hindu Rastra, is traversing its journey, a social unrest has erupted all over India. Muslims along with Hindu ‘Doves’ have come on streets to protest the anti-human policies of the government that buttress the cause of the project Hindu Rastra. There is a vehement opposition to the government’s plan and a massive social unrest is taking place all over India.

As the din and clatter of the protesters against governments diabolic policy is reaching its crescendo, it is seriously being debated whether Hawks will wriggle out from the current public upheaval or Doves are going to replace them. There are two scenarios emerging from the current social unrest. One is that these noises are going to die down and people will accept it as a fait-accompli or the Hawks will be sidelined and Doves will replace them bringing a political change in the country.

At the moment the swing in this tug of war looks can go either way. If the Hawks gain from here, they are sure to further advance the cause of the project Hindu Rastra but if the Doves gain advantage, riding on the momentum of the public protests that is gaining momentum each day, a political change looks in the offing.  India is heading towards a final countdown and this story is developing thick and fast in the country. This story needs to be watched till end, as it plays itself out.

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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com