On 1 Jan 1938, amidst the build up to the Second World War, Allama Iqbal made a passionate condemnation of imperialism in a New York message broadcast on All-India Radio.
It was just a few months before his death.
"The tyranny of Imperialism struts abroad, covering its face in the masks of Democracy, Nationalism, Communism, Fascism and heaven knows what else besides.

Under this masks, in every corner of the earth, the spirit of freedom and the dignity of man are being trampled underfoot.
The so-called Statesmen to home government and leadership of man were entrusted have proved demons of bloodshed, tyranny and oppression.

The rulers whose duty was to protect and cherish those ideals which go from a higher humanity, to prevent man's oppression of man
and to elevate the moral intellectual level of mankind have in their hunger for dominion and imperial possession shed the blood of millions and reduced millions to servitude simply in order to pander to the greed and avarice of their own particular groups.
After subjugating and establishing their dominion over weaker peoples, they have robbed them of their religions, their morals, of their cultural traditions and their literatures.
Then they sowed divisions among them that they should shed one another's blood, and go to sleep under the opiate of serfdom, so that the leech of imperialism might go on sucking their blood without interruption."

84 years later, this message is as relevant, perhaps more.

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More from @_Shams11

2 Jan
January 1 marks the birth anniversary of the poet-politician who refused to sign the Indian Constitution, Maulana Hasrat Mohani.

He was elected as a member to the constituent assembly tasked with framing the Constitution of India. Image
During the Constituent Assembly debates, Maulana emerged as one of the most outspoken critics.

He believed that the Constitution should be drafted by the genuine representatives of people, not those who were privileged enough to have the right of franchise during British rule.
On Nov 26, 1949 when the Indian Constituent adopted the Constitution of India, he was the only member to register his dissent.

Pt. Nehru rushed to his desk and said:
"Maulana,what are you doing? Your only vote against the proposed Constitution will become a part of the history."
Read 16 tweets
31 Dec 21
So, an "emergency" law that is an instrument of discrimination and high handedness continues to be imposed indefinitely in #Nagaland,
even after 17 Naga coal miners recently joined the long list of innocents killed by the armed forces.
Modeled after the colonial-era Ordinance to suppress the Quit India movement, #AFSPA was first enforced in 1958 by Pandit Nehru to battle the Naga separatists in the then undivided state of Assam.

The then Home Minister, Pt. GB Pant (Congress) explained the reason for the Bill:
"This is a very simple measure. It only seeks to protect the steps that the armed forces might have to take in disturbed areas."

(a "simple measure" when an army personnel can fire on mere suspicion and no prosecution or legal proceedings shall be instituted, except with the
Read 8 tweets
28 Nov 21
This image of the infamous "Afghan Girl" is a fine lesson in how journalistic images can often be orchestrated and why we shouldn’t let them colour our perception.

For millions she represents the suffering of children in war and the consequences of conflict on ordinary people.
In reality, the "haunted eyes" were not "reflecting the fear of war" but the fear of her personal boundaries being reached and her beliefs being trampled on by an unfamiliar male photographer in an exploitative situation, grossly violating her agency and consent.
To put it simply, on seeing this blue-eyed girl in her school, the photographer asked her teacher to *instruct* her to cooperate.

Later, the girl was pushed out of her comfort zone, pressurized into looking him in the eyes and *revealing* her face, so as to be photographed.
Read 6 tweets
21 Sep 21
The deadliest episode of communal violence after Independence was that of Ahmedabad in 1969, the Birth Centenary Year of Mahatma Gandhi.

This happened when Congress was in power at the Centre (Indira Gandhi), state (Hitendra Desai, CM) and in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.
From the 1960s, communal passions had already been simmering in Ahmedabad with numerous 'minor incidents' of rioting having been recorded.

With the decline of the textile mills of Gujarat, economic insecurity fuelled hostility against the Muslim textile workers.
Another part of the context was the anger left by the Indo-Pak war of 1965 and the accidental death of the state's Chief Minister during the war, which found expression against local Muslims.

Peaceful procession organized by Muslims against the damages to Al-Aqsa mosque was...
Read 40 tweets
15 Sep 21
Hindu bias elements in the Indian Constitution:

Article 1: Name and territory of the Union (1) India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States

The naming of India as Bharat reflected the power of the Hindutva-minded sections of the Constituent Assembly who wanted the name...
...to reflect the ancient pre-British and pre-Muslim era of a 'glorius' Hindu past.

The symbolic significance of 'Bharat' in the opening article was meant to suggest a sense of Hindu ownership of the new India- the India which was perceived to have achieved self-rule after...
...centuries of foreign rule.
The name Bharat signified the birth of a new India, with whose government and state the Hindus felt a sense of identification.
Read 23 tweets
7 Sep 21
Communal killings in Hyderabad, 1983

On September 7, a mentally handicapped Muslim leaving a mosque threw a stone at a Hindu temple.
This incident of stone throwing at the temple created tension in the area and the man was arrested immediately.
On 8 September, as revenge, a mosque in the compound of Allwyn factory was desecrated by P.Narendra (BJP MLA) and his men.

An idol was installed inside and pictures of Hindu gods were put up. The fans were damaged and the copies of the Koran were thrown into an ablution tank.
Soon the news spread and the AIMIM gave a call for bandh.

When the Chief Minister Mr. N.T. Rama Rao came to know about the bandh call, he called a meeting of the Majlis leaders and requested them to withdraw the call.
Read 16 tweets

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