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Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
CPM: Bengali-Speaking People Harassed In City
New Delhi: Senior CPM functionaries Brinda Karat and Anurag Saxena wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday and alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking citizens in Delhi. Drawing Shah's attention to the ongoing process of identification of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants by Delhi Police and several other agencies, Karat said a team of functionaries of CPM from Delhi visited Bawana JJ Colony in Delhi and met several of the complainants on Thursday. In their letter, the functionaries cited the example of Md Nizamuddin, from Godda district in Jharkhand, who migrated to Delhi several decades ago. "On July 5, a team of police personnel went to his house and accused him of helping a Bangladeshi to get illegal papers. He told police that the tenant stayed there three years ago and he has no contact. However, police returned on July 6 and handcuffed Nizamuddin in full public view, as though he is a hardened criminal, literally dragging him to the thana. This time they accused him of being a Bangladeshi," they claimed. You Can Also Check: Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi The letter claimed that his daughter, Shabnam (28), followed him to the thana and produced all the documents, including the property the family owned in Jharkhand. "However, police beat Nizamuddin, abusing him in filthy language, asking him to confess that he gave shelter to a Bangladeshi or else he would be declared a Bangladeshi." The CPM functionaries claimed that police teams repeatedly visited the family and told them that "all their photographs have been uploaded on a police site and therefore they should expect such police inquiries." In another case, the duo alleged that Sajan Saudagar Das, who lives in the jhuggi settlement in Bawana C Block, was badly beaten at the Pitampura police station by two cops asking him to "confess that he is a Bangladeshi" on May 6. Similarly, the functionaries alleged that on June 26, eight Bengali migrant workers, including a five-year-old child, living and working in Delhi were forcibly sent to Bangladesh despite having proof of their residence in Paika village in Birbhum district, West Bengal. "The process of identification of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in the capital of India is an example of violation of minimum human rights. In the process, genuine Indian citizens are being targeted on grounds of language and religion. Is it now a crime in India to speak Bengali? Are all Bengali-speaking Muslim citizens of India to be treated as criminals and illegal immigrants?" they asked. The functionaries wrote that they hope Shah will consider these issues and "intervene to restore human rights, humane behaviour of the law enforcement agencies, and adequately compensate the victims for their losses." TOI reached out to Delhi Police but no response was received.
The Wire
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Wire
Mapping Indian Cities, in Verse
Uttaran Das Gupta 2 minutes ago 'The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City' is a fine attempt to draw a cartography of the diverse and contrasting urban experiences in the country. In the 13th century, the Persian-Hindavi poet Amir Khusrau described the young men of Delhi in erotic language: Delhi and its fine lads with turbans and twisted beards openly drinking lovers' blood while secretly drinking wine Translated from Persian into English by Sunil Sharma, the poem, 'The Fine Lads of Delhi' ends: Those fair Hindu boys have led me to drunken ruin. Trapped in the coils of their curly locks Khusrau is a dog on a leash. Often regarded as the father of the qawwali and credited with introducing the ghazal form to the Indian subcontinent, Khusrau does not demonstrate an iota of hesitation while celebrating his homoerotic desires. The fact that these desires of a Muslim poet are for Hindu boys threatens to breach the watertight borders between religions that some of his more bigoted peers might have imagined. Such subversiveness is, of course, expected from a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, the Sufi saint who did not hesitate to challenge emperors and sultans. Nizamuddin's dargah in the eponymous locality of south Delhi has been a refuge for devotees from all religions, as well as outcasts from society, such as queer lovers. It is celebrated in several works of art, including the pioneering queer-themed film Fire (1996), directed by Deepa Mehta. Eight centuries after Khusrau, the poet Akhil Katyal, credited with celebrating a queer geography of Delhi through several famous poems, sees Nizamuddin's dargah from an autorickshaw, while crossing a flyover. In his poem, 'The Evening in Delhi', Katyal describes the vision: my eyeline swims through the shikhars of the basti's Shiv temple straight to the finial — princely green — of the white-as-milk dome of the Khilji mosque in whose shadow sleeps Nizamuddin The temple, the mosque and the shrine are all compressed together in a unified vision. Though separated by nearly a millennium, Khusrau and Katyal are connected through the emotional landscape of Delhi, of which Nizamuddin is a metonym. Edited by Bilal Moin The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City Penguin, 2025 '(A)ttending to emotions adds an important dimension to explaining the relationship between people and the urban condition,' write Australian historians Katie Barclay and Jade Riddle in the introduction to their edited volume, Urban Emotions and the Making of the City (2021). They add: 'Cities were and are products of emotion. The communities that inhabited them shared systems of emotional valuation that shaped how they interpreted their social, cultural and physical environments.' The Penguin Book of Poems on the Indian City, edited by Bilal Moin, charts the emotive landscape of Indian cities through poems, like the ones by Khusrau and Katyal. At 1,064 pages, this door-stopper of a book is a sort of spectacular, once-in-a-generation anthology that aspires to have the last word on any genre, in this case, urban poetry in India. Within its covers, the book contains 375 poems on 37 cities, some originally in English and others translated from 20 languages, written over a period of 1,500 years. (Full disclosure: my sonnet, 'Mizo Diner', is one of the poems included in this book.) Moin, a political economist and poet educated at Yale and Oxford, explains his editorial principles in the introduction to the volume: 'First, that each city — both tangible and mythical — remains a ceaseless muse, with its own distinct voice — a tone that resonates through the style, rhythm and texture of its verse. Second, that despite their differences in geography, history and politics, these cities transcend the boundaries that seemingly define them. Together, their congregations, confrontations and conversations, they exemplify a certain ineffable quality — a je ne sais quoi, an inherent Indianness.' Acknowledging the difficulty of explaining the idea, Moin, nevertheless, makes an attempt to do so through references to several of the poems. 'How do Valmiki and Kabir's visions of Kashi compare to Ghalib's nineteenth-century impressions or the contemporary experiences of Nazir Banarasi and Arundhathi Subramaniam?' Kashi — or Varanasi, as it is now called — is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on earth. It is not only important from a historical and cultural perspective, but also a political one, serving as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency since 2014. My review also started with a similar question, asking how we could connect the city in Khusrau's poem to the one in Katyal's? Moin answers: 'Each poem, shaped by its time, contributes layered depictions of cities as temple towns, imperial capitals, colonial outposts, and dynamic, ever-evolving spaces that serve as backdrops for post-modern life. Collectively, they form an archive of the literary, temporal and spatial continuum of Indian cities.' Captured through the emotive technology of poetry, the city emerges as a liminal place, ever elusive, never permanent. Moin addresses the multiple contestations that roil Indian cities — class, caste, gender, sexuality, religion, languages and many others. Some of the poet-city combinations are familiar and obvious, such as Nissim Ezekiel, Gieve Patel, Arun Kolatkar, Adil Jussawalla, Ranjit Hoskote, Arundhathi Subramaniam and other Bombay poets writing about Mumbai, Agha Shahid Ali and Asiya Zahoor on Srinagar, Katyal, Khusrau, Maaz Bin Bilal, Shahid Ali, Michael Creighton, Mir Taqi Mir, Jonaki Ray, Mirza Ghalib, and others on Delhi, Vivek Nambisan, Tishani Doshi and K. Srilata on Madras (Chennai), or Jayanta Mahapatra on Cuttack. There are, however, many surprises as well, such as an ode by Warren Hastings, who has the dubious claim of laying the foundations of the British Empire in India, to his wife in 1784. Though written in Patna, the poem does not refer to the city at all, instead populating its iambic pentameter couplets with formulaic, 18th-century imagery and affected language that Wordsworth and Coleridge would make unfashionable with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1789. Its inclusion in this volume is as mysterious to me as some of its quaint turns of phrasing would be to a current reader. The more interesting poems in this collection are the ones written by those at the margins and borderlands. In some poems, the very imagination of the nation — or Indianness — itself is questioned. One of these is 'When the Prime Minister Visits Shillong, the Bamboos Watch in Silence', by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, the author of the 2021 magnum opus Funeral Nights: When the Prime Minister planned a visit to the city bamboo poles sprang up from pavements like a welcoming committee. But when he came, he was only the strident sounds of sirens like warnings in wartime bombings. Translated from the original Khasi by the poet, the poem is full of war images: 'missile', 'arrow', 'threat', 'defused bomb'. Though included in the Shillong section of the book, the bamboo in the poem is a metonym for insurgency and separatism in the whole of the Northeast. It is not only a reference to the temporary fencing constructed around the city for crowd control. It is also, possibly, a reference to bamboo flowering, a cyclical event that occurs every 48 years. 'When this happens, the flowers produce fruits whose protein-rich, avocado-like seeds are devoured by jungle rats and the rat population explodes,' writes journalist Alex Shoumatoff in a 2008 article. 'The rats go on to eat everything. They wipe out the villagers' crops and grain bins.' When such an event occurred in 1959, thousands of residents in the current Indian state of Mizoram were killed by famine, leading to a rise in insurgency and separatism in the region. On March 5, 1966, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian Air Force to bomb the city of Aizawl, occupied partially by the insurgent Mizo National Front. Aizawl is about 350 km south of Shillong. Another poem, 'Mr President is Coming', by poet and lyricist Akhu Chingangbam, reminded me of C.P. Cavafy's poem ' Waiting for the Barbarians'. Performed with Chingangbam's band Imphal Talkies, a verse of his song reads: Hello, Mr. President, Chief of the Army! Every time you come you bring curfew Hello, Policeman in the streets Hello, men in green This is my song for you Sing with me! Though this poem was included in the 2014 album, 'When the Home is Burning', it remains incredibly resonant even now. Manipur, of which Imphal is the capital, has been roiled by ethnic violence since May 2023. The cities in these poems become a site where the borders of the nation are contested. At the same time, the large metropolitan cities of India, like Delhi and Mumbai, are also riven with borders. Marathi poet Narayan Surve's 'Mumbai' (translated into English by Jerry Pinto) is an example of how working-class people perceive the City of Dreams: Sinews taut in shining calve, the workers humped their loads In the water, I marked this tramp upon the weathered boards. I am he, they are us, together we sculpt you, City. Each day, we add our sweat and toil to making of your beauty. For ourselves, we live in the chawls of Hell, we clean the dirt of your streets. Then the police come and we become, the dirt of your streets These lines are a stark image of how the very people — migrant labourers, construction workers — who build our cities are often shunted out of it. As a proletarian poet, who often lived in the chawls (slums) of Mumbai's working-class neighbourhoods, Surve presents a picture that is a far cry from the romanticised images of Kala Ghoda or Khan Market that crowd the poems of some of the other poets (including, at times, mine). Urban studies scholar Gautam Bhan, in his book In the Public's Interest: Evictions, Citizenship and Inequality in Contemporary Delhi, writes: 'Indian cities… are being churned from inside out' by the process of 'urban restructuring through eviction.' The recent controversy over the development of Dharavi, often described as Asia's largest slum, located in Mumbai, or the evictions at the Madrasi camp in Delhi are only two examples that have made it to the news headlines. Readers of this book will be compelled to reconsider how they experience their cities and how these experiences might be different from their fellow citizens. Its ability to provoke even an iota of empathy should be considered a success. Uttaran Das Gupta is an Indian writer and journalist. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
India.com
27-05-2025
- General
- India.com
How Delhi City's Street Names Reveal Its Forgotten History
India's capital, Delhi, is a city that showcases its history on its street signs. Each street sign offers a glimpse into what the Mughals, ancient empires, and freedom fighters have left behind. Hence, the street signs here tell a partial history of this megacity. A more detailed description would explain how the city was built layer by layer. Chandni Chowk, located in the modern part of Old Delhi, is a Chowk (market) that was the heart of the Mughal capital, Shahjahanabad, built by Shah Jahan in the year 1639. The name 'Chandni Chowk' in english would mean ' Moonlit Square' a marketplace that sold lanterns during the peak of Mughal civilization. Points of interest like Lodi Colony and Nizamuddin share a common trait of drawing their names from people of significance or particular dynasties. The Lodi Colony bears the name of the Lodhi dynasty, which governed regions in the northern parts of India before the rise of the Mughals. Meanwhile, Nizamuddin is in reference to a greatly esteemed Sufi saint known as Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, whose dargah continues to be a source of great reverence from people of all religions and socio-economic factors. These names, bearing the memories of great saints and rulers, also showcase the great mix of religions and cultures that have existed in harmony in Delhi for many centuries. British Colonial Heritage: Street Names But, when the British East India Company started capturing major parts of India in the 18th and 19th centuries, their primary goal was to impose their culture and identity onto the subcontinent. These included the changing of numerous streets and landmarks in favor of British decorum by naming them after prominent English monarchs, officials, and military officers. The iconic commercial center of Delhi, Connaught Place, was in honor of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn who made a visit to India in the early 20th century. In the same manner, streets with names like Curzon Road (now Kasturba Gandhi Marg) showed loyalty to his Lordship Curzon, who had once been the Viceroy of India and is infamous for his administrative policies along with the partition of Bengal. Postcolonial India began the process of shedding its colonial past by altering the names of roads and areas associated with colonial rule. Those roads that were named by the British were renamed after Indian leaders and other prominent figures who contributed to the independence. For example, during British rule, one of the major avenues was called Kingsway. After independence, it was changed to Rajpath showcasing sovereignty of the Republic of India. Such examples explain the change in identity of a nation and power and why politics is instilled into everything. Celebrating Legends: Roads Named After Visionaries and Freedom Fighters A discussion on the nomenclature of the roads of Delhi cannot be had without giving credit to those who lost their lives for the sake of the freedom of the country. Roads like Netaji Subhash Marg, Bhagat Singh Marg and Ashoka Road are named after the revolutionary leaders whose contributions towards achieving independence is unforgettable. Each name is a reminder of the sacrifices made and the victories garnered through the efforts in achieving self-rule. Even the relatively unknown heroes are acknowledged in the urban sprawl of Delhi. One example is the name Chittaranjan Park which gets its name from Mr. Chittaranjan Das who was a famous lawyer and politician and an important part of the Non Cooperation Movement. Another example is Kamla Nehru Ridge which gets it's name after the wife of Mr Nehru who was a social worker, though, she is most known for being the wife of one of the most famous leaders of India. By these people being given the honored of street names, their narratives are kept alive and fresh in the minds of people. Cultural Tapestry: Celebrating Diversity Through Names Delhi has remained a fusion of multiple cultures, religions, and traditions, and this is evident in the varied street names. Jama Masjid, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj and ,St. James Church Road are some names that emphasize the multi faith character of the city as people from different religions have coexisted peacefully. In Old Delhi, vibrant markets like Matia Mahal Bazaar and Paranthe Wali Gali manifest the unique culinary traditions of the region, encapsulating the lifestyle of the common people. In addition, 'Rabindra Marg' honors Rabindranath Tagore, India's first Nobel Laureate, while 'Sansad Marg' (Parliament Street) refers to the core values that nourish a nation's governance. Rabindra and Sansad Marg, as well as other streets, show reader how Delhi takes pride in great intellectual works and prides itself on political accomplishments too. These names show how Delhi's intellectual pursuits are blended with its political achievements. Forgotten Corners: Unearthing Hidden Histories While certain monikers of streets and roads boast of their historical anecdotes, some remain anonymously mysterious. Some alleys and bylanes can be referred to as forgotten due to their linkages to people and events which no longer exist. These streets are like a treasure hunt for Delhi's history that is slowly being buried and lost in time. Khari Baoli, the largest spice market in Asia is said to be derived from a stepwell ('baoli') nearby which had salt water in it ('Khari'). Even though the original baoli does not exist anymore this is a great example of how the memory lives on in the name and connects contemporary traders to when settlements were customary for water sources. These times are so intertwined, just like the name Daryaganj, a colorful book bazaar today was once regarded as part of the darya, or river bed of Yamuna. This is another example of how people shaped geography and cities over years. Conclusion: Streets as Living Archives To sum up, the street names in Delhi are like living archives as they retain bits and pieces of history in today's rather chaotic world. From the empires and freedom fighters to the common man, every name renders a different perspective towards history and complements the narrative of this complex city. With every modification and development that happens in Delhi, new facets are bound to be added to its streets. But those old names will remain, echoing stories of the past for those who wish to hear them. Therefore, the next time you find yourself walking around the streets of Delhi, make sure you give a glance to the signboard. One may be fortunate enough to find a piece of history that is waiting to unveil its unspoken truths.
United News of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- United News of India
KCR family in feud over Rs 2000 crore party empire, alleges Nizamuddin
Hyderabad, May 26 (UNI) Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin launched a scathing attack on the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Monday, claiming the party has devolved into a family-run business torn apart by greed and internal power struggles. Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan, he alleged that a feud among K T Rama Rao, K Kavitha, T Harish Rao, and Santosh Rao is centred not on ideology but on control of assets worth over Rs 2,000 crore. Nizamuddin presented financial data and donor records, showing BRS's declared assets skyrocketed from Rs 5 crore in 2011–12 to Rs 1,191 crore in 2022–23. He argued the actual value, including benami assets, shell companies, and undisclosed income, could far exceed this figure. 'Such exponential growth in a political party's assets is only possible through systemic corruption,' he said. He further revealed that BRS earned Rs 738 crore in 2022–23, with Rs 154 crore coming from just 47 donors, most allegedly linked to government contracts and policy favours during the BRS regime. He claimed the party's matching expenditure hinted at possible money laundering. Nizamuddin also pointed to signs of internal collapse, including a leaked letter from Kavitha to her father KCR, expressing concerns over the party's direction and alleged BJP-friendly tilt. He termed recent private meetings and shifting political stances within the KCR family as signs of a corporate-style succession battle. Accusing the BRS of hijacking the Telangana movement for personal gain, he called for a court-monitored investigation into the party's financial dealings and assets. 'The people deserve to know how a public movement was turned into a private fortune,' he said, urging citizens to reject dynastic politics and support transparent governance. UNI VV BD
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
KCR family feud about money, not people or ideology: Congress
Hyderabad: spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin on Monday said the ongoing feud in K Chandrasekhar Rao's family was not rooted in ideology or public service but a desperate bid to seize control of party assets and its leadership. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now He demanded a court-monitored probe into BRS' financial empire, covering electoral bonds, donations, land allotments, alleged shell firms and personal assets of family members. "The alleged power struggle among the top BRS leaders is not about Telangana's people. This is about who gets to control the assets, the funding network, the contractors' cartel, and the political leadership. It has now all come down to who will be the successor to KCR," he said at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan. The people of Telangana deserve to know how one family used a public movement for private profiteering, he alleged. Nizamuddin said that the BRS got Rs 1,191 crore through electoral bonds before the Supreme Court scrapped them. The BRS assets run into hundreds of crores, both declared and undeclared, with donations taken into consideration, he said. Referring to BRS MLC K Kavitha's letter to her father KCR, Nizamuddin said that the letter wasn't personal but political and explosive. The leak of that letter was followed by a private meeting between KTR and KCR at the latter's Erravelli farmhouse, he said. "They are in damage-control mode. This is a corporate succession war playing out in public," he alleged.
