Madanis spar over hosting Eid Milan

Noted Islamic cleric Arshad Madani and his nephew and Rajya Sabha MP Mahmood Madani hardly miss an opportunity to have a go at each other. The latest clash between the two, who head factions of the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, is over hosting of Eid Milan.

The two popular Islamic leaders are organising Eid Milan in Delhi this week, but on the same day and at the same time. They have sent out invites to the who’s who of the community and the Capital’s political class, and it is not surprising that the guest list looks almost identical.

Arshad now claims that he had announced the date for the function first and Mahmood Madani deliberately chose the same day (September 24) to run him down. “He could have chosen another day.

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Lalu’s ‘roller over Varun’ remark: First information Report, warrant out

An arrest warrant was issued against RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav a day after he told a rally in Bihar’s Muslim dominated Kishanganj that had he been Home Minister, he would have “run a roller” over BJP’s Varun Gandhi for his hate speech against Muslims.

Kishanganj SP Ramnarain Singh told reporters: “We examined the CD of Lalu Prasad’s speech and found it provocative.” An FIR was lodged against him at the Town police station under sections of the IPC and Representation of the People Act. Singh said a warrant was in place to arrest the RJD chief. The offence is bailable.

Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad today claimed he meant “kanoon ka roller (roller of the law)” in his speech. LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan came to his defence, calling it a “political speech”. “Laluji meant he would have taken strict action against Varun. He said it in other words.

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‘Badey daraawne naam hotey hain inke... Karimullah, Mazharullah... Varun Gandhi kaat daalega...’

The following are excerpts from speeches that Varun Gandhi is shown as delivering in at least two locations earlier this month in Pilibhit, from where he is contesting as the BJP candidate. The speeches figure in a video recording viewed by The Indian Express. On the directions of the Election Commission, the police today registered a criminal case against Gandhi.

Yeh panja nahi hai, yeh kamal ka haath hai. Yeh kat** ke galey ko kaat dega chunaav ke baad. Jai Shri Ram! Ram ji ki jai! Varun Gandhi kaat daalega! Kaat denge us haath ko, kaat denge, kaat daalega!

[This is not the (Congress symbol) ‘hand’, this is the hand of the ‘lotus’. It will cut the throat of the (derogatory reference to a Muslim) after the elections... Varun Gandhi will cut... Cut that hand, cut it, cut it.]

Apne jao, apne gaon mein jao aur halla karo ki saara Hindu ek tarfa ho jao, chhetra ko Pakistan hone se bachao, aur saara Hindu ek tarfa ho jao!

[Go to your villages and give the call that all Hindus must unite to save this area from becoming Pakistan…]

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Deoband intervenes: Muslims can do yoga

When clerics in Malaysia banned Muslims from practising yoga, they started a heated debate in the Islamic world. But Islamic scholars in India, including those at the Darul Uloom Deoband, say they do not find anything objectionable in Muslims practising yoga. Chanting mantras like Om that have religious connotation, they add, is not necessary for yoga and Muslims can replace them with verses from the Quran or references to Allah.

“Yoga is a good form of exercise. If some words, which are supposed to be chanted while performing it, have religious connotations, then Muslims need not utter those. They can instead recite verses from the Quran or praise Allah or remain silent,” Maulana Abdul Khaliq Madrasi, deputy vice chancellor of the Darul Uloom, told The Indian Express.

He said he discussed the issue with yoga experts and they told him that reciting ‘Om’ or any other mantra was not compulsory for practising yoga.

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Terror gets local support, so no houses for Muslims: Surat real estate agents

CLAIMING terror strikes like in Mumbai cannot take place without local support or contacts, Surat real estate agents and brokers have decided not to rent or sell houses to Muslims.

This decision was taken at a meeting last Sunday which was attended by some 300 real estate agents, many of whom responded to SMS invites. They initiated moves to form an association, hoping to complete the process before the month ends.

The Mumbai attacks prompted this meeting in Surat which was rocked by the discovery of bombs across the city after the July 26 serial blasts in Ahmedabad. After the bombs were discovered, activists of Hindu hardline groups had forced Muslims to vacate shops in the Varachha area of Surat — in Ahmedabad and Vadodara, Muslims find it very difficult to rent or buy houses and this has been their experience ever since the 2002 riots.

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Not allowed to sell her flat to a Muslim, Pune woman takes on entire ‘society'

When Madhavi Kapoor decided to sell her 1500 sq ft apartment in Pune's upmarket Boat Club Road area and move to a new house in Koregaon Park, she thought it would be a breeze because in an emerging metropolis, an apartment such as hers is sold in no time. But Kapoor, a former principal of the Rewachand Bhojwani Academy, was in for a shock when others in the building told her she had no right selling her apartment to a Muslim family.

And because she had her way, Kapoor says she has been made to run around for the requisite paper work. Till date, the building society - Cozy Corner has 16 apartments, 14 occupied by Sindhis - hasn't handed her a No Objection Certificate.

"It all started when I took the prospective buyers to the society meeting last month to introduce them to the other residents as has been the practice.Because the buyers' surname was Hirani, members assumed they were Sindhis, like 80 per cent of others in the society building. But when the buyers introduced themselves and residents

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