Tag Archives: Muslims of Delhi NCR

Arvind Kejriwal does not play Muslim card: Aaley Mohd Iqbal, AAP’s pick for Delhi Deputy Mayor post

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, , , , , , , , , ,

NEW DELHI :

Attributing his victory to the trust of the people in his ward, he said: “I am a workaholic and I’m always available to lend ears to people’s grievances in the walled city.”

A seasoned politician, Aaley has had a long career, vacillating between different parties – he contested as an independent in 2012, aged 22; in 2017, on a Congress ticket, and in 2022, after he was fielded by AAP. (Twitter/Aaley Muhammad Iqbal)

A day after he was selected by the AAP as its deputy mayor candidate in the MCD, three-time councillor Aaley Mohammad Iqbal told The Indian Express he might become the first Muslim to be nominated to the post in many years.

“The last person for the post from our community was in 1977. This sends out a message that AAP is a party Muslims can trust, and their rights will be protected. (CM) Arvind Kejriwal ji chose me because I am a senior councillor; this is my hat trick (election win), and that is not a mean feat. I won with the highest margin (in the MCD polls).

Calling this appeasement or tokenism is not right, it forgoes my achievement, and Kejriwal ji does not play ‘Muslim card,’” he told The Indian Express.

Aaley won from the Chandani Mahal ward with a margin of 17,134 votes, the highest in the MCD polls.

Attributing his victory to the trust of the people in his ward, he said: “I am a workaholic and I’m always available to lend ears to people’s grievances in the walled city. The population is mostly lower and middle class… Like my father, I have always been there for them.” His father is AAP MLA Shoaib Iqbal, a six-time MLA from Matia Mahal who joined the party in 2020, along with his son.

A seasoned politician, Aaley has had a long career, vacillating between different parties – he contested as an independent in 2012, aged 22; in 2017, on a Congress ticket, and in 2022, after he was fielded by AAP.

Aaley said his brief stint with Congress made him realise how powerless they were. “I knew if I had to do something, I would have to join those in power.”

On the AAP’s poor show in Northeast Delhi in the MCD polls – the first election after the 2020 riots – he said there was so much to be done in those wards where the party put up a sub-par performance. “We have to go to the ground, talk to people and analyse what went wrong. Especially in Northeast Delhi. However, AAP managed to pull wards in Chandni Chowk constituency under its sway.”

Of the 19 MCD seats in Northeast Delhi areas hit by the violence, the BJP bagged 12, the Congress two and the AAP four.

Aaley also addressed the complaints surrounding Kejriwal’s absence when other leaders were visiting riot-hit areas. “He was in the Vidhan Sabha speaking about the issue… and constantly talking to the L-G and the Delhi Police commissioner. Since the Delhi government does not have law and order under its jurisdiction, he appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs to deploy forces,” he said.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Cities> Delhi / by Aiswarya Raj / New Delhi – December 26th, 2022

Teachers’ Day 2022: Meet Islamuddin, a Delhi riot victim who teaches at school started for child victims of the February 2020 violence

Amazing Feats, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, , , , , , , , ,

Ghaziabad, UTTAR PRADESH (Delhi NCR) :

Teachers’ Day 2022: He teaches Hindi as well as Social Science and tries to help students work through their own trauma at Sunrise Public School, Ghaziabad.

Teacher’s Day 2022: The school began with the number but has now grown to 350, most from the areas hit by the riot. (Express photo by Sukrita Baruah)

Teachers’ Day 2022: 

For 24-year-old Islamuddin, a resident of Shiv Vihar, one of the worst-hit areas during the 2020 communal riots in Delhi, images of the incidents in February two years ago – his grandfather’s house being gutted by fire and his family’s motorbike being destroyed – would keep reappearing in front of him each time he heard a sudden sound or saw a group of people huddled together.

Today, he is teaching Hindi and Social Science to children affected by the riot and is trying to work through their trauma.

Islamuddin is one of 14 teachers at Sunrise Public School Loni, Ghaziabad which was started in August 2020 for children who were victims of the riot. It was started by the Miles2smile foundation, a non-profit run by Aasif Mujtaba who was then pursuing his Ph.D. at IIT-Delhi.

“In August 2020, after the violence and the national lockdown – I met some families who said they were not able to afford the education of their children because of the ‘double trouble’. Initially we thought that we could make a list of 10-15 troubled families and sponsor the children’s education. But when our volunteers went out to meet people about this, they came back with a list of 80 children,” said Mujtaba.

So the school started with 80 children, and over the last two years, the number of students has grown to 350, most of whom are from riot-affected areas, but there are also children from the school’s vicinity. According to Mujtaba, 22 students had lost their fathers during the riots.

The teachers, too, are from riot-affected areas, and seven teachers are from Shiv Vihar, including Islamuddin, who is currently doing an M.A. in Hindi Literature from IGNOU.

“I had never seen such things in front of my eyes before: petrol bombs being thrown, people shouting slogans from afar, threatening to kill. That was all a flash, but when it was over, and we tried to return to normalcy a week or two later, those scenes would not leave my eyes,” he said.

While teaching the children, he says, addressing their trauma is the most challenging part.

(Express photo)

“There are children who lost their homes and witnessed the violence, and then there are children who lost their fathers. It is still easier to explain what happened to the former. But for the latter, it was difficult to even call them to study and talk to them. In the early days, even if you mentioned the word ‘papa’ their eyes would start tearing up. We started with the older children, explaining to them that coming to school and studying is the best way to move on. We took them to a picnic, conducted competitions, told them to express themselves through writing, and gradually tried to create a sense of normalcy. We try to talk to them more about the future and what they want to do,” he said.

The school teaches children from nursery to Class 8, after which the foundation either helps to get the children enrolled in a government school or sponsors their education in a private school.

“We teach all subjects in the school but starting this session, since we are able to do physical classes fully again, we have decided to reduce the syllabus and spend more time on extra-curricular activities,” said Mujtaba.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Education / by Sukrita Baruah, News Delhi / September 04th, 2022