Articles by Chanshimla Varah

Politics

6-time MLA Shoaib Iqbal quits AAP, says will never return

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Shoaib Iqbal has resigned from the party, vowing to never return. The resignation comes after the AAP announced its candidates for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) bypolls. Iqbal was unhappy with the party's decision to field Muddasir Usman Qureshi for the Chandni Mahal ward instead of his choice, Kashif Qureshi. The party was born out of a movement, but it has lost its way. I have resigned...and will never return, Iqbal said. Expressing his frustration further, he said, I have been a six-time MLA from the area. My son was a councillor and had won with the highest margin. When he contested in the Assembly polls, he won with the highest margin. Nobody knows the candidate fielded by the party (for the MCD bypoll). He also hinted that more members could leave the party soon. The AAP defended its decision to field Muddasir, a Delhi Youth Wing co-secretary, saying he was chosen based on an internal survey. In a statement, AAP said it avoids giving tickets to relatives so that ordinary workers get a fair opportunity. However, Shoaib Iqbal announced his brother-in-law, Kashif Qureshi, as the party's candidate without consulting the organization, it said. Reacting to his father's resignation, Aaley Mohammad Iqbal, an AAP MLA from Matia Mahal, said it had deeply hurt their family. He said, Before appointing a candidate, they didn't consult me or my father. Shoaib has been elected from Matia Mahal since 1993 across various parties, including the Janata Dal and the Congress, before joining AAP in 2020.

Politics

Reciting 'Vande Mataram' compulsory in all UP educational institutions: Yogi

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced that singing the national song Vande Mataram will be mandatory in all educational institutions across the state. The announcement was made during an Ekta Yatra event in Gorakhpur. We must include Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in our discussions. We will make the recitation of Vande Mataram mandatory...across Uttar Pradesh so that every citizen of the state develops a sense of respect and devotion towards Bharat Mata and the motherland, he said. Adityanath also said that opposing Vande Mataram was one of the reasons behind India's partition. He said that our duty is to identify elements that divide in the name of caste, region, and language and are part of a conspiracy to create new Jinnahs. We must ensure no new Jinnah ever arises in India again... we must bury divisive intent before it can take root, the UP CM said. The announcement comes amid a political controversy over PM Narendra Modi's recent comments on the song. PM Modi had claimed that important stanzas of Vande Mataram were dropped in 1937, which he said sowed the seeds of partition. He called such a divisive mindset a continuing challenge for India. The Congress party has demanded an apology from PM Modi over his remarks, alleging he insulted the Congress Working Committee (CWC) of 1937 and Rabindranath Tagore. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said the CWC meeting from October 26-November 1, 1937, included prominent leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. He said a statement issued by the CWC on October 28, 1937, regarding Vande Mataram was influenced by Tagore's advice. That he should have done so is shocking but not surprising since the RSS had played no role in our freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, Ramesh said.

Technology

ISIS-linked doctor arrested for preparing lethal ricin for terror attack

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested three suspected ISIS terrorists, including a Hyderabad-based doctor. The doctor, Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed (35), was allegedly preparing ricin, a highly toxic chemical. He had also conducted reconnaissance of crowded food markets in Delhi's Azadpur Mandi, Ahmedabad's Naroda fruit market, and the RSS office in Lucknow over the past six months. The ATS said Saiyed was working on ways to weaponize ricin for a possible terror attack. To execute a major terrorist attack, Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed had been preparing a highly lethal poison named 'Ricin,' the Gujarat ATS said in an official statement. The ATS is now probing if any experimental preparation of ricin had begun as part of this conspiracy. The arrests were made in a joint operation with central agencies, and preliminary questioning indicates these men were part of a larger ISIS-linked network. Apart from Saiyed, two others from Uttar Pradesh, Azad Suleman Sheikh and Mohammad Suhail Mohammad Saleem, were also arrested. Gujarat ATS DIG Sunil Joshi said the accused men have also disclosed that their handler sends the arms consignment via a drone across the Pakistan border. During interrogation, Saiyed disclosed that he was planning terrorist attacks and had gathered the weapons from a remote location in Kalol, Gandhinagar district. Joshi stated that Saiyed's handler, Abu Khadija, was an Afghan resident involved with the ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province) and that he had also communicated with other Pakistanis. The other accused, Sheikh and Saleem, allegedly obtained guns from Hanumangadh in Rajasthan and supplied them to Saiyed, according to Joshi. Saiyed holds an MBBS degree from China and was in touch with Abu Khadim of the Islamic State - Khorasan Province (ISKP). Gujarat ATS DIG Sunil Joshi said, Dr. Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed is highly educated and radicalized and had planned to collect funds and recruit persons as part of a conspiracy to carry out major terrorist activities. Saiyed has been remanded in ATS custody till November 17.