Daily Briefing: Sambhal row under SC scanner; a disquiet in Congress; and more

With that, let’s get into today’s briefing, wherever we instrumentality you through:

• A disquiet successful Congress
• 17-year-long combat for justness continues
• Champion with his bosom connected a sleeve

🚨 Big Story

In court: The enactment successful Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal with the Shah Jama Masjid astatine the epicenter continues to unfold. The Supreme Court connected Friday is apt to perceive the plea filed by the Masjid Committee against a section court’s caller bid to survey the mosque. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna will perceive the petition aft the committee demanded an aboriginal hearing, seeking an contiguous enactment connected the November 19 order.

Recap: A section tribunal had ordered the survey successful effect to a petition that claimed the Mughal-era mosque was built aft demolishing an past Hindu temple. The concern snowballed connected November 24 during the 2nd tranche of the Archaeological Survey of India’s survey. A mob of protesters pelted stones astatine officials and torched respective vehicles. Four radical died successful the unit and scores, including constabulary and medication officers, sustained injuries. The constabulary person arrested 31 radical and registered 7 FIRs successful the lawsuit truthful far.

Origin story: 

“Paanch sadi se jama rakt jab sholay prohibition kar khaulega, Babar bhi tab kabr se uth kar Harihar, Harihar bolega (When the frozen humor of 5 centuries comes to a boil, adjacent Babar volition emergence from his sedate and chant ‘Harihar, Harihar’).”

Mahant Rishiraj Giri reads this retired to his followers– mostly from the Yadav community– sitting astatine the Kaila Devi Temple astir 25 km from Sambhal. This is wherever the tribunal petition claiming Hindu close implicit the city’s Jama Masjid was conceived. While Giri is petitioner no. 3 successful the case, Hari Shankar Jain, petitioner no. 1, is down respective akin petitions, including connected the Gyanvapi mosque adjoining the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. The 70-year-old reiterates that helium has taken a vow “to instrumentality backmost each the temples that were demolished to physique mosques”.

As the enactment blows up, some the Hindu and Muslim communities are bringing up old, hazy “facts” which see a rubric suit dismissal successful 1878 and a 1976 execution starring to riots and a month-long curfew.

Legal issues: Now, the petitioners allege that the mosque was built successful 1526 by Mughal emperor Babur aft demolishing a Hindu temple that stood there. The claims successful specified disputes fundamentally question to alteration the spiritual quality of a spot of worship, thing that is prohibited by the Place of Worship Act, 1991. That said, successful some the Gyanvapi and Mathura’s Shahi Idgah cases, territory courts person accepted the civil suits arsenic “maintainable”, meaning that they are valid cases contempt the 1991 Act. 

Another mosque nether spotlight: On today’s occurrence of our 3 Things podcast, we decode the legality contented concerning an aged mosque successful Uttarkashi which has led to escalating tensions successful the town.

⚡ Only successful Express

As the Constitution turned 75 earlier this week, our latest Dis/Agree file presents the champion of some sides connected a applicable question: does the papers embody and fulfill the needs of a federation with a affluent past oregon does it person circumscribed ambit?

“The assertion that the Constitution has nary intrinsic worth and decoloniality is imperative to forestall the decimation of what remains of “Bharat’s indigeneity” is excessively sweeping.” – Faizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor of Patna’s Chanakya National Law University says the Constitution, steeped successful India’s civilisational values, shouldn’t beryllium stuck successful the past.

“The mistake that is often committed, particularly successful the Indian discourse is to presume that but for the Constitution, this state would descend into anarchy” – J Sai Deepak, a Supreme Court lawyer, writes connected however ‘constitutionalism’ has go different word for extending assemblage legacies.

📰 From the Front Page

After its back-to-back defeats successful Haryana and Maharashtra, a consciousness of disquiet has grown wrong the Congress implicit the party’s “blame-the-EVM” stance. Many leaders archer The Indian Express that the decision successful Maharashtra shouldn’t beryllium seen arsenic a monolithic jolt, fixed that pre-poll interior surveys showed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) confederation could find it pugnacious to prolong gains made successful the Lok Sabha polls successful June.

India has reiterated that it is Bangladesh’s work to “protect the lives and liberty of each its citizens”, successful backdrop of the emergence successful attacks against minorities successful the country, ever since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. Speaking successful Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said connected Thursday: “Several incidents of desecration and harm to Hindu temples and deities successful Bangladesh person been reported successful the past fewer months. The Government of India has expressed its interest astir specified incidents…”

📌 Must Read

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) secured the custody of Salman Rehman Khan, a missing accused successful 2023 radicalisation case, aft helium was extradited from Rwanda connected Thursday. The lawsuit involves a Lashkar-e-Taiba-linked antheral who is alleged to person radicalised respective Muslim youths successful the Bengaluru cardinal situation to instrumentality up terrorism, including Salman.

With little than 2 months to spell until President-elect Donald Trump assumes bureau for a 2nd time, the self-proclaimed “tariff man” has made his intentions clear. Trump has threatened steep tariff hikes connected the United States’ apical 3 commercialized partners—Mexico, Canada, and China—on his archetypal time successful office. While Mexico and China person hinted astatine imaginable retaliation, Canada has already begun negotiating. 

In 2007, erstwhile a parent didn’t instrumentality location hours aft she was allegedly picked by the constabulary successful Maharashtra, her son, past 22, acceptable retired to the section constabulary superintendent’s bureau to inquire what happened. What helium yet discovered was shocking – his parent had died successful constabulary custody, allegedly aft being tortured. 17 years later, the wheels of justness proceed to turn slowly.

⏳ And Finally…

Right aft his Game 3 nonaccomplishment successful astatine the World Chess Championship, Ding Liren stayed rooted to his chair, eyes pierced to the floor. In a crippled wherever being poker-faced is considered a virtue, Ding’s face is simply a quality valuation bar: 1 doesn’t request to cognize the presumption of the game, conscionable 1 glimpse astatine his look volition interruption the news. 

That’s each for today.

Until tomorrow,

Vibha B Madhava and Ayesha Jain

Business As Usual by E P Unny – Nov29