Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
By Dheeraj Fartode Expressing deep concern over rise of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and its adverse impact on social and political fabric of India, International Working President of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Dr Pravin Togadia on Thursday said that emergence of MIM would shrink the political space and will make Muslims politically unsafe. Traditionally, Muslims votes en bloc for Congress or NCP, but these votes have now shifted to parties like MIM which actually helped the BJP in winning elections, Togadia claimed during an exclusive interview to The Hitavada. However, the fire-brand VHP leader claimed that corresponding decrease in representation of Muslims in Congress and NCP would actually affect political empowerment of Muslims in future. Any attempt by outfits like MIM to woo Scheduled Castes will not succeed, he predicted citing historic decision of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar who refused to embrace Islam. Dr Pravin Togadia, International Working Pr...