Asian Lite News Archive

Category: Saeed Naqvi

  • Dark Days of Indian Democracy

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    Saeed Naqvi looks in to Indira Gandhi’s Emergency regime which has changed the landscape of Indian politics. Visit asianlite.com for latest news and comments  Of course there was an Indian, regional and global context in which Indira Gandhi declared a state of Emergency on June 25, 1975? The 70s were a decade of fierce contest between…

  • Moral for Modi in Erdogan’s reversal

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    By Saeed Naqvi  A reduced Tayyip Erdogan will hurt Turkish pride although the pain, as in some forms of sprain, will be a delayed effect. The Turkish election results will also alter the West Asian political dynamics because the Muslim Brotherhood, whose banner Erdogan had begun to flutter to reinforce his regional moves, will now…

  • New York Times Spoils Modi Party

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    Just when the Narendra Modi government was celebrating its first year in office on a note of simulated well being, Gardiner Harris, bureau chief of New York Times in New Delhi, spoilt the party by making a gloomy announcement: New Delhi, the capital of Modi’s dream nation, was unlivable and that Harris was leaving, with…

  • Modi yet to visit a Muslim country

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    By Saeed Naqvi  Measuring a government’s achievements in its first year has to be inherently speculative. But some things can be put down to Narendra Modi’s account with a degree of certainty. He has in his first year as prime minister, never worn a Muslim cap although it is difficult to identify a cap of…

  • Modi yet to visit a Muslim country!

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    The itinerant prime minister yet to visit a Muslim country…writes Saeed Naqvi for Asian Lite, Britain’s best newspaper for British Asians  Measuring a government’s achievements in its first year has to be inherently speculative. But some things can be put down to Narendra Modi’s account with a degree of certainty. He has in his first…

  • SPECIAL: Shia community in India

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    Centrality of Lucknow in world’s Shia culture…writes Saeed Naqvi  Last year, addressing a group of foreign policy analysts in New Delhi, the ambassador of Iran to India, Gholamreza Ansari, made an important admission. He admitted that Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, came from an important family of divines from Kuntoor, in the…

  • Centrality of Lucknow in world’s Shia culture

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    By Saeed Naqvi  Last year, addressing a group of foreign policy analysts in New Delhi, the ambassador of Iran to India, Gholamreza Ansari, made an important admission. He admitted that Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, came from an important family of divines from Kuntoor, in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, not…

  • Search for Rani Jhansi’s stolen insignia

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    By Saeed Naqvi  On March 10, 2014, President Pranab Mukherjee had promised a Citizens Group for 1857 that he would obtain from the government details on how India’s First War of Independence will be commemorated. A change of government may have delayed the inquiries Rashtrapati Bhavan intended to make. Meanwhile, another anniversary will have gone…

  • New Equations at Arab World

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    Saudi Royalty which never conducted diplomacy above the sound of whispers are today in battle albeit from the air in Yemen. Syria was seen as Iran’s (and Russia’s) opening onto the Mediterranean, Yemen onto the Red Sea. They must block both. Atleast be seen to have checked Iran. Otherwise the GCC may bolt….writes Saeed Naqvi …

  • Arab balance of power being shaped

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    By Saeed Naqvi  “As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods; they kill us for their sport.” King Lear This could well be a powerful chorus, the primeval cry from the Arab street as the Americans erect a new balance of power in West Asia now that the Iranians have been brought into…

  • Indian media’s lack of intrest in world affairs

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    By Saeed Naqvi Werner Adam, the late foreign Editor of Frankfurter Allgemeine, used to tell me a story about his meeting in Moscow with India’s ambassador, T.N. Kaul. Kaul had barely started his conversation with Adam when his secretary tip toed in and handed Kaul a slip of paper. “Dobrynin on the line,” Kaul whispered…

  • India & Social Progress Index

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    India ranks 101th in the Social Progress Index among 133 countries, lower than even Nepal. Saeed Naqvi analyses the plight of the new world power  The embarrassing news that India ranks 101th in the Social Progress Index among 133 countries, lower than even Nepal, may well be the right occasion to narrow the focus on states which…

  • Gujarat, Delhi or Tripura?

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    By Saeed Naqvi The embarrassing news that India ranks 101th in the Social Progress Index among 133 countries, lower than even Nepal, may well be the right occasion to narrow the focus on states which might be examined as milestones. This examination will have to be done by serious social scientists. An itinerant journalist can…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Modi’s Kashmir policy

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    Kashmir challenge: Modi could write history or blot it…writes Saeed Naqvi   A principal reason for Narendra Modi being swept to power in May was disgust with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh – indecisive, short on ideas, bereft of charisma and supervising a government of scams. In a house of 543, the Congress had 209…

  • Invite the world to fight ISIS

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    By Saeed Naqvi West Asia becomes more mysterious by the minute. Who is fighting whom on whose behalf? The lines were always blurred. Now they are more so. Iraq’s army has just shot down two British planes as they were carrying weapons to the ISIS in Al Anbar province. How do we know this to…

  • Changing American views on Israel

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    By Saeed Naqvi  To win the March 17 Israeli elections or to postpone them , Benjamin Netanyahu is turning heaven and earth. Last month’s Israeli air strikes killed six Hezbollah commanders and an Iranian general in the Syrian town of Quneitra. The purpose was to invite retaliation. Warlike atmosphere would block Secretary of State John…

  • He lost because of himself

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    By Saeed Naqvi  Politicians and pundits across the country have been served notice by the Delhi electorate: please take a bow and make way. Mingled with the voter’s ecstasy is a primeval cry: we are tired of old politics. Meanwhile Kejriwal’s cup runneth over. “Dene waley mujhe dena hain to itna de de Phir mujhe…

  • Putin reassured after talks

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    By Saeed Naqvi  Who knows, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have added non-alignment to his bow in the conduct of foreign affairs. He stood firm by the side of President Vladimir Putin at a time when Washington has all but given notice that it seeks regime change in Moscow. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov tweeted as…

  • Has Modi changed caste politics?

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    By Saeed Naqvi  Eminent TV anchor, Rajdeep Sardesai, has in a recent article drawn attention to the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has restored balance to his cabinet by inducting Manohar Parrikar and Suresh Prabhu, two Gaud Saraswat Brahmins, as full fledged ministers. Some writers took him to task for his Brahminical digression, strange…

  • Saeed Naqvi reviews Middle East politics

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    Release Of Al Jazeera journalists will confirm regional realignment …writes Saeed Naqvi My crystal ball tells me that the three Al Jazeera journalists, incarcerated in Cairo for the past six months, are about to be released. The three were part of Egypt’s most powerful news bureau during the brief spell of President Mohammad Morsi, of the Muslim…

  • Saeedi Naqvi on secular politics in India

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    Can Owaisis give their politics a non-sectarian twist?…asks  Saeed Naqvi  Unlike the Aam Aadmi Party which overestimated its potential after an outstanding debut in Delhi, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) led by Asaduddin and Akbaruddin Owaisi is expanding cautiously. During recent state elections in Maharashtra, they ventured outside the confines of Hyderabad. They made measured forays in…

  • Oman the set for the Iranian nuclear deal?

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     Saeed Naqvi writes about the the west’s imminent nuclear deal with Iran The picturesque Sultanate of Oman was set to make history. It was to be the venue where the West would conclude its nuclear deal with Iran. But control of both the Houses of Congress by Republicans has swelled the ranks of anxious busy bodies…

  • GLOBAL MEDIA: An opportunity for India

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    Collapsing credibility of Western media will create an an opportunity for India…writes  Saeed Naqvi  Even the skeptics now agree that India shall be a power in the Asian century. To insure this rise to the top, India must maximize all its assets. One asset for which it has a reputation is a lively media, a function…

  • Erdogan scripting his last act in Kobane

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    By Saeed Naqvi  It was a toss up between Brazil’s President Lula da Silva and Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. In fact, compared to Lula’s two terms as president, Erdogan completed three glorious terms as prime minister. With the downturn in the global economy in 2009, Turkey towered above regional economies. One comparison was particularly…

  • Saeed Naqvi on UK air strikes

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    Ankara, Baghdad and Riyadh ask: Are US air strikes working? …asks Saeed Naqvi  The ISIS, plaguing many countries in West Asia, made a symbolic assertion during Haj too. At the ritual stoning of the devil at Mina, five kilometres to the East of Mecca, fluttered a black banner of the Islamic State (IS). The police said…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Modi’s dry Hindi

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    Saeed Naqvi is asking Indian Prime Minister to use more Hindustani than Sanskritized Hindi to wider audience  I did not understand a word of what our prime minister said at the United Nations General Assembly. Well, except for words like “taaqatwar”, “rozgar” and “zahir”, all other words were beyond my comprehension. I had to fall back on translation.…

  • ISIS the real Saudi nightmare

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    By Saeed Naqvi  In President Barack Obama’s initial list of the coalition against the Islamist State (ISIS) are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Jordan. Others are being cajoled, tempted, lured but are not quite there. India too was sounded. Mercifully, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarked on a mission of economic diplomacy. He…

  • Saeed Naqvi on why BJP lost

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    By Saeed Naqvi Recent by-election reverses for the BJP are early intimations of mortality for the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duet. As a senior BJP leader whispered: “They must come down to earth.” In other words, a degree of realism may now be introduced into the proceedings. The May parliamentary elections were peculiar in some ways.…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Arab coalition against ISIS

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    Saeed Naqvi says Obama’s new coalition against the ISIS forces is willing to wound and yet afraid to strike  As soon as President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced his intention to lead a Coalition of the Willing to “degrade and destroy” the ISIS, his core coalition partners began to fidget and reach out for the…

  • Al Qaeda’s gift to Hindu right wing

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    How dangerous are Ayman al Zawahiri’s exhortations to Muslims on the sub continent? There is an expression in Hindi, “Soney pey suhaga”, suhaga being the powder which makes gold shine. In a volatile social situation, where communal polarization is an electoral requirement until key state elections are out of the way, the Zawahiri slogan may have…

  • Acts of terrorism as diplomacy

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    Colum by Saeed Naqvi The ISIS threat has been around for months. Why was it not nipped in the bud? Obama’s response in the course of a conversation with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times is revealing. “We did not start airstrikes all across Iraq as soon as the ISIS came in because that…

  • Saeed Naqvi on ISIS

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    Saeed Naqvi says terrorism a diplomatic asset: Fair is foul, foul is fair  The ISIS threat has been around for months. Why was it not nipped in the bud? Obama’s response in the course of a conversation with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times is revealing. “We did not start airstrikes all across Iraq…

  • SAEED NAQVI: Friends & foes

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    Saeed Naqvi says even during India’s non-aligned phase, there were groups and individuals who saw Israel as a model for the wrong reasons It is widely known that New Delhi tilts towards Israel in its dealings with West Asia, particularly since the 1999 Kargil war when the Jewish state provided the ammunition required for India’s…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Modi’s I-Day speech

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    Outside of India I have seen men and women find privacy behind the sand dunes in, for example, the Sahara desert Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s courageous elaboration in his maiden Independence Day speech, on the nation’s need to build toilets had in it a touch of Acharya Vinoba Bhave. It also brought back a Devi…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Gaza and Arabs

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    Saeed Naqvi says Israel and Saudi Arabia in a jam in Gaza The US decision to launch limited air strikes to check the ISIS in Iraq and the Gaza initiatives in Cairo are obviously linked. To understand the collective Arab panic over the Gaza ceasefire, an overview is required. Ever since King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia…

  • Saeed Naqvi on India’s stance on Gaza

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    Saeed Naqvi  says India has two policies on Gaza: One in parliament, another at UN  Indian Foriegn Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement on Palestine in the Rajya Sabha so pleased Jerusalem that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman thanked her that evening over the telephone. But the goodwill thus generated was fading by Wednesday when New Delhi, having…

  • India’s two sided Gaza policy

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    By Saeed Naqvi Sushma Swaraj’s statement on Palestine in the Rajya Sabha so pleased Jerusalem that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman thanked her that evening over the telephone. But the goodwill thus generated was fading by Wednesday when New Delhi, having changed its mind, voted with the resolution at the UN “condemning Israel for disproportionate…

  • Saeed Naqvi on Shia-Sunni schism

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    Saeed Naqvi says the new Caliphate opposed to Shia apostasy and, eventually to Sunni monarchies  The expanding Shia-Sunni conflict in the Muslim world is exposing vast gaps in popular understanding of the schism. For example when Zine El Abedine Ben Ali, the Tunisian strongman was ousted, people thought a Shia dictator had fallen. From this they extrapolated…

  • Naqvi on the trail of jehadists

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    Saeed Naqvi analysing the plot behind the jehadists. Why is the world in grip of jehadist menace?   Three momentous events, all in November-December 1979, are the genesis of a great deal of chaos the world faces today. First, was the return of Ayatollah Khomeini to Tehran and the Iranian occupation of the US embassy, a…

  • Saudi role in Egypt verdict

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    Saeed Naqvi says Saudi vendetta played a role in the jailing of hree tAl Jazeera journalists in Egypt Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt were given severe sentences because that is the way the Saudis wanted it. The Qatari channel was always an eyesore to the Saudis but was recently being tolerated, even encouraged, by Riyadh…

  • ‘India can stabilise West Asia’

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    Eminent journalist Saeed Naqvi says  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must place West Asia on his radar because this vital part of our near abroad is in rapid change. A new West Asia is emerging. We must engage at the highest level and help shape this change, taking heart from Raees Amrohvi’s optimism many moons ago.  “Jup raha hai…

  • COLUMN – Saeed Naqvi on Gandhis (New)

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    Saeed Naqvi says the Gandhis must vacate for an opposition to take shape. Asian Lite, top Asian newspaper for the Asian diaspora will carry regular political columns After the vigorous opening speech in the Lok Sabha by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi’s rump of a party looked even more battered and bruised. The most reassuring news…

  • Demise of Congress, caste politics

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    Saeed Naqvi analyses the Indian elections – Congress and caste parties decimates, whither Indian Muslims Over 180 million Indian Muslims will stand on the margin looking stunned and petrified, watching Narendra Modi and the BJP make history and colour the nation with saffron. What a predicament for the world’s second largest Muslim population which equals…