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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Poison Politics

The Muharram plot uncovered by Mumbai Police deserves to rank among the gravest terror conspiracies thwarted in recent years. Investigators say that Fayyaz Premji, a Pune-based businessman, spent nearly two weeks in a Dongri hotel assembling thousands of capsules containing zinc phosphide, a highly toxic rodenticide, before allegedly distributing them to Shia mourners during Muharram as purported painkillers. Nearly 15,000 poisoned capsules were reportedly recovered from his hotel room....

Poison Politics

The Muharram plot uncovered by Mumbai Police deserves to rank among the gravest terror conspiracies thwarted in recent years. Investigators say that Fayyaz Premji, a Pune-based businessman, spent nearly two weeks in a Dongri hotel assembling thousands of capsules containing zinc phosphide, a highly toxic rodenticide, before allegedly distributing them to Shia mourners during Muharram as purported painkillers. Nearly 15,000 poisoned capsules were reportedly recovered from his hotel room. Eleven people fell ill after consuming some of those already distributed. Had the conspiracy unfolded on the scale allegedly intended, Mumbai could have witnessed a sectarian massacre of horrifying proportions. The case has immediately acquired another dimension because of the political commentary surrounding it. Even before investigators have completed their inquiry, familiar voices have begun suggesting that the affair is somehow too convenient to be true. The case is politically awkward precisely because it refuses to fit India’s preferred ideological templates. The intended victims were Shia Muslims. The alleged perpetrator had once belonged to the Khoja Shia community before publicly renouncing Islam and embarking upon an increasingly bitter campaign against Shia religious institutions. According to investigators, the motive appears rooted in sectarian hostility rather than the Hindu-Muslim polarisation that usually dominates India's political discourse. For decades, India’s debate on communalism has become increasingly one-dimensional. Much attention has, understandably, been devoted to majoritarian politics and Hindu-Muslim relations. Yet sectarian violence within religious communities has rarely received comparable analytical attention despite its devastating record elsewhere. The Sunni-Shia schism has fuelled conflicts from Iraq and Syria to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives over successive decades. It is among the oldest unresolved religious fault lines in the world. India has largely avoided importing that conflict on any significant scale. But that does not mean the fault line does not exist. The Mumbai case therefore deserves to be examined as a reminder that religious extremism wears many faces. It does not always conform to the narratives that dominate television studios or election campaigns. Sometimes its victims belong to the same broad religious community as its perpetrators. This is also a moment for introspection among those who pride themselves on opposing communal politics. Genuine secularism cannot operate selectively. It cannot acknowledge only those forms of religious hatred that reinforce pre-existing political convictions while treating others as inconvenient anomalies. More troubling still is the eagerness with which some commentators appear willing to transform an ongoing criminal investigation into another chapter of partisan warfare. To see every act of terror principally through the prism of electoral advantage is itself a form of communal politics. The courts are the bodies to determine guilt. But if the allegations are ultimately sustained, India should recognise the conspiracy for what it was: not merely an attempted mass poisoning, but a warning that sectarian extremism is neither geographically distant nor historically extinct.

A beacon of hope for rural athletes

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

How Akash Shinde transformed from a shy village boy to a prominent kabaddi player

beacon of hope

Mumbai: In the heart of Nashik's Adgaon village, a young boy Akash Shinde dared to dream big. Little did he know that his journey from playing in the muddy grounds of his town to becoming a PKL winner would inspire a generation of aspiring athletes.


“Initially, when I used to play, I would come home with bruises because Kabaddi was played in the mud,” Akash recalls as he enters his fourth season with the Puneri Paltan. And despite his family's initial concerns, his passion for kabaddi burned bright, fuelled by the unwavering support of his early mentors Sagar Malwade and Vinod Labde.


His path to success was far from smooth. He faced numerous setbacks, failing to make the cut in his first attempts at various levels. “I fell short in my first attempts at all levels. I went for my senior camp for Maharashtra and fell short there too!”


But instead of letting these failures discourage him, Akash used them as stepping stones. “These setbacks kept me determined, and I knew I needed to try harder and with renewed energy to show the world what I could do and achieve.”


His breakthrough came in 2019 at a seniors’ trial in Nashik. This performance opened doors, leading him to play in the Junior Nationals and eventually catching the eye of Yuva Paltan, which is the Puneri Paltan’s academy.


The turning point in Akash’s career came when he represented his college in Beed, earning his first chance to play for Maharashtra. Under the guidance of Anil Jagdale and Kailas Jagdale, his skills flourished. His journey accelerated as he moved from Mahindra & Mahindra to Yuva Paltan, where mentors like Sangram and Ashok helped refine his game.


Akash’s PKL debut with Puneri Paltan in Season 8 was a moment of immense pride, not just for him but for his entire village. “No player from the Nashik region had made it to PKL or even the Maharashtra team, so it was a shock, a pleasant one, for everyone. The entire Nashik district was very happy. It felt really good,” he reminisces.


But it was in Season 9 that he truly announced his arrival, becoming a formidable force on the mat. In the 22 matches that Akash played on the way to his first PKL final, he scored 139 raid points, averaging 6.32 raid point per match.


His performances caught the eye of the national selectors, earning him a spot on the Indian team for the Asian Games. “I received my Team India kit on the 27th of October. I still remember it,” he says.


The crowning glory came in PKL Season 10 when Akash, along with his Puneri Paltan teammates, lifted the coveted trophy. Albeit playing a diminished role, he managed an impressive 56 raid points in the 13 matches he played. “There was only one target then... we had made up our minds that we had to win the title this season, whatever it took,” he shared, reflecting on the team’s collective determination. Now, Akash stands as a beacon of hope for young athletes from rural India. His message to them is clear: “Keep believing in yourselves and your dedication and efforts.” He emphasizes the importance of loyalty, urging young players to stay true to the clubs that nurture them.


As he prepares for PKL Season 11, his journey from the muddy grounds of Adgaon to the bright lights of Pro Kabaddi serves as a testament to the power of dreams, determination, and unwavering support.

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