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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Educated Muslims being hounded: Owaisi

Mumbai: AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has flayed what he termed as a ‘media trial’ in the alleged TCS Nashik conversion case and claimed that educated Muslims youth are being deliberately targeted as part of planned ‘hate campaign’, here on Saturday. Reiterating full faith in the judicial process, Owaisi said that justice cannot be handed out through media narratives or television debates and the law must be allowed to take its own course. “We are seeing a very dangerous trend… Now,...

Educated Muslims being hounded: Owaisi

Mumbai: AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has flayed what he termed as a ‘media trial’ in the alleged TCS Nashik conversion case and claimed that educated Muslims youth are being deliberately targeted as part of planned ‘hate campaign’, here on Saturday. Reiterating full faith in the judicial process, Owaisi said that justice cannot be handed out through media narratives or television debates and the law must be allowed to take its own course. “We are seeing a very dangerous trend… Now, educated Muslims are being picked out for orchestrated allegations and media campaigns. This doesn’t augur well for society and justice itself with the media playing the role of the judge and jury,” said Owaisi sharply. Flanked by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen state President Imtiaz Jaleel, Owaisi also emphatically said that it was wrong to link his party with the TCS case prime accused Nida Khan, “who will be ultimately proven innocent in the courts”. He expressed concerns over the slur campaign driven by malice and political motives against his party as well as Nida Khan in some sections of the media even before the investigations were completed or a judicial scrutiny. “Merely because some allegations have been hurled at a young woman professional, attempts are being made to paint her ‘guilty’ through media trials, even before judicial scrutiny. But, we have complete faith in the judiciary and are confident that the court will eventually exonerate her,” asserted Owaisi. Public Discourse Raising questions on the probe and accompanying public discourse with stress on the alleged recovery of certain ‘evidence’ from Nida Khan’s home, he sharply questioned: “Since when have a burqa, a niqab or religious literature become objectionable… Is wearing a hijab now regarded as evidence of a crime?” He said that these details along with baseless allegations are sensationalism in the media to create further prejudice against the minority community and reflected a deep-rooted hostility aimed at harassing educated Muslim men and women. Owaisi pointed out that a complaint in the TCS Nashik case was filed by a leader linked with the ruling party, and as per the software giant’s statement, Nida Khan was not with its HR Department and transferred even before the controversy erupted, contradicting several media reports. Of the nine cases lodged in the matter till date, in one case, she was accused of hurting religious sentiments, but nobody can comment on it before the court pronounces its verdict, he pointed out. Court Fight Dismissing attempts to drag and link the AIMIM into the row, he referred to a party Municipal Corporator Matin Patel who was booked merely on the basis of certain allegations and vowed to contest the matter in the court. Here Owaisi cited multiple examples of educated Muslims being scrutinised – including in Delhi when some educated youths were arrested for possessing a book by the legendary Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib and they were later released. There was another one from Allahabad where some Muslim boys were targeted for writing an Urdu ‘sher’ (couplet) prompting judicial intervention, and predicted that even in the Nashik TCS case, the truth will ultimately prevail as no criminal charges against Nida Khan may stand. AIMIM to set up voter help-desks AIMIM President and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi said his party is developing a digital application containing electoral records of all 288 Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra for 2002-2024, to help voters in the SIR process. For this, the AIMIM will set up help desk centers in its strongholds to facilitate the process and ensure proper utilisation of voter data. Alleging discrepancies in electoral records, he said such errors create huge problems for the voters, especially the poor or illiterates. Owaisi mentioned how of the nearly 27 lakh names placed in the adjudication list in West Bengal, “90 pc were poor Muslims.” These centers would be open for all Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Adivasis and the general public needing assistance with the electoral records.

Gold Prices Signal Strong 2026 Outlook

An AI bubble meltdown may push investors away from equities and into gold, while a softer dollar and low rates provide foundational support for price gains.

Gold has reached once-unthinkable prices at USD 4,468 per troy ounce (31.1347 grams) in 2025, gaining over 72.25 per cent this year as of 23 December 2025. Due to record-high prices in the international market, there is reduced interest in spot buying in the Indian bullion market.


In Mumbai, bullion dealers are offering gold at a 1 per cent discount on international market prices, at the all-time high price of Rs 137,000 per 10 grams, excluding 3 per cent GST.Looking ahead to 2026, major themes that carried the gold price to new heights this year will continue to underwrite its trajectory in the months ahead, boosting the metal even further.


Goldman Sachs sees gold prices climbing 14 per cent to USD 4,900 by December 2026 in its base case, it said in a note on Thursday, while citing upside risks to this view due to a potential expansion of diversification to private investors.


Safe-Haven Demand

Its views on commodities for 2026: Goldman Sachs said it expects structurally high central bank demand and cyclical support from US Federal Reserve interest rate cuts to lift the price of gold. It continues to recommend long exposure in the yellow metal. Strong gold exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows and central bank purchases are projected to continue into next year as investors, particularly in the West, increasingly recognise the hedge value of gold.


Joe Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the WGC, said, “I think the performance of gold (in 2025) speaks volumes about the global perspective on risk and uncertainty. My sense is that we're going to continue to see these challenges in 2026.”


Risk Factor

This will translate into continued strong ETF flows and central bank demand for the monetary metal for 2026, although central bank buying may come at a slower pace than in the past few years. Another potential 2026 tailwind for gold is a correction in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks. Analysts are increasingly warning that this could happen, and it's possible that AI bubble meltdown concerns may push more investors away from equities and into gold in the coming year. Bank of America Global Research told its clients in late October that gold may be one of the strongest hedges if the AI bubble bursts.


“Optimists buy tech, pessimists buy gold, and hedgers buy both.” The uncertainty generated by Trump’s tariffs is beginning to slow down world trade, which has negative consequences for the AI sector. That will be the thing that ends up popping (the AI bubble). The gold price has an inverse relationship with the US dollar and real interest rates. Analysts forecast a weaker dollar and lower rates by mid-2026. A softer dollar and a low-rate environment would provide foundational support for further gold price gains.


The resulting inflation is expected to push the Fed toward quantitative easing (QE), or the purchasing of government bonds to increase money supply and lower long-term rates, which would further bolster the yellow metal's appeal.Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley sees demand for gold from ETFs and central banks pushing the gold price back up above USD 4,500 per ounce by mid-2026. The World Gold Council (WGC) also expects the themes of risk and uncertainty to continue driving gold. Overall, most analysts' gold price predictions for the upcoming year are in the USD 4,500 to USD 5,000 range.


(The writer is a commodities researcher-cum-analyst. Views personal.)


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