Ulemas exercised over Excise!

Is department of excise an "un-Islamic" portfolio? Leading Islamic seminaries in the country namely Imrat-e-Sharia, Darul-Uloom Deoband  and Nadwatul-Ulema have urged Muslim politicians across the country to avoid taking charge of excise portfolio as dealing in alcohol is prohibited in Islam. The directive has put Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in a bit of a spot.

It happened when Bihar's newly appointed excise minister Jamshed Ashraf decided to pay a visit to Imarat-e-Sharia in Patna to seek the seminary's blessing. The head of the seminary said he was unable  to bless Ashraf as he was dealing in alcohol. Since then, Ashraf has been pleading with Nitish to relieve him from the "wet" department to a "dry" one. The chief minister has high regard for Ashraf's integrity  and trying to prevail upon him to continue. Nitish's rationale is that excise department also deals in enforcing prohibition. But the clergy is unwilling to buy that argument.

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Shias and Sunnis coming together?

For the first time in many years, the Shia and Sunni sects of Muslims are planning to jointly offer Eid prayer in October this year. The initiative for joint Eid prayer has come from noted Shia cleric and reformist Maulana Kalbe Sadiq and readily accepted by Sunnis. The first show of un-precedent unity will take place in Lucknow where Shias under Sadiq's leadership will pray at Eidgah. Divided sharply on  sectarian lines, Shias and Sunnis have been praying in separate mosques and celebrating Eid on different dates for years. Shia and Sunni leaders however feel that arriving at a consensus on citing of Eid –eve-moon will be a major challenge.

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`Sahara' for Indian Hockey?

In the "Gill versus Gill" battle, noted industrialist Subroto Roy is keeping a hawkish eye on all developments.

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Royal's friend-ly retreat

Captain Amrinder Singh's 'good friend' Aroosa Alam has joined Arabic news channel Alarabiya's south Asia bureau. The Pakistani journalist's work assignment entails extensive travel in India particularly Delhi though she is based in Islamabad. Now Delhi is a popular destination for former maharaja of Patiala too. In fact since his exit as chief minister of Punjab, Amrinder has either been touring abroad or living in Delhi where he has more than one residence. Given wife Maharani Praneet Kaur's political associations in Delhi, Punjab Congressmen are hoping that Amrinder will be spending more time in Delhi.

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Hindi lessons for Kanimozhi

DMK supremo M.Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi is emerging as a power centre in the national capital. She is perceived to be an  important link between Tamil Nadu chief minister and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. So when Kanimozhi toyed with the idea of mastering Hindi, she was flooded with teachers volunteering their services. AICC
spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan was first to propose herself followed by Supriya Sule, politician-daughter of Sharad Pawar. But Sonia Gandhi's advise to young Kanimozhi is to enroll herself in some good Hindi-teaching shop.