By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Zameeruddin Shah, former Deputy Chief of Indian Army and the former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University has supported the ‘Not in my name’ protests happening acrosss the country.
People from different castes, religion and communities have started protesting against mob lynching incidents with the message ‘not in my name’, in order to distinguish themselves from the mob which is attacking the people over various baseless allegations.
Lt Gen Zameeruddin Shah (Retd) has been watching the incidents acorss the country, but he could not say anything as he was serving vice-chancellor post of AMU. He said, “I was constrained from speaking out earlier because of limitations of being in government service. I have no such restrictions now. I support the movement ‘Not in my Name’.”
He further said, “It is heartening that the majority community, by this movement, have shown their support towards their minority brethren and have rightly protested against the systematic lynching of Indian citizens by self-serving, righteous criminals.”
In his statement being circulated widely, Shah mentioned his full name with PVSM, SM, VSM and said, “I have purposely mentioned my full name because in the army I am universally known as Gen Zoom Shah. No body talked of my religion. It was private business between me and my maker.”
Shah also recalled the Eid celebration in his battalions, “I would also like to recall how I attended an Eid function in one of my Battalions. It comprised of two companies Muslim, one Dogra company and one Sikh company. The Eid namaz was performed in a large complex called the ‘House of worship’. The non-Muslim commanding officer joined in the Namaz, a purely notional gesture, with immense impact on morale of troops. I had done the same when presiding over Mandir functions when I was commanding my regiment comprising of Rajputs.
“After the Namaz, the Granthi gave a short speech followed by Kirtan, followed by the Pandit and a bhajan. The speeches were about amity and service to he country, which all religions profess. All ranks then proceeded to enjoy the feast of ‘sheer’ and ‘sewain’. We are a ‘salad bowl nation’…..because the minorities are integrated in it just like the constituents of a salad but not assimilated,” added Shah.
Shah, who is a veteran of the 1971 Longewala battle and multiple insurgencies happened in the country, further said, “In the salad you can still identify the carrot from the peas and cucumber. Similarly the minorities take pride in retaining their distinct religion, ethnicity, language and very important love for their country.”
Shah added that government should come forward to put a stop to these public violence, “It is time for the government and the silent spectators to speak out against these atrocities and nip the evil in the bud. They should not allow it to spin out of control.”