In her 60s, speaking in a polished, aristocratic accent, she recalls with pleasure her decades of being a teacher. Then she frowns. “I was shocked to see recent comments made by some of my former students on social media. Did I raise a bunch of bigots or is it just these past few years or past few months?”
A Muslim woman born to privilege in Calcutta, she is unapologetic about wanting to be “surrounded by lovely things, little comforts and people of taste”. But she confesses she could not escape the hate narrative before and during the Bengal polls.
“Before this, one took some things for granted. But now, one can’t. For example, my nephew, who’s 19, wasn’t bothered about news or news channels before, but he was very troubled by how the Tablighi Jamaat was shown on TV last year at the start of the pandemic. He said that for the first time he felt different from his non-Muslim friends. I feel angry when Mamata Banerjee is dubbed Mumtaz Begum. Why are you insulting t
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Adeyinka Adedipe, Benin
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Friday said the escape of about 2,000 prisoners from correctional centres in the state during the #EndSARS protests had compounded insecurity in the state.
He, however, said the state government was building a robust security system to deal with the situation, urging citizens and the private sector to support the government’s efforts.
Obaseki, who said this in his New Year broadcast, stated that he was emplacing deep-rooted reforms in the state to engender sustainable development and reconfigure government institutions to better serve the people.
He said, “The social and economic tension emanating from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the #EndSARS protests and its aftermath, which resulted in jailbreaks in Oko and Sapele Road, Benin City. Almost 2,000 prisoners escaped from these facilities and this has compounded the security situation in the state, which we are now dealing