More on Khalidi
Hi Manjeet,
I do not think anybody would have tried to find out his profession. In India we do not tend to question a person with a degree from abroad. This MIT
link
too says that he is a librarian.
I came across some more information about him. He has a very sinister agenda. He wants to carve a muslim majority state from Andhra Pradeshand Bihar.
Swapan Dasgupta who writes for
Daily Pioneer mentions in one his articles that -
"In an interview to Radiance, the Jamaat-e-Islami weekly, Khalidi gave a taste of his agenda. "We need Muslim-majority districts for three reasons. First, concentrated areas provide security.
Second, they provide an environment that is conducive to our cultural independence. Third, they provide a political base through which our people can be elected." He suggested a Deccan province by merging Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Gulbarga districts, an Urdu-speaking State covering Kishanganj, Katihar and Purnea districts in Bihar. "There are regions in Bengal and UP where Muslims can be in majority. Though a large number of Muslims would still be left out, having these strongholds is important for their future." "
Dasgupta found the above reference from here -
Indian minority empowerment through political representation
But when Dr.Omar Khalidi, the Hyderabad born MIT academic, suggested another way for improving Muslim representation, he was attacked for allegedly advocating the "Islamization" of India. Explaining his call for creating Muslim majority districts in an interview to the Radiance he said : "We need Muslim-majority districts for three reasons. First, concentrated areas provide security. Second, they provide an environment that is conducive to our cultural independence. Third, they provide a political base through which our people can be elected. At present, constituencies have been created in a way that our numbers don't add up to elect adequate legislators.... Hyderabad and Rangareddy in Andhra Pradesh and Gulbarga and certain talukas could be merged to create a Deccan province. Similarly in Bihar, the regions of Katihar, Kishanganj and Purniya can be made into an Urdu-speaking province or a Union Territory. There are regions in Bengal and UP where Muslims can be in majority. Though, a large number of Muslims would still be left out, having these strongholds is important for their future. This would ensure proper political representation in States and we would have our voice in Parliament.... A decade ago, it was not fashionable to talk about reservation for Muslims. Today, Muslims have reservation in Kerala and Karnataka. In Andhra, too, we are likely to get reservation. Don't judge everything from what's happening today.
Huq liye jaten hain pesh nahin kiye jate."
