Latest news with #AryaSamaj
News18
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Salman Khan Reveals Sohail Khan Eloped With Seema Sajdeh, Mocks Their Divorce: 'Ab Woh Bhi Bhaag Gayi'
Last Updated: On The Great Indian Kapil Show, Salman Khan jokingly roasted brother Sohail and ex-sister-in-law Seema Sajdeh while recalling a funny incident with Avinash Gowariker. Salman Khan brought his trademark humour and unfiltered honesty to the latest episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix, where he didn't hesitate to take playful digs — not even sparing his own family. In a light-hearted segment, the superstar shared anecdotes from his famous Galaxy Apartments home in Bandra, pulling in brother Sohail Khan and ex-sister-in-law Seema Sajdeh into the punchlines. While chatting with host Kapil Sharma about how his home has always had an open-door policy for guests, Salman recalled how celebrity photographer Avinash Gowariker once asked to stay at their home for a few days while house-hunting. The Khan family agreed — but those few days stretched into years. Salman shared, 'He said he would stay for a few days until he found a house. A few years later, I asked him what happened to the house hunt. He said, 'I found one a few days after coming here, but I subleased it because your house has such a great vibe.'" That wasn't all. Salman then used another hilarious example involving Avinash but didn't miss a chance to roast his brother. He said, 'Usi dauran Sohail ne bhaag kar shadi karli. Ab woh bhi bhag gayi hain," sparking loud laughter from Navjot Singh Sidhu and Archana Puran Singh. The actor's witty jab referred to Sohail's marriage with Seema Sajdeh, which began when they eloped and ended in a quiet separation. Salman continued the story, explaining how Sohail once asked Avinash to vacate the room to make space for him and Seema. Avinash, surprised, reportedly asked, 'This is not fair, how can you get married like this?" Sohail and Seema tied the knot in 1998 with an Arya Samaj wedding followed by a nikkah. They welcomed two sons — Nirvan in 2000 and Yohan in 2011. After 24 years of marriage, they parted ways in 2022. Seema, who appeared on Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, is now reportedly in a new relationship with her ex-fiance, Vikram Ahuja. Salman Khan's last big-screen appearance was in Sikandar. Co-starring Rashmika Mandanna, the film is directed by acclaimed filmmaker AR Murugadoss. Besides the two leads, it also features Kajal Aggarwal, Sharman Joshi, Prateik Babbar, and Sathyaraj in pivotal roles. It is currently available for streaming on Netflix. First Published:
Hindustan Times
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
'Woh bhi bhag gai': Salman Khan trolls Seema Sajdeh after her divorce from Sohail Khan
Jun 22, 2025 10:24 AM IST Salman Khan never shies away from roasting anyone and everyone, even his own brothers. On the latest episode of the second season of The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix, Salman trolled his brother Sohail Khan and his ex-wife Seema Sajdeh. Salman Khan joked about brother Sohail Khan and Seema Sajdeh's divorce on the latest episode of The Great Indian Kapil Show. Salman was talking to host Kapil Sharma about how the doors to his home are always open for guests. He gave the example of photographer Avinash Gowariker, who once came to live with the Khan family at their iconic Galaxy Apartments home in Bandra. He said that he needed a place to stay for a few days until he finds a rental home for himself. The family agrees but soon, years go by and Avinash has not left. Salman asked him what's the update on the house hunt when Avinash said he found the home days after he came to Galaxy. However, he put it on a sublease and continued living with the Khans because of the nice atmosphere at their home. No one is spared from Salman's jokes Salman also gave another example of Avinash's entitled attitude but trolled Sohail and Seema in the process. 'Usi dauran Sohail ne bhaag kar shadi karli. Ab woh bhi bhag gai hain (During that time, Sohail eloped (with Seema) and now even she has run away),' he said as guests Navjot Singh Sidhu and Archana Puran Singh cackled in their seats. Sohail told Avinash to empty up the space as he needed room for him and Seema. Avinash was baffled and asked Sohail, 'This is not fair, how can you get married like this?' About Seema and Sohail Seema and Sohail had an Arya Samaj wedding followed by a nikkah in 1998. They welcomed their first son, Nirvan, in 2000 and their second son, Yohan, in 2011. The couple eventually separated in 2022 after 24 years of marriage. Seema has since moved on and is now in a relationship with someone else.
Time of India
21 hours ago
- General
- Time of India
Capt Abhimanyu's mother cremated with Vedic rites; thousands, including Ramdev and minister Parvesh Verma pay tribute
CHANDIGARH: Parmeshwari Devi, mother of former Haryana finance minister Captain Abhimanyu and wife of late Arya Samaj stalwart Chaudhary Mitrasen Arya, was cremated with full Vedic rituals on Saturday at her native village Khanda Kheri, near the Bharat Mitra Stambh. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now She passed away at the age of 89 on Friday at a private hospital in Delhi after a prolonged illness. Her eldest son, Captain Rudra Sen Sindhu, performed the last rites. Renowned yoga guru , who arrived by helicopter, joined the bereaved family in carrying the mortal remains to the cremation site. Several dignitaries including Delhi Cabinet Minister Parvesh Verma, Haryana Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa, Social Justice Minister Krishan Bedi, and MP Dharambir Singh, among others. A condolence meeting will be held at Sindhu Bhawan, Sector-14, Rohtak. Before the cremation, the body was brought from Rohtak to the family village, with citizens paying homage along the route. The body was kept at Mata Jiyo Devi College in Khanda Kheri for public viewing. Swami Ramdev offered emotional tribute by touching her feet and standing vigil throughout the rites. Several prominent personalities attended to pay their respects, including Swami Aryavesh, Swami Adityavesh, Swami Pranavanand, Swami Sampurnanand, Acharya Vednisth, former Union minister Subhash Maharia, former ministers Om Prakash Dhankar and Bijender Billu, MLAs Ramkumar Gautam, Vinod Bhayana, and many others from political, social, and spiritual circles. Captain Abhimanyu, in an emotional tribute, said, 'She was my first guru, my strength, and the guiding force of my life. Whatever I am today is due to her love, discipline, and sacrifice. Her teachings and ideals will remain with us forever.'
Mint
a day ago
- Politics
- Mint
Book excerpt: How the global story of caste activism began in Marathwada
CASTE BOOK , SURAJ YENGDE , SURAJ MILIND YENGDE , NEW BOOK , NONFICTION , INDIAN WRITING , INDIAN NONFICTION : Nanded, my hometown in Marathwada, has been home to one of the most radical forms of Dalit politics for over a hundred years. The Arya Samaj, the Hindu reform movement, established one of its earliest centres in Marathwada. Fearing Muslim influence on the subaltern castes, the Arya Samaj started to reconvert the latter by offering janeu, the sacred thread. However, this was not looked upon favourably by non-Dalit villagers, who by way of punishment forcibly tattooed Dalit converts with hot iron rods. Marathwada has also seen a significant presence of Sikhs, Nanded being an important holy place for the Sikh religion. The radical message of mystics and spiritual teachers like Kabir, Raidas, Nanak and Gobind was carried by practitioners of the Sikh faith. In particular, the vision of society that Kabir and Raidas preached found especial resonance among the Dalits of Marathwada. Also read: 'Something like Truth': Staging four monologues around truth and justice Following in this tradition, Marathwada Dalits carved out for themselves a political space, whose potential for mobilization and receptivity to radical ideas were noticed by B.R. Ambedkar. Issues around land, education and sovereignty were all highly politicized in Marathwada. Those who rejected their oppression as lower castes looked for ways of fighting back. To them, Ambedkar-led politics seemed like a promising avenue. In particular, Mahars (a caste of Dalits) in my region gave their allegiance to Ambedkar. Though Ambedkar was yet to visit them, they had heard about him and his voluminous writings. He came from their caste-community and had a national as well as international appeal. Dalit leaders from the wider Telugu-, Marathi- and Kannada-speaking regions, such as Bhagya Reddy Varma, B.S. Venkat Rao and B. Shyam Sundar, eventually joined Ambedkar and worked under his leadership. My district and region were one of many centres of radical politics. Nanded's representative to India's independent parliament in 1957 belonged to a crop of radical Dalit politicians: Harihar Rao Sonule was our statement of our collective belief in constitutional promise. He was one of the early batch of Dalit MPs from the All India Scheduled Caste Federation who were intent on gaining rights for Dalits in the newly independent country. In our house in Janta Colony, Ambedkar Nagar, Nanded, my father listened to the morning Marathi news on DD Sahyadri—a government-owned satellite TV station. We had a black-and-white 14-inch television set made by a Videocon company. Each morning the same ritual was followed as I prepared for school. One day in 1997 my father held me and made me watch the TV: Kofi Annan was being elected as the secretary general of the United Nations Organization. My father called it Oono—UNO. He wanted me to register that a Black man had ascended to the topmost position of an inter-governmental body, never mind that Annan originally came from the crop of Ghanaian elites. My father perhaps wanted me to see that the UN and other international bodies could not only be accessible to native elites the world over, but could be a space even of Dalit politics. When the Taliban blew up statues of the Buddha, he and his associates protested by petitioning the UN—in a letter written in Marathi. Years later, when I was an intern at the UN's human rights office in Geneva, I was dismayed by its sheer inability to provide nonpolitical solutions to issues of the day…. In the United States, the Dalit cause was taken up by the coordinated efforts of professional class Dalits who had settled there. Their activism began with protests against atrocities within India and led to attempts to hold the Indian state accountable by placing the issue of caste on the agendas of US political and policy circles. Later, activists like Laxmi Berwa and Yogesh Varhade took the UN route that their predecessors like B.R. Ambedkar, N. Rajbhoj and Bhagwan Das had followed. Solidarity represents one way of connecting the Dalit movement with a larger cause. But the desire for international solidarity did not significantly influence the activities of Dalits in India. Their work evolved in response to the radical shifts of Cold War-era politics. The movement was split between left and right. Some aligned with a nativist theory of liberation, while others drew on the left's internationalism. One faction was led by Namdeo Dhasal, the well-known leftist Panther. Left-wing savarna scholars wrote extensively about Dhasal and promoted his image. Raja Dhale, on the other hand, who led the other faction, was primarily known to circles of academics and writers because of his distance from leftist politics. Later he became so disillusioned with the Panthers' leadership that he left and pursued a career in a political party run by Ambedkar's grandson, only to end up dismayed by it. A vast number of Dalit Mahars who identified with Ambedkar and Buddhism embraced Dhale. My father was an associate of his in Nanded and was particularly interested in Dhale's literary activities. They remained friends. My name Surudhay—kindhearted—was given me by Dhale. However, because it was often mispronounced, I shortened the name to Suraj. When I was a student leader in Nanded, I invited Dhale to visit the university and deliver a lecture. He came and the old cadres packed the hall. He spoke but it wasn't an impressive speech. When my father passed away, Dhale paid a visit to my home. I was in South Africa; I rang him to thank him for the visit. In his usual way, Dhale said that he had not done anything extraordinary. 'Milind was my associate, and I paid a visit" was his response. Dhale was known to call a spade a spade. He restricted himself to the activism of literature. He read many books. Whenever my father visited Mumbai, he would seek an audience with Dhale. I recall once we spent an entire day in Vikhroli, the area where Dhale lived. Years later when I was studying to become a scholar, I sought an audience with Dhale. He refused. He said that, like me, he had little time available; it was better that we should not impose ourselves on each other's time. His response made me feel he had become rude and bitter as an old man. A few years later when I spent about eight months in India, I realized why he had spoken in this way. In India, a meeting can easily last several hours. Dhale was also in a hurry to finish what he was writing—as he indicated to me. Also read: A new anthology of writings from south Asia celebrates marginalised voices Over the years, as my name became known in academic and literary circles, reports about me must have come to the attention of Dhale, for he commented to my cousin Nitin that 'Suraj has now become an important person". When Dhale died, the national media reached out to me to write an obituary. I was on the way to deliver a series of talks in Kolhapur. But I asked people to send me some books on Dhale and some of his original writings. I wrote the article on my journey from Aurangabad to Kolhapur, two sites driven by Ambedkar's politics. Dhale was widely read. He was among the first Dalits in the movement to actively pursue Black literature. In his young days, he dabbled in translating Black poets into Marathi. There are many such anecdotes about my father—who was my primary interlocutor to this history—and Dhale that touch my thinking and practice. The global story of caste or the story of global castes thus begins with my experience of growing up as a Dalit. It's also a story of Marathwada, India, which had the audacity to connect with the larger world. That is why the Dalit-Black nexus, which started as an investigation of literature and experience in Marathwada, became a precursor to the formation of an active political solidarity. Excerpted from 'Caste: A Global Story' with permission from Penguin Random House India. The book will be available around 30 June.
Scroll.in
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Why Uttar Pradesh is making it harder for runaway couples to marry
Married couples in Uttar Pradesh can now only register their marriage in a district where at least one of the spouses or their parents usually live. Couples will also have to submit an affidavit from the purohit or priest who solemnised the wedding, containing their full details, along with a video recording of the ceremony. Moreover, an unregistered rent agreement will not be accepted as proof of residence. This is due to the notification of new, more stringent rules for the registration of marriages by the Uttar Pradesh government on June 6. The move, which makes it significantly harder for couples to marry without their families' consent, is a direct consequence of a judgement delivered by the Allahabad High Court on May 12. Crucially, the court clarified that these stringent requirements 'shall specifically apply to the registration of marriages involving runaway couples – i.e., those who have entered into a matrimonial alliance without the consent of their respective family members'. If family members are present, a marriage officer has the discretion to waive these conditions. The order effectively creates a separate, more stringent category of registration for couples that elope. This raises concerns about undermining the fundamental right of adults to choose their partners that has been repeatedly upheld by the Supreme Court. The judgement came from a single judge, Justice Vinod Diwakar, who clubbed together 125 similar petitions filed by couples seeking police protection from their families after marriage. However, instead of sticking to the core demand for protection, the court pivoted towards a sweeping inquiry into what it termed a 'systemic problem' of fraudulent marriages that required the court 'to establish a robust mechanism for thorough document verification'. Given the court had also found allegedly forged Arya Samaj documents, it ordered amendment of the Uttar Pradesh Marriage Registration Rules, 2017 within six months to 'ensure stringent accountability of trusts and societies involved in solemnising and registering marriages' for the sake of 'the validity and sanctity of marriages.' Threat to the 'social fabric'? From the very first hearing in the case in July 2024, the court expressed deep concern over the authenticity of 'runaway marriages' and their impact on society. It noted in the judgement that many petitions for protection by married couples are based on 'fabricated marriage certificates and forged Aadhar Cards' and that such practices have set a 'disturbing precedent that threatens to adversely affect the social fabric of society.' The court made alarming claims: that in many cases, brides have been found to be minors and that men have entered these alliances without disclosing previous marriages, using 'fake certificates and morphed photographs'. Such unions, the court said, are not just a threat to the 'sanctity of marriage' but also facilitate 'human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and other social evils.' According to the court, '[t]he children involved suffer profound emotional and psychological trauma resulting from social instability, exploitation, coercion, manipulation, and interruption of their education.' Describing the marriages as 'clandestine unions', the judgment laments that they often result in 'families being torn apart by sudden and secretive alliances.' However, the court's conclusions are not backed by any data. The data that the judgement refers to is either inconclusive or does not directly support the court's claims. Data under scrutiny The court's primary concern seemed to stem from the unusually high number of marriage registrations in Ghaziabad. The judgment cited a report from the Inspector General of Registration showing that of the 1,00,156 marriages registered in Uttar Pradesh between August 2023 and August 2024, a staggering 29,022 were in Ghaziabad. Of these, over 19,000 were handled by a single sub-registrar's office. The court interprets this as evidence of a large-scale, organised fraud. However, the judgement makes a leap from high volume to proven fraud without presenting direct evidence linking the two. It does not consider alternative explanations for the high volume, such as Ghaziabad's accessibility for couples from across western UP or the relative ease of accessing marriage registration services in an urban hub vis-à-vis other parts of the state. The other key data point comes from a police verification report of 77 of the 125 petitions before the court. The report, submitted by the Prayagraj Commissioner of Police, found that in ten of these cases, the marriage certificates, purportedly from Arya Samaj organisations, were forged. This indicates a fraud rate of 13% within this small sample, which contradicts the judgement's claim that '[genuine] cases are relatively few compared to the large number of petitions based on fabricated documents and false claims.' The court also noted that after police verification was ordered of the identity and marriage of the petitioners before it, 'in almost 25% of the cases, the petitioners ceased to appear before the Court'. It implies that their non-appearance is an admission of guilt. However, it fails to consider other possibilities: the couples may have reconciled with their families, been intimidated into withdrawing or simply run out of the financial resources needed to pursue the case. The court has used these findings to justify new rules that will impact all eloping couples, including those whose documents may be genuine. The judgement does not address whether imposing such burdensome requirements on everyone is a proportionate response to the issue. The court also does not provide any rationale for making the registration requirements optional for couples whose family members are present during the registration, according to the discretion of the registrar. The underlying assumption – that marriages approved or arranged by families will not involve child marriages or use forged documents – is not supported by any data or reasoning in the judgement. Open probe Based on these findings, the court has not only framed new rules but had also in earlier orders in the matter greenlit a broad, open-ended police investigation into the functioning of organisations that solemnise such marriages in Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar and Prayagraj. In its final order, the court asked the police to prepare a 'comprehensive list of all trusts and societies performing marriages within the territorial jurisdiction of the districts of Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabad.' It further directed the police to conduct a 'thorough and discreet inquiry' into the activities and finances of these trusts, profile their key functionaries and identify the entire network of people who assist eloping couples. In response, police in Ghaziabad and Prayagraj have already registered 16 first information reports against various trusts and individuals for allegedly conducting fraudulent marriages and issuing forged marriage certificates. This raises concerns of judicial overreach and a witch-hunt against organisations that assist eloping couples – most of which are likely to be inter-caste unions – to marry. Justice denied? Another unusual aspect of the judgment is its final direction. After a lengthy examination of the alleged fraud, the court disposed of all 125 petitions by couples seeking police protection. The couples were simply directed to approach the local senior superintendent of police who, the court said, would verify their claims and then take 'appropriate remedial measures as deemed fit.' The order ignored the fact that if a direct application to the police were an effective solution, these couples would not have invested the time, money and risk to petition the High Court in the first place. By sending them back to the very authorities they sought to bypass, the court effectively denied them the protection they sought.
