They just wanted their angst noticed, and as a symbol of recognition, Jallikattu, restored without the annual ritual of court cases and adjournments, explains N Sathya Moorthy.
The Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday barred its OBC wing leader from party events after an audio clip in which he is purportedly heard using abusive language against a woman colleague went viral, and removed an actor from her posts for alleged anti-party activities.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Alleging that Sanatana Dharma is against equality and social justice, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam youth wing secretary and Tamil Nadu Youth Welfare Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has said it should be eradicated.
Chandrasekhar was reacting to the arrest of Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party leader S G Suryah under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act allegedly over a social media post.
This is the third meeting of CEOs after Gyanesh Kumar took over as the chief election commissioner in February. However, Wednesday's day-long meeting assumes significance as the preparedness of a pan-India SIR are being discussed, officials said.
An advocate was brutally attacked by a man in front of the court complex in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, triggering protests by the members of the Bar in the district demanding protection to colleagues at their workplace. The assailant, identified as Ananda Kumar, inflicted grievous cut injuries with a matchet, allegedly due to previous enmity with the victim. The incident sparked a political outrage in the state with various parties criticizing the state government's law and order situation.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi should free himself from divisive forces and discharge duties as per Constitutional norms, if he intends to continue as governor, Chief Minister M K Stalin said, and asked him to desist from converting Raj Bhavan into a political party office to depict Dravidian race in poor light.
He asked if DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, "who speaks of Tamil culture, such a serious allegation has been made--will DMK snap ties with Congress, for Tamil pride and the Tamil people."
Here are some of the famous faces queued up to get ink mark on their fingers.
'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
BJP state chief K Annamalai, who announced a relief of Rs 10 lakh on behalf of the party to Prabhu's family, said the party would bear the education expenses of the soldier's two children.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is hopeful that the issue will come handy to its efforts to gain political traction in Dravidian state as it gears up for the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
Justice Krishna S Dixit, presiding over a single judge bench, issued notice to the parties concerned and paused the ongoing investigation.
The BJP's strategy seem to be to wean away allies from the Congress, in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, and maybe later in UP, Bihar and elsewhere, though in slow doses, but without wooing them into a new alliance. The idea seems to be only to weaken the INDIA bloc from within -- and leaving it at that, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Panneerselvam indicated that he would support the move but laid down certain conditions, he said without divulging them. "I hope the two factions would sort out the differences soon," Annamalai said.
After maintaining that the National Democratic Alliance leadership would announce the chief ministerial candidate, following poll notification, the Saffron party appeared to have made a climbdown.
The BJP has to endorse chief minister K Palaniswami's candidature for the CM's post for the polls and agree to its other terms -- like non-participation in government -- and if not, should rethink of its 2021 electoral options, the AIADMK indicated at its meet.
The bickering between allies All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu over late Dravidian stalwart C N Annadurai peaked on Monday with the regional party snapping ties with the saffron organisation, saying it cannot tolerate any affront to the late chief minister and its other leaders.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asserted that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra and anyone who lives here should learn and speak it. Fadnavis was speaking in the state assembly after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the government should clarify its stand on senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
"Just because we invited the Central Minister, there's speculation that we have ties with the BJP. There's no need for us (the DMK) to have a secret pact with the BJP," Stalin said speaking after solemnising the marriage of Dileepan, son of DMK Thiruvottiyur MLA K P Shankar, with Vishali, in Chennai.
Stalin also heaped praise on "brother" Rahul Gandhi, saying he is the "ideal antidote" to the BJP's "parochial" politics.
'I was invited to join the BJP, and I felt respected when they called me.'
At 37, Annamalai Kuppusamy, is the youngest president Tamil Nadu BJP ever had and he is the first to rise to the position in the state unit within a year of joining the party.
The BJP game-plan: Take the top slot, or a close second, either for the 'Lotus' or the larger NDA, if it can and push the AIADMK to the third place, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
After sparking a row over his Sanatan Dharma remarks, Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of 'twisting' his statement and spreading fake news.
A petition was filed before a court in Bihar on Monday against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his son Udayanidhi Stalin over the latter's controversial remarks against Sanatan Dharma.
Barring a few, such as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (74), Union Minister C R Patil (69) and Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna (71), most other ministers attending the WEF represent the next generation of India's politicians.
He also accused the Congress of questioning the existence of Ram, evoking a sharp reaction from the Opposition benches.
If Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai bought it in 2015, did he get prior approval from the Union home ministry, and did he include it in his annual wealth returns, sections of the media want to know. N Sathiya Moorthy on the curious case of the 'Rafale' watch.
'In today's political spectrum, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party that always says, nation first.'
Baalu said Murugan was a "traitor" who spoke against the interests of Tamil Nadu and added he described him as "unfit", which was not an unparliamentary word.
'The BJP wants an AIADMK government so that they can implement their policies.' 'All the policies implemented in UP are being implemented in Tamil Nadu.'
'It's a natural alliance and this alliance has been has been formed without compromising the core ideology of the AIADMK.'
Thennarasu said that while the governor had to grant his approval to the bill, he informed them it was still under his consideration.
Today, with the Lok Sabha polls only months away, any inter-state dispute over the Cauvery water dispute has the potential to take more political turns than otherwise, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
With billionaire Gautam Adani charged in the United States with alleged bribery and fraud, the Congress on Thursday said it 'vindicates' its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the various 'scams' involving his conglomerate.
Opposition parties allege the Modi government is attempting to turn India into a 'dictatorship' with the introduction of three Bills that seek to provide for removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers arrested on serious charges, and vowed to oppose it 'tooth and nail'.
