A row erupted on Friday over plans by the Bharatiya Janata Party to observe the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Raja Mahendra Pratap at the Aligarh Muslim University campus with its vice chancellor warning of a potential "communal conflagration" and the saffron party defending the move.
'AMU is a secular university with an Islamic ethos.' 'We do not discriminate on the basis of religion. Let me tell you Muslims do not need reservations. They need affirmative action in education.'
Congress on Sunday expressed surprise over the Modi government's "inability" to rein in affiliates of Sangh Parivar "brewing communal hatred and mistrust" for electoral gains.
'How many Indian parents, still alive, really have documents of, their parents's date and place of birth? Not more than 27% of still alive Indians have got birth certificates,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
'In Kairana, the grand coalition was able to transfer its votes to a Muslim candidate in supposedly an era of anti-Muslim ambience.' 'Given this perspective, the Kairana result seems more significant than that of Gorakhpur and Phulpur a few months ago,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Several protests -- some peaceful, some violent -- erupted across India on Monday against the police crackdown in Jamia Millia Islamia and the controversial citizenship law as students and political leaders took to the streets, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called these protests "deeply distressing" and appealed for peace.
Outside Rampur, Azam Khan's name may be an alias for controversy. But Rampur's voters believe that all the improvements in their constituency has been accomplished only by the man they have elected 8 times to the state assembly.
Aligarh is a milestone in the history of Indian cinema that should start the much needed conversation about how India treats gays and lesbians, feels Aseem Chhabra.
Hitting out at the intellectuals attacking the Centre over "the climate of intolerance", they said a section of nation's intelligentsia was dismayed by Narendra Modi's victory in the Lok Sabha polls and "failure in the elections is now sought to be avenged by other means".
The Human Resource Development Ministry on Tuesday sought an explanation from the Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor Zameer Uddin Shah over not allowing access to women undergraduates to the main library in the campus, with Minister Smriti Irani saying that it amounted to an 'insult to daughters'.
'Why is the government in such a hurry?' 'The answer is the December assembly elections and the 2019 general election.'
What has not changed in a decade is the character of Rizwan Khan. He is complex, multi-dimensional and lovable. In fact, his character continues to grow on you, notes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
A case was registered on February 11, 2016 under Sections of 124 A (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC against unknown persons at Vasant Kunj (North) police station following complaints by BJP MP Maheish Girri and the ABVP.
Maharashtra has reported 31 positive cases, Kerala 19, Uttar Pradesh 11, Delhi and Karnataka six each, Ladakh three, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Telangana two each; and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab one case each. The total number of confirmed cases also includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, it said.
AMU has once again been pulled into a crossfire of crass political opportunism. In these post-truth times, that the university also had political stirrings not subscribing to the Muslim League is chosen to be forgotten, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'Amit Shah and his fellow travellers need to realise that India was divided because of competitive communalism of forces like Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League, prodded, aided and abetted by the colonial power,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Javadekar, along with Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, is among the few ministers who have party as well as ministerial responsibilities.
He was deliberately reducing Ansari to his Muslim identity by linking his career as a diplomat in the Arab world and educationist and his reflections on intolerance with his religion.
India's majoritarian regime is now making a dangerously fast-paced move towards theocracy, like its western counterpart did a few decades ago, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
'The poor manner in which the RJD stitched its alliance and mismanaged its electioneering, now reveals that Tejashwi was more interested in enhancing his political stature by cutting down many senior leaders, by downsizing and shrinking RJD allies, by displaying arrogance and inaccessibility and by committing silly mistakes in candidate selection,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
'Why do sections of Muslims seem to prefer Lalu and Mulayam who symbolise wilful neglect of governance and development? In this election, secularism is less at stake. What is more at stake is the degenerative, cynical, opportunistic, and discredit-worthy misuse of secularism by the non-BJP leaders and their social constituencies,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The Mughals became completely Indian in every sense and united the vast Indian subcontinent, not only territorially, but also the hearts and minds of people with multiple religio-cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversities' 'The Mughals, arguably, made India an enviable superpower in the then world.' 'Are the Hindutva rulers of today scared of acknowledging Mughal accomplishments?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Its governing allies are not happy on the economy and complain of ignored concerns but find themselves unable to be assertive.
'The brutal violence of the UP government's first response to the anti-CAA protests suggests that the BJP will test drive the NPR/NRC in UP, where it has both a massive majority in the assembly and a chief minister whose instinct for Hindutva extremism and whose appetite for punitive policing allows a prime minister as darkly majoritarian as Modi to appear statesman-like,' notes Mukul Kesavan.
After an RSS affiliate withdrew the invitation to Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi for an iftar, senior Sangh leader Indresh Kumar on Saturday told Pakistan to worry about calls for freedom emerging within that country and stop interfering in Kashmir.
Defying prohibitory orders, protests were held in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and several other cities. Protesters, mostly students and activists, were detained on a large scale in national capital and other places.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
The NDA govt told SC that it would withdraw the appeal filed by the erstwhile UPA govt challenging the Allahabad HC verdict holding the AMU as non-minority institution.
'In Bihar, the Dalits are not a consolidated socio-political constituency,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Members of the BSP forced two adjournments of the Rajya Sabha till noon, creating uproar over the suicide of Dalit student, Rohith Vemula.
'It is the RJD, otherwise known for misgovernance, which has offered a candidate of clean and performing credentials, rather than the NDA,' points out Mohammad Sajjad.
'The Congress shall have to take some brave-tough decisions to give a new social face to the party and its leadership composition,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
'The Muslim identity of the family appears incidental to the subject of the film...' 'The self-sacrificing, suffering mother film could have belonged to any religion.' 'The abusive father, who prefers his son to his daughter, could have followed any religion.' 'That the Muslim household is remarkably free from religious symbolism is also the strength of the film,' feels Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
In an era when the misguided youth of today are trying to build political careers by subscribing to divisive ideologies, they need to look to independent thinking icons such as Acharya Kripalani, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'This is basically aimed at vilifying Nehruvian ideals.' 'Why?' 'Because, Nehruvian leadership is seen by Hindutva forces as the one which did not let them have their Hindu Raj.' 'The Hindutva proponents have always assumed that had Sardar become the first prime minister, India could never have become a secular State,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The BJP has sent out a message that its allies are at its mercy.' 'The allies cannot pressurise or bargain with the BJP any more,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Any subject is good enough for producing good art. Piku, and its obsession with 'emotion resulting from motion' is a perfect example, says Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
Cracks in the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar is frittering away the ground gained in social justice and contributing to increasing polarisation in the state, says Mohammad Sajjad.
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