Hindu community was facing a "conspiracy" and it should strengthen itself and "set an example", Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria said in Agra at a condolence meeting for a dalit VHP leader, who was shot dead on Thursday.
'Is this protest real or a manufactured one? Is this not a case of ideological intolerance?" the finance minister writes in a Facebook post.
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
After eminent writers Nayantara Sahgal and Ashok Vajpeyi, Malayalam novelist and Aam Aadmi Party leader Sarah Joseph today said she would return the Sahitya Akademi award in protest against what she called the "growing communalism" and "life threat faced by writers" in the country after Narendra Modi government assumed office.
It will also provide support to the government for finalising the financial and implementation models.
Measures under the GRAP's 'very poor' and 'severe' categories came into effect on Tuesday.
The BJP too described the Muslim rule in India as 'barbaric'.
Maharashtra Police found over 300 migrant workers holed up inside two container trucks meant for carrying essential commodities from Telangana to Rajasthan.
Speaking at the all-party meeting called by the government, Modi said, "People have great expectations and that is why Parliament should function and be productive."
The NDA leadership is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss a Parliament floor strategy for what is expected to be a difficult winter session for the government.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi will lead a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan to appeal to President Pranab Mukherjee to use his constitutional powers to end the "atmosphere of intolerance".
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
Noted writer Nayantara Sahgal, who recently returned her 'Sahitya Akademi' Award over the Dadri lynching case, has said secularism is under threat like never before and that individual freedom and rights have to be protected even these are guaranteed in the Constitution.
'It promises to get much, much darker before the dawn.' 'But at least dawn has a fighting chance,' says Mitali Saran.
Shah also said that the parties in power in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka were answerable for the incidents cited by protesting writers.
Novelists are speaking for millions across India who are alarmed at where this country is headed.
The Bahujan Samaj party on Tuesday demanded dismissal of the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh over the deteriorating law and order situation and staged a walkout in the Rajya Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday faced questions on intolerance in India in recent months and 2002 riots in Gujarat, drawing an assurance from him that intolerance would not accepted in any part of India.
Stoking a controversy, a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader has threatened to behead Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in public if he consumed cow meat in Shivamogga.
Major opposition parties met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday and put forth their concerns over recent incidents of violence, including attacks by cow vigilantes, and attempts to "muzzle voices of dissent".
Political observers feel that the outcome of the elections weighs in favour of the BJP which had won a massive mandate in the Lok Sabha elections, held earlier this year.
Anupam Kher on why he thinks the prime minister is a genuine person.
'One can understand this prejudice in the minds of policemen against Muslims, without accepting it. But what tilts the balance disproportionately is the police's blind eye to offences committed in the name of the majority.' says Jyoti Punwani.
Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday attacked the coalition partner on issues like Pakistan, beef, Ram temple and inflation but ruled out walking out of the Maharashtra government any time soon.
Zakir Ali Tyagi was charged under the Indian Penal Code's Section 420 (cheating) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act (computer related offences).
She lamented the fact that people were being viciously attacked for holding different beliefs in the "prevalent atmosphere of intolerance".
A group of academics and scholars on Friday expressed their outrage and anger against the "assault on academic and constitutional freedom", joining the recent protests by writers, artistes, filmmakers, historians and scientists over "rising intolerance".
The double-line pilot section will be commissioned with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.
The narrative of the ruling BJP regime changed from "development to intolerance, cooperation to confrontation welfare and security of all the people to deep sense of insecurity and fear among large sections of people," he said.
The author was flooded with a barrage of hate messages following his tweet in support of writers who returned their Sahitya Akademi awards.
Acclaimed writer Nayantara Sahgal, the niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against the "vicious assault" on India's diversity and the government's failure to protect cultural diversity.
'The frequency of 'vikas' being used in speeches and slogans has reduced noticeably. Why is the 'BJP's Chanakya' so aggressive and combative?' asks Utkarsh Mishra.
If Muslims back Mayawati, nothing can stop her from forming the next government in UP.
Why 'anti-Romeo'? Why not 'anti-loafer' squad? Or 'anti-Majnu' squad?' wonders Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Uttar Pradesh government has awarded the project to Vamasundari Investments, the investment arm of HCL
The mohalla committee movement in Mumbai celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The movement, which was born in the wake of the horrific Mumbai riots of 1992-1993, has played an important role in ensuring that Hindu-Muslim riots do not recur in the Maximum City.
Opposition parties think they have until New Year's Eve to build nationwide narrative against demonetisation.
Students' groups says they will go ahead with their plans while a BJP MLA vows to stop them.
Opposition parties have closed ranks to target the government on a range of issues from intolerance to rising prices as the winter session begins on November 26.
Writers including those who had returned their Sahitya Akademi awards on Sunday wrote to the National Academy of Letters urging it to respond in a "strong, humane and robust" manner to situations.
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