Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday ruled out any security lapses in the arrangements for the Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Patna and said the serial blasts were an attempt to disturb the law and order situation in the state.
'In the name of pluralism-secularism, the kind of politics that was pursued revealed to many that it was basically a favour to Muslim conservatism and communalism -- a politics of minority-ism, rather than of secularism.' 'This is how significant sections of Hindus have been made to loathe the very idea of Indian secularism by now,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The year threw up quite a few shockers, some rather rude one. Below are Rediff.com's 12 picks that made us sit back and think, 'Did that really happen?'
Princess Jahanara, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's daughter, was a paragon of virtues: well-educated, well-versed in statecraft, even-tempered, beautiful. Although she was on the side of Dara Shikoh in the succession battle, it says much for her stature that after Shah Jahan's death, she was made the chief lady of the court by Aurangzeb and accorded every respect.
'Minorities should not fear a Modi sarkar... Who has given the right to kill in the name of religion? No one! You are not James Bond 007, that you will just take a shotgun and kill anybody at your whims and fancies. We are not living in a banana republic...' The inimitable Shatrughan Sinha on Narendra Modi as a dabbang action hero, what a Modi Sarkar would be like.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances