'Prime Minister Modi is from Gujarat and so does not understand the importance of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to Punjabis,' says the British MP fighting for an apology for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
'He was one of us. He was a perfect Indian. He breathed India, he wore India's core values. His faith was India. We will miss you sir.'
On the occasion of Gandhiji's birthday, Rediff.com presents an excerpt from the book that shows how Gandhi changed the face of cricket as it was played then.
Marking the culmination of the 67th Republic Day celebrations, the military on Friday held the beating retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk in Delhi with patriotic fervour.
'Having consumed thousands of the sickly sweet chenna globes of varying textures over the years, I must demur,' says Uttaran Das Gupta.
'Both Nehru and Patel were thorough gentlemen and whatever their differences never disrespected each other.' 'Neither Modi nor Rahul Gandhi has much in them to claim such legacies.' 'They are symptomatic of the sad days that have befallen the nation midwifed and contemplated by Nehru and Patel,' says Mohan Guruswamy.
Dancer-Choreographer Astad Deboo met Queen Elizabeth, William and Kate at Buckingham Palace on Monday at the launch of India-UK year of Culture. He tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com that the Queen even did a cute little dance movement when he was presented to her.
Things are off to a good start when a lead movie character appears for the first time against strategic music or swaggering drama and the audience bursts into wholehearted whistles and applause.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
When Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia decided to convert her government's capital outpost into a hub of culture, she transformed Bikaner House into Delhi's premier cultural space, notes Kishore Singh.
It's five months after 8/11. But this is not the first time that India's currency of the time faced the axe. The Mughals, after invading a territory, would effect the demonetisation of the local currency with the aim to cripple the economy of the land.
'Your constant reiteration on the lack of religious freedom in India has sown doubts about the kind of information that you are being fed and based on which you seem to be making adverse references to India and its tradition of religious tolerance.'
'The time has come to incorporate Indian sociology into economic policy.' 'The first step in that direction would be to listen to economists trained in India and not just the US and the UK, argues T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
After the Chauri Chaura incident, Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi's stand that AMU is not a minority university reveals the anti-minority stand of the political party now in power, says Mohammad Sajjad, outlining the long history behind one of India's premier universities.
A look at the top posts on social media from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Tunes by Indian musicians, foot-tapping drumbeats and calming chimes reverberated the air as the imposing Rashtrapati Bhavan lit up at sunset marking the end of the 66th Republic Day celebrations with 'Beating Retreat' ceremony at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Thursday.
'Hindus are proud of what the Dharmashastras symbolise, but they don't want to do any work to preserve it!,' Sanskrit scholar Donald Davis tells Kanika Dutta.
PM Modi inaugurates the second phase of Rashtrapati Bhavan museum.
'It was a battle that took many forms, ranging from non-violent mass satyagrahas, mammoth public meetings, huge protest rallies in cities and towns to underground organisation of sabotage of communication and transport networks, an underground radio, illegal patrikas (newsletters) and the formation of parallel governments in Ballia, Midnapore and Satara.'
'What one experiences is the soft scented breeze from the Kabini river and sounds of invisible insects strumming their guitars,' says Rajesh Karkera.
Erstwhile RBI governors, including Raghuram Rajan never had cordial relations with the government.
'If Ruttie had been alive, Jinnah would never have turned communal.'
'For a long time Pakistan dreamt that India would break up and that it would be the predominant power in the region,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'But the country has lost someone who stood even in movie theatres by his own volition,' says Harsh Gokhale.
'This was our country, after all, our India, humara Hindustan -- why would we go anywhere else?'
The resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his failure to table the Jan Lokpal Bill in the assembly has evoked mixed responses.
'Those who have followed politics even when there was no Twitter know what the word 'jumlebaaz' means,' says Utkarsh Mishra.
Devanik Saha wonders if saffronisation of India is on the rise
'The extended Bose family is insisting that the Japanese government must release all the information they have on Bose's ashes. It cannot be forgotten that Bose was in Japanese care when his 'death' occurred. Ultimately, it is the Japanese who hold the secret about what happened to him.'
How many of the 354 films Aseem Chhabra watched in 2017 have you seen?
The British administration ignored the mounting evidence of violence between Hindus and Muslims... Military historian Barney White-Spunner traces the countdown to the tragedy in his book, Partition.
There is something deeply disturbing about wanting to build such a large temple in what is arguably India's poorest state, a state that like many other states of India, particularly in north India, is crying for more schools, more hospitals and primary health centres, and, dare I say it, more toilets for everyone, says Amberish K Diwanji
'The temptation of governments, to have a finger in the RBI pie will be just too great to resist, unless extensive amendments are carried out in the RBI Act treating it almost as the fourth branch of the government.'
'The non-violent movement would not have brought freedom to the country, that had to be an armed struggle.'
With the tide of public disillusionment rising against his government, Arvind Kejriwal is trying at least publicly to extend the olive branch to both Narendra Modi and Najeeb Jung. Privately, he has confided to his confidantes that much as he dislikes it, he must do his best to soften these two reigning deities.
'Even though he knew full well that the manipulation went against the facts as he knew them, Pillai nonchalantly contented himself with stating that since the file came from the minister himself, he just passed it on as it was,' says B S Raghavan.
One cannot but infer that this brouhaha is a crafty ploy to create an issue out of a non-issue. An overview of post-independent India's history reveals that it is not the BJP or the Sangh Parivar but Marxist historians who have been guilty of debasing history to suit their vested interests, says Vivek Gumaste.
'Young IFS officers today would take it for granted that they represent a major country with strengths and capabilities.' 'They will be aware that India is seen as one of the 10 significant countries in the world and therefore their voice will be heard whether on climate change or regime change,' says Ambassador B S Prakash.
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