"They call me the Class 10 vice-chancellor," he says as his thin lips flirt with a smile. You almost feel that the tall man of spare build is being facetious. And then you see that his deep set eyes are not twinkling. There is a sense of the combative in them.
There has been a steady rise in the number of youth taking up arms in the Valley since 2014 onwards as compared to 2011, 2012, and 2013.
'Shaheen Bagh is no longer a mere ghetto of lower middle class Muslims.' 'Now, it is a metaphor for resistance, secularism and struggle,' notes Md. Zeeshan Ahmad.
'The spread of barbarity in Muzaffarnagar's villages makes administrative complicity so very evident that your government is rightly alleged to be imitating what the Modi-led administration did in Gujarat in 2002,' Mohammad Sajjad tells UP Minister Azam Khan.
More than anything else, Pathaan is a silent and subtle statement of Shah Rukh Khan about his place, his commitment to cinema and, if one can say, his politics, observes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
'Those leading the current political dispensation, whether at the central or the state level, must recognise the enormous risks that their divisive policies are creating for the national security and wellbeing of the country,' cautions former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'The jurisprudence of a modern secular State has to be strictly rational.' 'Rather than aastha and aqeedah, our jurisprudence as well as the executive and legislature have to act in accordance with Constitutional rationality,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Dil Dhadakne Do joins the debate over the role of women in India.
'Imagine for a soldier -- first you conquer territory after fighting a fierce battle, suffer casualties and then you are ordered to come back to your side of the International Border in India.'
'The government's job is to enable people to live together, not tear them apart.' 'It is supposed to create spaces to work, live and survive -- this country is struggling and this government is saying you have no right of being.' 'It wants to declare human beings illegal. It is the most bizarre nonsense in the world.'
Eyewitnesses alleged the attackers entered the premises when a meeting was being held by JNU Teachers' Association on the issue of violence on campus and assaulted students and professors.
'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.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill would possibly be the first piece of legislation that is perniciously discriminatory on the basis of religion/faith, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Javadekar, along with Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan, is among the few ministers who have party as well as ministerial responsibilities.
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.
India's secular democracy remains mortgaged to rabid communal politics. Quite clearly, the bloodshed by the religious communities is absolutely political. Even non-BJP political formations have their own Narendra Modis, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in Delhi and parts of Karnataka. Police kept tight vigil in Kerala. In Gujarat, 50 people were arrested for Thursday's violence.
'I can say with confidence that any future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, developed anywhere in the world, would have to be manufactured in India, if it is to be affordable and of high quality.'
'Putting your life at stake defending your motherland is the best feeling you can get.'
'A male constable addressed my mother using profanities.' 'They said nothing could save our home from being bulldozed.' 'They want to make my father their sacrificial goat.'
Thirty one outstanding teachers were invited to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a first-ever in-residence programme.
Rumours of a live power line having snapped triggered the stampede. The injured have been rushed to a local hospital, a BSP spokesperson said.
'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.
India's Muslims need to assert their educational and economic upliftment and political empowerment rather than be provoked by communal remarks, says Mohammad Sajjad, reflecting on the Malda riot.
From the Congress party, I demand justice for the Hathras victim. India is a country for all and everyone has the right to live with dignity, Sonia said.
'Amritpal is the creation of journalists and the inaction of the government in Punjab.'
For far too long, people in J&K have felt the government doesn't exist for them.' 'My first priority is to make them feel that not only does it exist, it is there to work for them.
'It is beyond him to understand how human beings can say the same thing to mean so many different things.'
'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.
'The most important aspect of Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the use of humour to touch some sensitive and potentially explosive political-religious and cultural subjects.'
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.
'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.
'Islam says the person who has been hurt has the right to pardon the accused. So don't ask me on whether I will pardon Narendra Modi or not. Go and ask this question to Gujarati Muslims who have been hurt.' 'Secular and non-secular is not an issue for Muslims. The day Muslims become strong, the non-secular guys will become secular. And if Muslims are weak, the same secular guys will cut the throats of Muslims.' 'The secular character of India can never be finished. India is secular by its nature. Whoever comes to power, he will have to become secular to rule,' Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqvi tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com
'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.
'Is Ansari flagging a genuine concern? Is a rectification called for?' 'And finally: Do minorities matter?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'The top-most functionaries and destiny-makers of the nation have thrown away the pretensions of statesmanship.' 'They seem to have made a categorical announcement that the next general election will be fought on the solo plank of Hindutva, rather than on good governance, economic development, and employment to youth', says Mohammad Sajjad.
Hamid Anasari's was not talking of reservation for the whole religious community to which he too happens to belong. Yet, sections of media chose to put words into his mouth and then subject him to the criticism he never deserved. This does not augur well for our media or democracy, says Mohammad Sajjad.
'It is precisely because of the apprehensions about Lalu's revival that the upper castes have started re-thinking their electoral preferences. Out of confusion, they are simply deciding to vote for winnable candidates from their respective castes of any of the three parties -- the BJP, JD-U or RJD. This is what has considerably neutralised the NaMo wave in Bihar and resulted in Nitin Gadkari's remark that "Caste is in the DNA of Biharis". This is why Giriraj Singh, the BJP candidate from Nawada, made provocative statements,' says 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.
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.
