Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
The Liberhan Commission, inquiring into the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, will reveal the names of those who had demolished the disputed structure at Ayodhya.
Data extracted from the mobile phone of the Red Fort suicide bomber, Dr. Umar-un-Nabi, reveals a video justifying the attack as a 'martyrdom operation'. The evidence was unearthed following the interrogation of Umar's brother, Zahoor Illahi.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the ASI not to take recourse to any invasive act during the survey.
Kalyan Singh, who was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister at the time of demolition of the Babri Masjid, on Tuesday suggested a negotiated settlement of the vexed Ram Janmbhomi-Babri Masjid tangle. Singh, who quit the BJP on Tuesday, said that when he was the chief minister, he had initiated steps to this effect but before a settlement could be reached, his government had to go.
The 17th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid largely remained a non-event in Ayodhya, in spite of the various programmes organised by political parties to mark the occasion. While the Vishwa Hindu Parishad observed it as 'Shaurya Diwas' (Valour Day) and the Babri Masjid Action Committee and the Samajwadi Party observed it as 'Black Day', the events held by them witnessed negligible participation by the locals.
The sophisticated 'white-collar' terror module, spearheaded by a group of doctors recently busted by Jammu and Kashmir Police, had been actively scouting for a suicide bomber since last year, with key planner Dr Umar Nabi pushing the agenda, officials said on Sunday.
Mark Tully, the renowned journalist, author, and Indophile, has passed away at the age of 90. He spent a lifetime in India as a journalist, mingling with its people and telling their stories.
The 1993 Mumbai bombings were a series of 12 coordinated explosions across the city on March 12, 1993, killing 257 people and injuring hundreds.
Commencing hearing on pleas challenging the constitutionality of the Places of Worship Act, 1991, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to reply to cross-pleas against or seeking implementation of statute.
The government today extended the term of the Liberhan Commission probing the demolition of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, till March 31 next year
He also dubbed the Congress' alliance with BSP in Uttar Pradesh in 1996 as a "sell out".
The senior-most Muslim leaders of the country have appealed to all citizens to maintain peace and calm after the verdict on the Babri Masjid title suit is pronounced on September 24.
Chandrakant Patil also took a swipe at Uddhav for accusing Eknath Shinde of stealing the legacy of Bal Thackeray.
Amir Rashid Ali, a key accused in the Red Fort area car bomb blast case, has been remanded in 10 days' NIA custody. The agency seeks to unravel the conspiracy behind the inter-state "white collar" terror module.
Former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao is back in the news with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board accusing him of being equally responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. The board went on to say that Rao could never be forgiven for the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
The court is conducting the trial of accused persons, including BJP leaders L K Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and others.
The Indian government has officially classified the car explosion outside the Red Fort as a terrorist incident, vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly. The Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has reaffirmed its zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and expressed condolences for the victims.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has lashed out at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, accusing him of trying to evoke Muslim sentiments on the controversial Babri Masjid demolition issue, to garner votes.
A body representing the 'Khadims' of the Ajmer dargah has condemned a plea in a local court that seeks to declare the shrine of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz as a temple, saying right-wing forces were trying to "isolate" Muslims and "disrupt" communal harmony in the country.
The Uttar Pradesh government also said the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao was 'indirectly' involved in it.
Kalyan Singh's apology over the Babri masjid demolition, thus, is expected to assuage the Samajwadi Party's rank and file who have been upset over Yadav joining hands with him. Kalyan Singh, who subsequently left the BJP to plow a lonely furrow only to rejoin the party and again left it recently over being sidelined, has since been edging closer to the Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh.
'What is at stake is not one mosque or temple, it is the question of the principle of secularism which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution as declared even by the Supreme Court of India.'
Though religion is no longer the hot topic, the government should be on its guard
'I wanted to go for the heart, and at the same time, open the audience's mind.'
The term of the Commission, set up almost soon after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, has now been extended till December 31
The Supreme Court of India has extended its stay on a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex in Mathura, which is located adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. The court deferred the hearing on a plea against the survey to April 1, while the interim order staying the survey will continue to operate. The Hindu side claims that the mosque complex holds signs of a temple that once existed at the site, while the Muslim side contends that the lawsuits filed by the Hindu litigants violate the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.
It accused the then chief minister Kalyan Singh of not deploying sufficient forces to protect the Babri masjid.
On the eve of Babri mosque demolition anniversary, Uttar Pradesh government on Friday enhanced the security of Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the case, by providing him a Y category security cover.
He hinted that the same hue and cry is not made about 1984 riots not being in textbooks.
Challenging the verdict is a deterrent to future peace and harmony and a socially irresponsible act, argues Vivek Gumaste.
The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits lawsuits to reclaim a place of worship or change its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947. The pleas, including one filed by Ashwini Upadhyay, argue that these provisions violate the right to judicial remedy and create an arbitrary cut-off date. The matter will be heard in the backdrop of several ongoing cases related to places of worship, including the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura. The Muslim side has cited the 1991 law to argue that such suits are not maintainable. The Supreme Court had previously sought the Centre's response to Upadhyay's petition, which alleged that the law creates an "arbitrary and irrational retrospective cut-off date" for maintaining the character of places of worship.
In an interview, he recalled how Hashim Ansari, one of the original litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, took him to the mosque on his bicycle.
Every corner of the town has a police personnel standing while various security teams such as bomb disposal squads have been deployed.
Indian authorities have uncovered a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror plot involving doctors from south Kashmir, a Faridabad university, the recovery of 2,900 kg of explosives, and a car bomb near the Red Fort. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the plot.
The Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) demanded the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Centre to move applications in the Allahabad High Court for daily hearing to expedite trial and judgement in the mosque demolition case.
"Is the current government a government for a particular community? Is it a government only for Hindutva?" Owaisi said.
'If at all human beings require a religion, the future religion will be Hinduism.'
Owaisi said the CBI should appeal against the judgment "to protect its independence."
Following is the chronology of events in the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition case.
