Had it not been for Pankaj Tripathi, who must have worked hard to get those Vajpayee intonations and mannerisms so perfectly well, Ravi Jadhav's flattering portrait of Vajpayee would have been more vacuous than what we get to see, observes Prasanna Zore.
Owaisi criticized the court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, saying it weakens India and distracts from real issues like inflation and unemployment.
A group photo taken at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Jaipur ahead of Tuesday's legislature party meeting showed Bhajan Lal Sharma in the very last row.
Iqbal Ansari, one of the main plaintiffs who fought for the right of the community over the disputed land, says Muslims in Ayodhya won't be satisfied if the Sunni Waqf Board accepts the five acres in Dhannipur.
"The Trust chose January 26, 2021 for laying the foundation stone of the Ayodhya mosque as on this day our Constitution came into effect over seven decades ago. Our Constitution is based on pluralism, which is the leitmotif of our mosque project," said Athar Hussain, secretary of the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF).
'The outrage that followed the destruction of the Babri Masjid was an inability to see the event for what it was: The rectification of a grave historical wrong, the restitution of a hurt of a people and the countering of moral injustice,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
A four-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted a survey of the recently-discovered Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, five pilgrimage sites, and 19 wells in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India. The survey followed the discovery of three damaged idols inside a well of the Bhasma Shankar temple, which was reopened after being shut for 46 years. The Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, also known as the Bhasma Shankar temple, was reopened on December 13 after authorities found the covered structure during an anti-encroachment drive. The temple houses an idol of Lord Hanuman and a Shivling and had remained locked since 1978. The district administration has requested carbon dating of the temple, including the well, from the ASI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has restrained courts across India from entertaining new lawsuits or passing any orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs, until further notice. This action halts proceedings in approximately 18 lawsuits filed by Hindu parties seeking surveys to determine the original religious character of 10 mosques, including the Gyanvapi at Varanasi, the Shahi Idgah Masjid at Mathura, and the Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal, where four individuals died in clashes. The Supreme Court will examine the legality, scope, and boundaries of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits the conversion of places of worship and ensures the preservation of their religious character as it existed on August 15, 1947.
Raut's comments came a day after Fadnavis likened the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government Maharashtra to the Babri mosque structure and said he would not rest till the Shiv Sena-led dispensation was brought down from power.
Born in Ayodhya, Ansari was the first to file the suit on the matter in the court of civil judge of Faizabad in 1949.
The commission had rejected the theory that it was a spontaneous act by karsevaks whereas the CBI court has ruled that there was no evidence that demolition was a conspiracy.
The Uttar Pradesh government has given the allotment letter to the Sunni Waqf board for the land in Dhannipur village in Sohawal tehsil in Ayodhya on the Lucknow highway, about 18 km from the district headquarters, state government spokesperson Shrikant Sharma told reporters on Wednesday.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has too decided against observing the 27th anniversary of the demolition as "Shaurya Diwas".
With the recent arrest of two Bharatiya Janata Party activists who had taken part in the Ayodhya agitation back in 1992 snowballing into a controversy, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said a criminal is always a criminal unless acquitted by a court of law.
The UP CM's visit comes a day after senior BJP leaders were charged with conspiracy in the Babri Masjid case.
'The idea is to have a place where people can come together and bridge the gap. It will be a contemporary design for the future, and not have the shadows of the past' Ritwik Sharma reports.
Here is a timeline of the second-lengthiest case in the apex court history:
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
'Attending roza-iftar with a skull cap is not secularism. People also know that this is drama'
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has criticised Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani for raising the contentious Ram temple-Babri mosque row before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Media persons belonging to the print and electronic media were attacked shortly after the traditional 'alvida namaz' on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramzan in Lucknow.
"The design of the mosque has been prepared using modern technology, and it will be egg-shaped without any dome. The two-storeyed mosque will not have any minaret. Solar power will be installed in the mosque, and around 2,000 people will be able to offer 'namaaz' at the same time," he said.
The 61-year-old saffron clad BJP leader is the 19th accused to depose before the court in the over 27-year-old case. 13 other alleged accused, including former deputy prime minister LK Advani and senior BJP leaders MM Joshi and Kalyan Singh are yet to be examined at this stage.
'We will not accept this lollypop. They must make clear that where they want to give us the land'
Media persons belonging both to the print and electronic media were attacked shortly after the traditional 'alvida namaz' on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramzan in Lucknow.
Lashing out at the Congress for raising the Babri Masjid demolition issue 'again and again', the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the law is taking its course in the matter and advised the ruling party against giving 'edifications'. "It has been said several times that a procedure is separately going on for December 6 (the day of Babri Mosque demolition). This is a legal action," BJP's chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Maintaining that BJP leaders accused in the Babri mosque demolition fully co-operated with the Liberhan Commission, party president Rajnath Singh today said the report has been submitted after a long delay.
Justice M S Liberhan, head of the commission probing the 1992 demolition of Babri mosque \n\nat Ayodhya, refused to divulge details of the much-awaited report, until the report is \npresented in the Parliament.
According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.
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.
The ultimate battle against Islamist terror has to be fought by the Muslims themselves, for they are its biggest potential victim.
Challenging the verdict is a deterrent to future peace and harmony and a socially irresponsible act, argues Vivek Gumaste.
The new idol of Lord Ram was placed in the sanctum sanctorum of Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhoomi temple on Thursday afternoon, ahead of the January 22 consecration ceremony.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra will hear the plea of Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee.
'If you prove that a mandir was demolished and a mosque was constructed there, we will leave the place.'
'We were expecting at least they would be held guilty, but instead they have gone scot-free'
Seeking to drive a wedge between Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Uttar Pradesh, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said roping in Uma Bharti amounted to dwarfing stalwarts like Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra and Vinay Katiyar.
'If the civil code has to be put on hold, what card can the BJP play if it finds the going tough in the run-up to the general election of 2024?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
The new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and watched by lakhs of people on television at their homes and in temples across the country.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the security of former special judge S K Yadav who had pronounced the verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case and acquitted all 32 accused, including Bharatiya Janata Party veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti.
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