The Raj Thackeray-led MNS set up a stall to sell chicken meat as a symbolic protest, whereas Shiv Sena workers tore off the civic body notices.
Addressing a massive public rally to celebrate the signing of the accord on January 27 that is expected to bring lasting peace to the troubled state, Modi said now the time was to work together for peace and development of the North-East.
Just like with millions of Indian Muslims, even the vice president of India has been forced to undergo the covert loyalty test: 'you are presumed to be pro-Pakistan until you demonstrably prove you are a nationalist', says Shehzad Poonawalla.
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Narendra Modi has expressed readiness for a probe by any government agency to be completed within 30 days into charges by Congress leaders that he had spent Rs 10,000 crore on poll publicity and offered to write to the Election Commission himself in this regard.
What used to be confined to homes as a winter garment has become a political and cultural symbol, with most leaders and many citizens donning the long cloak at offices and their places of work, observes Athar Parvaiz.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Trump as a "talented and outstanding man".
Opinion is divided on the message that Charlie Hebdo was trying to send across using the cartoons depicting Aylan.
'India has to understand that the permanent state of war that exists between India and Pakistan has to be expected,,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd). 'The only way to ensure peace or absence of war is to maintain a militarily-dominant position over Pakistan.'
Muhammad Ali will be laid to rest Friday, the culmination of a two-day farewell for the beloved boxing legend.
Mayawati has accused 'Ravan' of being a BJP agent who is dividing the scheduled castes.
Here's a glimpse of all that happened around the world last week, in 10 images.
Rediff.com presents few other instances when the Sena created a furore through its protests.
'The BJP supporters assert that the appeal of Modi remains a big draw for voters.' 'While the Opposition's alliance is hoping to counter it with its social arithmetic.'
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial Narendra Modi on Thursday brought Robert Vadra in the line of fire on controversial land deals, asking Rahul Gandhi whether his brother-in-law would be asked to act as 'chowkidar' (watchman) to guard peoples' land.
The fight was for the more than 10 million millennials, the undecided and the independents and Clinton clearly came out on top, feels Aziz Haniffa.
'Akhilesh's plan is simple.' 'He wants to lead the party on the strength of the infrastructural development his government has done, capitalise on the massive sympathy wave of young people in the state who dream of doing what he has managed to do -- defy a feudal, greying orthodoxy that occupies and sits on posts and positions never to leave.'
The first funeral for a victim of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 was held on Thursday, as officials vowed an 'all out effort' to recover the other passengers' bodies from the sea.
'For some South Asians, it may be tempting to think "I'm not Muslim, this doesn't really affect me".' 'But please know, it affects all of us,' says Arun Venugopal, a reporter at WNYC in New York.
'My confidence in the Indian judiciary is absolute after I saw justice being delivered in Gujarat even when a BJP government was ruling the state. The Muslims of Gujarat believed that they will never get justice in a BJP-ruled state, but the facts are before all of us to make a judgment.'
'The first thing they ask me and people like me is, are you a Pakistani spy? They don't call you an American or a Chinese spy; they only call you a Pakistani spy.' 'At first, a few inmates tried to attack me saying they would make me sing the national anthem, but another group rescued me from the assault. When I got out of jail, so many of them cried and asked me, "When will we see you again?"'
A realistic assessment will tell us that not much has changed between India and Pakistan; the relationship remains as fraught as before with little prospect of reconciliation, notes Ajai Shukla.
'Hindu voters in coastal Karnataka lean more towards Hindutva than Hinduism which explains why the Siddaramaiah government's perception as anti-Hindu worked wonders for the BJP in coastal Karnataka.'
Clinton avoided giving a direct answer to the question, while Sanders responded by saying that the American people will never elect a president who insults Mexicans, Muslims, women and blacks.
At least 13 people were killed on Tuesday and over a hundred injured when a powerful car bomb ripped through a police headquarters, an attack blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood aimed at derailing Egypt's democratic transition.
'Politics is about caste in Eastern UP and religion in Western UP.' Rediff.com's Archana Masih gets a sense of the fault lines in this election's most volatile region -- that can make or break the future of political parties in UP.
The Kerala priest was released recently after more than one-and-a-half years in captivity in Yemen.
'Nitish Kumar wouldn't have won Bihar without Lalu. He needed a voter base and Lalu has a much bigger voter base than Nitish.'
'Let us not say that Modi has not delivered on anything; he has delivered something and in parts substantially, but he has to also deliver on a large number of his electoral promises.'
Maharashtra has reported 31 positive cases, Kerala 19, Uttar Pradesh 11, Delhi and Karnataka six each, Ladakh three, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Telangana two each; and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab one case each. The total number of confirmed cases also includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, it said.
In any institution that has a passionate ideology, the moderate is always vulnerable to the person who is more extreme, because that is what the supporters want.
'In Rajiv Gandhi's time, out of every Re 1 spent by the government only 15 paisa reached the public.' 'At this moment, I cannot say that the entire Re 1 reaches the common man's pocket, but yes, two-thirds of that money definitely reaches the common man.' 'And the rest of the money will also reach soon.'
The Russian government and security services will overcome security threats and can guarantee safety at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
Rahul appealed to the youth while Sonia and Priyanka presented a fairytale family portrait that entire India identifies with. Their teamwork and harmonisation of expressions about each other helped the Congress.
All the three, aged between 25 and 33 are believed to be of Pakistani origin
Aseem Chhabra imagines a time, 20 years from now, when movie-watching in theatres will be long gone, thanks to the coronavirus, and pens a letter to his grandchild, explaining the magic of the cinema hall.
'Panipat has all the meat for a political drama meets war movie. But in Ashutosh Gowariker's failure to process its complexity, the material never rises beyond a mediocre hurray to the Maratha manoos,' says Sukanya Verma.
5 other politically-charged fashion choices in recent times.
Uneasy calm prevailed in Ayodhya, which on Saturday looked like a fortress, with deployment of more than 10,000 cops on the 22nd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
The ruling AIADMK is leaving no stone unturned to win the Vellore Lok Sabha poll and push its tally to two in the state, with its candidate even donning the skull cap to woo minority votes. But the DMK's stars are clearly on the ascendant in the lone constituency that goes to the polls on August 5. A Ganesh Nadar reports.
Sanaya Dalal on feminism, France and the burqa
