A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari issued notice to the Centre, West Bengal and Election Commission of India on the plea, which also sought to central and state governments to award compensation to the victims and their family members after ascertaining the nature of loss sustained by them in post-poll violence in the state.
Kapil Mishra had been invited because he was an "anti-corruption crusader", one 'IIT B for Bharat' organiser said. But in his half hour-long speech, Mishra didn't mention corruption. His entire focus was on the long "battle" Hindus had fought for their identity.
Till 5 pm, Agra recorded 56.61 per cent polling, Aligarh 57.25 per cent, Baghpat 61.35 per cent, Bulandshahr 60,52 per cent, Gautam Buddh Nagar 54.77 per cent, Ghaziabad 54.77 per cent, Hapur 60.50 per cent, Mathura 58.51 per cent, Meerut 58.52 cent, Muzaffarnagar 62.14 per cent and Shamli 61.78 per cent, an EC report said.
The BJP, however, denied the former three-time state chief minister's assertion on Ranjan Gogoi who was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by the government in March.
'Jinnah developed a belief that Gandhi had stolen the tag of the leader of the Indian people from him and that he later used religion to reduce Gandhi's idea of a united India to naught was his revenge.'
The TMC expects to emerge victorious by way of a majority of minority votes and a minority of majority votes, notes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
With Union Minister Kiren Rijiju stoking a controversy by saying that the Hindu population was falling while minorities are flourishing, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf studied the 2001 and 2011 census data to track the demographic changes in the northeast.
Any decision taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be acceptable to all, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday as talk of Navjot Singh Sidhu being appointed chief of the party's state unit despite his oft-stated reservations gathered force.
Modi said the Congress and its allies and the ecosystem created by them are standing up against the Indian Parliament.
He also appealed to everyone to light a lamp this Diwali in the name of Lord Ram.
'Is it because they perceive India as a soft state?'
'It's like the BJP is mocking people: Do what you want, we'll still win.'
The Karnataka high court on February 8 will hear the petitions filed by five girls studying in a Government Pre-University College in Udupi, questioning hijab restriction in college.
Bhagwat said a sense of idealism is good and described himself not as 'anti-modern', but as 'pro-future'.
'Rahul Gandhi has personally paid a heavy price for this character assassination and remorseless ridiculing and the Congress, of course, has been demolished politically.'
'The BJP and RSS were working on the ground to define who is an illegal immigrant.'
The senior Congress leader opined that the situation in Assam can now be divided into two phases -- pre-CAA and post-CAA, and it was necessary to unite all anti-CAA forces in order to protect the ethos of the Assam Accord.
The BJP campaign highlighted Yogi's persona as a tough-as-nails leader and an incorruptible man with no nest to feather; Modi's charisma which was turned on full blast in the penultimate phases; Amit Shah's ground work; a well-oiled party organisation, and the RSS's back-up.
'Despite our being a part of a welfare state, benefits are not trickling down to the intended beneficiaries at the desired levels. People's aspirations about leading a dignified life are often met with challenges. One of them, primarily, being poverty'
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The PM, while addressing a rally in Wardha on April 1, had reportedly said, the opposition party was "scared" to field its leaders from constituencies where the majority dominates.
This theory of 'Hindus vs the rest' sees the two communities as two separate blocs. Isn't that the two-nation theory? What of the deep bonds that the communities have on the ground? asks Jyoti Punwani.
Talking to reporters while walking on the Yamuna Expressway towards Hathras, she said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would have to take the responsibility for the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in the district and strict action should be taken against the perpetrators of the crime.
Anwar, an AICC general secretary, came out with a flurry of tweets calling for 'urgent and deep introspection' over the debacle of the party, the second largest constituent of the opposition coalition, which contested as many as 70 seats but returned with a tally of just 19.
The ruling party sharply countered the comment, saying the Congress had "demeaned and defamed" Hindus of India.
'They are all the time asking people not to do this, not to do that.' 'Their version of society and Hinduism is very warped; not an inclusive one.'
The Minister of state for home's comment came after the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee accused the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government of trying to convert Arunachal Pradesh into a Hindu state.
'Tipu Sultan was no doubt a valiant fighter who vigorously opposed the British, but that cannot mitigate the fact that he was also by all accounts a religious bigot -- a figure incompatible with modern secular times,' says Vivek Gumaste.
A day after Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh commented on the issue of 'Sangh terror', Communist Party of India - Marixist leader Sitaram Yechury on Friday cited ideologies propounded by freedom fighters V Savarkar and B S Moonje to insist that there was nothing new in the 'violent strain' of Hindutva.
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
Why has Mumbai's cyber police taken no action against these WhatsApp groups who everyday, commit offences under the Indian Penal Code? The police cannot be unaware of their existence, observes Shruthi Marathe.
"It is appalling and he has done it with tactical support of Rahul Gandhi," she said.
In the unlikely event of the BJP-NDA losing all five states going to the polls in February-March, the Presidential electoral college numbers could be significantly altered, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Amid a raging debate over 'love jihad', a Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party MLA has asked organisers of forthcoming Navratri festival to disallow entry of non-Hindu youths in pandals where 'garba' or devotional dance is performed in the praise of goddess Durga.
Mamata imposed affirmative action to the point of absurdity. This has naturally led to counter-action: The Hindus who never thought of themselves as Hindus are now banding behind the BJP, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Hitting back at the Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led outfit's Hindutva is merely on paper and finds mention just in speeches, while it was his party men who faced bullets and lathis during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
Indian politics, held captive in one way or the other by Ayodhya, may now well seek its emancipation from this issue, and the pursuit of welfare, asserts Congress leader Salman Khurshid in this excerpt from his latest book, Sunrise over Ayodhya.
In his reply to the debate over the bill, the home minister rejected the charge that it is 'unconstitutional', 'divisive' or 'anti-Muslim'.
Vinai Kumar Saxena's current job as lieutenant governor of an Opposition-ruled state will raise the bar -- not just for him, but also for the Aam Aadmi Party government, which never says no to a fight with the representative of the central government in India's capital.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances