'Among Dalits, the Valmikis were the biggest voters of the BJP.' 'They now feel Yogiji has failed them in Hathras.'
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday sought to clarify that even though her national general secretary Satish Misra may remain her blue-eyed Brahmin mascot, yet she had no intention of anointing Misra as her successor.
The Koregaon-Bhima Inquiry Commission, probing the January 2018 violence near a memorial in Maharashtra's Pune district, has told the state government that it is suspending all scheduled hearings till the government does not provide it a "suitable accommodation" in Mumbai to conduct the probe into the case.
Despite being hailed as one of India's most progressive and most developed states, it is witnessing the fallout of lopsided progress.
The Congress and BJP are apprehensive that AAP might eat into their votes among the Patel community, Kshatriyas, a section of minorities, and Dalits, thus delivering a fatal blow in the closely-contested seats. But the local BJP is elated over the entry of AIMIM as there will be a contender for minority votes apart from the Congress in seats like Bhuj and Mandvi, which have considerable Muslim electorate.
'Anyone on Indian Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other forms of social media that matter (except elite forums like Instagram) understands instantly that it is dominated by upper-caste North Indian men.' 'Other voices are silenced and attacked,' says Mihir S Sharma.
'The continuing crisis in agriculture, the inability of successive governments to provide secure jobs to millions of youths having varying degrees of skills, and fragmentation of politics have created a sense of despondency.'
'The BJP has been tinkering with the Indian Constitution every now and then.' 'Instead of celebrating November 26 as Constitution Day, the BJP was more interested in (the VHP's) Dharam Sabha which was called that day.' 'This shows they believe more in the Ram mandir than in the Constitution.'
'UP has shown India and the world how caste and religion can be manipulated to the maximum cynical extent.'
The party's state unit president Jagadanand Singh announced the names of Mohd Qari Sohaib, Munni Rajak and Ashok Kumar Pandey.
Dharmendra Kumar Singh explains the importance of getting 28 percent of the vote in Uttar Pradesh, which is witnessing a five-cornered contest.
'There is dissatisfaction and disaffection for the BJP, but there is no anti-incumbency against the government in UP.'
'Congress and BSP are in the fray, but not in the contest.'
UP now has 16 ministers, the maximum from any state, in an apparent bid to keep the Dalit and other backward class votebank content.
The case was being probed by the Pune Police.
As we eagerly wait to see what 'farq' it makes when it hits the screens on June 28, Sukanya Verma looks at the few occasions caste came up in Hindi movies.
When the BSP formed a government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, it had bagged 206 seats and a vote share of 30.43 per cent.
Voting for the seventh and final round will be held on March 7 for Varanasi and its eight adjoining districts.
'Those who attacked me, punish them.'
None of them had anything to do with the violence at Bhima Koregaon, where they were not even present, points out Aakar Patel.
'(Upper caste) leaders talk against the Constitution, reservations and the nation and still get away.'
'With the deaths of Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi, the BJP and Congress thought that they had a chance.' 'They have conceded that power is with the Dravidian parties.'
Caste assertions, including from the upper castes, could have the Sangh Parivar stumble yet again in its efforts to construct a Hindu rashtra.
It is not unlikely that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government comes up with more imaginative schemes aimed at constituency-building. The party under Modi's leadership has a more modern thinking in such matters unlike its rivals, which are still steeped only in ideology, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Out of the 403 seats up for grabs, the BSP had prepared a final list comprising 97 Muslim candidates (12 more than 2012), 87 Dalits and 106 other backwards castes, besides earmarking 113 seats for upper castes -- Brahmins 66, Kshatriyas 36 and others 11.
The BJP and Congress have already launched spirited campaigns for the elections.
The BJP announced names of 107 candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
'I fight for anyone who is poor, marginalised or victimised.' 'If a Dalit factory owner is inflicting atrocities on his Brahmin worker, then I will fight for the poor Brahmin.'
Petitioner Atul Ramjibhai Makwana had approached the high court against the Junagadh district judge who, according to him, was favouring only Brahmins for posts of class III and class IV staff in his office. Justice R R Tripathi dismissed the petition by Makwana's lawyer A M Chauhan and observed, "This court has come across such argument for the first time from a learned advocate after it assumed office as judge of this court."
AAP is working on its new strategy to build a strong organisational set-up with leaders from all sections of society, reports Nitin Kumar.
'I remember bitter people in the chawl. I can imagine some NRI writers observing the chawl boys laughing or playing cricket and saying, 'the spirit of Bombay' or some shit like that. That is all rubbish,' says novelist Manu Joseph.
'The Congress should have accepted our demands.' 'Gone are the days when it could decide how many crumbs to throw at us.' 'Now, we make the demands.'
In an effort to make a dent in the Bahujan Samaj Party's Dalit vote bank ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Lok Janshakti Party plans to launch a series of demonstrations against the "anti-people and anti-Dalit" policies of the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh.
'After Ambedkar, Dr Gail was the only writer who wrote critically on caste issues.'
The newspaper said efforts are being made to incite caste violence in the state by exploiting the clashes which took place at Bhima-Koregaon on January 1.
Mani Ratnam is experimenting with a real-life historical in Ponniyin Selvan, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Patel was administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat.
A full majority might be difficult, but Mayawati is in a commanding position this time.
Claiming that the BJP's government's works in the three holy cities are only follow-ups of her government's initiatives, Mayawati went on to promise, in what is being seen as a subtle shift towards soft Hindutva ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, to complete all those work on time.
At this point commission member Sumit Mullick asked the government counsel: 'Your job is to protect the State. How are these questions on Peshwas relevant?'
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