The Bihar CM has made a sagacious attempt to consolidate his extremely backward castes (EBC) support base while trying to make a dent into RJD's Muslim-Yadav combine.
'When you read that for the first time, areas in Gujarat dominated by Patidars/Patels have been declared 'sensitive' for the civic polls that were held this week, you sit up and take note,' says Jyoti Punwani.
'The involvement of policemen in either committing the crime or shielding the accused in Kathua and Unna points to a crumbling civil and moral order,' says Amulya Ganguli.
A Special Investigation Team has been set up to look into the death of Tabrez Ansari, who was declared brought dead to the Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur on June 22, Saturday, police said.
Asking people to refrain from voting in favour of the saffron party, BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday alleged that if the Bharatiya Janata Party came into power and Narendra Modi became the prime minister, the country would "stand ruined" with communal riots.
'The Congress shall have to take some brave-tough decisions to give a new social face to the party and its leadership composition,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'In India, dark-skinned actors are always cast in a particular kind of role.'
'Why isn't the BJP ready to give reservations to Muslims despite the high court telling it to do so?' 'A K Antony said the Congress lost the 2014 election because of Muslim appeasement. Antony should have gone to the jails of Maharashtra and found out how many Muslims were arrested during Congress rule. I don't know what kind of appeasement this is.' 'We reposed faith in so-called great secular leaders and they deceived us.'
'If the museum in his memory inspires and instils among Brahminical British Indians an attitude of equality towards Dalits, the edifice would be worth it,' reports Ashis Ray.
Nitish Kumar has lost his credibility. He is now only a weak ally of the BJP. And he may no longer have a shot at a national role.
'If India adopts a punitive and unforgiving stance against the Rohingyas, it will be courting disgrace,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'Like one-one drop of water fills earthen pots and one-one brick helps to construct a house, donation of Rs 1 to my campaign fund will help me fight to take the voices of marginalised and exploited people to Parliament.'
Building of Ram temple was not the only aim to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal said on Thursday.
The public discourse surrounding the murder of Infosys techie Swathi begs for sanity. Sadly, there are no takers for it in Tamil Nadu as conspiracy theories -- some communally explosive -- keep cropping up. R Ramasubramanian reports.
Participating in the debate on the budget, leaders of parties like the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Left launched an all-out attack on the BJP government for allegedly selling off the country's assets and PSUs to big industrialists.
Shah accused the Congress and other opposition parties of running a misinformation campaign.
The fact that so many victims turn hostile should be a matter of concern. If so many accused persons continue to roam freely in society, this becomes an additional liability to women's safety, points out Rashme Sehgal.
The report concentrates on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community in the country.
Why are the protesters still on their own and why are political parties abstaining from joining this mass movement? Aakar Patel explains.
A scene of a play and a conversation between two key characters were snipped from the first episode Tanashah, a day after the cast and crew of the nine-part starry political saga on Amazon Prime Video once again apologised and said they had decided to implement changes to address the concerns raised.
'The Parivar's ideology and politics was and remains the very opposite of what Dr Ambedkar stood for.'
Journalist-turned-activist Teesta Setalvad in her new book 'Foot Soldier of the Constitution: A Memoir' has spoken of the rise of communalism and the aftermath of the '02 Godhra riots. In this interview with Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf, she discusses her book, the cases against her and the state of secularism in the country.
'It is precisely because of the apprehensions about Lalu's revival that the upper castes have started re-thinking their electoral preferences. Out of confusion, they are simply deciding to vote for winnable candidates from their respective castes of any of the three parties -- the BJP, JD-U or RJD. This is what has considerably neutralised the NaMo wave in Bihar and resulted in Nitin Gadkari's remark that "Caste is in the DNA of Biharis". This is why Giriraj Singh, the BJP candidate from Nawada, made provocative statements,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
For two-and-half weeks, as Kanhaiya Kumar's Jan Gan Man Yatra opposing the CAA-NPR-NRC makes its way through Bihar, it has come under sustained violent attack. Archana Masih/Rediff.com discovers that the yatris, who include teenagers wanting to save the Constitution and the Nation, are unfazed by the threats and loathing.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow in Varanasi were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.
Male graduates applying for private sector jobs in India are far more likely to progress to the next round if they have high-caste Hindu names than if they have surnames associated with dalit (formerly untouchable) or Muslim origins.
The counsel claimed that the ground-level situation in these states was worrisome as the cow vigilante groups were resorting to violence there.
'Without destroying idol worship, you cannot destroy caste because idol worship keeps religious communities in its religious ideology. The RSS is a big promoter of idol worship.' 'They may have an OBC PM, but neither the RSS or the VHP talk about an OBC becoming a priest. The equation is: Business in Baniya hands. Religion in Brahmin hands. OBC votes for the BJP.'
A Samajwadi Party MLA and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader too joined Mayawati's party, BSP General Secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui told a press conference in Lucknow.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV that was telecast on Thursday night, Mayawati said she liked to wear pink because she wants to see pinkish smiles on the faces of the Dalit community, which had been suffering for a long time.
"It was decided in a meeting inside Aurthur Road jail (where the blast convicts are lodged) on Monday that the outfit would be called Dalit and Muslim United Front," said Shahid Azmi, Dossa's lawyer.
'Temperamentally, they are quite alike.' 'Ahmed Patel avoided the limelight and was not a power seeker.' 'The Gandhis too are not power wielders, but trustees of power.'
Facing ire over his alleged inflammatory speech warning Muslims of a 'final battle', Union Minister of State for Human Resource and Development Ram Shankar Katheria claims he did not make any such comments.
Owaisi on Monday termed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a 'club of bachelors'
Although conventional political wisdom would decree that the construction of a 'magnificent' Ram temple at his 'birth-place' would bring the BJP a big yield of votes in the prospective elections, its leaders know by now that the mandir must not exist in isolation in its game plan, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
The ruling allies rejected the amendment demanded by Congress and Samajwadi Party to make yoga optional for schools.
'The BJP has taken too much of credit for sweeping urban local elections.' 'It is true in the mayor segment. But in the smaller cities, semi-urban and rural areas, the BJP has done badly and so have the other parties.' 'Nobody can claim they have swept the elections.' 'What Mayawati failed miserably to do in the assembly election, she has managed to gain that in this election.'
Upping the ante against Amit Shah after his "fireworks in Pakistan" remark, Janata Dal-United and the Congress on Friday approached the Election Commission demanding that the Bharatiya Janata Party chief be barred from entering Bihar for "inciting communal tension" till the election process ends.
Seeking to allay citizenship concerns of a large number of people, government sources said on Thursday that one can prove Indian nationality by submitting any document related to his date of birth and its place, and there will be "absolutely no compulsion" to submit any document by his parents during any such exercise. An explainer shared by official sources said no document will be required for anybody's pre-1971 genealogy as such a condition was specific to the NRC exercise in Assam and asserted that it will be sufficient to provide one's details of birth like date and place in any future nationwide NRC.
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