The Election Commission on Wednesday expressed "strong displeasure" over Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut's remarks that Muslims should be stripped of voting rights and advised him to be more circumspect in future in his public utterance.
'Mohammad Akhlaq's death isn't only about a Muslim being killed out of sheer communal bigotry, but also the denial of the Constitutional guarantees of "due process" under Article 21 and the freedom of choice,' says Shehzad Poonawalla, who has moved the National Commission for Minorities over the murder.
Javadekar was at the event, where presence of his ministerial colleague V K Singh last year had drawn flak from the media, for around 20 minutes, and extended his 'best wishes' to the Pakistani people on the sidelines.
The judgment in the December 16 gang rape case involving a minor was on Monday deferred till August 19 by the Juvenile Justice Board pursuant to a direction of the Supreme Court.
'He gets scared when he faces someone who says I will not back off, he backs off,' Rahul said about Modi.
The president-elect has vast public, social, and political experience which will help him better to discharge his duty as the First Citizen of India.
'If the virulence of COVID-19 has muted the toxicity of the BJP's communalism, it will be an example of good coming out of the pandemic,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
The EU ambassador to India hoped the principle of equality will be upheld in the CAB. He also said that Pak must take action against terror groups.
The BJP has bettered its show this time as its vote share in several states is well over 50 per cent, nothing short of a statistical wonder in Indian electoral history.
Sachdev's wife Divya said that before deboarding, her husband had "apologised" to the teenager to which she said it was "okay".
US mutual funds Valic Co 1 and Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II, which have minority stake in Flipkart, have marked down the value of their stocks in the company
'Shaheen Bagh is no longer a mere ghetto of lower middle class Muslims.' 'Now, it is a metaphor for resistance, secularism and struggle,' notes Md. Zeeshan Ahmad.
Modi is seen as exceptional not only on account of his acts but also owing to his style. He appears to sacrifice his life for the people -- like a fakir, a figure he came to epitomize even more in 2020 by growing a long white beard. Charisma is above accountability, and Modi has grasped these dynamics.
'The Babri Masjid wasn't just a mosque, it was a test of our secularism,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Amid a raging row, two police officers were on Friday booked on charges of murder of a 15-year-old Dalit youth in Sonipat even as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar claimed that he had committed suicide and had not died in police custody as alleged by his family.
No nation is fully sovereign to do what it wants to do in the face of opposition from others, points out Aakar Patel.
'A hotline between the Chinese and Indian military establishments is essential if the possibility of conflict is to be minimised.' 'When relations are uneasy, even minor incidents can spiral out of control,' warns former senior RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
The deported Rohingyas would face persecution in Myanmar but also, possibly, elimination.
'When the clouds lift and the mists clear, when saner heads and minds sit down to parse the outcome, they will find that the Congress was not lacking in either fight or spirit,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
New Delhi is approaching Gota with an open mind, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prosecuting juveniles aged above 15 years as adults for heinous crimes, setting up of 'special police stations' and ensuring death penalty or life term to those accused of raping minors were among a host of proposals mooted by the Aam Aadmi Party government on Monday to deal with cases of sexual violence.
It is this new Muslim who is not burdened by the Pakistan guilt, who is ready to fight it out for the rights enshrined under the Constitution, and who is not defensive about Muslim identity that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are out to crush, argues Mohd Asim.
The relief material consists of items required urgently by the affected people, namely rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets etc, it said.
Uttar Pradesh Women and Child Welfare Minister Aruna Kori on Sunday said it was not the government but the society which was responsible for incidents of rape, drawing flak from several quarters for her "insensitive and irresponsible" remarks.
India witnessed religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions and the police in some cases failed to respond effectively to communal violence, according to the US State Department report on International Religious Freedom.
Naidu said that efforts are on to bring together all non-BJP parties and that he had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi to discuss measures on protecting democracy.
'At no time since Independence this issue of whether we are a secular country or whether we are a Hindu Rashtra has come up in this manner.' 'This is the most important issue which is going to decide whether we remain together as one country or not.'
'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.
'The entire brouhaha with regard to the CAB smacks of blatant Hinduphobia, a duplicitous exercise, morally corrupt in its construct and aimed at divesting deserving Hindus of basic human rights by raising the bogey of Muslim discrimination, and must be called out for what it is,' says Vivek Gumaste.
BJP candidate was attacked in West Bengal, EVM glitches were reported in New Delhi.
'Your confidence is shaken when the government does what it does these days, but then it is the same confidence that gives you the courage to stand up to the government's high-handedness.' 'There will always be people who will not fear jails or the physical and mental torture that visit citizens protesting against the government's draconian policies and laws.' 'There will always be Indians who will not be afraid to face the consequences of fighting for their Constitutional rights.'
'When economic policies were attacked by people on his own side, he went ahead despite all the criticisms in the coalition, within the party and the Sangh Parivar.'
Syed Firdaus Ashraf traces the trajectory of Lal Kishan Advani from the highs of the 1990s to the present, when he may have to watch the elections from the sidelines.
A delegation of Muslim leaders led by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi during which she asked them to ensure that secular votes did not split in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The application has been filed to oppose a batch of petitions on which the apex court had in 2018 issued notices to the Centre and other stakeholders while referring the matter to a 5-judge Constitution bench.
Some believe she should no longer be the face of the struggle to free Myanmar from the new military dictatorship, observes Prakash Bhandari.
A fresh confrontation between the Aam Aadmi Party government and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung flared up with the former refusing to comply with his order cancelling Swati Maliwal's appointment as Chief of Delhi Commission for Women even as she claimed on Wednesday night that the LG told her not to come to office from Thursday and that it will be locked.
'The vitriolic campaign now in progress, the underlying threat of violence, and the elevation of Pragya Thakur as a star candidate are key markers in the BJP's obstacle-strewn march back to New Delhi,' says Sunil Sethi.
