The Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday arrested around 340 people, including former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Lalu Singh, and put 42 others under house arrest on the eve of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's 'Sankalp Diwas' rally in Ayodhya, which has been banned by the state government.
With Vishwa Hindu Parishad adamant in going ahead with its planned yatra from Ayodhya from Sunday, the Faizabad district administration on Friday issued arrest warrants against its 70 leaders amid heavy deployment of police force in the twin towns.
Giving a clarion call to defeat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in West Bengal, the prime minister while addressing a mega rally in Siliguri said, "The road to oust the corrupt TMC government from West Bengal will open from the Lok Sabha polls."
A standing committee of the Rajasthan Wildlife Board's has cleared a proposal to allow the mining of a special sandstone, much sought after by builders including those constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, from Bharatpur's Bandh Baretha sanctuary.
The Centre has rushed additional security forces to Ayodhya to prevent the much hyped yatra that is being planned by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in spite of a ban on it by the Uttar Pradesh government.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday inaugurated its controversial yatra from Ayodhya amidst a massive crackdown launched by the Uttar Pradesh administration which has arrested senior VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, and over 500 people.
Most politicians and even non-politicians have been honoured because of what they were purported to be electorally worth for the ruling party of their time, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
The litigants and their counsels -- altogether over 50 people -- met the three-member mediation panel on the Avadh University premises in Faizabad.
Four people have been booked for making objectionable and inflammatory posts on social media sites, officials said on Friday.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
Sensing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's attempts to rekindle Ayodhya sentiments, the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in Uttar Pradesh has banned a meeting to mark the 25th death anniversary of brothers, Ram and Sharad Kothari, who fell to police bullets while performing the symbolic kar sewa on November 2, 1990 -- two years before the Babri Masjid was brought down.
The Dhar district administration has recommended that the Bhojshala-Kamal Moula mosque be kept open every Friday from 1300 to 1500 hours IST to enable Muslims to offer namaz and every Tuesday from 0900 and 1100 hours IST for Hindus to offer prayers.
In sarcastic comments Samajwadi party leader Azam Khan on Friday took on outfits demanding construction of a temple dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse,saying such temple should be constructed in every state.
After clamping down on its yatra on the Ayodhya issue, the Uttar Pradesh government on Monday banned Vishwa Hindu Parishad's proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' stir on October 18 to press for a parliamentary legislation on building Ram temple, fearing a communal flare-up.
'He couldn't hold himself from chanting 'Siyavar Ramchandra ki Jai'.'
Eleven people died during a havan at Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal temple in Madhya Pradesh's Indore after they fell into a well as its cover caved-in under the weight of a huge crowd, while three others got fatally electrocuted during a Ram Navami procession in Rajasthan's Kota.
More than 25 years after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, another generation proclaims its commitment to building a Ram temple.
The twin towns of Ayodhya and Faizabad were on the edge on Saturday as tension mounted on the eve of VHP's yatra with the UP government cracking down on the saffron outfit arresting some of its leaders and over 350 activists.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati will descend on Varanasi on Saturday making it their battleground ahead of the last phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, a schedule that has put the administration on its toes.
The members include senior lawyer K Parasaran, Jagatguru Shankracharya, Jyothishpeethadheeshwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj from Allahabad, Jagatguru Madhavacharya Swami Vishwa Prasannatheerth Ji Maharaj, Pejawar Math in Udupi, Yugpurush Paramanand Ji Maharaj from Haridwar, Swami Govinddev Giri Ji Maharaj from Pune and Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya.
Addressing a gathering after the 'bhoomi pujan' of a bottling plant here, Adityanath said people are seeing that those who showed little respect for law and order earlier were now running for their lives.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti threw cow dung at a liquor shop in Orchha town of Madhya Pradesh's Niwari district, amid her demand for total prohibition in the party-ruled state.
After covering several kilometres on foot along with their families, the labourers, who reached Charbagh bus station in Lucknow on Saturday and Sunday, said there was no point staying in Delhi as they have exhausted their funds and it would be better for them to return to their homes.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia were on Friday released along with 957 fellow cadres, a day after nearly 2,500 activists were arrested in a massive crackdown by Uttar Pradesh authorities to foil its yatra which also led to protests by its workers.
Two FIRs were registered against the AIMIM chief at Barabanki city police station on Thursday night after his party's public meeting in Katara Chandana Baradari.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Saturday dismissed a petition against the Uttar Pradesh government's ban on Vishwa Hindu Parisha's proposed Yatra from Ayodhya.
The carving work by artisans had been carried out uninterrupted since 1990 when Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party was Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
The toll in Uttar Pradesh floods on Monday increased to 48, with reports of 20 more deaths in the state where several rivers were flowing above danger mark posing threat to more than 1,000 villages.
'This is against the Constitution and we will oppose it tooth and nail.'
Drones will soon perform a special task in the state capital apart from functioning as eyes in the sky with the Lucknow Police planning to use them for dispersing mobs.
Undeterred by the ban imposed by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Friday said that it will go ahead with its proposed 'Sankalp Diwas' to take a resolve to launch an agitation for rebuilding the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
As opposition parties targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the police action on the campus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah spoke to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and asked him to address the issue at the earliest.
'It's like the BJP is mocking people: Do what you want, we'll still win.'
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday justified the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to ban a proposed yatra by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to garner support for the construction of the RamTemple at a disputed site in Ayodhya.
Appearing on national television to mark the silver jubilee of the party he founded in 1997 after breaking away from the Janata Dal, Prasad, who is suffering from many ailments and convalescing at his MP daughter Misa Bharti's residence in New Delhi, recalled his struggles for OBC quota and the fight for the rights of the weaker sections.
"The era of 'lalten' is gone. In the last six years consumption of electricity has increased 3 fold in Bihar," PM Modi said. "Voters of Bihar have taken a resolve that they won't let those who have a history of making the state 'Bimaru' come near them," he added.
The DMK feels its genuine gestures have had no bearing on the governor's politico-administrative conduct, which is 'more political and politicised than administrative and Constitutional', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Notwithstanding the massive crackdown by UP administration, VHP leader Ashok Singhal advised the state government to review the decision to ban 84 kosi yatra saying it could not be stopped as saints from across the country would be reaching Ayodhya soon.
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