The bill was passed by a voice vote after Shah sought to allay concerns raised by the Opposition, which claimed the draft law was "draconian".
A special court in Ahmedabad which acquitted all the 67 accused in the Naroda Gam post-Godhra riots case has criticised the probe conducted into it by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Supreme Court, and said the evidence of the prosecution's witnesses was full of contradictions and could not be relied upon.
Devendra Fadnavis will lead the new Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers. The swearing-in ceremony is scheduled for Thursday evening at Azad Maidan ground in south Mumbai and will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several Union ministers. The Mahayuti coalition won the recent assembly elections by a landslide, securing 230 out of 288 seats.
In winning a seventh term, the BJP also matched the Left Front's feat in West Bengal.
Polling in 31 district panchayats, 231 taluka panchayats and 81 municipalities of Gujarat and by-elections of 23 municipalities and 3 taluka panchayats were held on Sunday.
'He selects certain portfolios that he has personal interest in, and he does not give them to a senior leader. The responsibility is given to a junior minister who then directly reports to Modi or to the small team of bureaucrats working with Modi.' 'I noticed this first in Gujarat where Modi worked mainly with two ministers, Saurabh Patel and Amit Shah,' says Aakar Patel.
Keeping up his tradition of celebrating the festival with soldiers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sir Creek near the Indo-Pak border in Gujarat's Kutch district and offered sweets to jawans.
Senior Gujarat-cadre Indian Police Services officer Geeta Johri has filed a petition in the Supreme Court alleging that the Central Bureau of Investigation has been pressurising her to implicate some political leaders, including arrested Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah, in connection with Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
Gujarat former minister Amit Shah, arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, has asked the Supreme Court to recall its order for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe on the grounds of "bias", levelling allegations of conspiracy against its judge and the Centre.
Gujarat's junior Home Minister Amit Shah, who is close to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday did not show up before Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case but said he will appear on Friday after the agency sent a second summon during the day.
Officials in coastal Devbhumi Dwarka said around 1,300 people have been shifted to safer places so far.
The Congress president also hit out at Modi's Gujarat model of development, describing it as "good propaganda" and marketing, but "hollow from within".
The party's CM choice came as a surprise for many as the low-profile, first-time legislator was not seen to be among the top contenders for the post.
The JD-U leader's outbursts against his former ally came in response to queries from journalists about Shah's speech earlier in the day at Sitab Diara.
The Gujarat government on Monday withdrew the controversial Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill of 2006, which the governor had returned to the Legislative Assembly for reconsideration in August 2007. Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma in his message, read out in the assembly by Speaker Ashok Bhatt while returning the Bill, said he found it to be violative of the Article 25 (A) of the Constitution.
The chief justice, while repeatedly stressing that he was not commenting on the case before it, also said that sometimes journalists write in a way that amounts to 'sheer contempt of court'.
'It is this fear that is behind all that has happened to Rahul Gandhi.'
Modi was born on September 17, 1950 in a small town in Gujarat.
Former Gujarat Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday accused the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Supreme Court of acting with a "malafide design" to seek his police custody again by filing a separate charge sheet in the Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case.
The Centre has decided not to give a go-ahead to the Par-Tapi-Narmada river link project following strong protests against it by tribals, Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party president C R Paatil said on Tuesday.
Some BJP workers in the area have expressed unhappiness over her candidature.
"The situation is such that we do not have enough bullets for our policemen to practice. We have gun but no bullets to fire from it," Minister of State for Home Amit Shah added.
Besides the prime minister, the ministers of defence, home, external affairs and finance are members of the committee.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country but only after following all democratic processes and discussions on it.
"The emails were sent from 'mail.ru' domain, in which a man impersonating himself as Tauheed Liaquat sent them to all the schools with the aim of spreading fear among voters and Indian citizens," the Ahmedabad crime branch said in a press statement.
With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries.
BJP president Shah listened to the programme at a tea stall in Ahmedabad's Muslim-dominated Dariyapur area in the presence of hundreds of locals and party workers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday used a sting operation by a news channel to defend former Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin encounter case, and claimed that the CBI was being forced to press "politically motivated" and "malafide" charges against him.
Surveys suggest that the AAP would win 40 seats in the 182-member assembly if elections are held tomorrow.
The current public mood is that it will be a hung assembly. No one, not even in the BJP, is talking about even a simple majority for the party.
Home Minister Amit Shah said the decision to impose the anti-terror law was taken after one of the accused, Zabir Bin Yamiun Behra, confessed in the court that the conspiracy was hatched three-four days before the carnage.
'Modi is imposing himself as the face of Gujarat to send a message that people should not forget that a Gujarati is prime minister.'
The Supreme Court has dismissed the Gujarat Government's plea to review its order for a CBI probe into the alleged extra-judicial killing of Tulsiram Prajapati, an eyewitness in the 'fake encounter' case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, allegedly involving state's former Home Minister Amit Shah.
Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, meanwhile, came to Siddaramaiah's defence, stating that the party is standing with him and will support him.
A dedicated party worker, who made his way up in the state politics from the municipality level, Patel was a surprise choice for the top post when the BJP decided to effect a regime change, replacing the entire ministry a year before the elections.
Modi-Shah can complain about the Congress playing caste politics but the fact is that in Gujarat it is threatening to return to the old normal. Caste again threatens to divide what Hindutva has kept united for 25 years, says Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has resigned as Gujarat Cricket Association president. GCA secretary Rajesh Patel said: 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his resignation letter to us yesterday, which said that he is quitting the post of GCA president.'
The PM also said the results proved that there is a strong support for "politics of good governance and development".
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
Bhupendra Patel can never really break free of intervention from New Delhi. But if he can win over the Gujaratis and improve the BJP's tally substantially, he will have proved that he should be taken seriously.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances