VP Hamid Ansari's office clarified that he was not invited to the yoga day event in the capital after his absence was questioned.
He was deliberately reducing Ansari to his Muslim identity by linking his career as a diplomat in the Arab world and educationist and his reflections on intolerance with his religion.
Vice President Hamid Ansari, Aam Admi Party Chief Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev were among the first few to cast their votes in the Delhi assembly election on Wednesday.
'We want to ensure that no government in J&K will be formed without our support.'
'Namaste behno aur bhaiyo, main aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon'
'Patriotism is like love: When it has to be enforced, it isn't real.' 'And the enforcement of a homogeneous view of love for the country is a particularly divisive feature that has ripped apart societies throughout history.'
Considered an intellectual with Left-of-the-Centre inclination, Ansari has carved out a distinct place for himself as a diplomat, academician and a writer specialising in international issues.
Exactly 50 years after late philosopher-statesman Dr S Radhakakrishnan's feat, Hamid Ansari on Tuesday emulated his footsteps by getting a second term as Vice President, a position into which he had seamlessly transformed from diplomacy and education.
The 70-year-old Ansari was administered the oath of office by President Pratibha Patil in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other top leaders at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
'I was one of those children who didn't feel I had to adhere to instructions on how to behave.' 'That must have made things very awkward for my parents.'
The 73-year-old leader castigated the judges for legitimising military dictators.
Singh, the joint secretary heading the division for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in the ministry of external affairs, held talks with Taliban's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Thursday.
The investigating agencies could not expose the masterminds behind the murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, and must introspect whether it was a mere failure or a 'deliberate inaction' due to the influence of any 'person in power', the trial court here said on Friday in its judgment.
Ms Swaraj was a conscientious woman who understood suffering and pathos and attempted in her inimitable way to mitigate them, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
Pakistan's hardline Islamist general Hamid Gul, known for nurturing militants in Kashmir and Punjab and Afghanistan during his stint as chief of the powerful ISI, has died following a brain haemorrhage.
'ISI mouthpieces in the media have been quick to blame India for the attack. Clearly, the intellect and worldview of these characters (which includes fairly senior retired military officers) is based on Bollywood movies like Ek Tha Tiger and Agent Vinod... More seriously, the fact that ISI touts have been using this opportunity to train their guns on India raises serious questions about all the talk of the army being on the same page as the civilian government on the issue of improving relations with India,' says Sushant Sareen.
Hamid Ansari on Friday left for Lima on the first-ever visit at the Vice Presidential level to mineral-rich Peru and Communist Cuba as part of India's thrust towards Latin America.
'The chair is a referee in a match, whether this side is playing better or that side is playing worse is no concern of the chair.'
In conversation with Karan Thapar, former Vice President Hamid Ansari takes on one of the most sensitive issues of our times.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari embarks on an important Latin American visit, heralding that resource-rich continent's importance to India.
As India strives to make its Act East Policy a comprehensive politico-diplomatic and economic success, Brunei gains more salience, says Dr Rahul Mishra.
How has the Indian State, in principle and practice, given shape to the essential ingredients of the secular principle and composite culture?
Dabholkar (67), an anti-superstition crusader, was shot dead while on a morning walk on Omkareshwar Bridge here on August 20, 2013.
Vice President Hamid Ansari on Wednesday left on a five-day visit to China where he will hold bilateral discussions with his counterpart Li Yuanchao and attend events to mark the 60th anniversary of Panchsheel agreement.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in Pakistan on a day-long visit to mend frayed ties with Pakistan and to seek the release of high-profile Taliban prisoners, including Mullah Barader, to give a fresh impetus to the reconciliation process in his war-torn country.
Agitated by repeated disruptions, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari on Tuesday wondered whether members wish the House to become a 'federation of anarchists', a remark which drew sharp reaction with the Bharatiya Janata Party demanding its withdrawal and the government asking for expunging it.
'During my tenure as PM, two Indian prime ministers visited Pakistan. Modi sahab and Vajpayee sahab had come to Lahore'
'I want to be murdered at your hands, so I can live on in history. The verdict of who is or is not a traitor cannot be pronounced by a secret agency, but by history.' Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, who survived an assassination attempt on April 19, challenges his enemies to dub him a traitor and says nothing will stop him from exposing them.
The opposition party was reacting after BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia asked Ansari and the Congress to come clean on the claims of Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza that he had visited India five times during the Congress-led UPA rule and passed on sensitive information collected here to his country's spy agency ISI.
Nobody expects such "petty comments" from a person holding such a high post, said BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
On January 23, the N D Modi government named 21 uninhabited islands in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar after recipients of Param Vir Chakra, the country's highest wartime gallantry award.
Scenes from the Afghan capital a day after the Taliban entered Kabul.
Alishah laid down the family tree of Dawood Ibrahim and said that the gangster's first wife gets in touch with people through WhatsApp calls.
Javed Akhtar says he has to write Hindi dialogues in the Roman script for the new generation of actors today because 'they can't read anything else'.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan is not going anywhere. That being the case, why is the hesitation to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban? asks Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Adore Dalmia Sayani offers her late father's favourite recipe.
In a ceremony on Monday on the occasion of Parakram Diwas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi named the 21 largest unnamed islands of Andaman and Nicobar after Param Vir Chakra awardees.
Sharmishtha, who has quit politics, also clarified that she has not tried to tweak her father's views about anyone.
President Kovind, who arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day on his maiden State visit at the invitation of his counterpart M Abdul Hamid to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, held delegation-level talks with him which was followed by a banquet.
