'I have only this to say to those who talk about Mewar rulers and Akbar's brutality -- do you expect a king to not expand his kingdom?' 'You have entire cities named after Muslim rulers. It's time our heroes got their due.'
The BJP's losses in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where the UP CM had addressed nearly 75 rallies, has put a big question mark on his ability to deliver in high-octane contests, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
In the dangal of UP politics, much as Muzaffarnagar wants to leave its past behind, the shadows are never be far behind.
Once Ram temple is built it will become a 'ghoshit (declared) Hindu Rashtra', a VHP leader told the gathering.
'From 10 am on Tuesday to 3 am this morning, we must have made not less than a thousand phone calls.' 'We kept fighting till the end and we did not leave the room till we got 113 certificates.' 'Two-three losses would have changed the game and the BJP wanted to become the largest party which they did not become.'
Karnad, a recipient of Jnanpith Award, was also conferred the Padma Shri in 1974 and the Padma Bhushan in 1992.
The Rajya Sabha MP, who lost out to Bachchan in the race for re-nomination to the upper house and on Monday quit the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP, had said at a press conference that the SP denied him the RS ticket and gave it to somebody who used to dance and act in films.
23-year-old Geeta, who can neither speak nor hear, is stuck in Pakistan for 13 years
'The current BJP leadership believes the party's expansion across India, and thus their own survival at the top, depends on injecting communal tension into areas where it has so far been largely controlled,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
Mrinal Pande remembers Rajendra Yadav, one of the most prolific fiction writers and thinkers of Hindi literature in the recent times, who passed away on Monday.
'If the BJP wants to build a minimally inclusive and secure society, in which vulnerable groups and religious minorities don't feel persecuted, then the Sangh Parivar, the party and its government must change their ways. Or else, they risk dividing India further -- violently and irreparably -- for narrow political ends,' argues Praful Bidwai.
More than 25 years after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, another generation proclaims its commitment to building a Ram temple.
'Of course, I would like a world in which candidates don't ask for my vote on religious (etc) grounds.' 'But will we ever live in a world free of such appeals?' 'More important, will a Supreme Court verdict, by itself, ever deliver such a world?' asks Dilip D'Souza.
Mohammad Sajjad profiles Professor Riazur Rahman Sherwani, 94, versatile mind, intrepid intellectual.
In an era when the misguided youth of today are trying to build political careers by subscribing to divisive ideologies, they need to look to independent thinking icons such as Acharya Kripalani, says Mohammad Sajjad.
As M Karunanidhi passed into the ages, we look back at some of the legendary scriptwriter's greatest movies.
Delhi University has announced the second cut-off list for admission to its undergraduate programmes, with a marginal drop in its percentages even as various colleges closed the enrolment to popular courses such as BCom Honours and Economics Honours for various categories.
'It is only for a particular kind of Indian. The thing is: Even some of those types of Indians do not like it,' says Aakar Patel.
His songs were the anchor, the substratum, if you will, upon which life unfolded day after day, decade after decade -- across villages, towns, cities, and regions. Siva Sankar pays tribute to S P Balasubrahmanyam, the legendary singer who passed into the ages on Friday.
Can the Election Commission step up to the plate and exert its Constitutional powers with non-partisan conviction, asks Mitali Saran.
This piece is a tribute to that corner of film criticism that they call subtextual film criticism.
Will Malik's worldview, shaped by his years with the socialists, Charan Singh, the Congress and V P Singh, help him govern the troubled state? Or would his rule have the imprint of the party he joined in the latter years of his chequered political career?
'Muslims are depressed and disillusioned.' 'The safety valve is that we still have a multicultural mosaic in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.'
Mythological and historical shows are lapped up not just by the young, but equally by grown men and women.
'Not for the first time during this festival I was struck by the atmosphere of friendly inclusion the organisers had managed in a city where you can smell menace in the air, thanks to Adityanath's revenge-driven politics, his denigration of Muslims and ruthless use of State power against critics,' notes Anjali Puri.
'Are we seeing the beginning of the communalising of one of the most iconic film industries in the world?' asks Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The BJP sees investments, both foreign and domestic, as their pathways to political power and not the construction of the Ram temple or a nationwide ban on beef. It will have no option but to let commerce prevail over religious sentiments, says Amulya Ganguli.
'A very vast majority of us will catch it at some point, about 8 out of 10 won't feel much worse than a common cold's nuisance, if at all, but some will die.' 'A very, very vast majority, at least about 98 per cent of those infected, if not more, under any circumstances, will live through it,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
India's majoritarian regime is now making a dangerously fast-paced move towards theocracy, like its western counterpart did a few decades ago, warns Mohammad Sajjad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to expand his cabinet when Parliament breaks for recess during the Budget Session. Archis Mohan reports
It is bound to fail like the earlier ones, again causing Pakistan enormously more damage than to India, points out Shekhar Gupta.
According to him, the temple issue did 'more harm than good' to the BJP as the matter was being used by the opposition 'to terrorise minorities and polarise votes'.
'Her elevation in public life signified the end of parochial extremism and hate on a casteist basis.'
Sukanya Verma takes us down beautiful bridal history.
A section within the RSS feels Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani should be projected as the BJP's CM candidate in UP, says Rajeev Sharma.
'The strange thing about the Karnataka election is that the BJP looks more like the Congress of the past and vice versa.' 'Siddaramaiah has been able to out think the BJP almost every single day on every single issue.'
Shehla doesn't and has never shied away from talking the tough talk and walking the tough walk, says Gurmehar Kaur.
In 2017, the former Union minister called Modi "neech aadmi" following which he was suspended from the Congress party.
'Of all the PMs of India, I had the closest relationships with Morarji and Rajiv.' Mark Tully, the most famous foreign correspondent in India, remembers some encounters with prime ministers, dictators and militants.
Kamal Haasan's list of controversies is as long as his impressive filmography.
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