According to sources in Gandhinagar, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi met a range of Muslim leaders including the Deobandis in the last week of Ramazan. In an off-the-record conversation, a Muslim community leader from Ahmedabad said that an important Islamic scholar and a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board had a 90-minute discussion with Modi during Ramzan.
The man behind Aligarh Muslim University 200 years on.
What has not changed in a decade is the character of Rizwan Khan. He is complex, multi-dimensional and lovable. In fact, his character continues to grow on you, notes Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
'There were areas where the JD-S put up weak candidates against the Congress to benefit the BJP.'
Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi read out the Preamble to the Constitution of India as part of the 'Satyagraha of Unity' protest.
Mayawati urged the Muslim voters to vote for the party, saying her party has given tickets to 99 candidates from the community.
Jyoti Punwani pays tribute to Syed Feroze Ashraf, the eternal do-gooder who changed the lives of many children.
Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
'In a competitive industry where no one has a formula for success other than the actor's personal appeal, the need to dominate the news cycle in the interim between films is so overpowering that even the otherwise sober stars can suffer a Ghajini moment,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'They are innovating and a new Dalit leadership could be seen at the horizon'
Bajirao Mastani has the potential to do for Maratha 'history' what Mughal-e-Azam did for Mughal 'history', says Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
The Biju Janata Dal MP from Dhenkanal says crime will come down if cannabis is legalised.
'In a country like India, it is clear that respecting religions -- in politics or in the kitchen -- is disastrous,' says Amberish K Diwanji.
'Those who have followed politics even when there was no Twitter know what the word 'jumlebaaz' means,' says Utkarsh Mishra.
'In economic matters governments should not take sides based on religion and caste,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
Despite the freeze on diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan and protests against the fair, traders at the recently concluded four-day Aalishan Pakistan exhibition did brisk business, reports Upasna Pandey.
Historian Stanley Wolpert, author of several books on India, passed into the ages recently. We remember Professor Wolpert with Rajeev Srinivasan's March 1997 interview published on the occasion of his controversial book on Jawaharlal Nehru.
'After Modi, Yogi is the most popular face of Hindutva, but it's too early to say that he is someone who could succeed Modi.'
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
'I was brought up in a Brahmin Hindu family. I was brought up in places where the majority was Muslim, in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. There was a mosque next to my house, but I never saw communal tension.' 'I am not worried. This country's religious roots are very strong. They know how to take care of themselves.'
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
'Without destroying idol worship, you cannot destroy caste because idol worship keeps religious communities in its religious ideology. The RSS is a big promoter of idol worship.' 'They may have an OBC PM, but neither the RSS or the VHP talk about an OBC becoming a priest. The equation is: Business in Baniya hands. Religion in Brahmin hands. OBC votes for the BJP.'
'As the film progresses, you tire of the been-there seen-that spectacle.' 'You want a story. You want good dialogue, not the corny words you are hearing.' 'You want an emotional connect. You want a tighter film.' 'Sadly, with Padmaavat, that's not what you get,' says Savera R Someshwar.
'Karpoori Thakur must be remembered by people today who are tired of witnessing fractious politics where corruption, bigotry, hatred and violence seems to have become distressingly recurrent,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
We Indians simply cherry-pick those aspects of other cultures we like and reject what we consider unsuitable. Most of us recognise it as globalisation, says Kanika Datta.
'Those who say the Indian Army is persecuting Kashmiris... I will tell them that the reality is that the Kashmiri loves the fauj and what all the Indian Army has done.'
'India could become the newest Asian tiger under Modi's dynamic leadership. Modi could become the Nehru of the 21st century, and re-establish a new Tryst with Destiny, by stating once and for all that Mera Bharat Mahaan is and will always be a truly secular and inclusive democracy in the best spirit of Bharatiya-tva,' says Ram Kelkar, offering an NRI view of the Modi triumph.
If November 9 ushers in a Hillary Clinton presidency, you can bet your last dollar that Huma Abedin will be back at POTUS' side.
From Awaara to Deewar to Junoon to In Custody, Shashi Kapoor leaves us many movies to love and remember him by.
'The Dancing Girl is only one of the many symbols they threaten today.' 'Our country is changing.' 'Elements that ought to have remained on the fringes have been handed power and control of a state on a platter.' 'With this, the party that persistently wooed us with its development agenda has arrogantly taken its mask off,' says Veenu Sandhu.
Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre examines the Marathi film industry, which annually produces around 190 dissimilar films that requires an investment of Rs 400 crores.
From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
The EC received complaints from five places that EVMs were connecting to external devices via bluetooth, but after inquiry, it was found that there was 'no substance' in the complaints.
The President may not have agreed with the government on many occasions. Not once was this ever made public -- though he told off ministers in private.
The Sindhis are a lesson in perseverance. Once uprooted, they've started all over, often reinventing themselves
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah and chief ministers of National Democratic Alliance-ruled States are at the ceremony.
'Benares has always encouraged healthy debate where disagreement and dissent was never frowned upon. Today, the people are faced with a situation where a political opponent is not being allowed to give election speeches and is being physically attacked.' 'We are going to hand over power to a person who has a reputation of being dictatorial, who does not brook dissent and is known to be vindictive to his opponents,' author Kashinath Singh tells Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
Annet Mahendru -- the half-Indian making waves in The Americans -- on her love for Bollywood, daal-chawal and being a Russian spy.
Sarvesh Agrawal tells Shobha Warrier about how he built a start-up "of the interns, by the interns and for the interns."
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