Sujatha Gidla's scathing observations about Mahatma Gandhi and other highlights from Jaipur Literature Festival 2018.
Public intellectuals who frame the ideological antipathy between the RSS & Co and Jawaharlal Nehru in the light of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and Hindu Raj alone, miss the point by a yard, argues Shaan Kashyap.
BJP's Dalit leader Udit Raj had said the Hindu religion is in 'danger' not because of conversion but because of its 'so-called protectors'.
India is too diverse to be governed centrally and with a single system. The way forward is for the central government to keep the monopoly of military power and a share of national resources while the provinces must have greater autonomy, recommends Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Mohammad Salim cited a news magazine which quoted Singh as reportedly saying -- after Narendra Modi and BJP's victory last year -- that India had the first "Hindu ruler after 800 years."
'Gods of different religions haven't warred, so we shouldn't either.'
They denounced the Sangh for stating in its mouthpiece Organiser that the Guru Granth Sahib is known for its salutations to Lord Ram.
"India despite problems, has had religious harmony there for 2,000 years," he said.
In a rare honour Dr Ravi Gupta, assistant professor of Religion at Center College in Kentucky, has been selected as one of the five young people representing different religions to meet with the Pope and to hand him a present symbolising Hinduism. Gupta will give the Pope an incense burner in the shape of the sacred Hindu symbol, Om.
The existing rule allows entry to a Hindu by 'birth or religion,' he said, adding that it will be amended by adding the word 'faith.'
The official said the organisation, composed of people drawn from Hindu right groups, had around 60 members spread across at least five states but had no name.
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
'Modi cannot drag India back into a primitive epoch resembling the religious wars in medieval Europe and at the same time claim to represent the aspirations of modernity among Indians,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The preferred course of action to challenge Wendy Doniger's many published works and polemical Hinduphobic statements is to debate it, Aseem Shukla tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
'If policy-makers hold the lives of animals to be more significant than the welfare of a human populace, I can't believe that they're likely to do anything progressive for India.'
If we don't want a Hindu version of our neighbour, we must keep open minds -- even when what we hear or see is not what we like.
'Mahatma Gandhi, even for those on the extreme Hindu Right who believe he founded the politics of Muslim 'appeasement', is suicidal to target,' asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Describing Bodh Gaya as the "land of enlightenment", Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government would develop the site as the spiritual capital for it to serve as a civilisational bond between India and the Buddhist world.
The priest-turned-politician is not someone who minces his words.
Born as Ajay Singh, the diminutive shaven headed politician is known for his provocative speeches and mass following across Uttar Pradesh.
'I challenge BJP spokespersons that they have no idea what their party's ideology is because they believe it is only Modi's party now.'
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and Governor O P Kohli were also present at the meeting.
The BJP chief condemned the arrest of over 2,000 devotees, including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Sangh Parivar activists, across the state agitating against the entry of women of all ages into the temple.
'Reflex responses to Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide are band aids that stem the current hemorrhage but do precious little to the festering wound beneath,' says Vivek Gumaste.
'We are only going to the Supreme Court to protect the rights (of Muslims) which are given by the Constitution. Nothing more,' says Indian Union Muslim League MP P V Abdul Wahab, explaining why the IUML has challenged the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Supreme Court.
The sadhvi, while replying to a question by a media person regarding Dadri lynching case said people who eat beef and kill our 'mother cow' should face the consequence similar to the one faced by the victim, Mohammed Ikhlaq.
The Iraq war veteran has become the first-ever Hindu to be running for the presidency in the US.
'It will be wrong to raise the expectations of tribals because of a tribal President. 'Tribal issues have not been resolved for 150 years.'
"Bhagwat has done national service by speaking the truth on what missionaries do," the Sena said.
'If they were really serious (about conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar) what were they doing for the last five years?' 'Why do they have to take so long?' 'Gandhi himself never got the Bharat Ratna so it does not really matter.'
For firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yogi Adityanath, Hindutva and development complement each other and the sitting MP from Gorakhpur is harping on this ideology of political Hinduism, which he says is a "symbol of our nationalism", as he eyes a fifth straight term.
The alleged forced reconversion of about 100 people to Hinduism in Agra by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliate set off a chorus of criticism against the government today by the opposition inside and outside Parliament with its leaders calling it illegal and demanding 'strict' action.
At an online book release event, former vice president Hamid Ansari lays to rest the controversies surrounding his tenure.
You'd wonder what madness seized Rahul that he has decided to play to the BJP's strengths, says Shekhar Gupta.
Kapil Mishra had been invited because he was an "anti-corruption crusader", one 'IIT B for Bharat' organiser said. But in his half hour-long speech, Mishra didn't mention corruption. His entire focus was on the long "battle" Hindus had fought for their identity.
The politics of hate does not pay. The people are too sensible to fall for such a ruse, says Amulya Ganguli.
'The outrage that followed the destruction of the Babri Masjid was an inability to see the event for what it was: The rectification of a grave historical wrong, the restitution of a hurt of a people and the countering of moral injustice,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
