Senior DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister K Ponmudy has faced criticism, including from his own party, for his purported remarks on Shaivism and Vaishnavism. A video of the minister making the remarks has gone viral, leading to calls for his resignation. The BJP has slammed the minister and demanded his sacking, while DMK MP Kanimozhi also condemned the remarks. This incident follows an earlier controversy where Ponmudy linked north Indians with selling pani puri.
'They were certainly not practising Hinduism in the Harappan culture (which includes Mohenjo Daro and other sites).' 'There was no notion of Hinduism then.'
'While the ordinary Muslim must speak up against Islamic fundamentalism, ordinary Hindus too have to speak up against the excesses and fundamentalism that exists in their religion.'
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Hinduism is the mother of all religions; communal hatred should not be spread in its name.'
Stalin's personal intervention in the Adheenam row may have contained the avoidable political damage and social tensions at least for now, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Surat police commissioner Anupam Singh Gehlot identified the arrested accused as Maulvi Sohel Abubakr Timol (27), who worked at a thread factory as a manager and offered private tuition on Islam to Muslim children.
"You have seen that in Islam, it is said that they oppose 'bootparastee' (idol worship). It is their matter and their philosophy. We perform idol worship. We worship the 'saakaar brahma' and the 'niraakaar brahma', which is allowed by the Sanatan Dharma.... Some are saying 'I Love Mohammad' and indulging in arson and vandalism." "They know that this is Sharadiya Navratra, the occasion of Vijaya Dashami. If they spread chaos during the Sharadiya Navratra, work like 'Chundd' and 'Mundd', then Goddess Bhagwati is not going to tolerate it. Goddess Bhagwati crushes such 'Chundd' and 'Mundd'," Adityanath said.
Mamdani, the son of filmmaker Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani, a Ugandan author of Indian ancestry, was declared victorious in the Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday night.
'Who has given them the right to decide that I am not a Hindu like them'
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha on Monday, saying the leaders of the ruling party are not Hindus as they engage in "violence and hate" round the clock, drawing massive protests from the treasury benches, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Congress leader of calling the entire Hindu community violent.
'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The incident has brought back into focus the controversy that erupted last year when BJP-led governments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand directed food outlets along the Kanwar route to display the names of their owners and staff.
Addressing an event in Jaipur, the RSS leader said, "The term 'Hindu' has already entered our Constitution and country. It is a fact of history. Hindu is an identity and a culture to which people belong."
'When Nawazuddin Siddiqui -- one of India's finest actors -- was told not to perform in a Ramleela, I realised how much Hinduism has been hijacked by Hindutva forces in the last 30 years,' says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Former Union Minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid is facing legal issues with the release of his book, Sunrise over Ayodhya -- Nationhood in our times. Two Delhi lawyers have filed complaints with Delhi Police against Khurshid, for allegedly defaming and comparing Hinduism with terrorism in his book.
The Indian community in Russia are eagerly waiting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow and will be seeking his support to build a Hindu temple in the country, a new Indian school building and the availability of more direct flights to India.
'Anti-Hindu Hate in Schools', by the counter-terrorism think-tank Henry Jackson Society, found that 51 per cent of Hindu parents surveyed reported that their child has suffered anti-Hindu hate at school.
'there is absolutely no question that the Hinduism of the mob-lynchers, the people who have actually gone and killed others because of what they are eating or how they are worshipping or the faith they belong to or what they're doing professionally, those are, to my mind, not Hindus at all.' 'Hinduism needs to be reclaimed for the Hindus who are not bigots.'
Activists of the Indian-American community and the Hindu American Foundation have denounced Reverend Franklin Graham, the son and heir apparent of celebrated evangelist Reverend Billy Graham, for maligning Hinduism during an interview.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that religious conversions undertaken solely to avail reservation benefits without genuine belief in the adopted religion amount to "fraud on the Constitution". The court upheld a Madras High Court decision denying a scheduled caste certificate to a woman who converted to Christianity but later claimed to be a Hindu to secure employment benefits.
'The Hindu quest for political power in terms of a Hindu identity can pose a problem for tolerance, as the alignment of religion with power often does.'
Political battle over 'Pujari Granthi Samman Yojna' announced by Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal intensified on Tuesday, as he launched registration process for the scheme at a temple in Kashmiri Gate in New Delhi.
The Hindu Council in United Kingdom on Friday welcomed the Delhi High Court's historic judgment, which decriminalised consensual homosexual relations, and said Hinduism does not condemn gay people. "The British Hindu homosexual community will welcome the news that their brethren in India are now able to enjoy the same freedom as they do here," said Anil Bhanot, general secretary of Hindu Council UK.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar faced criticism from within the party for his participation in Mahashivaratri celebrations in Tamil Nadu, which was also attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Shivakumar defended his attendance, asserting his Hindu faith while emphasizing his respect for all religions. He also clarified that he had not met Amit Shah and refuted claims of aligning himself with the BJP.
"The Congress ideology...the ideology it follows has been existing in India for thousands of years. Just like the RSS has its icons, the Congress has its own icons... they are different icons. But, we have them, it is about bringing this ideological ocean and allowing our people to swim in it," he said.
Observing that there is substantial increase in attacks against Hindus and Hinduism in the United States, an Indian-American Congressman warned that this was just the 'beginning of a coordinated anti-Hindu attack'.
Indian-American Republican presidential aspirant Vivek Ramaswamy has said that his Hindu faith gives him freedom and has inspired him to launch his bid for the White House.
Congressional caucuses are groups of members of the US Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives. Caucuses are formed as Congressional Member Organisations through the US House of Representatives and governed under the chamber's rules.
'...It won't help the party run a peaceful and equitable India,' warns Vir Sanghvi.
Starting this summer, the University will provide six courses and non-credit courses.
The proclamations came after various Hindu organisations in the US announced the addition of another major festival, an entire month of festivals, in October as the Hindu Heritage Month.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
Another book on Hinduism by American indologist Wendy Doniger has come under attack from the same Delhi-based group which had compelled the publishers of an earlier work by her to withdraw the title.
Right now there are five Hindus occupying the top job in the world. Rishi Sunak will be the sixth.
The plea argued that any changes such as inclusion of same sex marriage in the Customary Law are much easier, convenient and practical in marriages which are a type of contract between the partners as they are very remotely based on religion and more generic in nature.
In a complaint to the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Suzanne Goldberg and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement Randolph Wills, the Hindu American Foundation has asked the Office of Civil Rights to investigate and determine whether the University of Pennsylvania and its Department of South Asia Studies, South Asia Center created a hostile environment for students and faculty of Indian and Hindu descent, and whether the same entities and individuals misused any federal funds.
Subramanyam's mother, who immigrated through Dulles Airport, watched her son being sworn-in on the Bhagavad Gita.
