'I am not in favour of the hijab myself.' 'I personally think it wrong to make women shut themselves out of the world, where there is so much to see.' 'But I can't dictate to others about what they should wear.'
Party insiders concede statements of the Raja kind have the potential to hurt the DMK's electoral chances in closely-fought seats in 2024, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tharoor also said that he certainly thinks Rahul Gandhi has the "mettle, capability and aptitude to once again lead the party", but if he does not wish to do so then the party must "take action" to elect a new chief.
'On the Kashmir and Pakistan question, it is startling that Vajpayee and Advani did more than anybody in Indian history.'
'The BJP is the most progressive force within Hinduism today.'
'It will be wrong to raise the expectations of tribals because of a tribal President. 'Tribal issues have not been resolved for 150 years.'
As Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeks another shot at power in his first ever assembly election from Gorakhpur Urban, also underway is a silent re-branding of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a radical outfit he established in 2002 when he was a parliamentarian, Sai Manish reports.
'... while leaving the dirty work he orders to his subordinates.'
The Tablighi Jamaat avoided confrontation, stayed clear of conversion of non-Muslims, abjured politics and focused only on religious attainment. >A fascinating excerpt from Ziya Us Salam's Inside The Tablighi Jamaat.
The woman sought protection for her and her family as also her right to privacy, saying that because of her conversion she and her family are being targeted and malicious content is being published in media which should be stopped immediately.
'I am not a Hinduwadi leader, but a nationalist leader. I am a leader of every religion, every caste, every language and every class'
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
The 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, introduced by Pakistan's ambassador Munir Akram under agenda item culture of peace, to proclaim March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
Muttemwar, who hails from Vidarbha region, told PTI that the video in circulation was distorted.
The issue of denial of permission to Mansiya V P to perform Bharatanatyam at Koodalmanikyam temple, Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district has become a matter of debate in the state.
According to custom, only believers of Hinduism are permitted entry at the temple, a major pilgrim centre and tourist attraction in the southern part of the country.
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.
India's trade with the Gulf-Arab region stands at $180 billion. India needs the Gulf region more in terms of trade, investments and employment than the other way round. When it comes to faith, the Gulf-Arab nations have not been found wanting at any point in time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
It is unusual in democratic countries two decades into the 21st century for laws to become regressive instead of progressive. But that is clearly what is happening in India today and more of this is ahead, asserts Aakar Patel.
Utkarsh Mishra explains what Sardar Patel thought and said about the RSS.
Speaking at an event in Mumbai organised by Pune-based Global Strategic Policy Foundation, he said 'sane' Muslim leaders should stand firmly against fundamentalists and added the minority community does not have to fear anything in India as Hindus don't hold enmity towards anyone.
'The present government swears by Hinduism. But we lost three of our sants during earlier BJP regimes.'
'Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is sincere about maintaining religious harmony in the country.' 'But for mysterious reasons, it does not reach the grassroots activists of her party.'
'Segregation suits the BJP at the moment. It will not suit them forever.'
The survey indicates that the Congress -- one of the main opposition parties to the BJP -- was the top choice among Muslims (30 per cent), Christians (30 per cent) and Sikhs (33 per cent) in 2019, reports Aditi Phadnis.
"Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation. Across the major religious groups, most people say it is very important to respect all religions to be 'truly Indian'.
'Fixing accountability in the Congress must be addressed on a war footing.' 'It is impossible for Sonia Gandhi to know each and every party worker, so she has to rely on advisors.' 'If they guide or misguide, the blame should go to them.'
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
Godse's choice fitted with the Hindutva world view in which the assertion of masculinity, power and virility -- both discursively and institutionally -- occupied the central position. His close association with Savarkar seems only to have sharpened his uncompromising views on women.
The Ayodhya verdict heralds not the beginning of theocracy or Hindu rashtra (that never existed in 5,000 years), but marks the end of a divisive phase of our history.
The court case in India against Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus was in a way initiated in Atlanta, Georgia, by a group of Indian-American businessmen including Dhiru Shah, who have been fighting against several controversial books on Hinduism by Western thinkers and professors in recent years.
'For over a decade, the United States has been shaping the contours of Hinduism. It has been doing this from the perspective of upper caste and conservative interests,' Professor Shefali Chandra tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
'He was always opposed to a form of nationalism that was narrow, selfish and arrogant.' 'He will always remain a beacon of inspiration for freedom-loving people across the world and for movements of resistance against oppressive State power.'
'How can Hindus protest efforts to ban an edition of the Gita in parts of Russia, and force a publisher to withdraw an academic critique of Hinduism, all in the same breath? It makes the Hindu community seem petty, self-serving, and hypocritical. Episodes like this allow Hinduism to be "owned" by the most conservative, intolerant, extremist voices. These people do not speak for me, and they certainly don't represent the form of Hinduism I practice and love," Princeton University's Hindu chaplain Vineet Chander tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
The Delhi high court on Monday refused to stay an order of a trial court directing Indian Medical Association (IMA) president J A Jayalal not to use the organisation's platform to propagate any religion and cautioning him that loose comments cannot be expected from a person chairing the responsible post.
'This chauvinistic attitude, what they call nationalism in the name of religion, is sad.' 'It is a tragic state that we are all in currently.'
The contemporary problem with the BJP in Tamil Nadu is that it has been trying hard to package the DMK especially as anti-god and anti-Hinduism, and seeking it to link to Periyar and M Karunanidhi, and by extension to Stalin, the latter's son and successor to the party mantle. Their hope was to consolidate the perceived 'pro-god, pro-religion votes', which they saw returning to the fold post-MGR, post-Jayalalithaa. But no such substantial vote-bank existed even in Periyar's time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In 2017 the Bangladesh supreme court on his watch annulled the 16th amendment to the constitution which empowered parliament to impeach SC judges for misconduct or incapacity. As it upheld the independence of the judiciary, it miffed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who accused Justice Sinha of 'humiliating' the country. He was accused of corruption and misuse of power, allegations that he denied. Prakash Bhandari reports.
'Mazhab nahi sikhata apas mein bair rakhna,' a Delhi court said while directing Indian Medical Association president J A Jayalal not to use the organisation's platform to propagate any religion, and cautioned him that loose comments cannot be expected from a person chairing the responsible post.
'Art has no religion. An artist is an artist.'
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