With BJP workers staging agitations across the state demanding that Thol Thirumavalavan apologise for his remark allegedly denigrating women, the VCK cadres countered it by flash protests and they allegedly attacked saffron party office-bearers at Madurai.
'Now that the Ram mandir is done, we need to move on. And grapple with COVID-19, a sputtering economy, a belligerent China...' 'The temple may win a few more elections for the BJP, but by itself it won't solve the nation's growing problems of economic and social distress,' notes Virendra Kapoor.
In a dig at Adityanath's earlier warning that rioters damaging public property will have to pay, the Congress general secretary said saffron denotes Hinduism, a religion that does not advocate violence or 'revenge'.
A Bharatiya Janata Party leader in West Bengal has gone a step ahead of controversial party MP Sakshi Maharaj, asking Hindu women to bear five children "to protect Hinduism".
Against the backdrop of denial of permission for his rally in Varanasi, Narendra Modi on Thursday said that he and the Bharatiya Janata Party were being "troubled" by the Election Commission and wanted the poll body to "answer".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday assured that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not be implemented in Assam if the party is voted to power in the state in the coming assembly poll.
Mark Tully on the India he loves.
India and Indians can ignore Pakistan, but that cannot be said of other nations in the neighbourhood, where New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy constantly reverberates. Four of the eight SAARC member-nations are Muslim -- Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives. The rulers decide the nation's India or anti-India policy in the first two, and street-opinion contributes to the same in the latter two, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I have understood one thing very clearly -- 99 per cent of Muslims love Hindustan, their ancestral roots belong to Hinduism.' 'Even his language and dialect belongs to Hindustan. His culture is also Hindustani. Due to some historic reasons he changed his religion. Changing one's religion is not akin to changing one's ancestors, castes and sub-castes, language and dialects or his loyalty.' 'Divide and rule has not helped India progress and led to backwardness of people of this great country.' RSS leader Indresh Kumar, the patron of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS-backed organisation that actively works with Muslims, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com how the RSS is reaching out to Muslims.
India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T S Tirumurti, said on Tuesday that India condemns all forms of anti-semitism and all forms of discrimination on religious grounds anywhere in the world.
The development is being seen as a sign of the growing political prominence of Hindus in America. Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the US, representing approximately one per cent of the US population in 2016.
Hitting out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's 'Didi-Bhaipo' jibes, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday challenged him to contest an election against her nephew Abhishek Banerjee and then think of fighting her.
Modi, who was wearing a 'Mujib Jacket' as tribute to Bangladesh's Father of the Nation, said that Bangabandhu's leadership and bravery had ensured that no power could enslave Bangladesh.
India witnessed religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions and the police in some cases failed to respond effectively to communal violence, according to the US State Department report on International Religious Freedom.
The country has its own triangular flag with an emblem of Paramashiva and Nandi and is called the 'Rishabha Dhvaja'.
What is there in Wendy Doniger's book that has raised the hackles of the Hindu right wing? A K Bhattacharya explains
Here are some interesting images of the BJP president visiting the popular Lalbaugcha Raja.
Khan said Islamabad has taken the first step on a new path to peace and progress.
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.
'If Mr Modi continues growing as a Hindu Hriday Samrat, better that it is done by restoring ancient temples than demolishing medieval mosques,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Tulsi Gabbard's stand on gays, her dress sense, irks Hindu group, reports Aziz Haniffa.
'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 Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to appoint Hindutva hardliner Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister has drawn an avalanche of reactions from opposition parties.
While the Trump campaign promises that re-electing President Donald Trump will "reduce obstacles to religious freedoms" for Hindus in America, the rival Biden campaign on Tuesday said former vice president Joe Biden has made outreach to the Hindu faith community a priority.
Stalin, like his father M Karunanidhi did in 2004, may play the king-maker in a way -- not the king, unless the 2024 post-poll circumstances throws up a situation where he alone becomes acceptable to the rest, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Majority of the population in Mizoram is Christian.
The Mahakumbh to me has always evoked memories of what an older era of Hinduism must have been, its strength in its diversity and acceptance, its spirit resting not in priests but in individual bhakti, a faith totally alien to intolerance and bigotry, says Sagarika Ghose.
It's a sad fact that non-Muslim minorities, who are represented by the white portion in the Pakistani national flag, have been reduced to abnormally low numbers. If the situation remains as bad as it is and Hindus keep on migrating to other countries, this ratio may further reduce, notes Shiraz Hassan.
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'.
Prof Khyati Joshi, advisor to the survey -- Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths -- conducted by Pew Research Center's forum on religion and public life lends perspective on Asian Americans and their faith, particularly on Hinduism.
'This is what Hindu Rashtra looks like, which has been enabled by conditions of democracy.'
Adityanath will be the 21st UP chief minister and the fourth from the BJP.
Pilgrims belonging to faiths other than Hinduism will have to submit a declaration form from August 13 before entering the Tirumala shrine near Tirupati stating that they have faith in the presiding deity, Lord Venkateswara
'India may well be a religious country, but that is precisely why we need to avoid criminalising blasphemy,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
Police said the FIR was filed at a police station in Dakshina Kannada district based on a complaint against the writer whose utterances on Hinduism and Hindu Gods have come under vicious attacks from fringe rightwing outfit.
A significant ritual is to consume neem leaves, a custom that marks the beginning of the festival. Neem also helps in boosting the immune system.
At an online book release event, former vice president Hamid Ansari lays to rest the controversies surrounding his tenure.
'The message from those in power is clear. Either agree with us or suffer the consequences'
