Because no other leader cared for Indians as selflessly as he did -- and it all started from a remote corner at the edge of this vast country, 100 years ago.
Making her film debut with The Householder, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala wrote more screenplays than novels, winning two Oscars -- for A Room with a View and Howards End. She kept her distance from the film crowd, seeking refuge in the 'protective' company of her two life-long collaborators, Director James Ivory and Producer Ismail Merchant.
'Even if Akhilesh Yadav opens up the entire state treasury for us we will not vote for the Samajwadi Party... ''...I don't want to return to my village, my head will be chopped off. They want me to press the button on the lotus.' Caught between an aggressive BSP cornering Dalit votes and the BJP cornering other Hindu votes, the Muslims of Muzaffarnagar have nowhere to go, no one to turn to. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt presents the grim situation on the ground in western Uttar Pradesh.
Tarun Vijay, MP, salutes the General whom he adored as a great friend.
'I would recommend every young Indian reads Shashi Tharoor's book to get a perspective of our colonial past in the present day mesmerising euphoria of the global village in spite of Donald Trump, says Shivanand Kanavi.
The news of the week gone by that shaped the world
Bajirao, an unorthodox leader, faced much opposition during his lifetime from the Brahmins of Pune. In the last hundred years or so, he has been ignored due to caste politics in Maharashtra where he has become a 'non person' for having been born a Brahmin, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Anwesha Bhattacharya-Arya writes an open letter to the President on the sorry state of affairs in India.
The challenges authorities face in cleaning Ganga and other holy rivers in Varanasi.
Rumours of a live power line having snapped triggered the stampede. The injured have been rushed to a local hospital, a BSP spokesperson said.
Faceless Ambedkarite groups from across the country are running BSP's election war rooms, writes Archis Mohan.
Slamming Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's demand for restricting Amarnath yatra to 30 days, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Saturday.
Sandhya Ravishankar describes the thorny relationship between the two political titans of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, both now part of the ages.
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
The four-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha pronounced the single-word judgement at the tense courtroom.
'It's not only holy reverence that drives them to such vigilantism -- there is adventure too.' 'Some of the younger gau rakshaks enjoy the thrill of the chase: Stopping vehicles, wielding weapons, badgering passengers and then gloating.'
'Worryingly, intelligence assessments indicate that growing disaffection amongst the youth is ceding ground to fundamentalist Islamist groups like Islamic State,' reports Ajai Shukla.
If the BJP stays away from controversial issues like the idea of a Hindu state, treats minorities equally, then there is no reason why the NCP should not consider aligning with them, National Secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party and Rajya Sabha member Majeed Memon tells Kavita Chowdhury
After meeting J&K Governor NN Vohra to stake a claim to form a new government in the state, PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday thanked the BJP for extending unconditional support.
The apex court, however, noted that Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh enjoys Constitutional immunity and can be tried only after he ceases to hold the office.
'Flush with funds, lending became a cash management exercise.' 'Road projects, power generation plants, airports etc were financed left and right with apparently no regard for the projects' ability to repay,' explains S Muralidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas.
Yes, Aurangzeb was a tyrant who ill-treated his subjects. But was he the only Mughal emperor guilty of this, asks Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Do the students who chanted pro-separatist slogans and their teachers/supporters want the army to withdraw from Kashmir or not fight the terrorists?
'I'm a rascal, I'm going to play a paramahansa?!'
Realising serious lapses in the process of hearing, a division bench of Andhra Pradesh high court has recalled its order against payment of compensation to Muslim youth of Hyderabad who were illegally detained, tortured and booked by the city police in the aftermath of blast in Mecca Masjid more than six years ago.
The recent tragedy confirms the view of humanitarian aid as a political weapon
The RSS on Sunday said it has not abandoned its commitment to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and sought speeding up of the case proceedings in the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, a judge in the US denied a request by Aakash Dalal's attorney to have his trial sent to another district and conducted under a different judge since the adverse publicity the case had gathered in the present court area in the Bergen county of New Jersey. Arthur J Pais reports.
'Where will the next 200 million users that will come online in India prefer to go? Will they buy a data pack, or will they use the free Internet?' 'What will happen when most of the Internet in India is inside a walled garden?'
In a historic ruling, the US Supreme Court on Friday legalised same sex marriage, holding that gay people can get married in all 50 states of the country.
'Sakshi's medal will do to women's wrestling what Sushil's 2008 Olympic medal did to wrestling in general.' 'It will make more and more families put their daughters into wrestling.' 'More and more young girls will fall in love with the sport and demand that they be taken to akhadas.'
Mobile Internet, of course, helped Burhan Wani to spread his message. And some rumour-mongers at the inception of the current unrest spread falsehoods at least on two occasions, but why ban all mobile communication including cellular network and cable TV when deep-seated alienation among youth has shaped their ideology which is now playing out in the form of massive protests, asks Athar Parvaiz.
If you have the cash, the big fat Indian wedding just got bigger. (Psst! And the good folks at TripHobo.com have a few ideas!)
To persist with talks in the face of continuing terrorism that puts hundreds of Indian lives at stake is not only naive but morally repugnant and ethically unacceptable. It is time to see through this charade and abandon a path of high risk and no returns, says Vivek Gumaste.
Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan welcomed the apex court's order and urged people to abide by the SC guidelines and 'give green Diwali and our environment a chance'
'Why does it exist in the film industry?' 'It is because we are culturally nepotistic.' 'The son always grows up to carry on the work of the father; that's where we come from.' 'So if you have to tackle nepotism in the film industry, you have to tackle it in our culture.'
'At least 6,000 people attended a meal at Shahabuddin's residence in a feast to celebrate his bail. As if the community has no other priorities of channelising such funds for better purposes!,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The least the leaders who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have done was to highlight the plight of the Muslim riot victims, but they happily chose to ignore it, so privileged they must have felt to be in the presence of the prime minister, the most powerful man in the country, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Has New Delhi internalised the truth that it does not matter, asks Saeed Naqvi. Such deafening silence from the government, principal opposition, even the pundits!
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