'To treat a Hindu fleeing persecution and certain death in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan on par with a Muslim voluntarily sneaking into India for economic reasons or otherwise is callously cruel, blatantly perverse and grossly unjust.' 'The concept of equality cannot be invoked to perpetuate a historical wrong that needs to be righted,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
Cafe Irani Chaii is Mansoor Showghi Yezdi's attempt at preserving Irani culture in an age of globalisation, where old cultures are swiftly fading away.
While churches burn in the capital and lawmakers spew rubbish, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not think it important to utter a word against these atrocities.
Community will now avail of exclusive schemes run by the ministry of minority affairs.
From son of soil to Hindutva and from the BJP to Hardik Patel, the Shiv Sena has changed its stand time to time to reinvent itself.
'The significance and timing of the PM's start of the campaign journey from Silchar is a clear message that the Barak valley is a priority in his scheme of things,' notes Subimal Bhattacharjee.
Should the Income-Tax Act have been simultaneously amended to exclude Sikhs and Jains from the definition of HUF once they were declared a minority by the government? Sanjeev Nayyar discusses the curious dichotomies in our laws.
'If India adopts a punitive and unforgiving stance against the Rohingyas, it will be courting disgrace,' says Amulya Ganguli.
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.
On the occasion of Gandhiji's birthday, Rediff.com presents an excerpt from the book that shows how Gandhi changed the face of cricket as it was played then.
Kumar's comments at the party's national executive meeting came amid a strain in his ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and appears to be a message to his ally, some of whose leaders have been linked to alleged communal tensions and violence in the state.
'Must every believing Hindu automatically be assumed to subscribe to the Hindutva project?' asks Shashi Tharoor.
'You cannot suppress a section of society permanently.' 'The spark of revolt will catch fire sooner or later.'
... The feeling won't last too long, says Paloma Sharma.
Modi accused the TMC of killing the aspirations of the middle-class people in the state and said the ruling party in West Bengal is known for 'triple T -- Trinamool Tolabaji Tax'.
'There was the indisputable fact that Savarkar knew Godse, Apte and Karkare well, he had corresponded with them closely, and funded their extremely provocative newspaper, and they looked up to him as their icon.'
Zomato's Users Choice Awards features the best restaurants in Mumbai.
'The test of true secularism in India is when a girl in your family decides to marry someone from another religion. If you accept her decision happily, then you are truly secular. If you don't, it means your secularism is fake,' argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
"This is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement," Naqvi said.
'Gujaratis need not be ashamed of the lack of martial tradition.' 'They contribute to their country in other ways.' 'And, of course, they can also claim that while they may not have produced many martyrs, they produced the greatest one: Gandhi.'
In this May 2014 interview with Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com, the politically conscious Karnad spoke of why he is concerned about Modi coming to power.
You'll be forgiven for salivating over these droolworthy pics that will give you a 'foodgasm'!
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
'People feel concerned about the future, whether it is the land or the jobs.' 'The BJP came to power in Assam with promises of maati, bheti (home, hearth and identity), land, jobs and culture.' 'Are these going to taken care of? I think those are real concerns.' 'The Assam chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) was one of the leaders of the All Assam Students Union which fought for and is one of the signatories to the Assam Accord.' 'Today, his comrade-in-arms (Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor, AASU) is leading the opposition in the streets.'
'Why is the RSS trying to destroy the indigenous culture of Assam and its language?' 'If these migrants settle in Assam, they will overwhelm the 47 per cent of people who speak Assamese.'
Music amidst conflict may sound like a great catch-line, and ageing conductors need such props, but it is not doing the people of Jammu and Kashmir any good, says Sherna Gandhy
The law minister said 20 Muslim countries in the world, including Pakistan and Malaysia, have banned the triple talaq. "Why can't a secular India do it?" he asked.
We list down some of the memorable performances as historical figures.
Looking at the most touching Hindi movies inspired by true-life events.
The RSS does not mind playing politics with religion-based census data despite knowing well that it is completely flawed, says Syed Firduas Ashraf.
Russi Mody could cut across hierarchy to communicate what he wanted.
Prince William and Princess Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, collected quite a few Mumbai hearts on a hot two days in April.
'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.'
'In Sanju, Rajkumar Hirani has essentially found a Rajkumar Hirani story buried inside Sanjay Dutt's life.' 'Now if you think that's scary, sample the alternative: Perhaps Sanjay Dutt had been living his life to suit the narrative of a Rajkumar Hirani film,' says Sreehari Nair.
'The best remedy would be to scrap Section 124-A of the IPC, a colonial vestige, altogether.' 'However, if legislators don't want to do so, they can do two things.' 'They can formally amend Section 124-A to bring it in line with what the Supreme Court has said about sedition.' 'The words which stand on the statute book today were inserted in 1898.' 'The Supreme Court's words are not a part of Section 124-A.'
'It is extremely important to take back the domain of both religion from the religious bigots and nationalism from the chauvinists, who are spreading hatred.' Sugata Bose, the Harvard historian-turned-MP, who is Netaji's great-nephew, tells Anjali Puri why it is imperative to speak up for India's students.
Putting together a play about the Father of the Nation is no easy task. But when that play is a musical, the challenges increase.
For Indians, Iran remains a puzzling part of our collective history.
John Elliott, the author of Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality, on his Riding the Elephant blog, says the sacking of Cyrus Mistry as chairman of Tata and Sons was in line with Ratan Tata's personal style of dealing with executives
'Sanjay Dutt was a very stylish person. He created his own style; he did not follow trends.' 'He wasn't a tapori, he was grand.' 'Also, whatever he wore, reflected what was going on in his life.'
