Amid a row over change in stand over voting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday asserted it is a secular regional outfit and maintains equal distance from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance bloc led by the Congress.
The hope is that the film raises significant issues about the rights of women, and does not become a diatribe against a minority community that has happened with some recent films, points out Deepa Gahlot.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar passed the remark while hearing a batch of petitions filed by former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain and others, who have challenged the inclusion of words "socialist" and "secular" in the Preamble of the Constitution.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance on Friday secured a thumping majority in the Bihar Assembly, winning 202 seats in the 243-member House, as results for all the constituencies were declared by the Election Commission.
Radical Islamist networks are deliberately targeting Muslim youths embedded within the country's professional and academic ecosystems, leveraging their skills, mobility, and digital reach to quietly strengthen operational capabilities. This trend highlights a dangerous evolution in terror recruitment -- one that exploits ideological faultlines, online echo chambers and transnational radical Islamist influences to attract individuals who outwardly embody India's modern and aspirational narrative, points out Dr Kanchan Lakshman.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed petitions challenging the 1976 amendment to the Constitution that added the terms "socialist", "secular", and "integrity" to the Preamble. The court ruled that the inclusion of these terms, made through amendments, is valid and does not affect the original adoption of the Constitution in 1949.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said that in his personal opinion, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh should be banned as most law and order problems in the country are arising because of the Bharatiya Janata Party-RSS.
'The ruling elite are supporting those attacking the people of Gaza.' 'As a nation we should not cooperate with the oppressor regime that is allowing mass starvation as a weapon of war.'
'An asset must generate income. Equities yield dividends, bonds pay coupons, deposits give interest, and real estate earns rent.' 'Gold, silver, and even Bitcoin produce no income, they merely store value. So, they should not be compared to productive assets.'
'His campaign reached into every community, every constituency, with a unifying platform of affordability.' 'Zohran began by listening to Trump supporters and brought many of them to his side because they too care about affordability.' 'Care for the poor is a tenet of every faith; this is the best platform to unite us.'
'The BJP only talks of Kashmiri Pandits when elections are held.'
There has never been a moment in India's history when it has been so adrift in the world, so confused about what it stands for and against and so humiliated, asserts Aakar Patel.
Justice Vinod Diwaker made the observation while rejecting a plea to cancel an FIR against four people accused under the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Act, 2021.
'We are not all Abduls, you know. Our community has any number of retired civil and defence officers, doctors, engineers, lawyers.'
The Congress party launched a scathing attack on the RSS on its 100th anniversary, citing excerpts from a book claiming Mahatma Gandhi described the Sangh as a "communal body with a totalitarian outlook." The party also referenced Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's criticism of the RSS.
The Delhi High Court dismissed a plea seeking the removal of the graves of terrorists Mohammad Afzal Guru and Mohammad Maqbool Bhatt from Tihar Jail, citing the absence of any law prohibiting burial inside jail premises and the government's decision to maintain law and order.
On a tour to the US, Gandhi told reporters in Washington that the Muslim League is a completely secular party and there is nothing non-secular about it.
GST 2.0 may cushion consumers against US tariffs, but like the 2019 corporate tax cut, it risks being another tactical fix rather than a structural growth strategy, expects Debashis Basu.
"We should understand how secularism gives birth to extremism by looking at the growth of conservative racist movements in the West. The situation of India will not be different if we fail to accept Indian secularism in its literal sense," the Bishop wrote in Church's mouthpiece Deepika.
It is high time India ends its silence on the human cost of the Gaza war and takes a principled stand without diluting its relations with Israel. A largely friendless Tel Aviv today needs New Delhi more than the other way around. India's failure now may cost it diplomatically in the long run, cautions M R Narayan Swamy.
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar stated that the Preamble of the Indian Constitution is fundamental and unchangeable, comparing it to parenthood. He also criticized the alteration of the Preamble during the Emergency era, amidst calls for review of certain terms.
Bookstore owners were cautioned against keeping or distributing the books. Police personnel briefed the bookstore owners about the legal consequences of violating the ban.
'It is something like traditional Indian families.' 'The family might be run by younger people, but if the patriarch says that you should consider someone for some task, it is very difficult for the others to ignore it.'
Supporters of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) clashed with police in West Bengal on Monday during protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, leading to several injuries and the torching of multiple police vehicles. The clash occurred after police stopped ISF supporters from attending an anti-Waqf Act rally in Kolkata. The protests escalated when the crowd attempted to break through police barricades. The situation was brought under control after a large police force was deployed. ISF leader Naushad Siddique condemned the Waqf Act and accused the BJP of trying to incite communal tension. Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress dismissed the ISF as a "party of no consequence." Communal violence related to the Waqf Act has also occurred in other parts of West Bengal.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, whose primary objective was construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, also became a symbol of 'reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism'.
'Sheikh Abdullah ruled the state with secular values. Post 1953, when he was sacked, corruption took over governance.'
The state police said the situation in Murshidabad is gradually returning to normal, with shops reopening and displaced families starting to come back.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed for peaceful protests in the wake of violence that erupted in several parts of the state during protests against the amended Wakf law. She emphasized the importance of respecting the law and urged people not to indulge in non-religious activities in the name of religion.
A day after being sentenced to life imprisonment in a rape case, suspended Janata Dal-Secular leader Prajwal Revanna was assigned a prisoner number at Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara Central prison, jail authorities said on Sunday.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
It is also the first time that TRF has been mentioned in any UN document. This marks the first mention of the LeT and any other Pakistan-based terror group in the report since 2019.
The Supreme Court of India has sought the Indian government's response to a petition filed by a Muslim woman seeking to be governed by the Indian succession law instead of Shariat. The woman, Safiya P.M., argues that she does not believe in Shariat and wants to be governed by secular law, including the Indian Succession Act of 1925. The court has asked the government to file a counter affidavit within four weeks.
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.
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'At Keeladi, we have not come across any evidence for organised religion.'
'When I undertook a study of temple desecration in precolonial India, it was not enough simply to document what temples were desecrated, by whom, when, and where.' 'It was also important to explore the total historical context of such incidents, with a view to discovering patterns, which in turn could reveal the reasons why they occurred.'
A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur rejected the petition by the Indian Army Lieutenant, who served as a 'Troop Leader' of a squadron, against the termination order passed on March 3, 2021, that dismissed him from the Indian Army without pension and gratuity.
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.
'Pakistan will also try to turn Bangladesh into a base for terrorist attacks on India.'
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