On legal front, Wankhede, who the NCB asserted has an impeccable service record, failed to get any relief related to an affidavit on the sensational extortion claims made by the independent witness, Prabhakar Sail, with a special court saying it cannot pass a blanket order barring courts from taking cognisance of the document.
'We were expecting death sentences, but now the court has acquitted them, despite Aseemanand himself admitting to his crime in front of a judge.' More importantly, it seems the tag of 'Hindu Terror' coined by the United Progressive Alliance government was wrong all along. Amjedullah Khan, spokesperson for the Majlis Bachao Tehreek, has been tracking the Mecca Masjid blast case from day one and was also involved in securing the release of more than 100 Muslims youths who were falsely accused in different terror cases in the aftermath of the blast. He spoke to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com about the acquittal of Swami Aseemanand and what it means.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha on Saturday announced a nationwide 'yatra' (tour) to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register. The yatra will start at Mumbai's Apollo Bunder on January 9, pass through Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Harayana and Delhi and cover a distance of over 3,000 km, Yashwant Sinha said. It will culminate at the Raj Ghat in Delhi on January 30, Mahatma Gandhi's death anniversary.
Vaibhav Raut, a member of 'Hindu Govansh Raksha Samiti', was apprehended from Bhandar Aali in Nallasopara west on Thursday night.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gopal Shetty's comment was slammed by the Congress, which sought an apology and the NCP saying the remark was a "deliberate attempt to polarise people" in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
'It was a reaffirmation of his party's unrelenting defiance of its erstwhile ally, the BJP; an attempt to forge a new relationship with the community the Shiv Sena had always targeted; and a pointer towards the political imperative of taking everyone along if the fight against the ruling party had to succeed,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
The police do not have it in them to confront the Hindutva groups in a country ruled by a Hindutva party. No wonder Munawar Faruqui feels this is the end for him, asserts Jyoti Punwani.
The government said that processions should not be taken out before installing and immersing idols.
'If Mamata Banerjee doesn't want, then violence cannot be stopped.'
'The politics of Goa is moving around a sole entity, which is land.'
With time on his side, that Hardik Patel will one day occupy the top spot in Gujarat is a no-brainer. But the BJP doesn't like rabble-rousers.
'We are seeing an era where only what Modi wishes is going to happen.' 'A clear message has now been sent to others that if this fate could befall on Nitin Gadkari, then just think what could happen to lesser mortals.'
Such was the terror created by the ATS, that all their relatives stayed away.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Tuesday remanded Lashlar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad custody till August 24 in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
'These charges of the prosecution will fall to the ground and I am 100 per cent sure of that.'
The former BJP corporator was named by a villager in a police complaint made three days before the January 1, 2018 violence at Bhima Koregaon. Yet, the police did not include his name in the FIR.
'Muslims have been observing namaaz for so many years.' 'The BJP wants to divide Hindus and Muslims for political gains.' 'This is happening in Haryana even though Muslims are only present in one district of Haryana.'
'The Constitution, which talks about democracy and equality, is something that will be applied in this country, and not Manusmriti in which the RSS believes.'
IRF will be declared an 'unlawful association' under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act after investigations by the home ministry found it to be allegedly having dubious links with Peace TV, an international Islamic channel accused of propagating terrorism, an official source said.
'There are around 400 Lok Sabha constituencies where Dalits and Muslims combined constitute 30% of the electorate.' 'Also, 90% to 95% of Dalits and Muslims go out and vote.' 'So, if they are come together, they become significant electorally.'
The Shiv Sena on Monday said that there was nothing wrong with reverse conversions and flayed "those who kept mum when Hindus were converted to Muslims."
Pune cops denied Asaduddin Owaisi permission to carry rally in Pune
'When real issues hit everybody, the frenzy of Hindutva will start fading.'
Kejriwal's centralised way of governance might work in Delhi, but Punjab will call for delegation, observes Sanjeev Nayyar.
'The Babri Masjid wasn't just a mosque, it was a test of our secularism,' says Jyoti Punwani.
'These guys who are running away -- they are running away from all that the BJP stands for.'
Testimony presented before the Bhima Korgaon Commission over the last two months reveals the background to the violence that broke out on January 1, 2018.
The Election Commission sent a notice to Mangal Prabhat Lodha, the BJP's Mumbai chief. This is probably because a leading newspaper highlighted his utterances on its front page.
'It wasn't as if the senior police inspectors in charge of the police stations were not aware of the communal tension that was being created in their areas before and during the riots.' 'Yet they chose not to act,' recalls Jyoti Punwani.
'You cannot say that I have blocked a thousand Web sites (operated by IS) and so I am happy.' 'They will immediately open another thousand such Web sites.'
In the unlikely event of the BJP-NDA losing all five states going to the polls in February-March, the Presidential electoral college numbers could be significantly altered, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP has been inducting leaders from the NCP and the Congress since the last few months to expand its footprint in the regions where the party lacks organisational base.
'When it vanishes as a national force (meaning when it can no longer get sufficient votes to hold onto its symbol, the hand) it will not have been the first large Indian party to die,' says Aakar Patel.
Scholars and students have cautioned that the proposed divisive and discriminatory changes would harm the country.
'I don't practise yoga. How am I less of a nationalist than the person who practises it? Is it a crime if I don't practice it?'
The accused persons had approached the apex court challenging the denial of their bail,.
Those who were held guilty included Safdar Nagori, Javed Ahmed and Atikur Rehman. Among those acquitted were Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Ahmad and Shakeel Ahmed.
Vernon Gonsalves, who spent nearly six years in jail after being labelled a Naxalite by the security agencies, recounts in detail his arrest, the case against him and his future plans in an exclusive interview.
Patel, who died on Wednesday at a Gurugram hospital where he was admitted with COVID-19, could have been the tell-all leader offering insights and information with his inside view of the workings of the Congress and the political world. But he would have none of it.
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