The entire campaign in Lucknow is based on Narendra Modi -- there is little mention of the BJP candidate, a certain Rajnath Singh. Some locals wonder, 'Rajnathji is not coming to campaign in Lucknow. How will he take care of this city after he wins?' Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com reports from Lucknow.
Accusing Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of being an "opportunist", prominent cleric Maulana Barkati on Tuesday asked Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee to be more critical of Modi in order to prove her secular credentials.
Flaying Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for playing "fast politics", Islamic clerics and Hindu saints joined hands to observe a day's fast in Lucknow on Friday to seek divine retribution for Modi for the alleged state sponsored killing of Muslims in Gujarat in 2003.
'Islam is the oldest religion among all religions. India is the best country for Hindi Muslims'
The PM said that democracy's greatest strength is harmony and amity.
On the recent decision allowing survey of the Gyanvapi mosque, Madani said, "We have no objection to the survey. We believe that if the survey is conducted honestly, nothing will come out of it."
The top clergy of Darul Uloom will meet in Deoband on Wednesday to decide the fate of seminary's Vice-Chancellor Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy by praising Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, amid speculation that he may be asked to quit.
A group of protesters, who were raising slogans against VC Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, disrupted classes and closed the main gate on Sunday evening, they said, adding two students were injured in the melee.
The university has also directed security agencies to deploy ex-Army personnel to strengthen the security of its hostel blocks, the official said.
On the upcoming Ram Temple events, Jamiat said that in light of the recent events linked to the Ram temple in Ayodhya, it deems necessary to draw the attention of the government and law enforcement agencies to concerns about the breach of peace and attempts to "harass and intimidate the minority community."
In the video titled 'From France to Bangladesh: The Dust Will Never Settle Down', AQIS chief Maulana Asim Umar mentioned Prime Minister Modi in the context of what he claims to be a war against Muslims.
Remembering Maulana Azad and Acharya Kriplani on their birth anniversary, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that there are historical figures who have been erased from public memory just because they did not belong to a particular family.
Clearly, her father hopes that a successful tenure in Lahore will give Maryam the ballast to be prime minister after the next general election.
This is possibly the first time Hasina's daughter will be by her mother's side during an official visit to close neighbour and ally India, and analysts believe this to be significant in many ways.
The Gandhi residence is spread over 15,181 sq metre while the PM's, is smaller at 14,101 sq m.
'Islam says the person who has been hurt has the right to pardon the accused. So don't ask me on whether I will pardon Narendra Modi or not. Go and ask this question to Gujarati Muslims who have been hurt.' 'Secular and non-secular is not an issue for Muslims. The day Muslims become strong, the non-secular guys will become secular. And if Muslims are weak, the same secular guys will cut the throats of Muslims.' 'The secular character of India can never be finished. India is secular by its nature. Whoever comes to power, he will have to become secular to rule,' Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqvi tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has asserted that efforts to create a rift between people from different religions should be treated as a "national crime", and welcomed the government's outreach to Pasmanda Muslims.
'This is the first time a majority ruling government is nominating a Dalit for President.' 'So, the moral credibility definitely will go with the BJP, particularly Narendra Modi.'
Caught in a controversy relating to his appreciation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Deoband based Darul Uloom vice chancellor Maulana Mohammad Ghulam Vastanvi offered to step down.
Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy with his remarks on Gujarat, on Thursday said he has not resigned as the vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. "I have not yet resigned. A meeting of the Majlis-e-Soora (governing council) will be held on February 23, which scholars from all over the country will attend. I will present my case and they will decide on whether I should continue or not," said Vastanvi.
The educated, respectable and established Muslims voices, that were on the modernising side on the Shah Bano issue, are fighting on the opposite side now, mostly because they worry about Narendra Modi, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that with pro-people measures and infrastructure development, Modi has not only prepared a blueprint for making a strong 'new India' but also a self-reliant one for the country's 'golden future', while party president J P Nadda declared that the period will be known for taking tough and big decisions and turning challenges into opportunities.
Gujarat's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission seeking to bar ousted Vice-Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi from entering the state following his allegedly provocative utterances against Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
It is because of the feared domestic backlash that the Modi government is now stepping up pressure on Pakistan to accommodate Indian interests.
Gehlot said even within the party, there is an opinion in favour of making Rahul the new president.
Paying tributes to Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of Constitution, the prime minister said he would be happy to see that India has strengthened and empowered its democracy in the last 70 years.
Making an intervention during the discussion on the motion for granting constitutional status to the national commission for backward classes, Modi highlighted that there are sections among Muslims, who are backward, adding that they should be included in the discussion over backward classes.
'Muslims have been exploited for 65 years. They have been reduced to a community of committees and commissions. Nothing happens. Since 1947 they are worse than Dalits.' 'Muslims voted en-bloc once upon a time. Not now. Muslims are fragmented everywhere. They have the same choices as the Hindus in that area.' 'Muslims are not alienated. The alienation is between the haves and have-nots. Poverty in India has both Hindus and Muslims.'
It is Gujarat that is preventing Modi from becoming a pan-India leader. Gujarat wants Modi to be an all-India leader only on its term: As a strong votary of Hindutva. But that very position is a recipe for disaster on the national stage, feels Amberish K Diwanji.
The Election Commission has given a clean chit to Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, former vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, over a speech that the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed was 'provocative' and violated the poll code.
'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.
A few words of praise for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi have eventually cost Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi his coveted job as vice chancellor of Darul Uloom, Deoband, widely recognised as India's leading Islamic seminary.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
Modernisation of Madrasas is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan that he laid out in run-up to Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Modi did not consider these deaths important enough to express regrets. Will these lives continue to count for nothing? asks Jyoti Punwani.
The strong Modi wave, disillusionment with the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in the state and the division of the anti-Modi vote will help the BJP leader edge closer to the PM's chair, observes Sharat Pradhan.
Amid controversy over his remarks on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who has announced his decision to resign as vice chancellor of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, has said that people in Gujarat felt that development is happening in the state.
'There is something in our desh ki mitti that has held us together.'
'So many conquerors, colonisers, cultures came and went, but we withstood them and rose up again.'
"I do not want to go into politics, be it Uttar Pradesh politics or Gujarat politics. If you want to ask me about education or Uloom I would be glad to reply," he said when asked if he had become target of Muslim politics. Vastanvi, who earned a reprieve as the seminary's powerful Majlis-e-Shura (governing council) did not accept his resignation, received an overwhelming welcome at the Ahmedabad airport, where he landed en route to his native place in Surat.
Stop "fooling" the people, Rahul Gandhi asserted in a fresh broadside against Narendra Modi, dubbing his "toffee or balloon" model of development in Gujarat as nothing but "loot of public money".
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