The meeting is seen as part of efforts by the RSS and the BJP to reach out to the Muslim community and send out a message of peace and harmony.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari will head a committee which will reach out to social and volunteer organisations while his Cabinet colleague Sushma Swaraj will head a group that will produce literature for the polls.
Reacting to news reports that the Congress party in its plenary session is likely to demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh links to terror attacks organised by the radical Hindu organisations, BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that this was just a desperate attempt by the United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress party to divert the attention from corruption issue.
The former union home and finance minister also alleged that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government would not have taken the bold decision had Jammu and Kashmir been a "Hindu-dominated" state.
Names of BJP veterans like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi also do not figure in the list.
At Congress' 'Jan Vedna Sammelan' earlier this month, Gandhi had made comments co-relating his party's symbol 'hand' with religious gods.
Sitharaman, who was holding the Commerce portfolio (Independent charge), was on Sunday promoted to the Cabinet rank as was Goyal.
Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari and Shahi Imam of Fatehpuri mosque Mufti Mukarram Ahmed also said the moon was sighted and the fasting will start from Saturday. They appealed to Muslims to perform all rituals and prayers at home during Ramzan while adhering to social distancing and lockdown norms.
An encounter broke out on Wednesday between militants and security forces in Awanitpora area of south Kashmir's Pulwama district but no casualties have been reported so far.
An emotional Ovessa Iqbal, the first Muslim girl from Jammu and Kashmir to ace the UPSC exam, talks about the inspiration behind her success and how she coped with failure having passed the exam in her third attempt.
Despite Home Minister P Chidambaram's assurance that action will be taken against Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani's alleged secessionist speech in New Delhi last week, the city police is yet to file a complaint against the separatist leader."We are studying the speech delivered by Geelani. Once that is done, a report will be sent to the home minister for his approval," Delhi police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said that the Ayodhya issue was very much on the party's agenda and that the National Democratic Alliance coalition was a religion, not a compulsion, for the party for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
No one was injured in the attack, said officials.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday evening announced its list of members for the Rajya Sabha.
Two Central Reserve Police Force personnel, including an officer, were killed in a militant attack in Sangam area of Anantnag district in Jammu & Kashmir.
Dr Sarvjeet Soodan from Jammu and Kashmir cracked the UPSC examinations recently. He tells Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar what it took to manage to make in the top 100 and much more.
Over 1.43 lakh intending pilgrims have registered themselves for this year's Amarnath Yatra beginning from July 2.
The Bharatiya Janata Party garnered five seats, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam got three, the Samajwadi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam got two apiece and the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena got one each respectively as all 30 made it to the Upper House after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations drew to close on Thursday evening.
With just over a month left for the assembly elections in Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying hard to please its ally Janata Dal-United to avoid any confrontations.The six-phase elections kick off on October 21.Soon after BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced at a press conference that 'star campaigner' and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would campaign in Bihar, the party denied the statement.
A flip-flop by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will campaign in the Bihar assembly elections on Monday set off fresh strains in the party's ties with Janata Dal-United, which threatened to review the alliance between the two parties.
The Pakistani administration is considering creating a new post to ensure that army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will continue to play a crucial role in the military establishment in Pakistan.
The old debate or controversy resurfaced after Rozabal shrine of Sufi saint Yuz Asaf at Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir banned visitors and believers alike from entering the sanctum sanctorum. It was at the Rozabal shrine, many believe, Jesus was laid to rest.
"It is amusing to note that P J Thomas,whose appointment as the Central Vigilance Commissioner is under a shadow, should be delivering the key note address on corruption at a seminar organized by his own department. This is the height of defence of corruption," Naqvi told rediff.com.
Officers from various departments including the finance ministry to be part of rehearsal event
A court on Thursday framed charges against seven suspected members of Chhota Shakeel gang for allegedly entering into a criminal conspiracy to eliminate a senior Delhi high court advocate for representing Bharatiya Janta Party Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi in a 'hate speech' case.
Why has Mumbai's cyber police taken no action against these WhatsApp groups who everyday, commit offences under the Indian Penal Code? The police cannot be unaware of their existence, observes Shruthi Marathe.
An airfare regulatory authority likely soon.
The Bahujan Samajwadi Party expelled jailed Member of Legislative Assembly Mukhtar Ansari, who is facing 30 criminal cases including murder and kidnapping, and his brother former Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari from the party for their alleged continued involvement in criminal activities on Friday.
The repercussions of the Pakistan Supreme Court's verdict declaring the amnesty law as 'unconstitutional' has started showing effects with the Interior Ministry placing the names of 253 beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, including Interior Minister Rehman Malik, on the Exit Control List. The latest move has thus barred Malik from moving out of the country. The names of other prominent people on the ECL include Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar.
At least six Central Reserve Police Force jawans were injured when unidentified militants opened fired on their convoy on Srinagar-Jammu national highway in south Kashmir's Anantnag district on Monday.
The monsoon session of Parliament, scheduled to begin on July 26, is expected to be a stormy one with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Opposition seeking to pin down the Centre on issues like the hike in fuel prices and essential commodities, and Foreign Minister SM Krishna's Pakistan visit.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, senior vice-president of the Bhartiya Janata Party, has alleged that in the name of developing Delhi for the Commonwealth Games in October later this year, the development of certain individuals is becoming more visible. Speaking to rediff.com, Naqvi said the Government of India should step in and control the needless expenditure being incurred.
Electronic Voting Machines have become 'Electronic Victory Machines' for the Congress in the elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party alleged on Thursday, as it trailed in the Maharashtra and Haryana polls. "The EVMs have become 'Electronic Victory Machines' for the Congress in the elections," rued BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. Naqvi said these elections were conducted with EVMs despite many political parties expressing their concerns.
Seeking to cement its close defence ties with Islamabad, China today agreed to provide four trainer aircraft and US $ 9 million to Pakistan to train its armed forces. The two countries signed agreements to implement decisions made during a meeting between Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar and his Chinese counterpart General Liang Guangile in Islamabad.
Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani are also likely to join the second Modi government after being its members in its first avatar.
The 20-hour gunfight between militants and security forces came to an end on Thursday when the forces gunned down the two militants holed up in a hotel at Lal Chowk in Srinagar.
Senior vice-president of the Bhartiya Janata Party Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has rejected Congress leader Jagdish Tytler's claims that the Vajpayee government had dropped the cases against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP leaders for their alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots that broke out after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Eid al-Adha shoppers thronged the markets in Srinagar to make purchases for the festival which is expected to be celebrated with a lot of fervour across Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, now that the atmosphere in the state has settled to calm after months of turmoil, reports Mukhtar Ahmad.
Rediff.com's Jammu and Kashmir correspondent Mukhtar Shah takes a real close look at the young protestors of the Valley, their struggles and the challenges they pose.
The outgoing Lok Sabha had 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC. The highest number of Muslim MPs were in 1980 when as many as 49 MPs from the community which constitute nearly fifth of Indian population present in the Lok Sabha.
