Interestingly, the choice of August 5 as the day of the bhoomi pujan coincides with the abolition of Kashmir's special status on the same day a year ago. Perhaps the RSS-BJP wants August 5 to be remembered as the date on which the foundation stone of their cherished Hindu rashtra was laid, notes Amulya Ganguli.
The Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or Daesh, as it is also called, will continue to exploit the fault lines and the many contradictions in the approaches of different countries, says Hardeep Puri.
'Will the BJP now replace a Muslim name for a street or a railway junction with Naipaul's name?' 'It is the least the party can do for its sole Nobel Prize-winning admirer,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Much depends on the BJP's electoral performance in next year's assembly elections. If the party fares well in UP and some states like Goa and Gujarat, it will be able to fob off the attempt at a reappraisal of its Hindutva doctrine, observes Amulya Ganguli.
'It is a very irresponsible statement.' 'He is saying all the wrong things.'
'When he was killed, did you ask questions of the Muslim community? When we spoke of 'aar-paar' you are asking questions.'
Beginning his speech with 'Jai Siya Ram', the prime minister told the gathering that a grand temple will now be built for 'Ram Lalla', the infant Ram, who had been living in a temporary tent for years.
"The message of Islam is the message of peace and brotherhood. And each one of you is the ambassador of our country," he told a Haj Goodwill Delegation that called on him this morning.
The participants lauded the government and the people for ensuring harmony after the apex court verdict on Saturday.
The affidavit, filed by B C Joshi, Director in the Ministry of Home Affairs, said the CAA does not confer any arbitrary and unguided powers on the executive as the citizenship to the persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh would be granted in a manner as specified under the law governing grant of citizenship.
The carving work by artisans had been carried out uninterrupted since 1990 when Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party was Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
He was awarded the Amir Amanullah Khan Award by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani after the inauguration of the landmark Afghan-India Friendship Dam.
'Banning conversion would harm Hinduism by taking away the need for reform.'
A number of Union ministers including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reached the residence of Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in New Delhi to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr on Wednesday.
If November 9 ushers in a Hillary Clinton presidency, you can bet your last dollar that Huma Abedin will be back at POTUS' side.
It is time the current leaders who swear by 'cultural nationalism', that is religion neutral, assert that Bharatiyata is at the core of our nationalism and India was never a 'Hindu Rashtra', argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The time is over when United States President Barack Obama thought he could afford to make a joke about the ISIS.
Local people in Bijbehara defied curfew orders and rushed out to help a group of Amarnath pilgrims whose bus collided with a truck.
'Goa is a tiny state, but in terms of its Business of Politics, several powerful lobbies of India are involved in it, be it the mining lobby, hoteliers' lobby, casino lobby, hawala lobby, drugs lobby etc.'
'That is not a democratic ideal obviously, but it is a practical reality.' 'It is a consistent feature of politicians in Pakistan that their rhetoric on the army softens the closer they get to the seat of power.'
'Parents would do well by the nation if they were to persuade their sons and daughters not to become puppets in the hands of the Islamists,' feels Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd).
She said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) adopted last year by India's Parliament was of 'great concern'.
'It is perhaps a sense of intellectual inadequacy, of an ingrained inferiority complex born of the years when the BJP languished in the margins of Indian politics and society that, when faced with the soaring ideas about Indian pluralism, the Hindutva camp turns its face so resolutely against Nehru,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'In Mecca and Medina, cow slaughter is not allowed'
'As long as true Hinduism survives in India, we need not let the Hindutva fear factor keep us from accepting a change in Muslim personal law with a ban on triple talaq,' says Najid Hussain.
'There was a period when they questioned the flag and there were questions also against the Constitution.' 'That's long past.'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Two government school teachers, including a woman, were shot dead by terrorists in Eidgah area of Srinagar amid increasing attacks on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
'If India adopts a punitive and unforgiving stance against the Rohingyas, it will be courting disgrace,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Muslim groups observed 'day of sorrow' while Hindu outfits celebrated 'shaurya divas' on the 23rd anniversary of Babri mosque demolition on Sunday, which passed off peacefully amid tight security in Ayodhya, as well as in other parts of the country.
'Once the common man realises that living in harmony, respecting, loving and protecting each other is the real meaning of secularism, and treating everyone equally to safeguard our Constitution and motherland is patriotism, there will be no opportunity for communalism.'
BJP's stated position is that Article 370 should be scrapped for total integration of J&K with India.
'Modi has become confident enough not only to look forward to a second term in 2019, but also to celebrate the 75th year of India's Independence in 2022.' 'It will be in the fitness of things if the vestiges of the past are swept away and the country is reminded that the 1,200 years of 'slavery' under the Muslims and the British were a bad dream.' 'And what better way to achieve this objective than by rubbing out the names of the invaders?' says Amulya Ganguli.
During her nearly 17-minute speech, she did not mention Pakistan.
The Delhi government also advised all private schools to remain closed on November 9 as a precautionary measure in view of the verdict.
'Modi cannot drag India back into a primitive epoch resembling the religious wars in medieval Europe and at the same time claim to represent the aspirations of modernity among Indians,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Hukum Singh said the 'migration' of Hindus from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh was 'not communal' in nature but had more to do with the law and order situation.
'The BJP and RSS may realise it is much easier for the ICHR to rewrite textbooks and for the ICSSR to float its bizarre interpretations on social themes than to keep people away from their favourite dishes.'
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