'Young people say they know all this emphasis on Hindu-Muslim differences is politically motivated.' 'If you stop watching TV and turn off social media, you'll find the situation on the ground different.'
The Varanasi district court arrived at the decision of allowing 'puja' in a Gyanvapi mosque cellar in "haste", the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said on Friday, asserting it would pursue the matter right up to the Supreme Court.
All opposition members of the parliamentary panel on the Waqf Amendment Bill were suspended for a day on Friday amid continuous protests and accusations against Chairman Jagdambika Pal of steam-rolling through the proceedings.
The BJP, meanwhile, asked Kejriwal to learn "spirit of service" from the RSS leaving behind his "political moves" instead of writing to Bhagwat to draw "media attention".
A Pakistani court has dismissed a plea to rename a chowk in Lahore after Bhagat Singh, citing a retired military officer's claim that the freedom fighter was not a revolutionary but a "criminal". The Lahore High Court upheld the decision of the local corporation, which had scrapped the plan to rename Shadman Chowk and place a statue of Singh there.
'We have already directed our party members and supporters and advised them that not a single vote goes to the BJP'
"The party will try to connect with these voters by organising 'Sneh Milan: Ek Desh, Ek DNA Sammelan' in various West Uttar Pradesh districts," he said, adding these conferences would start after Eid next month and the first convention will be held in Muzaffarnagar.
The Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections, failing to secure a single seat in the 70-member assembly for the third consecutive time. Key candidates, including Sheila Dikshit's son, Sandeep Dikshit, lost their deposits. The only consolation for the party was a slight improvement in its vote share, which they attribute to a vigorous campaign and a renewed focus on contesting elections independently. However, the defeat raises questions about the party's ability to compete in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in light of its performance in other recent state elections.
'The Dravidian movement was started for the Hindus who were rejected by the upper castes.'
A two-member team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) met Rohingya Muslims at a slum in Jammu amid a heated debate whether the illegally settled immigrants be provided water and electricity.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the custodian of Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple, has barred 18 employees from participating in all religious activities for allegedly partaking in non-Hindu activities. The decision has been defended by the Andhra Pradesh government, citing the need to protect the religious sentiments of Hindu devotees. The move has sparked debate, with some supporting the TTD's stance and others criticizing it as discriminatory.
"This fight is against the hatred that the BJP and RSS are spreading throughout the country. They have tried to create conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, and Hindus and Christians just to hold onto power. But they are failing and their strategy is not working," he said.
Bawankule said that the BJP has always respected Matoshri (Uddhav Thackeray's home) and its legacy.
On February 1, grappling with the intractable issue of the AMU's minority status, the top court said the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act, which effectively accorded it a minority status, only did a "half-hearted job" and did not restore the institution the position it had prior to 1951.
The massive victory of Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti in Maharashtra indicates a tactical course correction post the Lok Sabha debacle, with factors like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's active role in the poll campaign, Ladki Bahin scheme, rise in women voting, and subtle message of Hindutva playing a crucial role.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Monday conferred with the highest honour of Fiji by its premier Sitiveni Rabuka in recognition of his global leadership, in a rare honour for a non-Fijian.
The Congress on Tuesday accused Home Minister Amit Shah of harboring "hatred" towards B.R. Ambedkar, demanding an apology from him for his remarks in the Rajya Sabha. Congress leaders pointed out that Shah's comments, which criticized the frequent invocation of Ambedkar's name by the opposition, demonstrate a deep-seated animosity towards the architect of India's Constitution. The allegations sparked outrage among Congress members, who accused the BJP and RSS of having a history of disdain for Ambedkar. The incident has fueled political tensions, with the Congress vowing to hold Shah accountable for his remarks.
Just eight months after its good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) seems to be running out of steam with internal bickering and conflicting ambitions resulting in diminishing electoral returns that have once again put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the driver's seat in national politics.
The Kerala unit of the Congress instantly gets a headache when Shashi Tharoor lets loose one of his observations showering flowers on enemy territory. With every such action triggering controversy within a nervous Congress party, some feel it is high time Tharoor showed a degree of solidarity with the ideals of his party, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Moderate All Parties Hurriyat Conference Thursday served a show cause notice on three of its senior leaders for their recent utterances and causing ruckus at a recent meeting of the APHC executive.
A two-judge bench of the top court in 1981 questioned the correctness of the 1967 verdict holding Aligarh Muslim University not to be a minority institution since it was created by a central law and referred the issue to a larger bench for decision.
None of its candidates won. Most of them lost badly.
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
There is a limit to ignoring genuine aspirations of the people and suppressing their legitimate voice in running the affairs of the state, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Once a trusted lieutenant of the former National Conference president Omar Abdullah and his political advisor during his tenure as chief minister, Rana holds considerable sway among Muslims, particularly the Gujjar community in Jammu.
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."
Apart from the prime minister, the three-day annual conference was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, national security adviser Ajit Doval and about 350 top police officers of the country.
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
Uddhav Thackeray, who played the bold gambit of taking on the ally Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 and forged an unlikely alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, was on Saturday left struggling to make sense of his party's rout in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
A Raja said panel's chairman Jagdambika Pal has been conducting the panel's meetings in haste, raising doubts that it will not be able to serve justice.
The opposition party also said that it would like to remind the BJP that Hindu Mahasabha president Syama Prasad Mookerjee aligned with Jinnah's Muslim League to form the government in Bengal during the British rule.
In 2022 Nanaji Dembi pulled down the Hurriyat office board in Srinagar, an act of defiance that grabbed headlines. Despite such nationalistic bravado, the BJP has denied him a ticket for the assembly election.
The row broke out after a private television news agency attributed the excerpts of the article shared by the NC leader to him.
Thackeray said there was no certainty that people will vote for the ruling alliance even after schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
'The BJP should identify those involved in the protest against singing Gandhiji's bhajan and take action against them.' 'Such people should be removed from the party because they harm the BJP's image.'
Dar also said Pakistan views Russia as an important player in the West, South and Central Asia, and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation with Russia remains an important priority for Pakistan's foreign policy.
After being elected president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1999, Najma Heptulla rang up the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi from Berlin to convey the news but had to hold the phone line for an hour as a staff told her that 'madam is busy'.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Nagrota MLA Devender Singh Rana, brother of Union minister Jitendra Singh, died on Thursday at a private hospital in Haryana's Faridabad. He was 59.
Rajnath came down heavily on the National Conference-Congress alliance over its poll promise of restoring Article 370 and said it is impossible as long as the BJP is there.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday took serious exception to political statements being made on the sub-judice matter related to the withdrawal of four percent Muslim quota in Karnataka, saying "some sanctity needs to be maintained".
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