In recent weeks, reports have come out from Uttar Pradesh of members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini thrashing couples, shutting down meat shops. Many say that the group formed in 2002 by Yogi Adityanath has been emboldened ever since his elevation to chief minister. Here's a look at the 2-million strong and growing group.
A court in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, has directed the court-appointed commissioner to submit a survey report on the Jama Masjid mosque within 10 days. The survey was ordered following claims that a temple stood on the site. The court set the next hearing date for January 8. Tensions have been escalating in Sambhal since November 19 when the survey began, leading to violence on November 24 that resulted in four deaths and injuries.
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
'It could take the form of sporadic LoC violation through heavy artillery and mortar fire, focusing on border villages where the Hindu Dogra population is predominant.'
In its notice, the panel said it had taken sou-moto cognisance of a video posted online on Twitter which showcased a Clubhouse conversation on the topic 'Muslim gals are more beautiful than Hindu gals'.
Leicestershire police said a 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon during clashes in the city.
Standing near the noose, he recited a couplet in which he said he wished nothing but to sacrifice his life for the motherland. Utkarsh Mishra remembers Ram Prasad Bismil on the revolutionary leader's 128th birth anniversary.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand also said if the administration stops them from offering prayers, he would inform the Shankaracharya and follow his instructions.
Banerjee had slammed the BJP for allegedly trying to import AIMIM in Bengal to sharpen the communal polarisation and divide the Hindu-Muslim votes among themselves.
It is this new Muslim who is not burdened by the Pakistan guilt, who is ready to fight it out for the rights enshrined under the Constitution, and who is not defensive about Muslim identity that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are out to crush, argues Mohd Asim.
Supporters of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) clashed with police in West Bengal on Monday during protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act, leading to several injuries and the torching of multiple police vehicles. The clash occurred after police stopped ISF supporters from attending an anti-Waqf Act rally in Kolkata. The protests escalated when the crowd attempted to break through police barricades. The situation was brought under control after a large police force was deployed. ISF leader Naushad Siddique condemned the Waqf Act and accused the BJP of trying to incite communal tension. Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress dismissed the ISF as a "party of no consequence." Communal violence related to the Waqf Act has also occurred in other parts of West Bengal.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera called the order "state-sponsored bigotry".
Two incidents of violence over firecracker bursting on Diwali were reported from Haryana's Faridabad on Friday.
The police in Mathura have arrested a man for allegedly threatening a Muslim dosa seller and vandalising his cart apparently because his business was named after a Hindu deity, officials said.
'It is important India to stay focussed on its primary national objectives: Combating terrorism; not losing sight of other security and strategic concerns (on the Sino-Indian front for instance); ensuring a strong economy and registering growth which includes improving the lot of common people; and finally making certain that the social fabric remains intact and harmony among people is not jeopardised, at least any further,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'I had performed the 'nikah' of Sameer Wankhede and Shabana Qureshi. Her father had approached me to perform the marriage in the Lokhandwala complex area of Mumbai. The groom's name was Sameer Dawood Wankhede who married Shabana Qureshi'
'He won't be able to migrate; he must survive in that environment.' 'He will go back after the election to becoming invisible.'
Videos of Tuesday's protest outside Durga Bhawan temple on Spon Lane in Smethwick area of the West Midlands city were circulating on social media overnight, with groups of masked men seen shouting and hurling items. Police officers could be seen holding and pulling some of these masked men trying to scale the temple fence.
The survey report of the Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal expected on Monday, was not presented by the advocate commissioner entrusted with it, after he sought an extension of 15 days citing ill health.
Asserting that there is no threat to Hinduism in India or anywhere else, Indian American supermodel and author Padma Lakshmi on Wednesday said people of all faiths should be able to live peacefully in 'this ancient, vast land'.
'A Muslim is lynched somewhere, and you forward the video of the lynching through WhatsApp.' 'So, you participate in that lynching without actually doing it. You endorse it without being a party to it.'
'Kalesaab could have easily earned Rs 1 lakh per month as rent from this place but he gave it to Muslims for free. Secularism in India is alive only because of people like him.'
'The BJP may no longer be in power after 2024, that doesn't mean we'll stop this campaign against polygamy.'
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madani on Sunday stoked a controversy when he claimed that "Om" and "Allah" were the same God worshipped by 'Manu'.
'The time has come to have a relook at the Constitution as every document has a shelf life.'
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen seem to have dented the Congress's sway over the votes of minorities in Gujarat in the just concluded assembly polls, bringing down the main Opposition party's vote margin considerably in various seats across the state.
Crucial reforms in Muslim personal law, especially laws related to inheritance and adoption, need to be initiated forthwith; historically speaking, without the State's backing, hardly has any reform taken place or allowed to prevail, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
The security has been stepped up in view of the Friday prayers to be offered by the Muslim community members at the site, a police official said.
It took Udham Singh 21 years to avenge the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. And 34 years for his remains to return to India after execution in a British prison.
A Muslim cleric, who had been booked by the Uttar Pradesh police for allegedly making inflammatory remarks, was placed under house arrest after he made a call to his supporters to march to Delhi seeking a ban on Hindutva organisations, a senior official said on Wednesday.
'These villages have never seen a communal dispute, let alone communal violence.' 'Are attempts to create a communal divide acceptable to the MP administration?'
The 'mediation' by the United States from behind the scene on the diplomatic track appears to be once again working, which calls on both Delhi and Islamabad to show restraint and pull back from a military confrontation, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
While 'Ram' and 'Sita' were the preferred names for many, a baby boy born to a Muslim family in the district hospital in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, was named Ram Rahim by his grandmother.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday claimed the Muslims made a "huge mistake" by voting for the Samajwadi Party, which she accused of being "complicit with the Bharatiya Janata Party in giving communal colour" to the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
'I represented India across the world, but here, in my own country, I was treated in this bad manner.' 'Everyone in Prayagraj respects me a lot and it is in this same city that I became homeless.'
The Hindu side had claimed in the lower court that a Shivling was found during the videographic survey.
In the epic mythology Ramayana, Bharat, Lord Ram's younger brother, placed 'Khadaus' of Rama on the throne as a symbol of the latter's authority over the kingdom.
The HYV describes itself as "a fierce cultural and social organisation dedicated to Hindutva and nationalism". Alongside cow protection, its stated objectives are "complete abolishment of the differentiation between touchable-untouchable and high-low, promote the harmonious development of society".
'How come the BJP won even in the Muslim belt? I am 100% sure that the BJP would not win in the Muslim belt.'
