While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
Muslim voters in the Old City in Lucknow know the decisive value of their votes, but are wary that their votes are divided, and that, they fear, will only help Narendra Modi. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com speaks to Muslim voters in the land of tehzeeb and gauges their apprehensions about a Modi sarkar.
Sunday's yatra proved that it needs both the maturity of locals as well as the police doing their duty, to ensure that a religious procession doesn't turn ugly.
"This judgment is a very unfortunate one...We will definitely appeal and get the order revised," Mulayam Singh Yadav said.
With a significant number of Opposition leaders present at the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress government in Karnataka, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Sunday said Opposition unity requires much more than optics of this nature and stressed the need for meeting of minds, a common agenda and sacrificing partisan interests.
RD Nimesh Commission was set up by the previous BSP government in the state to investigate the arrests of two Muslim youths -- Tariq Qasmi and Khalid Mujahid -- after serial blasts in courts in Lucknow, Faizabad, Varanasi and Gorakhpur in November 2007.
According to the data released in Patna by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, the state's total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the EBCs (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the OBCs at 27.13 per cent.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's historic Lok Sabha election success in Uttar Pradesh has influenced its two main rivals in the state, the Samajwadi Party and Congress, to field fewer Muslim candidates for the 11 assembly seats that go to the by-polls on Saturday.
'It is an existential crisis. We cannot recover lost ground through social media. We need to forge alliances and reshape our ideological contours.'
The BJP campaign highlighted Yogi's persona as a tough-as-nails leader and an incorruptible man with no nest to feather; Modi's charisma which was turned on full blast in the penultimate phases; Amit Shah's ground work; a well-oiled party organisation, and the RSS's back-up.
Suggesting that Muslims have contributed to Narendra Modi's victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, SP leader Azam Khan, who had indulged in a vitriolic attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, said they had proved that they were a "secular" community.
Arvind Kejriwal warned the media that "very big forces" would try and break the INDIA alliance by showing that there was a lot of acrimony among them.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday announced Dimple Yadav as its candidate for Mainpuri parliamentary seat, which fell vacant after the death of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
'The consecration of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya has demoralised them.' 'And, now it is reflecting in their individual reactions as they are losing hope to take on the BJP in 2024.'
A controversy erupted on Monday over reported moves by the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw cases against Muslim leaders in connection with Muzaffarnagar riots even as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said only some information has been sought and this did not mean cases were being dropped.
A Muslim man was gunned down in broad daylight in Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's hometown Etawah on Sunday. Adnan, 22, was allegedly killed for daring to marry a Hindu girl. Kirti, 21, who had married Adnan after years of courtship, squarely blamed the registrar of marriages -- the local city magistrate Surendra Kumar Sharma -- for the incident.
'Muslims may turn to the BJP or may not come out to vote in great numbers like they have in the past.' 'Anything can happen.' 'They can feel an increased sense of alienation, but that depends on the BJP -- on how it includes them.'
Faced with one of the worst showing in Lok Sabha elections in which her party failed to open its account, BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday said the parties which had supported the UPA at the Centre faced the anger of the people towards the Congress-led alliance.
Peace committee meetings were held in Nuh and Sohna on Tuesday following communal violence in the two towns, with people assuring the administration that they will cooperate fully in maintaining peace, officials said.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
Abdullah termed the gag order as an attempt by the EC to please the BJP.
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
Six rioters were killed in the violence that broke out over the demolition of an illegally built madrasa, officials said Friday as curfew remained enforced in Uttarakhand's Haldwani town.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
'Unless she joins one of the coalitions, she has a bleak future.' 'The NDA option is suicidal, but INDIA could help her.'
Hussaini Tigers, an organisation of Shia youths, on Friday urged the All India Muslim Personal Law Board not to approach the Supreme Court against the Allahabad high court verdict on Ayodhya title suits and instead let the matter end here for good.
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create "Hindu-Muslim disturbances" to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
The district court in Varanasi fixed July 12 as the next date for hearing the maintainability of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex case as the Muslim side presented its arguments on Monday.
Joining the chorus against the film, the Samajwadi Party said the faithful are hurt by its "cheap and superficial dialogues" and that the film was part of an "agenda".
Samajwadi Party chief Malayam Singh Yadav visited the Islamic seminary Datul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema along with his close aide Amar Singh and met its Rector Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadvi, who also is the chairman of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. The former chief minister is understood to have discussed the alleged targeting of Muslims on terror issue, while the Bahujan Samaj Party organised a Muslim convention to reiterate its association with the community.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday announced his intent to raise quotas for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the state, saying a legislation to the effect is likely to be brought in the ongoing assembly session.
Reacting to Yadav's dig at her on Wednesday, Mayawati said she has never aspired to become the President and the Samajwadi Party leader was dreaming about it to clear his path to become the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
After his release, Khan first visited the house of ex-SP MLA Anoop Gupta before departing for his native Rampur.
'What of Modi? They are willing to take their chances. Maharashtra's Muslims recall how the Congress scared them with the Bal Thackeray bogey for decades, yet, when it came to using all the might of the State to protect them from Shiv Sena goons, be it in 1970, 1984 or 1992-1993, it did nothing. For them, the Congress's secularism is a cruel joke.' 'This argument that we ('seculars') must vote for the 'winning secular candidate' has one more implication: Those who are against Hindutva must forever be stuck with the same corrupt, cynical and tired old parties, who are not even secular,' says Jyoti Punwani.
Seeking to take the sting out of the Samajwadi Party's counter to SC/ST quota in promotion bill, the Congress on Monday said it was also for a fair deal to Muslims but the issue was 'not contrary or contradictory' to the proposed measure.
Salman Khan's latest, Jai Ho, didn't set the cash registers ringing, and one reason could be that his diehard Muslim fans were put off by his support for Narendra Modi, says Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Three persons, including a Muslim cleric, have been arrested in connection with the killing of 27-year-old man over a Facebook post in Dhandhuka town of Gujarat's Ahmedabad district, a senior police official said on Friday.
The Hyderabad MP had earlier announced thatthe AIMIM will contest 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh polls scheduled early next year.
Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav died in Medanta hospital of Gurugram on Monday. He was 82.
Talking to reporters in Patna, the former Union minister asserted that he would happily function as 'an ordinary party worker, worth five rupees', if the JD-U leadership was assumed by 'anybody from among the Luv Kush Samaj (Kurmis and Koeris) or the EBCs whose aspirations have been the party's driving force'.
