As the year 2014 draws to an end, we at Rediff.com take to look at some of the ridiculous remarks made by some blundering politicos.
Eminent Punjabi writer and Padma Shri winner Dalip Kaur Tiwana decided to return her award protesting "recurrent atrocities" on Muslims in the country, as another Kannada writer joined authors giving up their Sahitya Akademi Awards against "growing intolerance".
Annabel Mehta, Sachin Tendulkar's mother-in-law, has dedicated her life to working with the Beautiful People of the other half of Mumbai without whom the city would neither exist nor thrive. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel met the amazing lady who was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire for her service to underprivileged communities.
Prices of buffaloes and cattle have fallen by 20-30%.
Facing the opposition benches, it is the 11th portrait to adorn the House.
People from 4 villages near in Nigeria were forced to leave their homes and flee after the Boko Haram militants told them to leave or face consequences.
50 others were injured in the stampede that took place when hundreds of people stormed the home of a businessman in northern Bangladesh for a charity handout during the holy month of Ramzan.
Pakistan's flamboyant cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Thursday tied the knot with former BBC weather girl Reham Khan in a low-key ceremony in Islamabad, ending days of speculation about his marriage.
Raising the communal temperature in riot-affected western Uttar Pradesh going to polls on Monday, Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah has spoken of the current election being an opportunity to take "revenge for the insult" during the violence in Muzaffarnagar last year.
Controversial Uttar Pradesh politician Raghuraj Pratap Singh -- better known as Raja Bhaiya -- who was dropped from the Akhilesh Yadav ministry, is all set to be re-inducted into the government on Friday.
'In this country of 1.2 billion, there may be a few Indians who might dislike Muslims and wish them ill. But the vast majority of Indians remain secular, no matter how grave Hindu-Muslim tensions,' says Amberish Kathewad Diwanji.
'The judge said that anybody who does not believe in the RSS ideology is not acceptable to you. You have terminated his contract because he thought differently.' 'The Modi government has no accomplishment to show. Therefore, they are using the tool of nationalism to divert the country's attention from very serious things like farmers suicides and the water crisis.' 'You cannot simply dismiss anyone because they are not willing to raise a slogan and not think like you.'
Two Taliban suicide bombers struck a historic church in Peshawar Sunday, killing at least 78 people, including women and children, in the deadliest attack on the minority Christian community in Pakistan's history.
Terming the 2002 Gujarat riots as "unfortunate", Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Sunday said it was unfair to blame state Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the incident and accused Congress and some other parties of dividing the country on religious lines.
An estimated 223 people have lost their lives since August 8 in Kerala's worst floods in decades that has caused damage worth more than Rs 20,000 crore.
Imagine being a part of a country, but being discriminated against by the majority community and atrocities being committed against you by the state. This is the deplorable conditions that the Rohingyas of Myanmar live in where they are cut off from their livelihoods and sources of income, unable to access markets, hospitals and schools, and have little or no access to relief aid. In order to understand the situation and the genesis of the tragedy unfolding, Rediff.com's Archana Masih speaks to Ambassador Vijay Nambiar, the United Nations' Chef de Cabinet (Chief of Staff), who had served a long stint with the UN in New York on the issue.
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The Congress works more but is not good at marketing itself, unlike opposition parties, believes party vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
Initially we sit tight in our seats expecting something very gripping to happen but, nothing of that sort happens.
Aseem Chhabra lists the movies that taught him about the Idea of India.
Any city that imposes a ban on food of any kind to appease the sensibility of a particular religion has lost any right to be called cosmopolitan and progressive, feels Tanmaya Nanada
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday pilloried Prime Minister Narendra Modi over suspension of BJP MP Kirti Azad who has been leading a campaign against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on alleged corruption in Delhi cricket body, reminding him of his "na khaoonga na khaney doonga" poll slogan.
Celebrating the poet-saint's legacy in our times.
Saeed said Pakistan government has added insult to the wounds of Kashmiris by welcoming Singh.
One of the most pronounced features of people who shrilly demand change is that unless it comes in precisely the way they want it, they either say there has been no change, or that it is the wrong change. The Modi government, which is being accused of both things, provides an excellent and latest example of this.
'The surge of Saudi nationalism is the last thing Washington wants,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Monica Sindhwani left Rangoon for India at 20. Married to a retired Indian Army officer, she relives her memories of the pagodas, greenery and the home she left nearly 40 years ago.
'The spirit of religious faith in Kashmir is inclusive.' 'There an inclusiveness of Islam in Kashmir.' 'An ordinary Kashmiri can be a political fundamentalist, but he can never be a religious fundamentalist.'
Victoria & Abdul tells the true story of the unexpected friendship between Queen Victoria and her young Indian servant.
Acclaimed writer Nayantara Sahgal, the niece of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has returned the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award to protest against the "vicious assault" on India's diversity and the government's failure to protect cultural diversity.
Known for making controversial remarks, senior Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan outdid himself when he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Lahore at the residence of his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last December. Sharat Pradhan/ Rediff.com reports from Lucknow.
Mayawati urged the Muslim voters to vote for the party, saying her party has given tickets to 99 candidates from the community.
'It would be nice if we could all just take a deep breath and focus on the only feeling that really matters, and for which previous generations worked a very long time at great cost: Freedom,' says Mitali Saran.
'In one mansion we visited, I was told the doors in the back courtyard had to be kept closed because to have the front and back doors open at the same time would result in Chettiar wealth flowing away,' notes Rahul Jacob after a memorable visit to Karaikudi.
Because we mirror his beliefs, says Savera R Someshwar.
'Will the new government, largely of the BJP, whose manifesto proclaimed "India shall remain a natural home for persecuted Hindus and they shall be welcome to seek refuge here" and whose patrons never tire of the glories of our civilisation in antiquity, stand up for these long-lost cousins, the Yazidis in Iraq?'
Till recently there was no monument to the Maratha victory or the great Maratha General Mahadji Shinde. It was a defeat, such as never suffered by the British in India.
'I was told by everyone who mattered that it was dangerous for me to be an out-of-the-closet lesbian, who is a Pakistani in America. But I've never played by the rules.'
The parents denied allegations that their son had joined IS and said the money was for their son to buy a new pair of glasses.
Rajnath says incidents of atrocities against Dalits have come down since the Modi government took over.
A young IT grad jailed for visa fraud committed by his agent, gives an insider's view of life in jail.
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