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.
Though the Patidar-dominated Morbi Assembly seat in Gujarat is considered a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the poll equations this time may change due to many factors, including the recent bridge tragedy which claimed 135 lives, political observers say.
'The BJP is the most progressive force within Hinduism today.'
The Congress and BJP are apprehensive that AAP might eat into their votes among the Patel community, Kshatriyas, a section of minorities, and Dalits, thus delivering a fatal blow in the closely-contested seats. But the local BJP is elated over the entry of AIMIM as there will be a contender for minority votes apart from the Congress in seats like Bhuj and Mandvi, which have considerable Muslim electorate.
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.
'There is no one who will be able to have a dignified life, when your brother and sister of another community are not being treated as human.'
"Crores of Muslim women had always demanded that triple talaq should be banned, as it is also banned in Islamic countries," he said.
The Centre has appointed a commission headed by former CJI K G Balakrishnan to examine the matter of giving Scheduled Caste status to new people who claim to "historically" have belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to a religion other than those mentioned in the presidential orders.
Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi talks about the Bihar polls with M I Khan/Rediff.com
The opposition on Tuesday termed as an 'election jumla' the women's reservation bill brought by the government with many leaders raising questions over the proposed legislation, contending it doesn't account for reservation for OBC communities and that it will be effective at the earliest by the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
Participating in a debate on the bill in Lok Sabha, Moitra said women's reservation is dependent on two totally "indeterminate dates" and asked, "can there be a greater jumla".
A special court in Moradabad has acquitted all 74 accused, including UP Cabinet minister Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and local Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Ritesh Kumar Gupta, for allegedly attacking policemen during the protest in Kanth area of the district in 2014.
Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country.
Vast experience in running the government and mass appeal across the state have favoured Siddaramaiah in the tightly contested race for Karnataka chief minister.
'The government must consider that Modiji's vision of India turning into a $5 trillion economy will happen only when there is rule of law in the country.' 'Investors will not invest if these lynchings keep happening.'
The SC, however, rejected NIA's request for immediate stay to the order.
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
Some of her best films are not available on streaming platforms, but Deepa Gahlot looks at her Hindi cinema oeuvre on OTT.
The future challenger to Narendra Modi would be somebody who can bring the Hindus and Muslims together again. The Hindus as Hindus, not broken caste groups, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Former Bihar MP Anand Mohan, who is serving a life sentence in the killing of Indian Administrative Service officer G Krishnaiah, is to be set free along with 26 others who have been lodged in different prisons of the state for more than 14 years.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
In the letter dated July 23, the celebrities have said that "exemplary punishment" should be meted out "swiftly and surely" in such cases.
'Why potentially anybody, not only Muslims and Dalits, can be subjected to custodial death?'
This is a brief background of the new Cabinet Ministers.
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Political watchers say the caste survey report was made public to play the OBC-EBC card and stall the BJP's campaign to win most of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Friday reacted strongly against Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah's 'crackers in Pakistan' remark, saying it was an insult to the people of Bihar.
Modi hit out at the Congress for its president Mallikarjun Kharge's attempt to play down his party's poor show in the polls by describing it as "small state elections".
'Some of his ministers have performed abysmally, and Bommai has faced an unwanted campaign of religious polarisation imposed by national BJP leaders.'
In renaming TRS and repositioning it as a 'national' party, KCR is also eyeing a pole position in opposition politics ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'How long can you keep a person in jail using false cases?'
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Centre to extend the benefits accorded to Scheduled Castes also to those among the SCs embracing Christianity.
The Union home ministry on Thursday recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the affairs of the Indian arm of the global NGO Oxfam for alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, sources said.
A 25 year-old Hindu man was brutally killed in broad public view in Hyderabad by his Muslim brother-in law and another person in a case of suspected "honour-killing," with the incident sending shock waves after the gory murder that was caught on camera went viral.
No one in the India of 2020 should be vulnerable and unprotected because of the caste they have been born in, says Dominic Xavier and no child should ever suffer a horrific fate like the Dalit teenager in Hathras village.
The protest outside the NRG stadium against Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's visit at the NRG Stadium was seemingly irrepressible, displaying signs saying 'Free Kashmir', '8 million people caged', 'Go back Modi' -- and worse.
'If the Opposition does make a dent, it could encourage the efforts of regional parties to come together for the larger battle in 2024 and mark the beginning of a new anti-BJP politics.'
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam deputy general secretary A Raja stoked a controversy over his Shudra remark and drew the Bharatiya Janata Party's ire with the saffron party accusing him of spewing hatred against a community to appease others.
Bhim denotes Dalit icon Bhimrao Ambedkar, while Mim denotes the letter 'M' in the Urdu alphabet; the party used the slogan effectively in the 2014 Maharashtra assembly elections
