Asserting that his government's decision to ban instant triple talaq has boosted the overall sense of security for Muslim women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to reach out to them during the upcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday vowed to thwart alleged attempts to rob Dalits and backward classes of reservations by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) which he accused of 'enslavement' and performing 'mujra' for Muslim vote bank.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the OIC's action at the behest of a "serial violater of human rights and an unrepentant promoter of cross border terrorism" makes its action even more questionable.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Pakistan wanted to be constitutionally communal, India wanted to be secular but is communalising itself. All three nations share a penal code, but they have amended their laws to enable the State to specifically target minorities, points out Aakar Patel.
The bill to amend the law governing Waqf boards proposes far-reaching changes in the Wakf Act, 1995, including ensuring the representation of Muslim women and non-Muslims in such bodies.
'Under this amendment, in any dispute over Waqf properties, the Waqf Board cannot approach the court.' 'This is very surprising because the government instead of protecting Waqf properties they are snatching it away and not allowing them to go to court.' 'The third biggest landowner in India is the Waqf Board after the Indian Army and Indian Railways.'
A four-member team from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) conducted a survey of the recently-discovered Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, five pilgrimage sites, and 19 wells in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, India. The survey followed the discovery of three damaged idols inside a well of the Bhasma Shankar temple, which was reopened after being shut for 46 years. The Shri Kartik Mahadev temple, also known as the Bhasma Shankar temple, was reopened on December 13 after authorities found the covered structure during an anti-encroachment drive. The temple houses an idol of Lord Hanuman and a Shivling and had remained locked since 1978. The district administration has requested carbon dating of the temple, including the well, from the ASI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has restrained courts across India from entertaining new lawsuits or passing any orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs, until further notice. This action halts proceedings in approximately 18 lawsuits filed by Hindu parties seeking surveys to determine the original religious character of 10 mosques, including the Gyanvapi at Varanasi, the Shahi Idgah Masjid at Mathura, and the Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal, where four individuals died in clashes. The Supreme Court will examine the legality, scope, and boundaries of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits the conversion of places of worship and ensures the preservation of their religious character as it existed on August 15, 1947.
Justice Subramonium Prasad asked the organisation to give the list of speakers at the event to the Delhi Police and listed the case for further hearing on Thursday.
Lokmanya Tilak lived a life replete with contradictions, although he modified many of his positions later in life.
President-elect Donald Trump urged his supporters to donate to Democrats to help them overcome the 'financial strain' in the aftermath of the general elections.
The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the question of Aligarh Muslim University's minority status to a fresh bench and overruled the 1967 judgment that said the university cannot be considered a minority institution since it was created by a central law.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
'Who has seen what Sharia is? Who knows what actual Sharia is?'
The tribunal was constituted on March 18 for the purpose of adjudicating whether or not there was sufficient cause for declaring the MCJK-Bhat an unlawful association.
'...or go to jail.' 'The government is getting them silenced.'
Tolerant Muslims can be counted on fingers. I think their number is not even in the thousands, the Union minister of state for law and justice said.
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'.
The Bill to amend the Wakf Act, 1995, will make it mandatory for Waqf boards to register their properties with district collectors to ensure their actual valuation.
Despite the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance throwing all its weight to snatch Jharkhand from the hands of a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-headed coalition, the saffron camp suffered a debacle leaving the party's rank and file wondering what had gone wrong.
As a consequence of prominence given to the brutality during those few days, a very important aspect of that episode got almost glossed over. This was the intervention by a very significant section of people who restored faith in humanity, and conveyed the message that only a small section of Indians, that too politically backed, were consumed by anti-Sikh majoritarianism. The overlooked facet of the events of 1984 was the story of significant sections of the city's populace, public figures and nondescript ones, stepping out hand-in-hand, to first stand with little but bravery in hands, in the way of attackers, and thereafter to provide immediate relief to those who lives were uprooted and who lost family members in the violence, recalls Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
An independent Muslim candidate has secured a surprise victory in a ward in the Hindutva nerve centre of Ayodhya in the civic election results declared on Saturday.
'If you stay out of power for long, you become irrelevant, your party members become restless and start looking to jump ship.'
'Whatever you do will spark controversies, so it is best do what your heart tells you to do. Simple.'
The depiction of hijackers of the Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi has kicked off a row with a section of viewers objecting to the 'humane' projection of the perpetrators.
'The 2024 election results will lead to much intense targeting of Modi, more intense debates, many more breakdowns in Parliament and many more movements on the streets.' 'The results have hit Modi's standing, and the politics of the Opposition parties will be sharply focused to ensure that Modi doesn't get back his charisma of being 'invincible' with help of State power.' Sheela Bhatt looks at the political situation through the prism of 2024 Lok Sabha election results.
The parliamentary committee scrutinizing the Waqf (Amendment) Bill has been granted an extension until the last day of the next Budget Session. This decision follows a heated meeting marked by a walkout from opposition members who expressed concerns about the committee's draft report. The committee will visit several states to meet stakeholders and finalize its report.
Even a whiff of an incident like the violent 1989 shirt-ripping attack on Krishnamachari Srikkanth by a Karachi spectator would be ruinous. It would set back the ties further, derail an ongoing tournament, and harden Indian attitudes on playing Pakistan anywhere at all, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
In an affidavit filed in the court in response to petitions challenging the law, the Union of India said that despite the top court setting aside the practice in 2017, it has "not worked as a sufficient deterrent in bringing down the number of divorces by this practice" among the members of the Muslim community.
'The Opposition will continue to be attacked through misuse of agencies, civil society will be force-marched towards extinction and India's plummeting on global indices will continue.' 'Minorities and especially Muslims will continue to have open season declared on them. Institutions will continue their decline,' predicts Aakar Patel.
'At this moment you cannot give her asylum because if you do, then you are directing public anger against India.'
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
Modi also said the grand old party was being run not by its leaders but by some "behind the curtain" elements who are in nexus with anti-national forces.
Recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh have ignited political debate in West Bengal, with the ruling TMC and opposition BJP utilizing the issue to advance their respective agendas. While the TMC emphasizes communal harmony and calls for international intervention, the BJP criticizes the TMC's inaction and links the situation to its push for the Citizenship Amendment Act. The issue has also brought other opposition parties into the fray, with all sides highlighting the interconnectedness of the region's socio-political fabric.
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a plea filed by a women's organisation seeking directions to states to take immediate action in consonance with a 2018 verdict of the apex court to effectively deal with incidents of lynching and mob violence against Muslims by cow vigilantes.
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.
Bidhuri's responsibility will be akin to the party's poll in-charge of the district, sources said.
In India, 11.9 lakh excess deaths occurred in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17 per cent higher compared to 2019, an international study has found.
'Had these leaders known that Jinnah was dying...'
The Assam assembly will discontinue with the two-hour break provided on Fridays to facilitate Muslim legislators to offer 'namaaz', Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The rule will be implemented from the next session, an assembly official said.