'I am aware of the problems and difficulties faced by many during the NRC process but I assure you that no injustice will be done to any genuine Indian citizens'
'Whatever the legal position, it is my understanding that in practice, the Indian authorities have always treated Hindu refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh far more sympathetically than Muslims,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'The loose use of words like foreigner or Bangladeshis obscures the fact that the post-Partition migration to Assam has been of both Hindus and Muslims.'
The NRC has been discussed neither in Parliament nor in the Cabinet, Modi said on Sunday.
On compilation of six crucial documents, it was found that around two lakh of them from one crore were forged.
'The government is going to introduce legislation that would make it easy for Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Zoroastrians, Sikhs and Jains to migrate legally to India.' 'But looking at that list, my entire well-meaning question, as may be obvious, is: What about Muslims? They seem to have been specifically left out of this formulation,' says Aakar Patel.
The inter-faith ceremony, where there was a traditional Hindu-style 'hawan' and chants of Sikh 'kirtan', saw participants also reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and taking oath to preserve its "socialist, secular" values.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation and prosecution in hate crimes related to the "continuous attack" on the personality of Prophet Mohammad and disparaging remarks by various people in different parts of the country attacking the very belief system of Muslims at large.
Earning goodwill of the people of Jammu & Kashmir was necessary before such a move, the former prime minister said.
After a 6.5-hour debate, the upper house clears the bill. Amit Shah said the bill is not anti-Muslim and Indian minorities have nothing to fear from its passage.
In this winter of discontent, in every procession, in every demonstration, in every protest -- from Jawaharlal Nehru University to Jamia to Shaheen Bagh to the streets of Mumbai -- the front rows have been occupied by women. It's been weeks since women have been sitting in protest across the country against the newly-introduced Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens. The protests are a nerve centre of unwavering voices against what has been perceived as a discriminatory law. The women -- some housewives, some students with hijabs covering their hair, and others in full-length burqa robes -- are rallying against the 'Man' in what could also be perceived as a revolution for the 'weaker sex' in India.
Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan are the other three states to pass a resolution opposing the contentious legislation, reports Archis Mohan.
With multiple health camps at these protest sites, immediate medical assistance is always at the farmers' disposal in case a protestor develops symptoms like fever or breathlessness.
Labelling All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal as the 'enemy of Assam', state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that he is an extremist in protecting Indian and the Assamese culture.
'What worked for the BJP were three things: Hindu nationalism, religion and a silent but strong anti-Muslim sentiment.'
Neither Modi nor Shah had held legislative or executive power in Delhi before 2014. They have no training in appealing to the diversity of India as represented in Parliament. Their prism is the provincial politics of Gujarat. An exclusive excerpt from Vinay Sitapati's fascinating new book, Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi.
The MNS chief unveiled his party's new flag which is completely saffron and bears King Shivaji's royal seal. He also questioned how many of the Muslims taking part in the protests were Indian.
'The government has given up its focus on economic growth because it it not something Modi has been able to fully understand.' 'This explains the extraordinary focus on divisive politics by the BJP even at a time when the world's most important man in visiting India,' notes Aakar Patel.
'I have stopped going to college and instead come here to protest.' 'What is the point of going to college when you are unsure about your citizenship?' 'I am here to protest and save my future.'
Most of the economic activity in the country had come to a standstill after the government imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdown beginning March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus.
In some ways, Jyotiraditya parting ways with the Gandhis was similar to the saga of the Gandhis and the Bachchans, largely a story of friendship that turned sour. A fascinating excerpt from Rasheed Kidwai's The House Of Scindias: A Saga Of Power, Politics And Intrigue.
They warned that the 'prime minister and his cabinet colleagues will be stopped from entering the state' if their interests were harmed.
In a letter to chief secretaries of states and union territories, NCM chief Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi sai the Nizamuddin incident was a "serious violation" of the lockdown, and has put the lives of fellow citizens at risk.
'Modi should arrest Anurag Thakur, Kapil Mishra and Parvesh Sharma.' 'These leaders were instigating mobs and spreading hatred and they must be thrown in jail.' 'I had seen dreams of a new India under Modi, but now I am disillusioned with him.'
The revision of the consumer price index and GDP base years from 2011-12 and 2012, respectively, were dependent on the outcomes of the consumer expenditure survey of 2017-18 that the government decided to junk recently.
'As demonetisation showed us, the Shah-Modi duo can take big risks.' 'Risking economic damage for political benefit, however, is one thing, stoking old fires in complicated Assam is another', warns Shekhar Gupta.
'The voters of Jharkhand did not accept Raghubar Das.'
'We are not a dictatorship. If the people do not desire some law, it is impossible for any government to implement it,' says BJP leader Chandra Kumar Bose.
The constituencies spread across lower and central Assam will have 12,699 polling stations where 1,04,35,271 voters will be able exercise their franchise.
'Our country does not need an NRC. We need to improve our economy which is in a bad condition.'
He underwent a renal transplant on May 14 and on the same day, his ministerial charges were given to Piyush Goyal on an interim basis.
As the Aam Aadmi Party heads for a resounding win in Delhi, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists the reasons behind Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's triumph.
'You know the difference between being brought up by a mother and a step-mother?' 'As long as Amma was there we had nothing to fear. Now the step-mother is there and we are on the streets.'
He, however, asserted that all infiltrators will be thrown out of the country.
'Mohan Bhagwat's reaffirmation of the RSS's Hindu rashtra ideal has shown that nothing has changed, that it remains firmly rooted in its fundamental beliefs, that the willingness to listen to voices from outside its fold was a pretence about being openminded,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
Congress-NCP-Sena leaders discount reading too much into the meeting between the Maharashtra CM and prime minister.
Government sources had claimed on Tuesday that four persons have committed suicide in fear of NRC so far, while four others had died while waiting in queues to procure the requisite papers.
'If the Singh government was characterised by policy paralysis, this one is afflicted by hyperactivism, sans a roadmap,' says Yogendra Yadav.
'Netaji Bose followed the concept of Bharatiya and he united all religions and communities of India as Bharatiya.' 'I follow that politics of Netaji and so does the BJP.'
