Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'Anybody and everybody who opposes this government for whatever reasons will be branded a terrorist and charged in such a manner that all human rights will be taken away.'
Mufti said the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution and guaranteed to all Indian citizens "are being brazenly impinged upon".
'Who are Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti to issue certificates?'
There is a limit to ignoring genuine aspirations of the people and suppressing their legitimate voice in running the affairs of the state, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's power to nominate five members to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was at the centre of a political and legal debate on the eve of vote count, with the Congress and regional parties the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party on Monday opposing any such move during government formation.
A local court in Ajmer has issued notices to the dargah committee, the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and the Archaeological Survey of India on a plea seeking to declare the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti a temple. The petition, filed in September, has sparked a heated debate, with politicians and community leaders weighing in on the potentially volatile issue. The dargah committee has declined to comment, but the Anjuman Syed Zadgan, a body representing the caretakers of the dargah, described the petition as a deliberate attempt to fracture society along communal lines. The petition comes just days after four people were killed in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, following a local court ordering survey of a Mughal-era shrine. The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which fixed August 15, 1947, as the cut-off date for status quo on the character of religious places, is at the centre of much of the debate. Several politicians, including Union minister Giriraj Singh and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, have weighed in on the issue. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called the civil court's decision to entertain the petition unwarranted and has asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene.
'I would think that India faces less damage from opinions voiced overseas compared to the damage it suffers if the right to free speech of its citizens is curtailed in the name of image management,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
'The whole Kashmiri population is seemed to be a suspect community. This status is not good.'
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.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
According to a media report published on Saturday, only one of the outfits to which eight of the arrested activists belonged was declared as unlawful.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government has made a "solemn promise" for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and will stand by it, adding the Centre was working very hard to create the right conditions.
'Article 370 offered very important protections that were related to people's day to day lives.'
With the Supreme Court declining to accord legal recognition to same-sex marriage on Tuesday, a section of the LGBTQ+ community, petitioners and activists highlighted the positives in the ruling and called for legislative action while others expressed dismay and concern.
As the polling dates for the maiden assembly polls after abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir draws near, several organisations of the Kashmiri Pandit community has decided to refrain from the electoral process in the Union Territory over 'persistent denial of their genocide'.
As part of the programme, the 36 ministers are visiting J&K this week to participate in 60 public interactions at various places in the Union territory," Principal Secretary to the J&K government Rohit Kansal told reporters.
Our government shows a benign mask to the world behind which its fangs are bared against its own citizens, observes Aakar Patel.
On February 1, grappling with the intractable issue of the AMU's minority status, the top court said the 1981 amendment to the AMU Act, which effectively accorded it a minority status, only did a "half-hearted job" and did not restore the institution the position it had prior to 1951.
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
'I am not afraid of BJP. I am not armed with lathi or stone, let them come to me and reply to my questions which they will not'
'It will be difficult to challenge Hindutva anymore as the police will have the power to charge you as anti-national.'
"Give up arms and come for talks or our forces will hunt you down," the home minister said in election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir.
'A country that hosts and even celebrates UNSC-sanctioned terrorists, commenting on India whose pluralistic ethos and democratic credentials are exemplars for the world, is a contrast for everyone to see'
After a fresh round of human rights dialogue, India and the European Union on Friday concurred on the importance of safeguarding freedom, independence and diversity of civil society actors, including human rights defenders and journalists.
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Biden, 77, who served as vice president of the US for eight years from January 2009 to January 2017, would deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday.
Every trick in the trade is being tried unabashedly.
In simple arithmetical terms every possible 'arrangement' is being made to deny a majority to its rivals. A split verdict would hand a vital advantage to the BJP which is adept at extracting the best out of such a situation, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Gandhi said he was "waiting with open arms".
'The struggle of insurgents and pro-independence political activists is fuelled by a deep conviction that not only is a free Balochistan possible, but they also believe that Pakistan will inevitably break apart, leading to Balochistan's independence.'
'Everyone is unhappy with the lieutenant governor's administration, which is ignorant, high-handed, and inaccessible.'
Saha said BJP is confident about winning the assembly elections due this year.
'This verdict means that if there is presidential rule anywhere in any state of India, that state can be dismembered and from a state can be downgraded to a Union territory.'
Separately, the hunger strike by climate activist Sonam Wangchuk in Leh to "remind" the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre of its promise to safeguard the Union Territory's fragile ecology and unique indigenous tribal culture entered its 15th day.
The United Left alliance has retained all the four seats in the JNU students union election, defeating the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad with considerable margins.
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
The TDP and the LJP also supported the Bill being sent to a parliamentary committee for further examination.
The Congress and the National Conference on Monday announced they will fight the Lok Sabha polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, in alliance, with both parties contesting three seats each.
The Batla House encounter generated a lot of buzz. While some termed the encounter fake, the security agencies defended it, saying the encounter helped crack the Delhi serial blasts case.
'If we accept this, then in a few years we will not see a democratic India that we know'
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