'We also urge you to take steps to control the activities of groups, such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,' said the letter signed by 34 top American lawmakers.
'Here's a list of the things we should be reading more about in the media,' says Mitali Saran.
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
Many corporations extended benefits to same-sex couples well before the law was overturned.
Insisting that the situation in violence-hit Jammu and Kashmir is under control, the Centre on Monday said it will extend all help to the state government in maintaining law and order and asserted that the repeat of forced migration witnessed in 1990 will not be allowed.
'No one has ever heard of a thulabharam scale collapsing before.' 'I was very fortunate to have escaped with a head injury, which could have been a lot worse if my optic nerve was hit or say if the hook had landed on my neck.'
Narendra Modi on Friday accused Congress and its chief Sonia Gandhi for resorting to "low-level" politics and raising issues from his personal life to his caste in their bid to prevent him from coming to power.
The Centre said the reports of the governor mention that law and order situation has been deteriorating every passing day and there was 'total collapse' of the law and order machinery.
'At least 6,000 people attended a meal at Shahabuddin's residence in a feast to celebrate his bail. As if the community has no other priorities of channelising such funds for better purposes!,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'The best remedy would be to scrap Section 124-A of the IPC, a colonial vestige, altogether.' 'However, if legislators don't want to do so, they can do two things.' 'They can formally amend Section 124-A to bring it in line with what the Supreme Court has said about sedition.' 'The words which stand on the statute book today were inserted in 1898.' 'The Supreme Court's words are not a part of Section 124-A.'
The Uttar Pradesh State Minority Commission on Sunday described the mass conversion of Muslims in Agra as 'an act of fraud and a dubious exercise which has no connection with the serious business of change of faith'.
Among them, 17 were from Kasaragod and four from Palakkad.
The Manmohan Singh government has agreed to provide 2,800 additional paramilitary personnel to contain the unabated tension that continues to prevail in and around the riot-torn Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh where 32 persons were killed in the 48-hour-long communal violence that broke out on Saturday.
'We have Hindu values, Hindu customs, Hindu philosophy, Hindu way of looking at all religions as acceptable.' 'These are all great assets of India.'
'Compared to other social groups, managing the Muslim constituency has always been easier for the secularists.' 'Just some symbolic measures and window-dressing would keep the Muslim flock together.' 'Having been betrayed by all the supposedly 'secular' political parties, Muslims should turn into citizens without any ascriptive identity marks,'says Mohammad Sajjad.
In an open letter, Naik, 51, who is abroad, said he will pursue all legal options to get the ban repealed and that the judiciary will fail the Modi government in its 'plans'.
The apex court is hearing its two-decade-old 'Hindutva' judgement for an authoritative pronouncement on electoral law categorising misuse of religion for electoral gains as "corrupt practice".
The focus on non-issues like 'love jihad' has dragged radicals like Vijaykant Chauhan from the fringes to the mainstream in Uttar Pradesh
Yakub Memon, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, is likely to be executed on July 30 if the Supreme Court turns down his mercy plea. It will be the first execution in the serial blasts, which left over 250 dead.
'Modi is larger-than-life, but not invincible. Yet,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Five years before Rajiv Gandhi was killed in 1991, the US Central Intelligence Agency had prepared a very detailed and thorough "brief" on what would happen if he is assassinated or makes an "abrupt departure" from the Indian political scene.
'The clearest interpretation of the November 8 mandate is that the backwards, Dalits and minorities, and a huge proportion of women cutting across caste and class, displayed massive consolidation to the extent that despite chipping of votes by the Left Front, by the Third Front and by the BSP, Mahagathbandhan candidates won, and in many cases by huge margins,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Muslims constitute 20% of UP's electorate. Currently, Muslim voters are divided between Akhilesh's SP and Mayawati's BSP. What will tilt the balance? Can Muslims back the winning party? Mohammad Sajjad explains the mysteries of UP's Muslim politics.
'Though the RSS honours Sardar Patel, who actually banned it, the real hero in the story of its rise is Jayaprakash Narayan,' says Vir Sanghvi.
In his last column for Rediff.com, Praful Bidwai joins issues with those lauding India's covert operation against Naga rebels based in Myanmarese territory.
Modi and Shah's next focus will be South India, and the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly elections. Shah is unlikely to abdicate control over the party even after he joins the government. Modi and Shah both know only too well that the party makes the government, and not the other way round.
Twelve people, including 8 policemen, were injured on Monday in widespread violence and arson in Varanasi during a procession by seers and other locals.
'They plan to purchase votes.' 'We will not purchase people, but win the elections.' 'In our manifesto there are no free gifts. It says what we will do for the people.'
Seeking to dispel the demoralisation in Congress in the wake of recent electoral debacle, a combative Rahul Gandhi today mounted a blistering attack on Narendra Modi saying those dreaming about Congress-free India will themselves be destroyed.
One hopes the higher courts take the extraordinary steps needed to secure justice for the victims. The Gujarat carnage demands nothing less because of its unique nature and sponsorship by the State, argues Praful Bidwai.
'Tarun Gogoi is incompetent to be chief minister. We heard Intelligence had warned him about possible aggression. Why did Gogoi fail to react?' 'Modi and his men have been spreading separatist messages across Assam for years. There is no way the BJP can shake off its responsibility now.' Former Assam minister Rameswar Dhanowar, who demanded Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's resignation for his failure to prevent the recent violence in Bodoland Territorial Areas District, speaks to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com
She accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being 'anti-Dalit' and recalled the Una incident and the death of Dalit scholar Rohit Vemula to back her assertion.
Two Muslim women were slapped, kicked and abused by a mob in Madhya Pradesh allegedly over the possession of beef.
With the situation improving in violence-hit Saharanpur, the district authorities on Monday relaxed curfew for four hours in the new city area to allow people to buy their daily need items from markets which were directed to remain open.
The government on Thursday said it will respond on the issue of Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a fasting Muslim after ascertaining full facts by Friday.
Playwright and novelist Cyrus Mistry's English novel Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer and K R Meera's Aarachar in Malayalam are among the works that have won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award for this year.
'Across the country -- in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Manipur, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal -- men were lynched on suspicion of being thieves by ordinary people armed with rods and sticks.' 'But none of these lynchings made big news.' 'None of these lynchings were cow/beef-related.' 'The perpetrators were unknown people, not so-called gau rakshaks.' 'So why were these instances of mob violence considered less newsworthy than cow-related lynchings?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
One accused was acquitted by the court.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, 11 parties on Tuesday got together with a vow to defeat Congress-led United Progressive Alliances and prevent the Bharatiya Janata Party from coming to power by presenting themselves as an alternative to them.
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