Even though the RSS buckled under pressure and let go Nitin Gadkari, it did not yield ground to L K Advani completely. The Sangh preferred to go with Rajnath Singh as the BJP president, rejecting Advani's first choice, Sushma Swaraj. More feuds are expected in the saffron joint family in the days to come. Poornima Joshi examines
In its efforts to re-establish itself as a party espousing the RSS' core Hindutva ideology, the BJP has declared Ayodhya and Vande Mataram its election issues in Uttar Pradesh where Assembly polls are due next year.
For now, Yumnam Khemchand Singh's leadership will be judged not by promises or symbolism, but by whether his government can prevent further violence and begin the slow, difficult work of rebuilding trust.
The party national secretary had written a letter to Advani urging 'recasting' of ties between Sangh and BJP.
Some senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders conspired together to deny second consecutive term as party president to Nitin Gadkari and were also instrumental in supplying "material" to media against him, claimed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue M G Vaidya.
The Congress on Sunday reacted sharply to the Bharatiya Janata Party's allegations against Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Bofors and 2G spectrum scams, saying the opposition party is trying to divert attention from the 'Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's complicity in terrorism' by levelling such accusations. "These are things being done deliberately to digress and divert attention from documented investigation reports showing the complicity of RSS in terrorism.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticized the Waqf (Amendment) Act, calling it anti-constitutional and an attack on freedom of religion. He warned that the BJP-RSS will soon target the rights of other minorities, such as Christians and Sikhs. Gandhi also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of succumbing to pressure from US President Donald Trump on the imposition of tariffs, citing a recent meeting between the two leaders. He also questioned PM Modi's recent meeting with Bangladeshi leader Mohammad Yunus, who has been critical of India's policies. Gandhi further advocated for a caste census in India, stating that Congress aims to break the barrier of 50% reservation.
CPI-M alleged that some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party workers came in a vehicle and hurled a bomb at Pinarayi in Dharmadam assembly segment from where CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan won.
Distorting facts in relation to politics and religion and appeasing extremist ideology has grave long term implications for India's security, feels C Uday Bhaskar.
The top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday decided to strongly protest against Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Sushilkumar Shinde during the budget session till he tenders an apology for his remark on 'Hindu terror' against the principal opposition.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday defended Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat's remark that ''rapes occur frequently in India not in Bharat'', saying the present controversy is totally uncalled for and unnecessary.
In the midst of speculations over who will succeed Rajnath Singh, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday clarified that it was not against four Delhi-based senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, who the RSS chief had virtually ruled out as party president. RSS All-India Propaganda Chief Manmohan Vaid said, "Reports that the Sangh is against four leaders of the BJP are completely false. M Venkaiah Naidu,Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar are all senior leaders".
A very small number of Muslim voters could be the deciding factor in the next election, says T C A Srinivasa Raghavan
In the four-page letter, leaked selectively to the media, Bharati also made a scathing attack on party Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and General Secretary Sanjay Joshi.
A day after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani withdrew his resignation following the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief's call to him, the Sangh on Wednesday said that it is not interfering or managing the affairs of the right-wing party.
Questioning the secular credentials of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashitriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad on Thursday said Janata Dal-United is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is being dictated by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
'Narendra Modi is not just a threat to the minority communities, he is a threat to the Indian Constitution,' Dr Ram Puniyani, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
No senior leader in the party wanted to react to Ashok Gehlot's comment that he would stop the culture of girls and boys going hand in hand to pubs and malls. The party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed when asked said that he did not know in what context the statement had been made and he would first have to find out.
The police said the incident happened on Thursday when a jagran programme was underway at the temple in Jaipur's Karni Vihar, and local residents objected to the noise and crowd in their neighbourhood at late hours.
Govardhan Zadaphia, MahaGujarat Janta Party chief and former home minister in the Narendra Modi government, tells Gyan Varma the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh unit in Gujarat does not want to help Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming assembly elections.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh top brass led by its general secretary Mohan Bhagwat on Monday met Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishenchand Advani
It will take a long time to judge if it was for the BJP's good or not to surrender it's own space.
Advani would also attend today's meeting, the sources said.\n
With assembly elections just months away in Rajasthan, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been dealt a major blow with the Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheeting senior party leader Gulab Chand Kataria in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case.
The Congress party has escalated its attack on the BJP-RSS, alleging a conspiracy to silence Rahul Gandhi after a former ABVP leader made controversial remarks targeting him.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee makes momos at a local stall in Darjeeling.
While it is almost certain that Gadkari won't get a second term as BJP president, the RSS wants to ease him out without diminishing its own clout within the saffron pariwar. Sheela Bhatt analyses the situation.
Rubbishing reports that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh plays "godfather" to the Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari, the Sangh on Saturday said it was for BJP to decide the fate of its president in the wake of corruption charges against him, but there was no need to quit only on the basis of allegations.
Reacting to news reports that the Congress party in its plenary session is likely to demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh links to terror attacks organised by the radical Hindu organisations, BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that this was just a desperate attempt by the United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress party to divert the attention from corruption issue.
Nitin Gadkari on Monday termed as "unfounded" remarks of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue M G Vaidya that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was behind the campaign to make him quit as the Bharatiya Janata Party president and said all party leaders are working unitedly for the organisation.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who has often been accused of playing to the gallery on minority issues, on Tuesday accused Narendra Modi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party of spreading "blatant lies" and painting him as "anti Hindu".
After distancing itself from the controversy over Nitin Gadkari's business dealings, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Sunday said it was upto Bharatiya Janata Party to decide on his second term as party president.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday refused to comment on corruption allegations against Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, saying it was an "internal matter of the party".Asked about the charges against the BJP chief, Bhagwat said, "It is a matter of the party".
Protesting the government's decision to go ahead with the Sethusamudram project, the Sangh Parivar and its affiliated organisations on Wednesday staged road blockades at various places in Mumbai and Delhi.
The meeting is being held purportedly to discuss ways and means of raising the issues of Hinduism and the Ram Temple at Ayodhya in the coming weeks.
The session was a 'broad-based discussion on issues affecting the nation and polity'.
Narendra Modi will be the face of the BJP, the symbol of anti-Congress sentiment and the messiah of the Indian middle class in the general election, reports Sheela Bhatt.
According to sources, Jaitley, who feels let down by being kept out of action in four states going to the polls during the next one and half years was in the Sangh headquarters.
Tax Information Exchange Agreements between countries are one way to prevent, or at least curb, the flow of illicit funds.