The Congress slammed Ravi Shankar Prasad, accusing him of distorting, twisting and lying "with a straight face".
A leading Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue on Tuesday backed Press Council of India Chairman Justice Markandey Katju's reported observation that 'Pakistan is an artificial nation and a failed state' but said it was difficult to accept his entire views on the subject made during a lecture in Thiruvananthapuram.
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 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.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday described Narendra Modi as his "friend" but sidestepped queries on the possible projection of the Gujarat Chief Minister as Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, saying he was "not a political person".
In an interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa, Ram Madhav, member of the national executive and spokesperson of the RSS, discusses the comments made by Shinde, the controversial speech of Andhra Pradesh MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi and also the Bharatiya Janata Party's next prime ministerial candidate.
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.
Mumbai attacks mastermind and Lashkar-e-Tayiba founder Hafiz Saeed on Monday sought to exploit Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's jibe against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party saying Indian "propaganda" against Pakistani organisations of spreading terror now stood "exposed".
The men targetting Mohan Bhagwat were convinced he was the wrong choice to head the RSS, an NIA agent told Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa.
In shocking revelations, Swami Aseemanand claims though RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was not directly involved with the terror strikes, he was aware that such attacks were being planned. Vicky Nanjappa finds out more
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.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, a known Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh baiter, has equated the saffron outfit with the Taliban. Singh alleged that there was not much difference between RSS and the Taliban as both are fundamentalist.
After Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks that rapes were prevalent in India and not in Bharat, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad blamed the 'western model' of lifestyle for growing incidents of sexual assault on women including rape, saying cities were losing the values.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has sparked outrage with his statement that when he said rape is mainly prevalent in urban India due to western influence and that such crimes against women do not happen in rural areas of the country.The remark that came against the backdrop of the Delhi gangrape incident was slammed by the Congress, CPI-M and women's bodies while the BJP and RSS defended it saying the comment should be taken in proper perspective.
Defending Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat's controversial remark that rapes hardly take place in 'Bharat', but they occur frequently in 'India', RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav on Friday said that the outfit had 'great respect for women'.
Asking followers to create a language barrier to prevent influx of 'outsiders', Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray slammed Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh spokesperson Ram Madhav for making 'irrelevant' statements.
'We were among the first organisations to voice our opposition to the three Acts long before anyone else and had sent memorandums collected from 3,000 tehsils across the country to the agriculture ministry to amend the Bills, but nothing was accepted,' says BKS general secretary Badri Narayan Chaudhary.
A day after the Congress session in Surajkund was marked by austerity, reports have emerged of a party MP embarrassing it with his remarks praising Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers for their dedication and criticising Congress workers for staying in air-conditioned chambers.
Holding that Bangladeshi infiltrators have spread all over the country, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday demanded that the Centre and state governments take steps to check the border, detect and deport them.
Arvind Kejriwal is a "self-serving ambitious megalomaniac" having "streak" of Hitler, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh alleged in the sharpest attack on the activist on Friday.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday hit out Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over his allegation on Sonia Gandhi's foreign trips, saying he has been trained well by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the 'Nazi tradition' of false propaganda and Bharatiya Janata Party's 'cheap intentions' have been proved by trying to politicise a health issue.
'Lateral entrants', a term coined for non-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers, are in for tough days ahead in the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the wake of recent wrangling in the BJP, followed by the exit of senior leaders like Jaswant Singh and L K Advani's aide Sudheendra Kulkarni, the party has decided to clip the feathers of 'lateral' entrants. It literally implies that the members, who are non-swayamsevaks, will no more be able to enjoy power and clout.
On the eve of Sardar Patel's birth anniversary rediff.com publishes exclusive excerpts of his soon to be published book Sardar: The Saint Emperor.
On the eve of Sardar Patel's birth anniversary rediff.com publishes exclusive excerpts of his soon to be published book Sardar: The Saint Emperor.
Taking the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena head-on, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Sunday said that it has asked its volunteers to protect north Indians in Maharashtra and prevent the spread of anti-Hindi feelings. "The Sangh Parivar has asked its volunteers in Maharashtra to try and prevent the spread of anti-north Indian and anti-Hindi feelings," said RSS leader Ram Madhav.He said the RSS was opposed to discrimination on the basis of language.
Against the backdrop of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna's ongoing visit to Pakistan, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has alleged that India has gone soft towards its neighbour and cautioned against giving away its national interest for the "mirage of peace".
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat were among the early voters to exercise their franchise as polling was underway on Wednesday for the state assembly elections.
RSS, VHP activists distributed saffron colour scarves advising North-East Indians they visited to sport it as a shield against any attack on them. Mohammed Siddique reports.
The RSS, the political fountainhead of the ruling BJP, has been criticised by the Congress and other Opposition over its stand on the national flag.
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.
The BJP has lauded the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a key accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, as a testament to "New India's" zero-tolerance stance against terrorism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the Congress has countered the claim, stating that the extradition was the result of diplomatic efforts initiated during the UPA government's tenure. The BJP highlighted Rana's return as a tribute to security personnel who lost their lives fighting Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and a step towards justice for victims of the attack. The Congress, however, asserted that the Modi government did not initiate the extradition process but benefited from the UPA's groundwork. The exchange of accusations has added a political dimension to Rana's extradition, with both parties vying for credit for the development.
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary, accused in Ajmer blast case, moved a Delhi court seeking registration of an FIR against the Central Bureau of Investigation and Tehelka magazine for making public right-wing activist Swami Aseemanand's confessional statement.
A pro-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cultural forum in Thiruvananthapuram has taken objection to change of name of Kerala Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb's official residence from "Ganga" to "Grace".
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.
The confessional statement of arrested Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha member Swami Aseemanand has created a stir and for the investigating agencies, who claim that this will help the investigation.
Advani would also attend today's meeting, the sources said.\n
It will take a long time to judge if it was for the BJP's good or not to surrender it's own space.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's appointment as the Bharatiya Janata Party's Campaign Committee chief and the chain of events triggered by this announcement indicate that despite the recent patch-up efforts initiated by the party's ideological mentor, the Rahstriya Swayamsevak Sangh, all is not well in the saffron outfit.
The meeting assumes significance in the wake of RSS criticism of Advani over his controversial remarks about Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah during his recent Pakistan visit.
The Rajya Sabha chairman asked him to authenticate his assertions and refused to accept newspaper clippings that the Congress leader showed to buttress his points.