'For people who are fed on nothing else but the media, what were prejudices become facts of life.' 'What my neighbour may see as just news, for me is a source of fear, living as I do, surrounded by non-Muslims.' 'So I would say it is important to talk to a Muslim, be it your neighbour or your colleague.' 'Have that conversation about what's happening to Muslims.'
When Nehru came in active contact with Gandhi 100 years ago, he was a Westernised rationalist while Gandhi was deeply soaked in the Indian ethos and spirituality, notes Rasheed Kidwai.
Thousands of people hailing 'Puratchi Thalaivi Amma' (Revolutionary Leader Amma) walked with the cortege.
The foundations of the army's own peculiar secularism are potentially being destabilised
Dr Lobsang Sangay entered the United States White House on Friday -- a historic feat. This is the first time in the last six decades the head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has been invited into the White House, the CTA said in a statement.
'I was fortunate to have served as India's ambassador to Indonesia and witnessed on several occasions, the incredible performances of the Ramayana and episodes from the Mahabharata in Jogjakarta and in Bali,' recalls former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Why are the poor turning Right instead of turning toward far-Left parties, ponders Pranab Bardhan.
Upholding principles was a luxury when there were charismatic leaders capable of winning elections without stooping low to indulge in identity politics, observes Virendra Kapoor.
But she added that her government will be open to erecting memorials to honour leaders from 'other communities' and keep their religious sentiments in mind.
China is acutely conscious of the need for the next Dalai Lama to be under its control. It was for this reason that China recently stressed their claim on Arunachal Pradesh. There were rumours that the next Dalai Lama may be found in Tawang. If that happens, India-China relations will become tense and there may be demands for the child to be handed over to the Chinese, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Arun Karthick's Nasir is not the story of one man. It's a documentary on the scary, majoritarian, hateful road India has taken, discovers Mohd Asim.
American analysts and their camp followers in India are talking absolute rubbish when they try to establish that India is facing a Hobson's choice in regard of Donbass, called upon to take sides between Russia and the West, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Panipat has all the meat for a political drama meets war movie. But in Ashutosh Gowariker's failure to process its complexity, the material never rises beyond a mediocre hurray to the Maratha manoos,' says Sukanya Verma.
The Dalai Lama is 84 years old now and the issue of his successor has gained prominence in the last couple of years in the wake of his health issues.
When Junaid and I asked why they were pushing, they pointed to the skull cap on my head, Junaid's brother Hashim said.
'Every person has two identities in India, that of his caste and nation.' 'It is understandable in a multi-caste, multi-religious society and I don't mind this.' 'What I mind is the State has failed in doing enough to melt these two identities in such a way that everybody has access to citizenship which is more important than your caste.' 'That is why people remain in the narrow identities of his caste or religion.'
'Political elites need to feel that these are our children dying, that this is a crisis for us, a tragedy for our community, we must take immediate action to save the lives of our people.'
In what could be a landmark moment for the minority Hindu community of Pakistan, Hindus will get Computerised National Identity Cards if the amended Bill is passed, something they have not been entitled to so far, reports Amir Mir
The party has always advocated abrogation of Article 370 and has also been speaking against Article 35A, but its renewed pitch during elections assumes significance.
The relative ranking of castes can vary across regions and localities and depends on a number of factors including control over land, wealth, and political power. Castes have often tried to 'upgrade' themselves (a process sociologists refer to as Sanskritization), and sometimes get 'downgraded'. A revealing excerpt from Upinder Singh's Ancient India: Culture Of Contradictions.
'The narrative of patriotism has been framed around the army and competing worldviews about Pakistan and those who do not fit the army's parameters are ostracised as rebellious, treasonous, and even blasphemous'
Self-immolations, which were initially started by Tibetan monks, are now being resorted to by young Tibetan youth, says B Raman
The reality is that even successful Muslims are made to suffer because of their faith, and the opposition to Sania Mirza is part of the same story of discrimination, says Kashif-ul-Huda.
'The propagation of an absolutist narrative that shuts down any dissent is dangerous, irresponsible, and unbecoming of India's proud democracy.' 'The government must do better.'
The head of a religious mutt in Varanasi has slammed Bharatiya Janata Party and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for using the temple town to further their political ambitions.
Today, the two countries, ruthlessly divided by the Radcliffe line that pierced their very heart, grapple with the political challenges of the present. Yet, when friendships develop there are no borders, observes Payal Singh Mohanka.
A fascinating glimpse from Somak Ghoshal's 10 Indian Heroes Who Help People Live With Dignity.
'Non-violence can be a viable tool for countering the competitive brutality of terrorist groups,' argues Rajni Bakshi.
'The anti-Muslim discourse creates an atmosphere of fear.'
Chief Minister Stalin seems to have drawn a line between his personal beliefs and those of others in the family, beginning with wife Durga Stalin, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Those who have 'sold their souls to outsiders from Gujarat' are insulting the Nandigram movement by playing the communal card, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday, and rejected the claim that she was an outsider in Nandigram.
"As soon as a grand Ram temple is built in Ayodhya, it will restore the glorious history of Ayodhya," he said.
United States President Barack Obama will on Saturday meet the Dalai Lama, defying Chinese pressure to shun the Tibetan spiritual leader. "This meeting underscores the President's strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity and the protection of human rights for Tibetans," a White House statement said. Obama last met the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace laureate, in February 2010.
'Jinnah developed a belief that Gandhi had stolen the tag of the leader of the Indian people from him and that he later used religion to reduce Gandhi's idea of a united India to naught was his revenge.'
'The response to savagery and mass injustice is never a persistent howl.' 'There will be, among the victims, those who choose to forget the scars, those who go on living, those who challenge the overall environment of sentimentality.' 'And the more effort you put into including these other voices, into assimilating these spoilsports, the more balanced your depiction of the tragedy in question will be,' observes Sreehari Nair.
Welcoming the Allahabad high court ruling declaring that conversion for the sole purpose of marriage is not valid, the chief minister also said posters would be put up of those involved in 'love jihad', a derogatory coinage referring to the alleged campaign of Muslims forcing Hindu girls to convert in the guise of love.
He may have been in the news for all the wrong reasons but the greater irony is that Muslim stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui's best jokes ridicule Muslims, and are wolfed down by Muslims, who form the majority of his 177,000 Instagram followers, notes Jyoti Punwani.
Addressing a rally in Lucknow in support of the CAA, Shah threw the challenge for the debate to Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati. He also declared that the construction of a Ram temple 'touching the skies' in Ayodhya will begin within three months.
'After meeting the prime minister and Amit Shah, Yogi has come out with his position secure till the assembly election.'
Pakistan's 'approach is one of getting even, an eye for an eye, or death by a thousand cuts.' 'The entire effort is to be the equal of India. Unfortunately, the reality is that this can never be the case.' 'India will always be the bigger, economically stronger, technologically more self-reliant country.' 'Therein, lies the dilemma Pakistan faces which leads it to perennial enmity with India,' notes Ambassador Gautam Bambawale in the Air Marshal Y V Malse Memorial Lecture 2019.
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