Yogi Adityanath on Monday completed 100 days in office as Uttar Pradesh chief minister but it was a low-key anniversary with no big event to showcase the achievements of the government.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday inaugurated its controversial yatra from Ayodhya amidst a massive crackdown launched by the Uttar Pradesh administration which has arrested senior VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, and over 500 people.
'Get lost from here, you scoundrel. Nobody in this administration will help you,' the CM shouted at me.
'The disquiet in the Sangh is, of course, over demonetisation.' 'But more than that, it is about the growing centralisation in the running of the government and party,'
'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.
Controversial Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sakshi Maharaj on Sunday declared the Ram temple at Ayodhya will be built under the Centre's BJP government, which has "four more years to go", drawing sharp criticism from opposition Congress party.
Memon, 53, was found guilty of conspiracy in 2007 for the serial blasts that killed over 250 people.
Elect the eunuchs and they will prove their honesty in contrast to a practicing politician. Without any kith and kin, they can at least be a catalyst sorely needed for minimising, if not uprooting nepotism and favouritism that breeds corruption, says Ram Ugrah.
According to an insider, "Winning is all that matters to the BJP. The leaders were warned that he was an undesirable character but they said look at his victory margin."
BJP claimed close to 116 lawmakers from rival parties appeared to have voted for Kovind.
Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi appears to be on the way out in the wake of his defiance as the Janata Dal-United is all set to replace him with his mentor Nitish Kumar at a meeting of the legislature party on Saturday.
M Karunanidhi was a masterful practitioner of modern-day politics, wielding considerable influence beyond his own state, in the corridors of power in New Delhi, for a long time and sewing up alliances with both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Sharat Pradhan secures exclusive access to the Justice Vishnu Sahai report and discovers it blames two BJP MLAs, a former BSP MP and his cohorts, local intelligence officials and the media for the horrific Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, but attributes no blame to the Samajwadi Party government in the state.
Violence has struck Uttar Pradesh again, this time in Meerut, where clashes between locals and the police has left 20 wounded.
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.
A nine-member Bharatiya Janata Party team on Wednesday visited Kairana village in Uttar Pradesh to review the situation over alleged migration of Hindus
Congress leadership would take a call on who would be its deputy chief minister on Tuesday.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
According to reports, Amit Shah has warned all of them and told them not to make controversial statements.
When political parties opt for alliances, it is to win an election, and if post-poll, to come to power by cobbling together the numbers to secure a majority. This has been a striking feature of Indian politics, throwing up such screens as 'coalition dharma' to hide all ills, including corruption, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
What does one deduce from this silence? That the minorities in the BJP era have been muted, perhaps even coercively, asks Sajad Ahmad Dar.
'Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.' 'He just cannot think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
Modi and Shah can't afford to lose any of the 24 per cent Dalit vote of 2014, says Shekhar Gupta.
'That the commandments to officialdom were issued by a BJP functionary and not a minister is a reflection of the Yogi government's work style.'
In the dangal of UP politics, much as Muzaffarnagar wants to leave its past behind, the shadows are never be far behind.
'Nitish's claims of development are false. He has only helped corrupt officials.' 'I want to remind Lalu that this is not the 1990s. This is 2015.' 'I am a bahubali for those looting society.'
Meet Anand Kumar, a government clerk who transformed into a real estate and hospitality baron.
'Forming cults around Lalus, Nitishes, Mulayams, Mayawatis and Mamatas will do as much harm to the Republic as the bhakti of the Hindus for Modi will do,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The million dollar question that begs for an answer is: Why is it that an amateurish attempt to convert a handful of Muslims by fringe Hindu elements garners so much attention while large scale systematic attempts to subvert Hinduism go unnoticed or are deliberately overlooked? If this is not double standards then what is, asks Vivek Gumaste.
He said the government had examined the video recording of the February 28 condolence meeting of slain Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Arun Mahaur, where Minister of State for Human Resource Development Ram Shankar Katheria had participated.
'This is an emotional issue and cannot be resolved by law alone.' 'This can be resolved only by creating trust again.' 'So much bloodletting has taken place, there is no point in going on and on.' 'Let us sit together and negotiate'
Prohibitory orders were imposed in Delhi and parts of Karnataka. Police kept tight vigil in Kerala. In Gujarat, 50 people were arrested for Thursday's violence.
Uttar Pradesh is under the scanner again as that state IAS Association has taken on CM Akhilesh Yadav for the suspension of Durga Shakti Nagpal, who campaigned against the sand mafia
'The only narrative before India is what Modi and the BJP is presenting.' 'Nationalism has been taken as a serious plank by the BJP and RSS.' 'They want to keep the nationalism thing alive to make people forget the economic reality.'
'Dalits will only suffer in the days to come.'
Incidents of arson, firing and vandalism were reported from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab as protesters agitated against the dilution of the SC/ST Act.
India's Muslims need to assert their educational and economic upliftment and political empowerment rather than be provoked by communal remarks, says Mohammad Sajjad, reflecting on the Malda riot.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
Natwar Singh's book is un-illuminating, largely self-justificatory, often contradictory, and at times tendentious. He is too preoccupied with depicting himself as a victim of the Congress party's machinations, says Praful Bidwai.
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