VHP general secretary Pravin Togadia claimed the Gujarat elections had proved that 'Hindu bashing is not profitable in India.
Senior BJP leader Kalraj Misra said, "Every time, we have deviated from the hindutva path, the party has suffered a setback. So some rethinking needs to be done."
Rahul made his clash with the Sangh ideology clear amid growing speculations about BJP leader and his cousin Varun Gandhi's entry into Congress, as he said that their ideologies do not match.
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Raj Thackeray's latest political ploy and wonders if this Thackeray versus Thackeray skit will help the BJP finally achieve its goal of ejecting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government from a state that has largely been insulated from the communal disharmony sweeping across parts of north India.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would participate in the Karnataka leg of the "Bharat Jodo Yatra" led by Rahul Gandhi that will be entering the state on September 30, state party chief D K Shivakumar said on Friday.
'A one party-State, with only one kind of Indian,' argues Mihir S Sharma.
'The claim that Hindi unifies our country is absurd. That language is not the mother tongue of a majority of Indians. The move to inpose Hindi on them amounts to enslaving them. The Union Minister's statement is a war cry against the mother tongues of non-Hindi speaking people'
The committee has also recommended highlighting 'Hindu victories' in various battles in the textbooks.
'The allegations of government involvement in targeted assassinations abroad are likely to help, not hurt, the ruling party.' 'True or false, they convey a sense of muscularity and, in some quarters, are celebrated as a harbinger of 'great power' status.'
A day after the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) sought a ban on staging of the Malayalam play Kakkukali, its director Job Madathil on Tuesday accused the critics of having an agenda behind their charges and urged them to watch the drama first.
Former Union minister C K Jaffer Shareif, in a letter to Mukherjee, expressed surprise over the move and said he like other secular people was 'stunned' to hear about his attending the RSS function.
'They have been pursuing their agenda of bulldozing everything and everybody on their way.' 'They suddenly see Rahul Gandhi standing in front of them without fear and fighting against them aggressively.' 'He doesn't show any compromise in his attitude towards fascism.'
'The government may backpedal for now to stave off bad international press and diplomatic demarches, but that it will go ahead with putting religion at the centre of citizenship rules is certain.' 'For it is convinced that this is the magic bullet that will ensure its return to power in 2024,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
A broad range of internal security issues, including those related to Jammu and Kashmir and the naxal problem, were at the centre of the ongoing three-day deliberations between the Sangh Parivar and the government.
A senior police officer told PTI that they were taken into custody after they had offered prayers.
Opposition leaders asked all secular forces to field a joint candidate for presidential elections and have common minimum programme to challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party, reports Archis Mohan.
A huge uproar has been created after an article appeared in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh journal Organiser, which states that Hindus in Kerala lack "a collective consciousness of Godliness", and rationalists in the state "often attack everything dear to Hinduism" with their "street activism".
The Kerala high court on Tuesday declined to interfere with the decision of a Christian woman to marry a Muslim leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, a decision which stirred a political storm in the state after her relatives alleged "love jihad", as she categorically told the court that she has not been illegally detained and she was not interested in speaking to her family at present.
Sources say even some senior pracharaks are in the race to bag top positions in the government.
'Bommai was a minister in my cabinet. It is not ethically correct.'
It is early to make out which way the wind is blowing, but there is no denying that challenges for the BJP, far outweigh the advantages in this region, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
An inquiry has been ordered after R Sooraj, associated with the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle, was assaulted by some students who claimed to be Sangh Parivar supporters.
The BJP can only form a government if the PDP splits.
The Congress is searching high and low for a suitable candidate to take on Narendra Modi in the holy city. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com
Much depends on the BJP's electoral performance in next year's assembly elections. If the party fares well in UP and some states like Goa and Gujarat, it will be able to fob off the attempt at a reappraisal of its Hindutva doctrine, observes Amulya Ganguli.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
The Muslim Rashtriya Manch, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's Muslim wing, has backed the burqa-clad student who was heckled by youth shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans at a Karnataka college, saying 'purdah' is a part of Indian culture.
'The viral video from Una aroused something that Hindu chauvinists and cow-botherers never take into account: Numbers.'
Bhagwat said that as a member of the Sangh Parivar, he is devoted to his organisation and the society.
Top ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders joined a crucial three-day meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliates that began in New Delhi on Wednesday to brainstorm over key social and economic issues including those confronting the Modi government.
The senior leader also said that Jaitley was known and respected for his 'sharp, analytical mind and everyone in the BJP always depended on him for finding solutions to complex issues'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenants are reaching out across the aisle to get key legislation passed.
The death sentence of Nithari serial killings case convict Surender Koli was on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment by the Allahabad high court which rapped the Uttar Pradesh government for the "inordinate and unexplained delay" in deciding his mercy petition.
While the Congress has found success in scoring over the BJP on Twitter and Facebook, it has failed to match the Sangh Parivar's finesse at utilizing WhatsApp as its primary medium to send its message across to the Karnataka electorate, reports Archis Mohan.
A recent interfaith marriage of a Muslim activist of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's youth wing DYFI, has stirred up a political storm after the relatives of the Christian bride alleged "love jihad", with a senior left party leader supporting the charge, only to retract his statement later.
'Every Indian who is concerned about the unity, integrity and the map of India should be worried about this growing divide.'
Sanjay Jha's importance lies in his connections to senior BJP and RSS leaders to maintain a smooth relationship within the NDA government in Bihar and at the Centre and to contest the 2025 Bihar assembly elections together under Nitish Kumar's leadership.