'If Mr Modi and Mr Shah have made a poisonous, polarising campaign their brahmastra for 2019, Mamata Banerjee is showing them its limitations,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The new-look, $10 million Minneapolis Hindu Temple is a labour of love and faith, discovers Arthur J Pais
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday accused the Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Orissa of working under "pressure" from missionary elements and the Centre to protect real "killers" of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and demanded a central law to ban religious conversion.
Security measures have been heightened in Prayagraj and surrounding areas for the auspicious occasion.
Who were the people of ancient Indian civilizations? Has archaeological evidence confirmed the existence of common features of Vedic and Indus culture(s)? Is there an indigenous continuity of the culture in India and Pakistan or did the people come from outside the subcontinent? A two-day international conference on the Indus Valley Civilization, organized by the Loyola Marymount University in Los Angles, California, will attempt to answer some of these questions.
More than 5,000 security men were deployed and a helicopter pressed into surveillance on Wednesday in riot-hit Kandhamal district of Orissa as Christians there prepared to celebrate Christmas amidst a feeling of insecurity.The government sealed all entry points to Kandhamal, which witnessed large-scale violence following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmananda Saraswati.The state government has identified Sambalpur and Sundergarh as sensitive districts.
Bowing to pressure from various quarters, the Sangh Parivar on Friday night called off their proposed Orissa bandh on Christmas day following talks with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The state-wide bandh had been called by Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati Sradhanjali Samiti in protest against alleged failure of the state government in arresting the culprits and conspirators involved in the killing of Swami Laxmanananda in Kandhamal district.
Jalanga or its neighbouring villages do not have a single bank branch. The nearest bank branch, that of UCO Bank, where Das has an account, is located at Bhadrak, around 20 km from the village.
MBA aspirants share their experiences and apprehensions for CAT 2009.
The arrest of Hindu activists in connection with the Malegaon blast has put several investigating agencies on rewind mode. If the revelations by Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit are to be believed then several bomb blasts in the country need to be reinvestigated.
The disquiet over the Kandhamal riots, mutually acceptable seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls and the poor show of the saffron ally in recent civic elections could have contributed in equal measure to the parting of ways between Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party after 11 years.
Puri Shankaracharya Swami Nischalananda Saraswati, along with his disciples, paid obeisance to the idols on their respective chariots.
In the first conviction ten months after riots rocked the Kandhamal district in Orissa, a tribal leader has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment by a local court in Phulbani on charge of setting ablaze a house of a man belonging to a minority community.
The diyas or earthen lamps, a must in Diwali festivities, can be bought for as low as a few rupees to as high as nearly Rs 10,000 a piece. Besides various high-street markets in the city, a number of online shopping websites including eBay and Amazon have also stacked up Diwali diyas for sale.
The communal violence in Kandhmal in the aftermath of the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati and four of his disciples, has so far claimed 26 lives, Orissa Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra said in Bhubhaneshwar on Monday.
Alarmed over fresh violence ahead of the festival season, the Orissa government on Monday asked the Centre to allow it to retain Central para-military forces dispatched in the wake of Kandhamal riots till October end, official sources said. Orissa has already received 40 companies (one company comprises 90 personnel) of Central para-military forces after communal violence erupted following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmananda Saraswati.
The Orissa government on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that the situation in Kandhamal district of Orissa, where violence broke out following the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmananad Saraswati on August 24, has considerably improved.According to the affidavit of the state government, VHP leader Praveen Togadia was not permitted to take out a procession with the ashes of the slain Swami on September 7. There has been no fresh violence.
Amid suspicion of Maoists' involvement in the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmananada Saraswati and four others at Jaleshpeta ashram in Orissa's Kandhamal district, the police on Wednesday issued sketches of two suspected killers. "The crime branch has issued the sketches seeking information from the public on the two suspected persons," DGP Gopal Chandra Nanda said.
A new outfit calling itself M2 and claiming to support the Hindus and tribal people has surfaced in Orissa, raising doubts on whether the Maoist cadre in the state are divided. The outfit came out in support of the Hindus and tribal people after the Communist Party of India-Maoists claimed responsibility for the murder of religious leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in August.
The Orissa government on Thursday assured the Supreme Court that it will not allow Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia's proposed yatra carrying the ashes of slain Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in the state. Following the assurance, a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan directed the state government to ensure that no untoward incident takes place in the riot-hit Kandhamal district.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Orissa government to place its report, relating to steps taken to protect the lives of people belonging to the Christian community in riot-hit Kandhamal district, by Thursday.The apex court also asked the state government to submit an affidavit on whether permission was granted to Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia for his proposed yatra, carrying the ashes of slain leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
It is time to welcome back Ma Durga, who is on her annual five-day visit to her father Himalaya's home, with her sons Ganesh and Kartik and daughters Saraswati and Lakshmi.
Prohibitory orders were on Sunday clamped in communally-sensitive Kandhmal district and security tightened across Orissa after the killing of a prominent Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and his five associates sparked protests in the state with a prayer house being torched.
Here are glimpses of some of the celebrations.
The invaders killed us but never portrayed Hindus as terrorists. This secular dispensation is celebrating Diwali with that label gifted to Hindus. It will not remain unanswered. Hindus as a mainline faith never never never believed in any kind of cowardice that's the hallmark of terrorism we see today, says Tarun Vijay
The Home Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Orissa, met the victims living in relief camps set up after a series of communal clashes following the killing of 85-year-old VHP leader Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in August last year.
The decision came a day after the Allahabad high court asked the Centre and the state government to file counter affidavits within a week on a petition challenging the decision to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj.
Cognizant Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Cognizant, has extended a financial aid of approximately Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) to Maharashtra-based non-governmental organisations.
All entry points to the riot-ravaged Kandhamal district of Orissa were sealed and security tightened in view of a special prayer meeting to be held later on Friday to pay homage to slain VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.
Protesters torched 24 houses in Kandhamal on Saturday as the death toll in the week-long communal violence rose to 14, with the recovery of two more bodies in the Orissa district.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was headed for the curfew-bound district to review the situation in the affected areas and the Ashram at Jalespeta, where Vishwa Hindu Parishad Laxamanada Saraswati was gunned down along with three others on August 23, leading to the violence.
Asking the Orissa government to order an expeditious probe into the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four others in Kandhamal district, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Sunday expressed outrage over the incident.Advani said, "The fact that he was assassinated on the auspicious day of Janmashtami while celebrating the festival, reveals an ominous motive behind the incident, suspected to have been committed by Maoists."
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Orissa government to ensure protection for the Christian community in the state and said withdrawal of paramilitary forces should only take place in co-ordination with the Centre
Patnaik's image of a "clean and honest" politician is widely regarded as the reason why he was able to withstand a spirited challenge thrown by the Bharatiya Janata Party, analysts say of perhaps the lone regional satrap who cannot even properly speak the language of his native state.
A Facebook user, who had allegedly posted hate comments against Christianity, was on Tuesday slapped with a case after the community leaders lodged a complaint accusing him of disrupting peace and harmony.
Yoga guru Swami Ramdev has criticised religious conversion by inducement and said he would work to build a healthy and stronger India by taking the benefits of yoga and ayurveda to more than six lakh villages in two years.
The next general election must be held by May of 2009, and we already appear to have a clear choice. The National Democratic Alliance announced that L K Advani will be the prime minister should it come to power. Now, there is a fair degree of clarity that Dr Manmohan Singh shall lead the United Progressive Alliance if it should be returned to office. But how about the Third Front? Transparency is no friend of the Third Front!
Photographs of the saffron cadres brandishing rifles, swords and even lathis (sticks) in the camps in some Bajrang Dal-managed schools had gone viral on social media and news channels.
The incident comes against the backdrop of a raging debate on lack of scrutiny of the curriculum and content taught in schools.
While there was no official communication about the closed-door meeting, speculation was rife that the Kanchi seer had been sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with some secret formula for an amicable settlement to the centuries-old dispute that had triggered several incidents of communal violence across the country in the past.
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