'Once the common man realises that living in harmony, respecting, loving and protecting each other is the real meaning of secularism, and treating everyone equally to safeguard our Constitution and motherland is patriotism, there will be no opportunity for communalism.'
A row erupted over a Republic Day advertisement issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry which carried a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution as it appeared before the 42nd Amendment, without the words 'secular' and 'socialist'.
The BJP enters challenging times where it has been given a task to hold onto the values of Ram in running the country as defined by Narendra Modi in Ayodhya, notes Sheela Bhatt.
The Hindu right-wing body in its mouthpiece taunts "liberals" protesting the Dadri lynching incident, asking what exactly is their idea of India.
'Till today, we don't know how many people died of Covid in India.' 'How many migrated from cities to villages during the Covid pandemic?' 'How many corporates contributed to PM Cares?'
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has distanced itself from its member Bibek Debroy's article suggesting embracing a new constitution, and said the article in no way reflects the views of EAC-PM or Government of India.
In a state where thin margins and minor swings decide electoral outcomes, nothing can be left to chance, even for those relishing the cocooned life, observes Shyam G Memon.
At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled the former state of Jammu and Kashmir did not have any 'internal sovereignty' that was distinguishable from the powers and privileges enjoyed by other states in the country.
The Opposition's stand on the Ayodhya consecration is puzzling. Their only objection seems to be that the BJP has hijacked a religious event for political benefit. In saying this, the Opposition is either being naive or hypocritical, argues Jyoti Punwani.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to the Morcha, the demands which Delhi Chalo has been called include: MSP should be guaranteed as per C2+50 percent formula and, as promised, a law should be made to guarantee it; all the farmers should be made debt free, and all agricultural loan must be waived.
'The time has come for all those believe in a democratic India to stand up and be counted and to make a choice.'
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
Narendra Modi has proved through execution of this event in Ayodhya that amongst all his contemporaries in politics he knows ordinary Indians like none other, notes Sheela Bhatt.
French banking major BNP Paribas is planning to sell its domestic retail broking unit, Sharekhan, according to news reports on Tuesday. The reports even named leading financial institutions as possible suitors. "We would not be able to comment on the mentioned queries at this time," said a company spokesperson in response to a query from Business Standard seeking clarification on the news item.
'This is India, bhai. This kind of country does not exist anywhere in the world.'
The Bombay high court on Sunday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by four students against the Maharashtra government's decision declaring a public holiday on January 22, on the occasion of the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya.
After bumbling for years since 2014, the Modi government seems to believe that massive government expenditure will lead us to prosperity supported by 'seat-of-the-pants' decision-making, observes Debashis Basu.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the district magistrates and superintendents of police of Maharashtra's Yavatmal and Chhattisgarh's Raipur to ensure no hate speeches are made at rallies being held by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and Telangana BJP legislator T Raja Singh over the next one week in their respective jurisdictions.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
'What the film shows is an India, which was headed in a completely different direction than where we are headed.'
As the temple is inaugurated, unfortunately for Advani but unsurprisingly for the rest of us, the architect of the party's rise will not lead the ceremony and claim credit for his achievement, notes Aakar Patel.
'Genuine secularism cannot be built on the backs of Hindus alone.' 'In a pluralistic society every religion is duty bound to respect the rights and sentiments of the others.' 'Vande Mataram was a casualty of minorityism. Bharat Mata Ki Jai cannot be allowed to go the same way,' says Vivek Gumaste.
A rotating chief ministership as a way to appease factions can work only if there is a credible guarantor, explains Aditi Phadnis.
'I somehow felt that Muzaffar Ali was in Aligarh to feel the pulse of the Muslim youth, especially in the darker and harsher times that India is passing through,' notes Mohammad Sajjad.
It was also learnt that Gautam Navlakha, a shareholder in NewsClick, remained involved in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as actively supporting banned Naxal organisations and having anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan's ISI, it stated.
In a statement, Pfaff also noted that the countries Netaji had approached were the only ones willing to support the fight against a common adversary.
Pratinav Anil is able to foresee some agency and assertion on the part of India's Muslims. His hope emanates from the citizenship rights movement of Muslims in 2019-2020, notes Mohammad Sajjad.
'The minority community has been used only for political gains.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was welcomed in Dublin by the voices of Irish children reciting Sanskrit shlokas, took a jibe at the opposition parties back home saying that if this was done in India then it would have raised questions about 'secularism'.
'Secularism is the life of Kerala, and the BJP is trying to poison this atmosphere.'
In an interview to Rediff.com's Anita Katyal, Shambhu Srivastava speaks about the need of breaking out of the communal-secular paradigm and focusing on the Congress party's poor performance and its track record in fuelling communalism.
'You are one of the drops that make that ocean, but when you leave it makes no difference to the ocean.'
Imam Bukhari alleged that a number of Muslims hold important posts in various states and union governments and even the prestigious post of the President but had done nothing for the uplift of the community.
With so much bad news, everybody is hunkering down in readiness for Mr Modi's next radical Big Idea, says Kanika Datta.
The Communist Party of India leader A B Bardhan on Wednesday said there was room for a credible alternative of Left and secular parties in the country to fill the "political vacuum" created by people's rejection of the two alliances led by Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Assembly elections.
'The way discrimination against Muslims has become almost normalised is very upsetting.'
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