Europeans believe that what is under attack is their way of life, their secular faith, the long-fought right to keep religion out of the public sphere, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'Nehru's inability to take religion seriously as a category led to serious errors of judgement in his dealings with the Muslim League, and later, also with the Hindu right.'
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.
'One after the other, they have committed four murders (Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh)...' 'They feel they will not have to face the consequences of their actions as it is a favourable time for them.'
'Now, it feels like the darkness has descended again.'
The DMK chief said it was a 'resounding victory' given to his party led alliance by the people of Tamil Nadu.
A day after the Congress brainstormed over its electoral reverses, senior leader M Veerappa Moily on Monday said Sonia Gandhi should take "full control" of the party with a free hand to change non-performing leaders, and asserted that a "mere culture of tweets and social media propaganda" would not take the organisation forward.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".
"Practice your religion but don't abuse and indulge in hate speech and writings," the Vice President said at an event organised to mark the 150th death anniversary of Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara, a spiritual leader and social reformer from the Kerala Catholic community, at Mannanam near Kottayam.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
President Kovind, who arrived in Dhaka earlier in the day on his maiden State visit at the invitation of his counterpart M Abdul Hamid to attend the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971, held delegation-level talks with him which was followed by a banquet.
It is unusual in democratic countries two decades into the 21st century for laws to become regressive instead of progressive. But that is clearly what is happening in India today and more of this is ahead, asserts Aakar Patel.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari, United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi paid tributes to Pandit Nehru at his memorial Shanti Van in the nation's capital.
Congress is the only other horse in the race for national power, never mind how distant. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah know better than to take the Congress lightly, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Jim Sarb and Ishwak Singh are a force to reckon with and deliver a soaring tribute to the two pillars of India's science world in Rocket Boys, applauds Sukanya Verma.
'He always avoided eating non-vegetarian food in presence of his deputies if they were fasting for the month of Shravan.' 'There were no Hindu, Jain, Parsi and Swaminarayan festivals he would forget.' 'He was a conservative Muslim and therefore could get along well with conservative Hindus.'
Where does one find a man who shows no bitterness or animosity towards Hindus, even after a frenzied Hindu mob burnt his house down?, Jyoti Punwani asks in this tribute to a truly extraordinary Indian.
Election will be held in 60 out of the total 294 seats in the first two phases of the eight-phased polls which is slated to stretch from March 27 to April 29. The date for the second phase of election is April 1.
Speaking at length about the last two decades of Modi's political journey, Singh said, "A true leadership is identified by its intent and integrity and in both cases, Modiji is 24-carat gold. There is not a single stain of corruption on him even after being the head of a government for 20 years."
The meeting comes ahead of the party's Punjab unit revamp and amid reports that Sidhu may get a key role in the organisation.
KCR said despite 'bhaashanbaazi', industries are closing down, the nation's GDP is crashing and the rupee is falling drastically compared to the US dollar.
'Mr Kejriwal is almost exactly the package that Mr Modi offers: Personal aggrandisement, the building of a personality cult through full-page newspaper ads day after day, populist schemes involving subsidies (whether affordable or required), abandonment of secular principles, exaggerated claims and no checks on leadership,' points out T N Ninan.
The prime minister pointed out that such infamous incidents occurred during the Congress rule.
The candidate is from the DMK's ruling family, and the sky is the limit -- for both expenses and expectations.
Pakistan must be deleted once and for all from the vocabulary of Kashmir-related negotiations with a finality that is irrevocable, asserts Vivek Gumaste.
'Mamata wanted the Congress in alliance with the BJP in Bengal against the Left Front government.' 'Pranab Mukherjee opposed it, stating it would amount to compromising on secularism.' 'In 2021, Mamata defeats the BJP and becomes a champion of secularism.'
'2020 will show whether India's troubled domestic economic and political house reveals a mismatch in their strategic association or whether closer strategic ties are yet possible,' says Anita Inder Singh.
'Every Congressperson is disillusioned in different degrees.'
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which is going to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core "vote bank".
A u-turn by the BJP will be an apocalyptic occurrence in Indian politics and society, argues Amulya Ganguli.
'At the end of the day, it is politics.' 'It's like a game of chess. You win some, you lose some,'
'Mazhab nahi sikhata apas mein bair rakhna,' a Delhi court said while directing Indian Medical Association president J A Jayalal not to use the organisation's platform to propagate any religion, and cautioned him that loose comments cannot be expected from a person chairing the responsible post.
'Whatever the BJP tries to do, they will not be able to make a big mark in Kerala.'
The Opposition must understand that while 2024 may draw mileage from the growing resentment towards the BJP, the real battle and proof of how well India learnt from its disastrous dalliance with the Right-wing, will be in 2029, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Saturday pledged unconditional support to the Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress alliance for the August 21 bypoll to 10 assembly seats in Bihar to keep the Bharatiya Janaat Party away from power.
The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court.
JD-S leaders have already dropped enough hints about the party being open to such a possibility.
'When it comes to national politics, the Modi-Shah BJP has successfully redefined secularism.' 'If a party like the Congress has to have a future, it has to move closer to the secular centre from the far Left where its Left infatuation during the UPA years dragged it,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
'The party dropped me as a spokesperson for showing a roadmap. It shows that the party either has a high level of arrogance or they are completely detached from ground realities.'
Meanwhile, the Archbishops secretary, Father Robinson Rodrigues said that such prayer campaigns took place before every general election.
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