UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi today said the secular traditions of Kerala, as reflected in events like Nehru Trophy boat race, was the best example for the rest of the country to follow.
YSR Congress Party President and Member of Parliament Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday triggered a new round of political speculations when he praised Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The Left parties, which severed links with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance on the issue of Indo-US nuke deal, are inclined to have a fresh understanding with secular partners in the ruling alliance, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar claimed on Wednesday.
'This is the first time since Independence that we are facing such a despairing situation.'
Amid a raging debate over intolerance, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday deplored "blatant violation" of the right to freedom of thought by "some violent extremist groups" and shared the view that it was an "assault on the nation".
'The entire swathe of Internet trolls -- who now apparently serve as the ideological brains-trust of the BJP -- would have looked at each other in puzzlement, thinking: What kind of warning is that?' says Mihir S Sharma.
Narendra Modi on Friday mocked Sonia Gandhi's recent invocation of god in which she prayed that the country be saved from the "Modi model", saying it showed how big a problem she is facing as she had never before referred to god in her speeches.
Rajshahi University professor AFM Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, 58, was murdered within 50 metres of his residence in the country's northwestern city of Rajshahi, police said.
The CPI-M today indicated that it was trying to lure some United Progressive Alliance constituents for its "secular alternative" and ruled out supporting the Congress in the post-Lok Sabha poll scenario.
Marandi was the chief minister of Jharkhand from November 2000 to March 2003.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said the decision of the merger has already been taken and there was no question of going back on it.
If Uddhav continues in this mode as a serious-minded, capable leader with his hands firmly on the steering wheel, and succeeds in enabling Maharashtra weather the current storm, there is every possibility of his emergence as a leader who will be seen as someone who is ready to play a larger role, observes Amulya Ganguli.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said that she would not allow the soil of her country to be used for any kind of extremism and hoped that India would also reciprocate on the matter.
India is the birthplace of four major world religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is home to the world's third largest Muslim population, a diverse community of sects that includes Sufis, Shia, and Bohra. Roughly three per cent of India's citizens are Christian, and notably, Christians are the religious majority in three of India's 29 states, she said.
A team of the FBI of the US met detectives in Dhaka on Sunday and offered their technical expertise.
Amid reports of its closeness with the Third Front, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday said that it was with the United Progressive Alliance but dismissed suggestions that Congress was the only national party in the country.
"It is most unfortunate that the UPA government, whose formation was made possible by secular forces, has been unable to confront the Hindutva forces and on the contrary adopted a vacillating position," CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told a press conference on the sidelines of the 19th CPI-M Congress. This, he said, was "seen in the unwillingness to punish those guilty of complicity in communal rioting and carnage, to help the victims to access justice."
Left parties have kick-started their pre-poll exercise with their top leaders deciding to woo 'secular' parties in both the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance to join forces and provide an alternative to the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Bengal, where the electoral discourse has mostly steered clear of divisive agenda, has been drawn into the vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of fanning communal sentiments ahead of elections.
Attempting to form a "secular and democratic alternative" to dethrone the Congress from power at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India on Sunday announced their decision to enter into an alliance ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.
In an address at a leading think-tank in Paris, Shringla mentioned two recent terrorist incidents in France, one of which he said had its origins in Pakistan, noting that the civilised world needs to act with firmness to address the threat of terrorism.
'The BJP, or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, are celebrating their biggest ideological and philosophical victory in some time,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Several Muslim leaders on Friday echoed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Bharatiya Janata Party's sentiments on the Section 377 issue with some even warning the United Progressive Alliance government that it would be taught a lesson in the 2014 polls over its move to file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict against homosexuality.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday did not rule out Sharad Pawar as prime minister after the coming Lok Sabha elections, as it sought to put pressure on Congress for convening an early meeting of the United Progressive Alliance to chalk out a common strategy and to finalise seat sharing with allies.
'These reports of cases being very low in other states, is it true? Are the numbers believable?'
There was considerable disquiet in the Congress after Mukherjee accepted the invitation of the RSS to address its workers at its headquarters in Nagpur.
It is also concerned at report of torture, mistreatment, discrimination and corruption in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.
'If the Congress party wants to take on the BJP it cannot do it in this fuddy-duddy, grand old party, style.'
'The situation in the country is very scary.' 'There is an increasing attack on the Constitutional democratic rights of our people.'
Many parties are already in the election mode -- so is the Left, but we do not make much noise about it, says CPI general secretary A B Bardhan.
While corruption destroys the moral fibre of a nation, its society and people, secularism as espoused in this country is cynical secularism, a sham perpetrated during election time and communalism is a spectre, a bogey raised by these great champions of Indian secularism to secure and perpetuate their vote bank, says Maneck Davar.
Ashwani Kumar, in a lecture at the prestigious Trinity College, Dublin, said the recent incident of "oppressive enforcement" of the colonial law of sedition against students protesting in university campuses has raised several questions about the future of India's liberal democracy.
'The India that 1857 represents is not the India where a Hindu police officer from Gujarat kills a Muslim in a fake, fascist, communal encounter.'
'The jurisprudence of a modern secular State has to be strictly rational.' 'Rather than aastha and aqeedah, our jurisprudence as well as the executive and legislature have to act in accordance with Constitutional rationality,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to appoint Hindutva hardliner Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister has drawn an avalanche of reactions from opposition parties.
Stoking a controversy, the Shiv Sena on Sunday demanded that voting rights of Muslims should be revoked as the community has often been used to play vote bank politics.
A day after he defied the party whip and voted in favour of the United Progressive Alliance government's confidence motion, Janata Dal-Secular MP Shivanna was on Wednesday expelled from the party. JD-S secretary general Danish Ali told PTI that steps have been initiated to disqualify him from the Lok Sabha and a letter was being sent to the speaker in this regard.
Sonia told party MPs to work with dedication, loyalty and enthusiasm with Rahul to strengthen the party and said he was her boss to.
'My party has taken the decision to vote against the motion of no-confidence and it remains unchanged. The nuclear deal is not the reflection of the nation's mood. It does not represent the people's wish,' he said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances