Decorated lights decked up buildings and earthen lamps dotted houses as people across the country celebrated Diwali.
The German police had received information about plans to carry out a bomb attack on a gurdwara in Essen by a group of teenagers from one of the suspects' mother some weeks before an explosive was detonated there, media reports have claimed.
The Centre on Wednesday said it would not like to interfere in the construction of a memorial in the Golden Temple for those killed during the Operation Blue Star by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, respecting the rights of such organisations bestowed by the Constitution.
'You shouldn't mistreat Muslims, you shouldn't mistreat Sikhs, you shouldn't mistreat anyone you perceive to be the other.'
Days after a number of families were evicted from 'encroached land' in three districts of Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday urged the minority community to adopt a 'decent family planning policy' for population control to reduce poverty.
Festivals of Lohri and Bhogi were celebrated in various parts of the country with fervour on Wednesday while Indians geared up for Makar Sankranti on Thursday.
Nothing would please our adversaries if the court verdict sees triumphalism on the part of the majority and sullen anger of the minority, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'She preserved national unity against great odds.'
As the number of cases crossed 2,56,000 with more than 7,100 fatalities, according to Union health ministry figures, and the country made a calibrated exit from the lockdown in non-containment zones, shop shutters in many malls went up for the first time since March 25 but the sprawling retail places were eerily empty.
Three Sikh men and a woman convicted of carrying out a revenge attack on Lt Gen (retd) K S Brar, the hero of the 1984 Operation Blue Star, were on Tuesday sentenced from 10-and half years to 14 years in prison by a British court.
Interestingly, the choice of August 5 as the day of the bhoomi pujan coincides with the abolition of Kashmir's special status on the same day a year ago. Perhaps the RSS-BJP wants August 5 to be remembered as the date on which the foundation stone of their cherished Hindu rashtra was laid, notes Amulya Ganguli.
British military's role in the 1984 Operation Blue Star to flush out militants from the Golden Temple was "limited" and "purely advisory", Foreign Secretary William Hague told the British parliament on Tuesday.
"We direct the government to either bring in a law or an ordinance (for the construction of the Ram temple). There will be no compromise on this," Ramanandacharya Hansdevacharya, the patron of the ABSS, said in his concluding remarks at the conclave.
Foreign Secretary William Hague is set to inform parliament on Tuesday about Britain's alleged involvement in planning Operation Bluestar to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple in 1984, with Sikh groups criticising the probe conducted by the government.
Addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone of the new building and performing the ground-breaking ceremony, Modi said many new things were being done in the new Parliament House, which will increase the efficiency of the MPs as modern methods will be incorporated in the work culture.
No member of the Congress' first family has visited Ayodhya since the demolition of the Babri Masjid 24 years ago, in December 1992.
The spectator size too has been reduced to 25,000, officials said.
A United States court in New York has set a pre-trial hearing in April in the lawsuit filed by a Sikh rights group asking that Indian right wing organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh be designated as a "foreign terrorist organisation" for alleged violent acts against religious minorities in India.
The 79-year-old widely respected and popular leader steered the Congress in 2017 to a landslide victory in the 117-member assembly to occupy the chief minister's post for the second time.
The BJP has many ruthless leaders with super-sharp political minds. But none has all this and Yogi's charisma and personal ambition, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Amid the chanting of hymns, preceded by a gun salute and band played by the Assam Police, the state's longest serving chief minister's mortal remains were consigned to flames by his son Gaurav Gogoi.
Rahul, who was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and some other Congress leaders, paid floral tributes at the memorial inside the Jallianwala Bagh in the morning.
The Muslim parties also attacked 2003 ASI report which had found certain remains, idols and artefacts suggesting existence of a structure before Babri Masjid.
The report comes a day after Human Resource Minister S Subramaniam said the Cabinet had decided on allowing and renewing visas and permits for Hindu priests, musicians and artisans from India.
Samy Vellu, the President of the Malaysian Indian Congress, met Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar and urged him to end the ban on the recruitment of priests from India. Vellu told the minister that the temples and gurdwaras in Malaysia urgently needed approximately 500 and 300 priests respectively.The minister told Vellu that the matter had to be brought up at Cabinet level for the decision to be revoked.
Pujaris from the Sringeri Math Karnataka did the rituals for the 'bhoomi pujan' at the new Parliament building site.
Bhindranwale, the cleric-turned-militant leader, who was killed on June 6, 1984 by the Indian army in Operation Blue Star while flushing out armed militants from the Golden Temple premises in Amritsar.
It is mischievous to imply that the proposed bill to grant citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists from other nations implies that Muslims and Christians are not Indians, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Five days after the tragic shooting incident inside its premises which resulted in the death of six Sikh worshippers, the Wisconsin Gurdwara was on Thursday opened for the public.
A Sikh rights group has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court in New York to designate Bharatiya Janata Party's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a "foreign terrorist organisation".
With a nationwide lockdown in place, it may have become harder than usual for people, especially for the migrant daily wage earners and the homless. The government has assured people that supply of essential items will continue unabated. But while governments across the country are working hard to provide food to people, there are good samaritans who are helping out fellow citizens. From providing food to sanitizers and masks, these people are nothing short of a godsend.
As debate raged over raising of a memorial for those killed during Operation Blue Star in 1984, the the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee, in a controversial move, honoured family members of the two assassins of General A S Vaidya in the Golden Temple complex.
Amid separatist slogans and "honouring" of death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana, the 28th anniversary of Operation Bluestar to flush out militants from Sikh holy shrine the Golden Temple, was on Wednesday observed at Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat, an event from which Punjab's ruling Shiromani Akali Dal kept away.
8 instances when Indian movies and Web shows were neck deep in trouble!
The six victims of the senseless shootout at a Gurudwara in Wisconsin, United States, including its president and a priest, have been described as loving, dedicated and deeply religious people.
The meeting, to be chaired by Union Home Secretary RK Singh, and to be attended by Army, Maharashtra police and others, will also review whether there was any security lapse anywhere leading to the assassination attempt on 78-year-old Brar on Sunday
The anger and the hurt caused by the military action in the Golden Temple in 1984 continue to linger, says senior analyst B Raman.
Avtar Singh, president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak committee which controls and runs Sikh shrines, told rediff.com that he plans to lodge its protest with the United States ambassador in India against the comment made by television anchor Jay Leno on Harmandir Sahib while presenting a programme on US elections.
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