Amidst reports of Congress' confabulations with the Rashtriya Janata Dal for a secular alliance in Bihar in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday took a dig at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the Congress preferring Lalu Prasad over him and said such an 'opportunistic' alliance was not a cause of worry for it.
Here's the full text of address to the nation by President Ram Nath Kovind on the eve of the Republic Day 2022.
'No one talks about the Mumbai riots anymore, though like Delhi 1984, the guilty have not been punished. In Gujarat, many powerful leaders of the state's ruling party are in jail for their role in the riots... In Mumbai, only one politician of the Shiv Sena, a former MP, was convicted of hate speech, along with two other Shiv Sainiks, one of whom was a corporator and the other a junior functionary... So why the apathy? Could it be because despite these statistics and the widely-publicised findings of the Srikrishna Commission, what remained in public consciousness was the violence by the Muslims, thanks to a highly efficient Sena propaganda machine? There's no demand for it, but would an SIT probe into the closed cases of the Mumbai riots help today?' The fadeout of Mumbai's riots from public debate can be called a triumph of the communal State, argues Jyoti Punwani.
'Despite Modi's high-flown rhetoric about good-neighbourly relationships in South Asia, he lacks a road map how to proceed -- be it with Bangladesh or with Sri Lanka and Pakistan... But a deeper question arises here: Did he duck on his own accord or under the diktat from the RSS, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Why assail the Tibetan leader at a time when many in China realise that the Buddhist monk is the best bet if Beijing is seriously trying to find a solution to the Tibetan issue?' asks Claude Arpi.
'We need to be in a perpetual state of aggression, and able to swiftly change the goal posts to keep Pakistan in a state of imbalance,' argues Sanjeev Nayyar.
The rally was being planned by UK-based Kashmiri groups to mark the first death anniversary of the commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist outfit killed in a gun battle with Indian armed forces in the Kashmir Valley on July 8 last year.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
'This is basically aimed at vilifying Nehruvian ideals.' 'Why?' 'Because, Nehruvian leadership is seen by Hindutva forces as the one which did not let them have their Hindu Raj.' 'The Hindutva proponents have always assumed that had Sardar become the first prime minister, India could never have become a secular State,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
Opposition parties ask the government to listen to the concern of the intellectuals returning awards.
'This society discriminates against a girl from the time she is born, in school, at home, everywhere,' young lawyer Anima Muyarath, who was suspended by the local bar association for a post on her Facebook page, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
The families of the Muslim youth from Hashimpura who were shot dead 28 years ago had some committed supporters in their long struggle for justice.
'Both reflect prejudice and short-sightedness peculiar to Mr Modi's way of thinking.'
'I do hope the Patel family sues the hell out of the state of Alabama, and I hope the Hindu American Foundation and other community organisations are helping with legal aid and monetary support. For, there is reason to believe that it is religious and racial bias that led to the incident: In other words, a hate crime. There is no reason to suffer that silently.'
The SC bench said the report of CFTRI, where the samples of Maggi noodles were tested following earlier orders of the court, will form the basis for the proceedings before the NCDRC.
'A robust electoral democracy provides the institutional basis for the generation and regeneration of political hope.'
Important for India was Xi's meeting with representatives of PLA officers and soldiers stationed in Tibet. The video of the encounter was interesting to watch, especially the large number of lieutenant generals and major generals, observes Claude Arpi.
Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam, meanwhile, 'rejected outright' the NCW's recommendation
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday ordered an urgent investigation into a decision by Margaret Thatcher's government to send an SAS officer to India in 1984 to advise Indira Gandhi in planning Operation Bluestar to flush out militants holed up in the Golden Temple.
'If India does venture across the LoC, it will evoke a strong response.'
HRD Minister Javadekar responding to criticism of politicising the event said the UGC communication reflected "patriotism not politics", and it is not compulsory for the academic institutions to organise any such event.
Stoking a fresh controversy, Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju on Monday alleged that the then Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan had pushed for the elevation of a Madras high court judge with "bad reputation" to the Supreme Court.
The apex court struck down Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code dealing with the offence stating it was archaic and violative of right to equality.
Support from the committee gives Xi an indefinite extension on the reins of power, which will surely result in hawkish and insular policies. It does not bode well for relations with the USA, or with anyone else who does not bow the knee to Beijing, for that matter.
The 3,000-strong force, plus its highly trained dog squad, is responsible solely for the protection of one person: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.
Caste-based violence is on the rise in Tamil Nadu, but the state government stays in denial, says R Ramasubramanian
The Congress on Thursday dared Narendra Modi to an open debate on his governance model in Gujarat, while rubbishing his attack on the United Progressive Alliance over the economic slowdown.
'These letters are part of my communication with the students to encourage them to vote and to introduce them to academic discussions on what good governance and development is all about' Dr Fraser Mascarenhas, principal of Mumbai's St Xavier's College, remains unmoved even as the Bharatiya Janata Party complains to the Election Commsion over his email to students on the Gujarat model. Prasanna D Zore reports from Mumbai
Sikkim's new chief minister will have to achieve growth without compromising nature.
'Little about this regime, given its vindictive credo, is a complete surprise. But we were still taken aback by the CBI raid as it was a complete abuse of due process.' 'These are not legal inquiries, but abusive use of State power. They are not legitimate investigations, but a witch-hunt.' 'Ours is a typical, classic case of the State and its organs being used as an outlet for motivated vendetta of the vilest kind.'
'Having a voice at the table means the other side has to show up to listen. It became clear that wouldn't happen,' says actor Maulik Pancholy, one of the 10 members who resigned from the US president's advisory commission on Asian Americans.
Had it not been for the intellectual dominance and political legitimacy of the Leftist philosophy since 1970, would EPW have become what it did? After all, there were other more established journals around then, says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
The curative petition and other legal remedies still available to Yakub Memon are part of his rights as a prisoner condemned to death. Does the Maharashtra government want to deprive him of these rights, asks Jyoti Punwani.
'The answer is no, the entire country's is.' 'So why such obsession with Delhi?' 'But the most powerful people in India live here: The prime minister, civil servants, Supreme Court judges, MPs, diplomats, dadas of the media...' 'If they can't deal with their own problem, what chance does the rest of the country have, with its foul air, dying rivers, frothing lakes, and crumbling mountains?' says Shekhar Gupta.
Thursday's savage murder of writer Avijit Roy in Dhaka raises troubling questions about religion-inspired terror in Bangladesh.
'You have to do good work and also do good politics.' 'I think that part was missing, communication was an issue, but we have bridged that gap.'
Has death penalty in the statute served as a deterrent for heinous crime?
The development is significant for Nestle since arguments in the Bombay High Court over testing and sampling went in the company's favour, too.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Monday said it was in "our best interest" to heed the advice of the Constitution as not doing so would result in a "sharp descent into chaos".
A former law intern, who accused ex-Supreme Court judge A K Ganguly of sexual harassment, has hit back at him for denying the charges and hinted that she may file a police complaint.
