'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.
'Nehru's hegemonic politics has been responsible for many ills, which undoubtedly includes Kashmir'
He said it was due to the degradation of moral values that social evils such as rapes, cow slaughter and other evils are happening in the society.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn't hold back on Wednesday when he launched a scathing attack on the Gandhi family and the Congress in Parliament during a debate on the motion of thanks for the president's address.
The deported Rohingyas would face persecution in Myanmar but also, possibly, elimination.
Here are some of the most stunning moments of the week that was.
The Centre has moved the Supreme Court to seek an interim order for the implementation of 4.5 per cent sub-quota for backward classes belonging to minorities in central educational institutions, a move that was quashed by the Andhra Pradesh high court.
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
'Criticism that Amnesty is interested in those in favour of independence for Kashmir is unfounded.'
Opposition parties ask the government to listen to the concern of the intellectuals returning awards.
'The involvement of policemen in either committing the crime or shielding the accused in Kathua and Unna points to a crumbling civil and moral order,' says Amulya Ganguli.
The parade began after President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Ashoka Chakra -- India's highest peacetime gallantry award -- to Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a militant-turned-soldier who laid down his life fighting a group of terrorists in Shopian in Kashmir in November.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wrote a personal letter to her British counterpart Margaret Thatcher soon after the 1984 Operation Bluestar in an attempt to justify her decision to send army to flush out militants from the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine.
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.
Lunch with BS: Sukhbir Singh Badal, deputy chief minister, Punjab
Prime Modi will be visiting the UAE on August 16-17, a first for an Indian PM in 34 years.
'By beheading an Indian soldier, the Pakistan army has demonstrated its proclivity for barbaric medievalism.' 'The strategies adopted and the punishment inflicted by India must be made progressively more stringent with every new act of terrorism till the cost becomes prohibitive for Pakistan,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'And Sir, you are at fault if they don't like you. 'You don't boast of your government's efforts to be the first one to bring in thousands of Indians back home without thinking for a second about their race, religion, language, orientation, or even citizenship,' says Sarang, a reader of Rediff.com.
The JD-U also used the meeting to call for a joint Opposition candidate for the election to the President's post and urged Gandhi to take the lead in the matter.
"In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said.
Amid growing anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US poll campaign, President Barack Obama today made his first visit to a mosque as part of his effort to assure the religious minority of their safety and security and celebrate religious diversity of the country.
'What we are today witnessing is the final act of the Pakistani army trying to retain its turf,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Facebook and Google no longer need to have infantry regiments and cavalry like the East India Company because they are inside everyone's phones listening to our conversations.'
Arrested Lashkar-e-Tayiba bomb-maker Syed Abdul Karim Tunda has told his interrogators that banned Sikh separatist outfit Babbar Khalsa International has deep ties with Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence, and is waiting for an opportunity to strike in Punjab. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Curtains came down on Tuesday evening on campaigning for 57 seats going to poll in the fifth and last phase of bitterly-fought Bihar assembly elections on November five, with acrimonious exchanges provoking showcause notices from the Election Commission to top leaders of rival alliances.
Modi accused the TMC of killing the aspirations of the middle-class people in the state and said the ruling party in West Bengal is known for 'triple T -- Trinamool Tolabaji Tax'.
As the political battle for the future of Maharashtra's political quinquennial future nears its electoral conclusion, Shreekant Sambrani looks at the intertwining nature of national and regional interests and the place for and value of inclusiveness in electoral politics.
'If the Amendment Bill 2016 becomes law, the indigenous people of Assam will become a minority and the language, literature and culture of Assam will be lost.'
Javadekar was at the event, where presence of his ministerial colleague V K Singh last year had drawn flak from the media, for around 20 minutes, and extended his 'best wishes' to the Pakistani people on the sidelines.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley assesses Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's first ever television interview
'There is a design of fundamentalists that the north east must become an Islamic country.'
The soul of India resides in pluralism and tolerance. This plurality of our society has come through assimilation of ideas over centuries. Secularism and inclusion are a matter of faith for us. It is our composite culture which makes us into one nation.
'It is very hard to get the police to file a report against someone from an upper caste.' 'Things are so bad that sometimes we have to sit on a dharna with the body of a Dalit victim to get the police to file a complaint.'
Desis at Madison Square Garden welcomed Narendra Modi with the kind of gusto and reverence unprecedented for any Indian leader visiting the United States.
'For some South Asians, it may be tempting to think "I'm not Muslim, this doesn't really affect me".' 'But please know, it affects all of us,' says Arun Venugopal, a reporter at WNYC in New York.
Dr Behera speaks about how the nationwide positive reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir indicates that the very idea of India is changing. From a diverse, multicultural entity, could India be becoming a place where assimilation is more important than accommodation?
'Gujaratis need not be ashamed of the lack of martial tradition.' 'They contribute to their country in other ways.' 'And, of course, they can also claim that while they may not have produced many martyrs, they produced the greatest one: Gandhi.'
The Diaspora is no longer a mere remittance economy. It today claims dual loyalty and demands a say in Indian politics, says sociologist Shiv Visvanathan
'The target for all our counter-terror operations ought to be Pakistani Punjab's population,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
