On Friday, the 65-year-old Dalit leader was sworn-in as an Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has boosted the representation of backward castes, dalits, tribals and women in his Council of Ministers in a big shake-up of his government with a focus on politically crucial states, including the all-important Uttar Pradesh.
Journalist Siddique Kappan was arrested on October 5 while he was on his way to Hathras, home to the young Dalit woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped by four upper-caste men.
Highly placed sources said in Lucknow that Chief Minister Mayawati had written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that the film be banned all over the country.
She further accused the EC of being biased and 'wrongly favouring' BJP leaders.
Priyanka Gandhi addressed 209 rallies and roadshows, the maximum by any top leader during the UP election campaign, followed closely by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who spoke at 203 poll events.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
'There might be some internal tussles that can be expected between any two persons in any party.' 'But I do not see any tussle which might weaken the possibility of dictatorship.'
Addressing a virtual rally for three western UP districts -- Bijnor, Moradabad and Amroha -- PM Modi urged farmers to ask those trying to 'mislead' them how much electricity was given to the villages in their area when they were in power.
No girl should be allowed to undergo the pain suffered by my daughter who was maimed for resisting a rape attempt, the father of the 16-year-old victim from Uttar Pradesh said on Monday.
The officer added the Saharanpur police has also reached out to its counterpart in adjoining districts to seek their support in the effort to nab the attackers.
Kappan was arrested on October 5, 2020 while he was on his way to Hathras, home to the 19-year-old Dalit woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped by four upper-caste men on September 14.
'Whether or not Chandrashekhar Azad succeeds or fails electorally, he has already made democratic politics more accountable to Dalits.'
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
The group claimed that its members only burnt photocopies of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in the Ramcharitmanas.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Accusing Mayawati of not allowing any Scheduled Caste leader to rise in Uttar Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said there is a big opportunity for the Congress to create leadership space in the community and it should ensure that Dalit leadership is created in all fields.
In the same breath, the RPI-A leader said, "No one can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- neither Congress president Rahul Gandhi, nor SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, nor BSP supremo Mayawati."
'His way of communication is different than the first yatra.' 'Maybe his anger and frustration stems from the fact that no one is asking hard questions to the government and he is trying to do that.'
"We teach our students using NCERT books...whatever is there in the revised edition will be followed," Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak said.
"We particularly want Bajrang Bali because he is linked to my own Dalit caste," Mayawati said.
Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh government had told the bench that "shocking findings" have emerged in the investigation so far in the case in which Kappan was arrested on his way to Hathras.
The SP has offered 11 seats to the Congress and seven seats to the RLD for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday said he had spoken on a particular verse in Ramcharitmanas and not about Lord Ram or any religion, but refused to retract the comments which have triggered a row and embarrassed his party.
Social media platforms Facebook, Google and Twitter on Thursday told the Delhi high court that they have blocked or taken down all the links which incorrectly showed a deceased woman's photo as that of the Hathras rape victim.
Justice Ananda Sen said that the shocking incident has prompted the court to say that "Hathras (like places) is not only in the state of Uttar Pradesh, but also is in the state of Jharkhand." The court cannot keep its eyes shut and ignore this type of "lacklustre and shoddy" probe, he said.
Two armed policemen will be on duty for the protection of the victim's brother. Along with the brother's security, there will be a deployment of 12-15 Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel 24x7 in the village for the family.
'Unless she joins one of the coalitions, she has a bleak future.' 'The NDA option is suicidal, but INDIA could help her.'
When Singh was about to speak to mediapersons from TV news channels, a man threw ink on his white kurta while shouting "PFI dalal wapas jao".
In a statement, the party said that the delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs was stopped by police around 1.5 kilometres from the victim's home.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Saturday sought to clarify that even though her national general secretary Satish Misra may remain her blue-eyed Brahmin mascot, yet she had no intention of anointing Misra as her successor.
Karan Bhushan rejects the charges against his father, saying the "allegations are political and made up. We will challenge them in court".
"Doctors have already made it clear that the Hathras woman was not raped," Pal, the UP minister of state for Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement which is set to further aggravate the controversy.
The parties which gave chief ministers and sent scores of MPs to Parliament, drew a blank this time.
The 61-year-old had submitted a fresh resignation letter as per the prescribed format, tendering a hand-written one-line letter.
'I will make Akash join the BSP movement and give him a chance to learn,' she said in a statement.
Less than half the ministers in Team Yogi are not long-term BJP members. Many old-timers have been dropped.
Opposition parties on Monday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh for not allowing their leaders to visit Lakhimpur Kheri after eight people died in violence there during an anti farm law protest, alleging it was an attempt to cover up and demanding the sacking of Union Minister Ajay Mishra and the arrest of his son, who have been named in an FIR.
The stringent National Security Act (NSA) has been invoked against two people lodged in jail for allegedly burning photocopies of extracts from the Ramcharitmanas, officials said on Monday.
The family of the Hathras woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped has been "receiving threats to life and is living under terror", an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said, and asked what is wrong if Y-plus security cover is demanded for the kin.
