Once a quiet riverside ritual, Dev Deepawali has evolved into UP's largest soft-power spectacle -- merging faith, art, enterprise into a global cultural brand that reflects state's growing confidence.
The Varanasi district court on Tuesday ordered that seven cases of the same nature related to the Gyanvapi dispute will be heard together.
The ASI is carrying out a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises, next to Kashi Vishwanath temple here, to determine whether the 17th-century mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple.
Despite the hype over the possible candidature of All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijaya Singh for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat, the Congress has narrowed down its choice to local legislator Ajay Rai and former party MP Rajesh Mishra, with the former emerging as a front runner.
The Gyanvapi mosque management committee has objected to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) seeking eight more weeks to complete the survey of the complex.
A Varanasi court on Thursday reserved till October 21 its order on a plea seeking inclusion of the Gyanvapi mosque's 'wazookhana' in the ongoing Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of the mosque complex.
The Congress on Sunday said it will give a "good fight" to Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi on Varanasi seat and did not rule out fielding an outsider.
The ASI, which was to submit the report of the survey by October 6, now has time till November 6 to do so.
'Adventure travel, cultural tours, and wellness retreats are in high demand.'
The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee is keen to field senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Varanasi and will soon send a proposal in this regard to the top leadership, said newly appointed party's state president Ajay Rai on Sunday.
Senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi on Monday joined the party men who have offered to contest against Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
The Archaeological Survey of India on Sunday conducted scientific tests of the area under the three domes of Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi on the third day of the scientific survey to determine if the mosque was built over a temple.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) team surveyed the northern wall, the dome and basements of the Gyanvapi complex here on Tuesday, the fourth day of the court-mandated exercise to determine if the mosque was built over a temple.
Congress's UP chief ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit and Ghulam Babi Azad will also be present in the roadshow.
Rakhi Singh has accused the Muslim side of destroying Hindu symbols on the Gyanvapi premises and demanded protection of the entire complex in order to ensure that these symbols are not lost.
Mishra said that the court has fixed July 7 for the next hearing.
His brother suffered a bullet injury while trying to save him.
The nomination process began in Varanasi for the most keenly watched Lok Sabha elections, with Congress candidate Ajay Rai, who is pitted against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal, filing his papers after offering liquor to Lord Kaal Bhairav as per local tradition.
Congress general secretary and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will flag off three Pratigya Yatras from Barabanki on Saturday to take to the people various resolutions adopted by the party ahead of the 2022 assembly elections.
The roadshow will begin from Kachahari at 12 noon after party leaders garland the statue of BR Ambedkar and will cover a distance of around eight kilometers in three hours.
Five members of the Muslim side also participated in the survey. Its advocate Tauheed Khan said advocates of the Intezamia Masjid Committee Akhlaq and Mumtaz accompanied the survey team.
Narendra Modi could be in for a tough fight in Varanasi with the Congress declaring its resolve to put up a formidable candidate against the Bharatiya Janata Party's PM nominee in the Lok Sabha polls and ruling out support to the Aaam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal.
"Our only solace is that Modi will win Varanasi, but there will be a by-election here. Modi will not be able to cobble 272 seats to become prime minister so he will remain the chief minister of Gujarat. He will resign from Varanasi and then we will ensure Kerjiwal's handsome win." Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt reports on how Varanasi's 300,000 Muslim voters are strategising their vote.
Narendra Modi has a once in a lifetime chance to change and take the RSS-BJP-VHP to a new level. Varanasi is the right place to turn the page on saffron history. By surrendering to the spirit of mystical Varanasi, Modi and his party can change the trajectory of their political journey.
The Congress campaign is muted in Varanasi, but the party is hoping that anti-Modi votes and caste combinations will help Ajai Rai, the only local candidate in the fray. A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com reports from the Congress campaign headquarters.
The BSP has not entered into any alliances and has also been keen to shed the tag of being a 'B-team' of the BJP.
"Rai is a grass root worker, who is a sitting Congress MLA and has fought a number of elections successfully and he will be the best candidate in Varanasi", party spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters announcing the candidature.
'About 90 per cent of our netas have no loyalty and will go with the winner.'
The decision was announced by Ghulam Nabi Azad in New Delhi at a press briefing.
Indian comic book character Chacha Chaudhary has been declared as the mascot of the government's Namami Gange Programme with an aim of bringing behavioural change among children towards the Ganga and other rivers.
Given the controversy over Uttar Pradesh's population control moves, Hemant Shivsaran/Rediff.com digs deep to find out how many children BJP MLAs in UP have.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
Mukkabaaz, a film in which its lead actor shines, unfortunately tries to pack in a punch too many.
SP has gained a majority in the 100-member Uttar Pradesh legislative council. The party had earlier faced difficulty pushing through its legislative in the upper house due to lack of numbers.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the 59 seats spread across seven states and one Union territory going to polls in the last and final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on May 19, 2019.
District Magistrate of Saharanpur, which recently witnessed communal clashes claiming 3 lives, was on Monday night transferred in a major reshuffle of Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy.
Shivpal loyalists have been denied tickets.
Taking exception to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan not mentioning the death of healthcare workers due to Covid-19 in his statement in Parliament, the Indian Medical Association has published a list of 382 doctors who died due to the viral disease and demanded that they be treated as "martyrs".
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
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