Prime Minister Narendra Modi quit his Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, choosing to retain Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where the Bharatiya Janata Party recorded a landslide victory bagging 71 of the 80 seats in the recent elections.
Although Muslims in Varanasi are clearly disconcerted by Narendra Modi's Hindutva agenda and are fearful of the future, they believe his emergence on the national political stage will not disturb the famous 'Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb.'
General secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Champat Rai on Monday announced that the idol of Lord Ram will be placed at its position at the 'garbh griha' of the temple on January 18 and Pran Pratishtha will take place at 12.20 pm on January 22.
Sachin Tendulkar performs Jal Abhishek at the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
With the Ram Mandir scheduled to open its doors to visitors in January, Ayodhya is expected to welcome travelers both from India and abroad.
The committee had filed the petition in the high court against the order of the district judge of Varanasi in September last year that turned down its objections on the maintainability of the suit filed by the five Hindu women.
Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi are likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli and Amethi seats, respectively, sources said on Thursday.
SRK has totally gotten into his tour guide character!
Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, made the announcement of the beginning of the flights during his address at the inauguration of the International Vesak Day, the biggest festival of Buddhists.
Terming Narendra Modi's rally being denied in the temple town and the ensuing protests from the saffron party leaders in Varanasi as a "new drama", Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party in connivance with the Samajwadi Party was "doing" this to influence the elections on the remaining seats in the state.
"I am a farmer's son and I was here to raise the voices of farmers and jawans," Tej Bahadur Yadav said.
Bollywood stars celebrate Mahashivratri by sharing pictures on social media.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
MARD has lost deposits on all seats it has contested so far since it was formed in 2018 but its leaders say they are undeterred by elections losses.
Despite the upbeat statement, the party is expected to reflect on what caused the sharp fall in its numbers. It is expected to win about 240 seats against the 303 it had won in 2019.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
SpiceJet apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passenger and will also provide a full refund. As the passenger kept waiting in the lavatory, a cabin crew slipped in a note asking the passenger not to panic and that despite trying their best, the door could not be opened.
He said those making jokes on cows and buffaloes forget that the livelihood of crores of people depends on "pashudhan".
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
Chandrashekhar said he would ensure that PM Modi is not re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Varanasi.
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Narsingh Pancham Yadav was elected chairman of the Wrestling Federation of India's Athletes' Commission in Varanasi on Wednesday, completing a process that was mandated by the sport's world governing body.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
Online travel portals are flooded with flight and train bookings, hotels teeming with requests for accommodation, and spiritual merchandise on e-commerce platforms is selling like hotcakes. As the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22 draws near, Indians across the country are putting their travelling boots on as the temple frenzy catches on. India's largest travel technology (traveltech) platform MakeMyTrip (MMT) has witnessed a substantial four-fold increase in bookings for Ayodhya compared to the previous year.
Congress MLA Ajay Rai was on Tuesday arrested along with 50 others in connection with violence and arson in Varanasi on Monday as the administration cracked down on miscreants in the holy city where the situation was peaceful amid continued police patrolling.
'There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves.' 'This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.' 'Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
People had also started gathering at Mukhtar Ansari's residence in Ghazipur and there was a large deployment of security personnel around the house.
President Pranab Mukherjee expressed condolences over the loss of lives in the stampede and called upon the authorities to provide all assistance and help to the victims.
The rural parts of the Varanasi constituency have voted better compared to the urban areas. The Election Commission, which gives out an interim figure of the overall polling statistics, states that polling was anything between 55.34 to 57 per cent in the nigh-profile constituency.
'I felt more deeply moved by my character Mahima than I have with any other character.'
The ASI had on Wednesday urged the court not to make its Gyanvapi complex survey report public for at least four more weeks, citing the December 19 judgment of the Allahabad high court.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Is Modi trampling upon senior BJP colleagues while taking decisions? How come Team Modi underestimated the political action-reaction when they were upsetting and uprooting the BJP's founding fathers L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi in the ticket distribution process?
Vedic rituals for the pran pratistha will begin in Ayodhya on January 16, a week before the main ceremony. A priest from Varanasi, Lakshmi Kant Dixit, will perform the main rituals of the consecration ceremony on January 22.
Manish Tripathi who designed the outfit adorned by the Ram Lalla idol in the newly constructed temple in Ayodhya said a divine connection with the deity helped him achieve the task.
"His own government has destroyed Gandhian institutions in Varanasi, Delhi and Ahmedabad," the Congress leader alleged.
On the eve of the final phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reviews the political landscape in the epicentre and beyond.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan on July 7 and 8 during which he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of about 50 projects worth around Rs 50,000 crore, official sources said Tuesday.
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