BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader justified the Centres decision to file a petition before the Supreme Court to speed up the case, saying the opposition wanted the case to be settled by the judiciary.
Raking up the Ayodhya issue ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party chief Rajnath Singh on Saturday declared that nobody could shake the party's faith in Lord Ram, for whom a magnificent temple will be built at Ayodhya. "Jahan tak Ram Janambhoomi ka sawal hai, koi ma ka lal Bhagwan Ram me hamari aastha aur nishta ko diga nahi sakta (No one can shake BJP's faith and reverence to Lord Ram)," he said in his inaugural speech at the two-day National Council meet.
A ready reckoner on the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue.
Hashim Ansari, who was the first Muslim claimant to the 16th century Babri Masjid 61 years ago, took everybody by surprise on Sunday when he took the first step to draw the final curtain on the Ayodhya issue.
A notice of adjournment will also be given on the situation in UP, and it will be left to Speaker Manohar Joshi to decide which one to take up.
He hinted that the same hue and cry is not made about 1984 riots not being in textbooks.
The Maharashtra police have provided Y+ security cover to Shah Rukh Khan in view of the 'imminent and probable threats' to his life, an official said on Monday.
The IUML is a major ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and an influential political party among the Muslim community.
The chapters were dropped by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) for the 2020-21 session, as part of the 30 per cent reduction of the syllabus, keeping in mind the loss of academic schedule that the students had to face because of the pandemic.
The NBSA, a self regulating body for news channels, also advised channels that no footage of the demolition of the Babri Masjid is to be shown in any news item relating to the Ayodhya matter.
With Uttar Pradesh elections round the corner, the mood of the House was clearly reflected as members came prepared for the battle ahead. Shiv Sena members wore saffron scrafs in support of the Ayodhya cause.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, whose primary objective was construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, also became a symbol of 'reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism'.
As the temple is inaugurated, unfortunately for Advani but unsurprisingly for the rest of us, the architect of the party's rise will not lead the ceremony and claim credit for his achievement, notes Aakar Patel.
If Saudi Arabia, with just two Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina, can create a huge tourism-based ecosystem beyond oil, Ayodhya is sure to become the world's hottest religious tourism site in less than a decade, predicts R Jagannathan.
A ready reckoner on the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue.
At a time when the BJP's stars are at the top on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls, the Puri-Joshimath Sankaracharyas may have kick-started a row whose efforts might be to divide Hindus, not in the name of castes, but on what passes for greater belief, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Swamy said the 'outer limit' to settle the issue is April 2018, without explaining further.
Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, was restrained in his reaction to the Ayodhya verdict delivered by the Allahabad high court's Lucknow bench; but his joy was hardly hidden.
The only way to solve it is through a legislation, Pravin Togadia said.
Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Sunday said that the Central government has no stand regarding the effort of settlement between the rival parties to Ayodhya dispute.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh has demanded that the Centre give the 67-acre land acquired by it for construction of Ram Temple there.
In a late Monday evening surprise development, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court called upon rival parties in the much-debated Ayodhya case to explore possibilities of a last-minute amicable settlement on the vexed issue.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy said Parliament makes laws for the economic well-being of the people and 'not on partisan religious disputes'.
The pontiff's fresh peace initiative has been rejected by both the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board while the Centre has termed it as a 'personal initiative'.
With the Allahabad High Court likely to deliver its verdict on the title suit of Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Mosque next month, a prominent Muslim group has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explore efforts to find out an out of court settlement.
'The values for which he stood for are still a benchmark. He was a prominent leader of the Ram temple movement and did not hesitate to quit office, so that a grand temple for Lord Ram may be built in Ayodhya.'
'A time will come when the white structure in Mathura that hurts every Hindu will be removed with the help of the court'
The move bears significance in the wake of November 9 judgement of the Supreme Court which allowed construction of a Ram Temple in the disputed site in Ayodha.
The Ayodhya issue is unlikely to die out anytime soon with parties vying to appropriate majority sentiments in varying proportions to suit their political agendas.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday recalled how the government, political parties and the civil society prevented attempts to create fissures when the 2010 Allahabad high court ruling on the disputed land in Ayodhya was to be delivered.
The "Indian Muslims for peace" say they would prefer an out of court settlement so that both Hindus and Muslims remain happy and no party feels aggrieved.
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