Facing criticism over his remarks on Babri mosque issue, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Saturday said he never tried to equate the demolition of the shrine with 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The Babri mosque issue on Thursday rocked the Lok Sabha with some members demanding action on the report of Liberhan Commission which probed its demolition 20 years ago.
BJP sources suggest that the upcoming elections will likely revolve around the renewed enthusiasm for the temple unless another theme with religious and nationalist undertones emerges.
'I just invited PM Modi for Kalki Dham for shilanyas, so what crime did I commit as a Congressman?'
'He told senior journalists a few days after the Babri Masjid demolition, 'Jo hua theek hua. Maine isliye hone diya ki BJP ki rajniti hamesha ke liye khatam ho jaye.'
The special court is hearing the 1992 demolition cases, including the one against BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti.
Muslim groups observed 'day of sorrow' while Hindu outfits celebrated 'shaurya divas' on the 23rd anniversary of Babri mosque demolition on Sunday, which passed off peacefully amid tight security in Ayodhya, as well as in other parts of the country.
The 81-year-old Tunda, a close aide of wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, was accused of carrying out blasts in five trains in different cities in December 1993 to mark the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal have announced that they will mark the day as Shaurya Diwas and Vijay Diwas (day of victory) and have asked the people to light earthen lamps as on Diwali.
Reacting to the grand old Congress party's decline to the 'pran-pratishtha' ceremony invitations of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya, Digvijaya said that the ruling party had turned the event into a BJP and VHP event.
The hearing in the Babri masjid demolition case was on Tuesday deferred as the notification for nomination of a judge is still to be issued by the Allahabad high court. "The matter was not taken up today as a notification regarding nomination of magistrate is yet to be issued by the high court," prosecution sources said
'The appearance of idols of deities inside Babri was not a miracle. It was a planned and surreptitious attack to put them on the intervening night of December 22-23, 1949'
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet will hold its meeting on Thursday in Ayodhya as the city gears up for the opening of the Ram temple in January.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has lashed out at Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, accusing him of trying to evoke Muslim sentiments on the controversial Babri Masjid demolition issue, to garner votes.
The Waqf Board has sought time from the top court for setting up of a committee for exploring an amicable resolution of the vexatious issue.
The former finance minister said he would not brush aside the incident as a mere judgemental error.
The Congress on Monday gave a clean chit to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and spiritual preacher Deoraha Baba, whose names figure in the list of those found culpable by the Liberhan Commission, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. "Vajpayee's name was not in the conspiracy (to demolish Babri mosque). His name was only in one of the lists," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.
The government said it was possible that some misdirected elements may wish to disturb communal peace and harmony on the eve of December 6, the day when the Babri masjid was demolished in Ayodhya 17 years ago.
Renowned documentary film maker Anand Patwardhan said the video sharing website is "catering to Hindutva goons who want to kill all secular content."
A generation has passed and the demolition appears to be a story of a era gone by, says Rediff.com's Sharat Pradhan, who shares his experience as a witness in court in the Babri Masjid demolition case.
Earlier on Wednesday, the district court ruled that a priest can perform prayers before the idols in a cellar of the Gyanvapi Masjid, a significant development in the legal battle over the mosque adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple.
A bench comprising Justices P C Ghose and R F Nariman asked all the parties in the case to file their written arguments by April 6 and posted the matter for further hearing on April 7.
Kalyan Singh's apology over the Babri masjid demolition, thus, is expected to assuage the Samajwadi Party's rank and file who have been upset over Yadav joining hands with him. Kalyan Singh, who subsequently left the BJP to plow a lonely furrow only to rejoin the party and again left it recently over being sidelined, has since been edging closer to the Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh.
"Interim orders wherever granted shall continue. Re-list in first half of April, 2024," the bench said in its order and directed the parties to complete the pleadings by then.
These images of deities on pillars of the structure are not found in mosques and found in temples, the counsel for the deity told SC.
'We see that a BJP MP abuses a Muslim MP in the Parliament. People are saying that he should not have said all this in the Parliament, they are saying that his tongue was bad. This is the representative of the people for whom you voted'
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
The Uttar Pradesh government also said the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao was 'indirectly' involved in it.
'I am not a person who would do such things from behind the scenes.' 'I don't believe in taking somebody else's support for speaking out my mind.'
Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray will visit Ayodhya on Saturday amid a clamour among Hindu outfits for bringing an ordinance to build Ram Temple.
A special judge holding trial in the Babri Masjid demolition case, involving Bharatiya Janata Party veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi and others, on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking six more months to conclude the trial in the case.
Amidst tight security, the 20th anniversary of Babri Mosque demolition is being observed on Thursday in the twin towns of Ayodhya and Faizabad as "black day" and "shaurya diwas" by Muslim and Hindu outfits respectively.
A group photo taken at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in Jaipur ahead of Tuesday's legislature party meeting showed Bhajan Lal Sharma in the very last row.
Seventeen years after the Babri Masjid was pulled down, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday said there was no question for the Sangh to regret for what had happened and maintained that their full support to the "Ram temple movement" would continue.
With the recent arrest of two Bharatiya Janata Party activists who had taken part in the Ayodhya agitation back in 1992 snowballing into a controversy, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said a criminal is always a criminal unless acquitted by a court of law.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international joint general secretary Surendra Jain on Tuesday warned All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi for his comment on the inauguration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
New BJP President L K Advani could not attend due to other urgent engagements
Uneasy calm prevailed in Ayodhya, which on Saturday looked like a fortress, with deployment of more than 10,000 cops on the 22nd anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances