The contemporary problem with the BJP in Tamil Nadu is that it has been trying hard to package the DMK especially as anti-god and anti-Hinduism, and seeking it to link to Periyar and M Karunanidhi, and by extension to Stalin, the latter's son and successor to the party mantle. Their hope was to consolidate the perceived 'pro-god, pro-religion votes', which they saw returning to the fold post-MGR, post-Jayalalithaa. But no such substantial vote-bank existed even in Periyar's time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'When the youth population is so large, in a globalised world, they look for opportunities. Are there enough opportunities for the youth in India?' 'The idea of affirmative action has to be creating capability. All individuals have potential. Unfortunately, there is capability deprivation because of the State's inaction.' 'Nation building has been a disaster in India mainly because we lacked the work ethic compared to the US and European countries.'
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of getting his telephones tapped and listening to the conversation every evening.
Vibha Harish is trying to create long-lasting health through natural forms of nutrition.
Hardik had begun his fast, demanding reservation for Patidars under the OBS category.
The Patidar community leader pitched for constitutional protection to the provision of reservation for them so as to preclude a judicial review.
Seeking to blunt Bharatiya Janata Party's efforts to 'appropriate' legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, "Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution."
The Julaya (weavers) community has been identified by the state government in 1978 as Baxi Panch belonging to OBC, advocate for the petitioner Mukul Sinha said.
Hundreds of members of the Jat community led by Harayana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday met Rahul Gandhi to thank him after the Cabinet asked the backward classes commission to expeditiously take a call on providing reservation to the community in central government jobs.
The government assured the Opposition that reservation to Anglo-Indians will be considered later.
The BJP chief said the ED and the CBI have taken prompt action in the Nirav Modi case.
Hitting out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the minority leader should go to Pakistan and try his antics there.
The prime minister said he was expecting members of the House to show enthusiasm by thumping their desks as a large number of those from the Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and OBC communities as well as sons of farmers and those from economically backward and rural backgrounds have become ministers in the recent rejig.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
With an eye on assembly elections after severe drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government on Wednesday approved 16 per cent reservation for Marathas and five per cent for Muslims in government jobs and education institutions.
"India has given a stern signal to its enemies by conducting surgical and air strikes. This tells us that India is changing and can take the most difficult decisions and isn't reluctant to implement them," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in his Independence Day address to the nation.
"Our party is stronger than the Congress in the state. While the Congress won 40 seats in panchayat polls, we scored a victory in 83 panchayats. AAP got over 40 lakh votes in these polls, where 1600 party candidates contested," Singh, AAP's UP in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said.
Deras like Sacha Sauda made the poor feel secure, cared for, loved, provided a support system and gave them dignity, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Madam Chief Minister falls short of being a rousing political drama.
With assembly polls due in Bihar later this year, political parties have gone on an offensive to woo different caste and community groups in the state.
Representatives of the Maratha community attributed the stepping up of pressure by the community to the "arrogance and lies" told to its members by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, and the "uncontrolled anger" among its youth over the delay in getting reservations.
The meeting was to know how the party plans to grant reservation to Patidars if voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls in Gujarat.
Hardik Patel, 22, who was briefly detained over his hunger strike to demand Other Backward Class reservation for the Patel community, called for a state-wide bandh on Wednesday to intensify the agitation.
'About 90 per cent of our netas have no loyalty and will go with the winner.'
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The quota stir by Patels has led to the emergence of new leaders on the political scene of Gujarat.
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."
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for playing the 'dalit card' to defend Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti over her controversial remarks and claimed she did not belong to the community.
Guntur district collector has issued a notice to mother of Rohit Vemula, the University of Hyderabad research scholar who committed suicide in January last, asking her to prove she belonged to the Scheduled Caste.
Terming the decision of carving a sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes s as a "dangerous political game" of the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said it could lead to a "civil war" among different communities. "The quota within quota is Congress party's dangerous political game, which can lead to a civil war among the different communities and castes," said BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
'The problem lies in the popular perception that the Marathas are a rich, politically powerful and dominant caste in the state... The truth is different. The tragedy of this community is that only 137 Maratha families are the dominant players in state politics. The disparity is so wide, that the rest of the Maratha community isn't even half as rich, forget being powerful,' says N Suresh.
The Parliamentary by-polls in Hisar, Haryana, have made headlines thanks to the war of words between Team Anna activists and Congress leaders. But the different communities which inhabit Hisar have other issues on their mind. The most important issue for the Jat community is reservation in government jobs under the Other Backward Classes quota. Members of the community had paralysed rail and road traffic in many parts of northern India for several days.
The West Bengal chief minister said no refugee living in the state will be deprived of citizenship. "You have an address, ration card, voter card, driving licence. There is no need to get this new card of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Don't worry, you will always find this didi beside you. Your family is my family. I will not let anybody take away the rights of our people," she asserted.
In this weekly self-help series, mental health and life coach Anu Krishna tells you how to take control of your life.
Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, state BJP chief R C Faldu, 37 members of the assembly and six ministers are Patels.
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Kerala CM wrote to EAM S Jaishankar, seeking his intervention in the matter.
Most of the migrants do not get access to any medical facilities in government-run hospitals or dispensaries as they do not have an Aadhaar card and are not Indian citizens.
Muslims should demand reservation on the basis of their socio-economic backwardness and not on the basis of religion, community elders and leaders, who came together to discuss the issue of reservation, said on Sunday.The Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations for Empowerment, which organised the National Convention for Muslim Reservation, demanded that Muslims must be considered as backward and get at least 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education.
A Public Interest Litigation filed in the Bombay High Court has sought to restrain Maharashtra government from extending benefits of reservation to the Maratha community except by following the "due legal procedure".