In a pluralistic society like India it is imperative that religious fervour be tempered to suit the common good, say Vivek Gumaste.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati renewed demand for a Special Protection Group cover speaks volumes of her obsession for security, for which she already has more than 200 personnel to guard her round the clock. Sharat Pradhan reports.
The Left parties, which hold the key to United Progressive Alliance's success in the Presidential election, appeared to be pushing for their own candidate for the polls.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its verdict on Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati's plea challenging a Central Bureau of Investigation probe against her in an alleged disproportionate assets case. A bench headed by P Sathasivam reserved its order after a two-hour-long hearing during which the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister attacked the CBI for "fixing" the disproportionate assets case against her, a charge refuted by the agency.
He is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party to head the northern state. Before Adityanath, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of the BJP had served as Uttar Pradesh chief ministers.
An eighth BJP candidate on Thursday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, setting the stage for a contest with the Samajwadi Party on February 27.
The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee after angry members of the Bahujan Samaj Party continued to interrupt Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi's speech during the trust vote debate on Tuesday.Gandhi, who started his speech by saying, " I am not going to speak as the leader of a political party but as an Indian," was repeatedly interrupted by noisy protests from the Opposition benches.
Four members of the newly formed Akhil Bharatiya Congress Dal will be inducted into the Cabinet.
Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Union ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Rajeev Shukla, and Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi and actor Jaya Bachchan were among the 50 new members who took oath in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Mayawati, who has raised the pitch for the dismissal of the 41-month-old government, described the move as a mark of protest against the speaker's continued recognition of the BSP's 37 defectors as members of the ruling Samajwadi Party.
Sticking with the Brahmin-OBC combination for deputy chief ministers, Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya took oath on Friday as deputies of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The Bharatiya Janata Party accused the Congress-led regime of using the Central Bureau of Investigation as a "Damocles' sword" against vulnerable opposition leaders.
While reserving the verdict, the Bench also comprising Justices H K Sema, A R Lakshmanan, P K Balasubramaniyan and D K Jain, asked the contesting parties to file written submissions by Friday.
While the CPI-M delegation watched a demonstration on the various security checks involved with the machines, the NCP team interacted with Commission's technical committee of experts.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Thursday issued orders for the arrest of Bahujan Samaj Party member of Parliament Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi and his three aides after the Crime Branch submitted its preliminary report confirming that they gang raped a 17-year-old Dalit girl in Banda, about 180 km from Lucknow.
The occasion, which brought Yadav, a former chief minister, and the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo together was a meeting convened to finalise nominees for the State Human Rights Commission. The arch rivals had parted ways following the collapse of their coalition government in 1995 and have been bitter critics attacking each other and rarely acknowledging even the presence of the other at public functions.
Delhi Police is investigating the role of a "spiritual guru" who is suspected to have hired shooters for Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore to kill local Bahujan Samaj Party leader Deepak Bhardwaj even as they are trying to unravel the "complex web of conspirators".
Two suspected killers of local Bahujan Samaj Party leader Deepak Bhardwaj were arrested on Monday amid high drama when they came to surrender with one of them being caught before he could enter a court in New Delhi.
Three persons were taken into custody on Thursday by a Delhi police team in Haryana's Jind district in connection with the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party leader and real estate tycoon Deepak Bhardwaj.
Former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha has alleged that he was "tortured" in the Central Bureau of Investigation custody during interrogations. "The CBI tortured us during interrogations for ten days," said the sacked Bahujan Samaj Party minister, while he along with another accused, former BSP MLA Ram Pratap Jaiswal, were being taken to Dasna prison on Tuesday.
A special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Ghaziabad on Tuesday remanded former Uttar Pradesh minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and former Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly Ram Pratap Jaiswal in judicial custody for 14 days in the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission scam.
The Communist Party of India expressed confidence that the ten-party grouping consisting of the Left, Bahujan Samaj Party and the United Nationalist Progressive Alliance may soon emerge as "a real alternative" to the Congress and Bharatiya Janata PartyCPI general secretary A B Bardhan said.
The Election Commission on Saturday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to uncover statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and of elephants, the Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbol, in the state. "The EC secretary has written a letter to the UP chief secretary stating that the statues draped following its January 7 order should be uncovered forthwith," said UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday arrested former Uttar Pradesh family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha and Bahujan Samaj Party Member of Legislative Assembly Ram Prasad Jaiswal. Incidentally, the agency arrested the two leaders, who have been under its scanner for their role in the Rs 8,000 crore National Rural Health Mission scam, minutes after the seventh and last phase of state elections came to an end.
After a year of docility, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav seems to be in an assertive mood once again. But will the newfound confidence sustain, wonders Sharat Pradhan
