'The control of the Church over Christian people regarding politics has become weak...' 'People have started to think independently and it is not for sure that they will obey whatever the Church asks them to do.'
Jaffer said minorities should not have any fear or crisis of confidence over Bhagwat's name being considered for the coveted post.
Bhagwat further emphasised that no Muslim will face any loss due to the citizenship law.
'While the fears in Assam and other north eastern states are natural given their experience since 1947 when successive governments and even political leaders in Delhi have repeatedly let them down, the intent and provisions under the Citizenship Amendement Bill -- when examined closely -- should remove those apprehensions,' says Nitin A Gokhale, the well-known commentator who lived in and reported from the north east between 1983 and 2006.
December 3, 2021 marks 50 years since the beginning of the 1971 War which ended in a decisive military victory for India and the liberation of Bangladesh. Most analysts of the 1971 War agree that the IV Corps dash across the mighty Meghna river led by the brilliant General Sagat Singh was the turning point in the war, recalls military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Militant group Al-Badr has claimed responsibility for the twin suicide attack that rocked Samba sector in Jammu region on Thursday.
'India is now surrounded on its north, west and east by unfriendly neighbours -- Pakistan, China, Nepal and Bangladesh -- some of whom are openly inimical,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
India ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child wasting rate at 19.3 per cent, being the highest in the world.
'The BJP politics of appropriating icons from its ideological adversaries could only be a desperate attempt to extend the Jat-Muslim divide in Uttar Pradesh. Why this desperation when it can comfortably get votes on the plank of economic development?'
Indian elections are won and lost on 'negative' imageries and campaigns - but not certainly on 'negativity' as a political trait and electoral creed, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The five terrorists in the video, believed to be recorded sometime before the Gulshan attack, made statements to justify their stance, criticising the democratic system and political leaders.
"Terms like 'unity in diversity' are used for our country. The country belongs to all. No remarks should me made that harm the country," Singh, a confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, told reporters when asked for his reaction to the BJP leader's comments.
Mukherjee, a two-time Lok Sabha MP from his father's pocket borough of Jangipur, said he joined the Mamata Banerjee-led party because she has taken a strong stand on this issue.
The prime minister also launched a blistering attack on Banerjee, saying she did not care to express regret after a "leader very close to her" called Scheduled Castes "beggars".
Mashrafe Mortaza is all set to contest the 11th parliamentary elections of the country on ruling party Awami League's ticket.
The Hindu right-wing body in its mouthpiece taunts "liberals" protesting the Dadri lynching incident, asking what exactly is their idea of India.
'Why has the peace been kept?' 'Basically because there is a balance.' 'Maybe they think that balance has changed.' 'People can make mistakes. People can miscalculate.' 'If that is the cause, then I think what we have done, matching their build-up, etc, it is giving a good account of ourselves in the face-offs.'
The White House said the two leaders also pledged to continue working together to enhance security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
Describing Bangladesh as an 'exceptional neighbour', India on Friday said Modi's 'historic' visit there from Saturday will help the two countries.
Amid high drama, Bharatiya Janata Party vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was on Thursday arrested along with party leaders for defying prohibitory orders when they tried to enter trouble-torn Makra village in Birbhum district, made out of bounds for politicians by Trinamool government.
The TMC chief had said that she would never allow the Centre to conduct a similar exercise in West Bengal.
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
Congress Member of Parliament and party spokesperson Sushmita Dev tells Kavita Chowdhury that party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's "new kind of politics" has revitalised the party, lifting it from the gloom of the 2014 general elections.
Some believe she should no longer be the face of the struggle to free Myanmar from the new military dictatorship, observes Prakash Bhandari.
Once again an Indian prime minister has realised that with Pakistan and China, things will not move as he wishes.
Chief Minister MK Stalin has shown that he is cut from a different cloth when it comes to embracing what is current, modern and absolutely necessary. Thus, even while retaining the spirit and content of the pan-Tamil, Dravidian socio-political and socio-economic ideology to the 't', his government has also acknowledged the need to accepting scientifically-proven facts in operational matters, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
On December 10, Kissinger began to encourage the Chinese to take action against India: 'If the People's Republic were to consider the situation on the Indian subcontinent a threat to security, and if it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.' On the 50th anniversary of India's greatest military victory, Claude Arpi recalls how the US suggested that China intervene militarily on Pakistan's side.
'From the very start, PM Modi was insistent that visiting foreign leaders should be exposed to an India beyond its capital.' 'Through these experiences, he felt that the full Indian narrative would be much better understood across the world,' explains External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. A riveting excerpt from Bluekraft Digital Foundation's Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
The terrorists opened fire on the army camp at Langate in Kupwara district at around 5 am, which was retaliated by the jawans, a senior army officer said.
Now we must first compete with Bangladesh. This is not what we had been promised, notes Aakar Patel.
"Two BSF constables got surrounded and were badly hurt (by the miscreants). It was then that they opened fire in self-defence. They fired a few rounds in the air. Later it was found that two persons on that side of the border had died in the firing," BSF Additional Director General Y B Khurania said.
'The adversary will always exploit India's anti-national elements.'
Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party's three top women leaders were arrested on the second day of the 'democracy march' on Monday, as clashes erupted inside the supreme court premises between pro- and anti-government lawyers.
'The path to a resolution of the ethnic conflict is likely to be complicated and controversial with the majority Sinhalese community, and will become less likely if delayed.' 'It will certainly give Rajapaksa fresh political oxygen with which to revive himself and rally the opposition.'
India shifted gears in rejuvenating strategic ties with its major partners like the US and Russia and focused on drumming up global support for its distinct strategy in the Indo-Pacific to check Beijing's increasing muscle-flexing in the region.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
"Modi ji! Is this our Indian culture? Is this what has been taught in Vedas, Mahabharat, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita? I am asking BJP national president Nadda ji. Is it our culture?" he asked, referring to Sarma's comments.
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
'Yes, we are angry, we are frustrated, but not all our anger is directed towards Delhi.'
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde, hearing a petition filed by lawyer Vineet Dhanda seeking stern legal action against those disturbing peace and harmony in the country in the name of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, said, "The country is going through a critical time, the endeavour must be to bring peace and such petitions do not help."
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