During this Ramzan, another religious practice was turned into an offence: Breaking the fast, or iftar.
The Web portal of the Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, published an article (withdrawn later) that the Christian community holds many acres of land, far more than Waqf property.'
'So, they have taken away the word Waqf from the Bill.' 'It will now be known as the UMEED Act.'
A leading Catholic Church daily in Kerala has described the Waqf amendment bill as a crucial test of secularism in Parliament, urging MPs to support it. The editorial in Deepika daily comes as the union government prepares to table the bill for parliamentary consideration. The editorial calls the bill a test of secularism and warns MPs that failing to support it would mark them in history as endorsing religious fundamentalism. The paper added that the bill will also put an end to the injustices faced by thousands of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim citizens who have suffered due to the Waqf law. The editorial also recalled the recent statement addressed to Kerala MPs by Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council (KCBC) where the KCBC President Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis Catholicos urged amending provisions in the Waqf law that validate claims over land which people of Munambam have lawfully possessed. Opposition parties have slammed the bill as "unconstitutional" and against the interest of the Muslim community.
The BJP has vehemently criticized the Karnataka government's decision to provide four per cent reservation for Muslims in government contracts, labeling it an "unconstitutional misadventure." The party has pledged to challenge the move in court and has vowed to oppose it at all levels. Meanwhile, the ruling Congress party has defended the reservation, arguing that it aligns with constitutional provisions. The issue has led to heated exchanges in the Karnataka Assembly, with both parties accusing each other of engaging in appeasement politics.
'The entire town, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, my schoolteachers and the ustads from the madrasa were present to witness my arangettam.'
'In today's political spectrum, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party that always says, nation first.'
'The Kerala BJP leadership is doing the job of clerical staff. What the boss orders, they just follow them.'
India has previously rejected the US state department's annual human rights report on the country, saying they continue to be based on "misinformation and flawed understanding".
He was trolled during the Lok Sabha poll campaign, but despite the tactics by his rivals, action hero Suresh Gopi rose to national stardom in cinema style on June 4, winning the Thrissur seat on a BJP ticket and scripting history for the saffron party in Kerala.
Religion and economic barriers continue to define love in modern India, discovers Preshth Bhardwaj.
'The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.'
The outfit suggested that the government amend the Information Technology Act to classify all such content as pornography, which people should only be able to access by punching in their Aadhaar details or their fingerprints. Archis Mohan reports
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
Defending the collegium's decision to appoint advocate Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri appointment as a judge of the Madras high court, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has said one should not be "cold calling" individuals merely for views they may have held as lawyers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met the top priests of various churches in Kerala, giving a push to the Bharatiya Janata Party's efforts to reach out to the influential minority community in the southern state ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, sources said.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Centre to extend the benefits accorded to Scheduled Castes also to those among the SCs embracing Christianity.
The Supreme Court on Monday reconsidered a plea for urgent hearing of a petition challenging the appointment of lawyer Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri as an additional judge of the Madras high court, and advanced the date of hearing to February 7 from February 10.
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala is aiming to use the PM's visit as a springboard for its outreach campaign aimed at bringing youth and minorities into its fold.
Children sitting together, and hugging each other is not desirable in India and it is dangerous, Vellappally Natesan said.
'This is the Dravidian model of governance. The government is for people belonging to all faiths'
'Vote banks will change affiliations and the BJP will come out with good success in Kerala.'
'The BJP's defining character is Hindutva. The party's political strategy is based on a combination of Hindutva+Development.'
'Hatred increases with every killing.' 'It sets one family against another.' 'The sooner it is stopped, the better.'
The Thackeray faction on Tuesday claimed that voters were being paid to choose None Of The Above or NOTA option.
The Centre has opposed in the Supreme Court a batch of pleas seeking legal validation of same sex marriage, saying it would cause a complete havoc with the delicate balance of personal laws and in accepted societal values.
a special bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai said they were 'not entertaining the writ petition' that sought to restrain Gowri from taking oath 'in view of the grave threat to the independence of the judiciary'.
The KCBC, in a statement, said that even the United Nations reports have made it clear that money earned from drug trafficking is being used for terrorist activities.
Political power has now been outsourced fully to the Modi government. Even if the RSS is still, in principle, his guru, nobody would dare to whisper a word of advice to Modi, forget some whiff of criticism. When the shishya grows into such a popular and domineering leader, the guru has to applaud from the sidelines, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'Whatever is left of all institutions will also go away.'
'Strategy is to divide and polarise electorate on communal lines.'
"There was absolutely no need or necessity to mount a visceral attack on the religious beliefs of the Hindus. It was unwarranted and utterly unrelated to the occasion. That is what makes it deliberate and malicious," Justice G R Swaminathan of Madras High Court said.
Our demonisation and dehumanisation of minorities and especially Muslims is so complete that calls for the abduction of and sexual violence against Muslim girls are acceptable in our society today and can be made in public spaces. The damage we have done to India internally and externally will be lasting, warns Aakar Patel.
It is unusual in democratic countries two decades into the 21st century for laws to become regressive instead of progressive. But that is clearly what is happening in India today and more of this is ahead, asserts Aakar Patel.
The aftermath of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan has led to an argument that there was no religion as Hinduism in Chola times.
Instead, there was only Saivism, Vaishnavism, etc, and that the Cholas were Saivites, and hence not Hindus, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
New Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan strongly favours reservation for backward Muslims as well as for Dalits among Christians and Muslims notwithstanding the Supreme Court's observation on the sub-quota issue.
At least 21 worshippers were killed and about 80 others wounded when a suicide bomber on Saturday blew himself up outside a church soon after the New Year's mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, sparking religious clashes between Christians and Muslims.
'That secularism in India is at risk is alarming for someone like me. I'm born secular,' Anjolie Ela Menon, the well-known painter, tells Pavan Lall.
'You will never be able to do any work for society if you wait to make enough money.'
The mass marked the high point of the first papal visit to the Arabian peninsula.
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