Abdullah said he joined the yatra as he was more concerned about the image of the country.
A row erupted on Friday over plans by the Bharatiya Janata Party to observe the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Raja Mahendra Pratap at the Aligarh Muslim University campus with its vice chancellor warning of a potential "communal conflagration" and the saffron party defending the move.
The arrested person is identified as a 29-year-old man from Kolhapur who allegedly used Tipu Sultan's image with the caption 'Bharat Ka Raja' on social media, which caused enmity between two communities, he said.
Failure to take timely action against those accused of posting the video resulted in communal tension.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday defended its directive requiring eateries along the kanwar yatra route to display the names of their owners and staff, saying the idea was to bring in transparency, avoid 'potential confusion' and ensure a peaceful yatra.
The Election Commission Wednesday directed the leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to refrain from making speeches on religious and communal lines, and opposition Congress from potentially divisive statements on the socioeconomic composition of the armed forces.
Police are probing various angles, including the assailants coming from neighbouring Kerala.
Two home guards were killed and at least 15 others, including several policemen, were injured on Monday as a mob in Haryana's Nuh district tried to stop a Vishwa Hindu Parishad procession, pelting stones and setting cars on fire, officials said.
Authorities in Nuh district Sunday razed some illegal structures including a hotel from where stones were allegedly pelted on a religious procession last week, even as a mahapanchayat was held in support of four men arrested over arson at a mosque and the death of its junior imam.
Curfew was imposed early Thursday in Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh after communal tension spread in the town over a post on a social networking site that allegedly hurt the feelings of a particular community and also led to the killing of a person, a police official said.
Trashing Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's criticism that only one voice counts in the country, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "neither dictatorial, nor communal".
Police have so far arrested 11 people on charges of rioting and murder in connection with the clash.
"The NSA had to intervene as there was a large congregation going on there for several days and after his intervention, the Jamaat leaders also cooperated and vacated the place," the sources said.
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
'Am I wrong in presuming that UP is being seen as a new laboratory of communal politics like one has seen in Gujarat,' asks Ashutosh.
They host objectionable content that led to northeast violence.
Radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is on the run following a police crackdown, has been maintaining close links with Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and some terrorist groups based abroad, official sources said on Saturday.
'Nitish is now a helpless junior ally of Hindutva.' 'He just cannot think of reining in the hoodlums raging, marauding and killing in the mohallas,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
A high-level government review committee has given its stamp of approval on a decision to block 306 accounts being used on micro-blogging site Twitter in the wake of communal violence in Assam's Kokrajhar district and large scale migration of people from the South.
Tension prevails in the communally sensitive Meerut, following a Sunday evening clash between rival groups belonging to two different communities that left 30 persons, including half a dozen cops injured.
Rahul Gandhi's remark about communal conflicts in Uttar Pradesh being "deliberately engineered" has triggered a war of words between Congress and BJP, with both accusing each other of indulging in "communal politics".
Curfew was on Thursday imposed in border town of Rajouri district in view of communal tension there following stone-pelting on a religious procession and subsequent tear gas shelling.
Pune cops denied Asaduddin Owaisi permission to carry rally in Pune
The radical preacher's brazen activities evinced his methodical efforts to undermine the fabric of society, they claimed and added that he during his speeches and sermons alleged that the government was leaving no stone unturned in its quest to disarm Sikhs by revoking their weapons licences.
Gujarat was labelled Hindutva's crucible and Modi was to become the chief 'chemist'. A revealing political saga excerpted from Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay's The Demolition, the Verdict and the Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused NIA officials of attacking villagers in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP hit back at her saying that the attack on the NIA officials is Sandeshkhalli 2.0 orchestrated by the state.
Ahmedabad witnessed some of the most gruesome incidents during the communal riots that rocked Gujarat in 2002. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt travelled to Ahmedabad to get to know more about the ethos of the city, which has seen it all in its 600-year-old history
The Delhi high court on Friday refused to grant interim protection from arrest to the president of the Hindu Raksha Dal, Bhupinder Tomar, who is accused of raising communal slogans and inciting youth to propagate against a particular religion at a rally at Jantar Mantar on August 8.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea of an advocate seeking an independent probe into the recent 'communal riots' in Tripura and the alleged complicity and inaction of the state police in it.
Voicing concern over the Muzaffarnagar violence, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader and Union Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday said it may spread to other states and become unmanageable" if not controlled by "strict action".
Justice Chakraborty said that the petitioner BJP will be vicariously responsible for any damage or loss of public property.
The situation in Manipur remained tense on Sunday, after mobile internet services were suspended across the state and prohibitory orders imposed in some areas in the wake of an indefinite 'economic blockade' on two national highways called by an influential student' body over more autonomy for the hill districts, officials said.
'Charging that some main political parties are trying to "dangerously" disturb the communal harmony in Uttar Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday warned such forces of stringent action.
The opposition parties are seeking the President's intervention in the matter, claiming that violence in the BJP-ruled northeastern state is continuing unabated.
The FIR, under sedition charges, was registered pursuant to orders passed by the Bandra magistrates court directing the police to carry out an inquiry against Ranaut and her sister following a complaint lodged against them.
Dr Singh, who is on a nine-day visit to Brazil and Cuba, sought a certain percentage of physical and financial targets to be earmarked for poor beneficiaries from minority communities living in rural areas.
In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said when the elections are over, people will only remember him as the PM who indulged in 'divisive and communal speeches filled with lies' to avoid an inevitable defeat.
A group of assailants has set on fire at least 29 homes of Hindus in Bangladesh over an alleged blasphemous social media post amidst protests by the minority community against temple vandalism incidents during the Durga Puja celebrations last week, media reports said on Monday.
The case is likely to be handed over to the NIA for probe after registration of a case under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
Sitaram Yechury speaks about the Left's future in politics and their chances in the Bihar polls.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances