Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh has defended the cow vigilants in the backdrop of flogging of Dalits in Gujarat.
The birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, whose political influence has surged with the passage of time, on Monday was marked by bitter trading of charges between the ruling BJP and opposition parties as they fought for his legacy.
Months after winning the Lok Sabha polls from Sirsa, the former Union minister and the Congress' prominent Dalit face also indicated her desire to contest the upcoming assembly elections and said she wishes to work in the state but the high command will take a final call on the matter.
A new book details how a German submarine torpedoed the ship carrying B.R. Ambedkar's PhD dissertation and a vast collection of books during World War I. This setback did not deter the Dalit icon and architect of India's Constitution, who went on to earn multiple doctorates.
Social commentator Ashis Nandy, whose remark about corruption and the Dalit community has triggered a major controversy, has declared that he stands by his comment. In an interview with CNN-IBN, he explains how corruption balances the discrimination in society and is partly an equalising force.
'In Western UP, last time a lot of Dalits voted for the BJP.' 'This time, there is a rethink among Dalits about the extent of their support for the BJP.'
'We have had several films on the caste system but they are all in different decades, when sensibilities were mature enough to comprehend.' 'Today, we are in a different zone of thought.'
In the backdrop of suicide of a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad University, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Ramdas Athawale today demanded that members of the community be allowed to possess firearms given a "vertical rise" in incidents of "atrocities" against them.
The election of Vijender Gupta, a three-time BJP MLA, as the speaker of the Delhi Assembly has sparked controversy, with AAP members accusing the BJP of being "anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh." The accusations stem from the removal of photographs of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh from the chief minister's office, a move condemned by AAP leaders as a display of the BJP's alleged anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh stance.
The cabinet of the new government led by Rekha Gupta balances representation of all major communities that propelled the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Delhi with a massive majority after over 26 years.
The community members have decided not to lift carcasses till they were issued such identity cards to ensure their security.
During his visit to Tumakuru district on Friday, the former chief minister who was accompanied by other party members visited the residence of a Dalit family where he allegedly ate 'idlis' from a nearby hotel and not the food prepared by the family.
Dalit students at a government school in Champawat district refused to eat mid-day meals cooked by an upper caste woman after a cook belonging to the Scheduled Caste was sacked.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging the "distressing rise" in incidents of Dalit atrocities.
According to organisers, though conversions are carried out every year on Vijaya Dashmi, this year the numbers were high on account of the Una Dalit flogging incident.
The Maharashtra minister alleged that Muslim voters were convinced that Uddhav Thackeray had "forsaken" Hindutva ideologies and the ideals of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray which led to them coming together to help the Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT candidates.
Action under the stringent National Security Act, which allows for detention without trial for one year, was also initiated against the accused, he added.
Aimed at broadbasing support for it, the Bharatiya Janata Party has gone all out to woo the Dalit community, with party president Nitin Gadkari invoking B R Ambedkar in his presidential address at the National Council in Indore and making a special mention of disgraced former party chief Bangaru Laxman, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste.Soon after landing in the city on Tuesday, Gadkari, 52, had directly gone to Ambedkar's birthplace Mhow, to pay tributes to the Dalit icon.
Multiple challenges, particularly with regard to cabinet formation, stare at Siddaramaiah as he takes over as the new chief minister of Karnataka, nudging out party colleague and state Congress president D K Shivakumar -- who will now be his deputy.
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.
He said he was wondering where our institutions are going wrong, that students are forced to take their life.
The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday suspended six Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel including a station in-charge in connection with the beating of a woman and her grandson in Katni district.
Manjhi's political journey took a dramatic turn when, in 2014, he was unexpectedly anointed Chief Minister by Nitish Kumar, who had resigned after a disastrous Lok Sabha election.
The officials asked the residents to take a bath before attending a meeting with the CM so that they 'smell good'.
Rupani claimed that the state government had taken 'prompt action' in the incident as all the main culprits were arrested the next day.
Kamal has a crisp pen when it comes to writing short and yet powerful film dialogues. But while speaking ex tempore -- and that has been his style -- he looks every bit a confused man, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Modi alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka gave reservations in tenders based on religion, "snatching the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs." But Ambedkar had said there would not be reservation based on religion and there is a bar on giving reservation on the basis of religion in the Constitution, he stressed.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
Mevani, after his meeting with the Gandhi scion, said he would ask his community members to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the Gujarat polls.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing them of neglecting the welfare of backward sections, Dalits, tribals, and minorities. Gandhi promised a caste census in Delhi if the Congress forms the government, echoing his national call for removing the 50 percent cap on reservations. He also criticized Kejriwal's governance, drawing parallels with Modi's alleged reliance on propaganda and false promises. The Congress and AAP are part of the INDIA bloc, but are contesting the upcoming Delhi assembly polls separately. Gandhi's speech highlights the growing political tension ahead of the polls, where the Congress aims to regain its foothold in Delhi.
The latest biopic on Jyotibai Phule has come at a time when the Department of Taking Offence is super-active. Utkarsh Mishra feels it will be interesting to see if it portrays his attack on Brahminism in the same 'no holds barred' manner-- and, if it does, what reaction it provokes.
The Kerala police were the most sensitised to the rights of those arrested while that of Jharkhand and Gujarat the least.
The Congress picked Charanjit Singh Channi as the next chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dailt to hold the post in the state, a day after Amarinder Singh resigned following a bitter power tussle in the party.
Elections to the posts of mayor and deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi that were slated for April 26 were postponed on Thursday, with Lt Governor V K Saxena citing 'unprecedented' circumstances where the chief minister is under judicial custody and cannot discharge his constitutionally obligated functions.
Tamil Nadu is the celebrated home of the 'social justice' movement in the country, yet caste differences and violence has only been increasing in numbers and becoming more brutal in recent years, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Dalits of Thabola village in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district are facing social and economical boycott for a month now after two grooms from the community decided to defy the diktats of the upper caste villagers. Shahnawaz Akhtar reports.
'The 2024 general elections proved that UP is not Gujarat.'
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
Enraged community members took out rallies in towns and cities, blocking roads, damaging buses.
Kejriwal on Friday accused the state administration of colluding in the incident of attack on Dalit men by cow vigilantes as he met the victims and their families.
