Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com does a deep dive into four elections when Narendra Modi resorted to anti-Muslim fervour and points out that Hindu-Muslim politics does not necessarily mean victory for the BJP.
The march was planned to protest the killings of four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village in Bhandara district in September.
The Koregaon-Bhima Inquiry Commission, probing the January 2018 violence near a memorial in Maharashtra's Pune district, has told the state government that it is suspending all scheduled hearings till the government does not provide it a "suitable accommodation" in Mumbai to conduct the probe into the case.
'Don't be surprised if the Census forms come with a caste box.' 'I will be surprised if it doesn't. It will be a point conceded to Rahul Gandhi and his allies,' asserts Shekhar Gupta. The BJP machine could take all 3 in its stride, but this election has changed that, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The sixth edition of Bigg Boss had its first brush with controversy on Thursday as suspected Republican Party of India activists attacked the office of Colors TV channel in Mumbai over demands to eliminate contestant Aseem Trivedi from the reality show.
Though the Patidar-dominated Morbi Assembly seat in Gujarat is considered a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the poll equations this time may change due to many factors, including the recent bridge tragedy which claimed 135 lives, political observers say.
The Haryana Police on Sunday said cricketer Yuvraj Singh was arrested and released on bail in an alleged casteist remarks case in compliance with a high court order.
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.
Cases of atrocities on scheduled castes increased from 45,000 in 2014 to 40,800 2016. Cases of atrocities on scheduled tribes went from 11,451 in 2015 to 6,568 in 2016.
So far, Patil said, 44 persons have been arrested and charged with murder in connection with the rape and murder of a Dalit family at Khairlanji village in Bhandara in September.
The woman, belonging to the Bheel community, was allegedly gangraped by Devesthan Department of the state government on October 1.
'The BJP has been tinkering with the Indian Constitution every now and then.' 'Instead of celebrating November 26 as Constitution Day, the BJP was more interested in (the VHP's) Dharam Sabha which was called that day.' 'This shows they believe more in the Ram mandir than in the Constitution.'
Using the Mahabharat reference as a leitmotif, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that an atmosphere of fear prevails all around with a group of six trapping the entire country in a 'chakravyuh' he promised would be broken by the INDIA bloc.
'For voters, PM Narendra Modi's name and developmental works in Rajkot are enough reasons to support the BJP'
'Young Dalits are looking for better educational opportunities, more job avenues in the private sector, which need not necessarily mean job quotas, but a more welcoming corporate world that offers a liberated social environment, essentially a new India.'
'The 16th and 17th Lok Sabha and the 2017 assembly election show that Dalits and OBCs are moving towards the BJP.'
Reaching out to Dalits and backward classes, the administration of the Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirupati has launched several initiatives for the community including training them in performing temple rituals.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
The ad, which draws a link between the character Kachra with 'kachra', the Hindi word for garbage, was aired on World Environment Day on June 5.
Espousing an aggressive pro-backward and Dalit stance synchronising with the Maurya controversy, the SP has thrown down the gauntlet with Akhilesh upping the ante on the burning topic, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
Rajya Sabha member Pravin Rashtrapal, who has been re-nominated by the Congress from Gujarat for the biennial elections to the Upper House, on Friday filed his nomination papers in Gandhinagar.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
'The Congress wants to eat the cake, but does not want to share it.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the people have given his government a mandate for stability and continuity for the third consecutive term after seeing its work of 10 years and accused the Congress of trying to build a narrative that it has defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha polls.
The activists of Dr Ambedkar Vichar Samiti and Nav Srijan Samiti from Ahmedabad were taken into custody on Sunday night and sent back home, officials said.
Kalpana Saroj and Milind Kamble, who will get the Padma Shri this year, are epitomes of a new resurgence in the Dalit community, writes Aditi Phadnis
Fifteen out of 97 men belonging to dominant Jat community were convicted on Saturday by a Delhi court in a case of burning alive of a 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically-challenged daughter at Mirchpur village of Haryana's Hisar district last year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
On the intervening night of September 22-23, 2012, three Dalit youths were killed when police opened fire to disperse a violent mob to control a clash between Dalits and OBC Bharwad community members at Thangadh town in Surendranagar district.
The Congress would also take inspiration from history as it was from Karnataka that an embattled Indira Gandhi had revived her dwindling political future by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Chikmagalur.
Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar, said Maharashtra Democratic Front, Maharashtra Left Front, besides 250 organisations, have supported Wednesday's shutdown.
Nilekani also said that there is a huge difference between the north and south in India in terms of the castes that have gone into business, with the south being much more progressive vis--vis non-traditional business communities entering into the fray of entrepreneurship.
These events would include celebrating the centenary of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha in Bihar in a big way. It was Gandhi's first mass agitation in India, where he had led a protest of peasants against forcible cultivation of indigo.
The ruling faction's announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his party's support.
'The tragedy with Indian Muslims is that they do politics from the heart, not from the head.'
Karan Bhushan rejects the charges against his father, saying the "allegations are political and made up. We will challenge them in court".
Seattle has become the first US city to outlaw caste discrimination after its local council passed a resolution, moved by an Indian-American politician and economist, to add caste to its non-discrimination policy.
"You ask in Uttar Pradesh for five Dalit leaders and the answer you will hear is Mayawati, Mayawati, Mayawati, Mayawati and Mayawati... I want there to be a queue of leaders at all levels, in UP, Delhi, at block levels, in villages...," he said.
Earlier, a judicial panel reportedly rejected his caste status in its probe report.
'You don't have any options within the BJP. You only have to follow the orders of the top leadership.'
