In a bid to woo voters, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday promised laptops for students, colour televisions for Dalit and Mahadalit families, two-wheelers for girls and dhoti-sari for poor families annually if it wins the Bihar assembly polls and forms the next government.
"It is the history of this country that whenever we have tried to rise, we have been suppressed. It is entirely a conspiracy against me and there should be an inquiry in it," Sandeep Kumar said.
The Enforcement Directorate had last week arrested Chhagan Bhujbal's associate and chartered accountant Sunil Naik in connection with the case.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
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.
Dalit leaders ask community members to give up disposing dead cattle to 'send a strong message' to the Gujarat government.
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 on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'redistribution of wealth' remarks targeting the party, saying after facing 'disappointment' in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the PM has now resorted to 'lies' and 'hate speech' to divert people from the real issues.
People had also started gathering at Mukhtar Ansari's residence in Ghazipur and there was a large deployment of security personnel around the house.
The demand has been made after the violent incident in Gohana where Dalit homes were burnt.
Basic Education Minister Anupama Jaiswal's remarks came even as the ruling party's Dalit, OBC outreach programme faces criticism from opposition Bahujan Samaj Party and some BJP leaders, including MP Udit Raj.
This appears to be a common refrain in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri Lok Sabha constituency where farmers want better prices for their produce and respite from the stray cattle menace and others want political leaders to talk about job creation instead of issues like the Ram temple and Article 370.
Gandhi said the Congress' slogan is 'count' because that would be the first step towards justice.
Sending out a clear message to Congress ranks, Sonia said the party will have to change its style of functioning with changing times and urged them to keep the organisation above their personal ambitions.
Earlier, a judicial panel reportedly rejected his caste status in its probe report.
Tharoor said there could be a surprise result in the election next year as there is an opposition coalition and there are chances of the INDIA alliance coming to power at the Centre by trouncing the BJP-led NDA in the general elections.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley while releasing the document said BJP's manifesto is particularly aimed at improving the social infrastructure in Punjab, even as he slammed Congress for its policies which he alleged paved way for militancy in Punjab in 1980s and termed its 2002-2007 tenure in power as "most dishonest and corrupt".
In his poll rallies, Modi framed Pitroda's comments in his wider onslaught against the Congress, asserting that they have exposed its hidden agenda and that the party has become so removed from the country's social and family values that it wants to legally rob people of their assets and lifelong savings they want to bequeath to their children.
Under attack over the controversial Rs 685-crore Dalit memorial, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday hit out at Congress saying it had no right to criticise when it has raised so many memorials for the Nehru-Gandhi family across the Yamuna bank in Delhi.
The family members of the deceased filed an FIR against the station in-charge and other police personnel for beating Kamal to death.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday met the relatives of a man and his disabled daughter who were burnt alive and other dalit families targeted in caste violence in a village in Haryana and assured them of stringent action against the guilty.
One person was killed in police firing during a clash with stone-pelting Dalit activists who were enforcing a shutdown in Amravati district of Maharashtra on Tuesday, police said.
Driven out of their homes by a Maoist-back outfit and ignored by the state government, several Dalits from Orissa's Koraput district on Tuesday demanded immediate rehabilitation or permission for self-immolation. Representatives of the group, who launched a sit-in and hunger strike in Bhubneswar, met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The chief minister was told that nearly 400 families of Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon areas have lost everything.
The Delhi high court on Thursday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to take down his social media post which revealed the identity of a minor Dalit girl, raped and murdered in 2021, so that the child's identity is protected worldwide.
Here is a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of the two aspiring CMs.
'Divine experience and a proud moment' is how the 15 couples who were the 'mukhya yajman' for the consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya described the grand event and said that the day will be forever etched in their memories.
As the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, the leaders of two prominent regional parties in Maharashtra, are fighting a battle for political survival.
The two children, Roshani (12) and Avinash (10), suffered serious injuries in the incident.
Saini's elevation as Haryana chief minister fits in with a pattern that has gathered pace in the BJP after the Congress and its allies like the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar began making an aggressive bid to woo the largest group of communities and politically most significant, especially in Hindi-speaking states, by pushing for a caste census.
The injured babies include the rape survivor's six-month-old child -- born after the 11-year-old was impregnated in the sexual assault -- and her two-month-old sister, police said.
School principal suspended, vice-principal and 14 other teachers transferred after a video emerged of a boy being thrashed by other schoolboys.
BJP leader Diya Kumari, who was elected deputy chief minister of Rajasthan along with Prem Chand Bairwa, is a member of erstwhile Jaipur royal family and a two-time MLA.
A senior official said that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje gave the direction in this regard to the home department yesterday following which remarks of the director general of police were sought on Wednesday.
AAP leaders Ashish Khetan and Ashish Talwar on Wednesday reached Hydrabad to meet protesting students.
On seeing them, Gandhi got off his vehicle, walked up to them and shook hands with several people in the crowd.
He finished the digging in a mere 40 days and was pleasantly surprised to find water.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday claimed that the Congress and Samajwadi Party will run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected to power, and asked them to take 'tuition' from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 'where to run bulldozers'.
A Dalit youth, who had married an upper caste girl against the wishes of her family, was attacked and seriously wounded in Motihari town in Bihar's East Champaran district. He is now battling for his life in a hospital.
The Congress president during his year at the helm of the party has repaired the citadel for far more challenging years ahead, and played a crucial role in shaping the Opposition alliance.
Amid the row over Congress leader Sam Pitroda's remarks, the party on Wednesday asserted that it has no plans whatsoever to introduce an inheritance tax and cited former Union minister Jayant Sinha's remarks to allege that it is the Modi government that wanted to do so.
