Stoutly defending Sanatan Dharma, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai on Thursday dubbed the ruling DMK a casteist party that must be decimated, and questioned its track record on Dalit empowerment.
Pune police on Tuesday raided homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them -- poet Varavara Rao in Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Ferreira in Mumbai, trade unionist and lawyer Sudha Bhardwaj in Faridabad and Chhattisgarh and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha in Delhi.
Dalit leaders ask community members to give up disposing dead cattle to 'send a strong message' to the Gujarat government.
Jacob, also the chief coordinator of the party, charged that Deepu was brutally beaten up for 15 minutes by the CPI-M workers last week and the accused got in touch with the MLA before and after the incident.
Teltumbde, Navlakha and nine other civil liberties activists have been booked under the stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for having alleged Maoist links and conspiring to overthrow the government.
The victim had gone with an autorickshaw driver, who was known to her, in his vehicle on the day of the incident. Two of his friends also got into the vehicle later. They then took the autorickshaw to a deserted spot and allegedly raped her, police said.
Former Delhi University professor G N Saibaba, who was released from the Nagpur Central Jail on Thursday after his acquittal in an alleged Maoist links case, said it's a 'wonder that he could come out alive' despite suffering the 'brutal' jail life.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The chief minister said no one should indulge in vote bank politics
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.
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.
'The prime minister took a meeting recently and he asked for suggestions and ideas for a plan till 2047.'
'Dynastic politics has become a tool of convenience for political parties. The BJP does not hesitate to accept it when it comes to its own alliance or party candidates. The same goes for the others.'
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging the "distressing rise" in incidents of Dalit atrocities.
"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.
The governor's move has been welcomed by a large segment of the Indian-American community who were opposing the bill.
"We state that the most precious fundamental 'right to life' unconditionally embraces even an undertrial. The consideration made herein is keeping in view the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case.
Following the post, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused Congress leaders of spreading "misinformation" and creating social hatred by sharing a "false" post on Golwalkar.
'When I applied for the job of santhi, I applied as a person who was eligible.' 'When I joined the temple at the age of 21, it was because I got the 4th rank in the list.' 'Now, everybody is talking only about my caste. I am above all that; it doesn't matter to me and to the people with whom I am associated with.'
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.
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.
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.
On seeing them, Gandhi got off his vehicle, walked up to them and shook hands with several people in the crowd.
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'.
'There will be no khel on February 12 during the confidence motion vote.'
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.
'Why he wasn't released, and why he had to die in custody?'
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I declared myself a Sikh. We want freedom from caste discrimination.'
The father of the man arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old girl in Ujjain on Friday demanded capital punishment for his son, while the local bar association appealed that no lawyer should defend him in the court.
Promoters of the bill, being led by non-profit Equality Lab, said that a similar bill is being introduced in the State House of Representatives, before it can be sent to the Governor to be signed into a law.
'You are one of the drops that make that ocean, but when you leave it makes no difference to the ocean.'
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
"This is all about distraction, basic issue is of caste census and participation, in whose hands is the money of the country going. They (BJP) don't want to discuss this issue, they are afraid of it and run away from it," Gandhi told reporters outside Parliament.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Datta issued notice to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCOCR) and granted it four weeks to file a counter-affidavit in response to the petition.
The houses of a sitting and a former MLA, both Dalits, were set afire by a violent mob.
India is the birthplace of four major world religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is home to the world's third largest Muslim population, a diverse community of sects that includes Sufis, Shia, and Bohra. Roughly three per cent of India's citizens are Christian, and notably, Christians are the religious majority in three of India's 29 states, she said.
'In India those who want change cannot bring about change, and those who can bring about change do not want change.'
Amid continuing countrywide protests by writers over "rising intolerance", a young Dalit activist and writer was allegedly attacked by unidentified men whom he suspects to be right wing activists, for his "anti-Hindu" writings at Davangere in central Karnataka.
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.