'Yogiji insisted to Venkaiah Naiduji that he needs two more strong arms to rule Uttar Pradesh.'
Gujarat's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission seeking to bar ousted Vice-Chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi from entering the state following his allegedly provocative utterances against Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
'While the ordinary Muslim must speak up against Islamic fundamentalism, ordinary Hindus too have to speak up against the excesses and fundamentalism that exists in their religion.'
Yogi Adityanath, who has been declared BJP candidate from Gorakhpur will be the second leader to contest from the district as a chief minister after Tribhuvan Narayan Singh, who lost in 1971.
A group of protesters, who were raising slogans against VC Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, disrupted classes and closed the main gate on Sunday evening, they said, adding two students were injured in the melee.
The Tablighi Jamaat avoided confrontation, stayed clear of conversion of non-Muslims, abjured politics and focused only on religious attainment. >A fascinating excerpt from Ziya Us Salam's Inside The Tablighi Jamaat.
"We have full confidence in the judicial system of the country. We appeal to the people to respect the verdict of the court and maintain peace and communal harmony in the country," the seminary's deputy vice-chancellor Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrasi said
Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
Home Minister P Chidambaram said no resolution was passed on Vande Mataram recital when he was present at the Jamiat Conference at Deoband on Tuesday.
Terming demolition of Babri Masjid as an act of religious fanaticism and extreme prejudice, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said communalism in all its forms was deplorable and asserted that it was the duty of the majority community to protect the minorities.
The Samajwadi Party released its list of 40 star campaigners in which there was no mention of Mulayam Singh Yadav.
A section of Deoband-based clerics reportedly also issued a 'fatwa' (diktat) against the Trinamool Congress lawmaker. The first-time MP from West Bengal's Basirhat came to Parliament on June 25 wearing vermilion and sporting a 'mangalsutra', and said 'Vande Matram' after taking oath.
'He won't be able to migrate; he must survive in that environment.' 'He will go back after the election to becoming invisible.'
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
'Congress and BSP are in the fray, but not in the contest.'
Let's take a look at some controversial fatwas.
"The Congress has failed despite ruling for so many years," she said.
The Election Commission has given a clean chit to Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, former vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, over a speech that the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed was 'provocative' and violated the poll code.
A collection of some of the recent controversial fatwas
The delegation led by Darul Uloom Deoband Vice Chancellor, Abul Qasim Nomani, presented a memorandum to the PM, highlighting some key demands like annulling the Central Madrassa Board proposal and exemption of Muslim mosques and educational and religious institutions from direct taxes code, among others, the representatives said.
Former vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband,Ghulam Muhammad Vastanvi on Monday said that Muslims should not have any problems if the people of the country elect Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime minister.
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said that providing the photograph of a girl to the boy's family for marriage purpose is not allowed under Islamic law. In a fatwa issued on Wednesday, the seminary said providing the photo of a girl to the boy's family is against Shariat law.
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa against manufacturing and selling of firecrackers, saying it was against Sharia law.
Kicking up a controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Suresh Rana said that curfew will be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad if he is elected again in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next month.
Continuous projection of Rushdie-like issues, as vital to Muslims, comes in the way of development as their priority requirement, says Saeed Naqvi
A collection of some of the recent controversial fatwas
Condemning Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's much-hyped three-day fast as a "melodrama", leading Islamic scholars and clerics have called upon both Muslims and Hindus to pray for divine retribution.
Islamic seminary Darul Ulum Deoband has issued a fatwa against beauty parlours, saying running such a place is against Shariat law. The fatwa was issued in response to a question posed before the Darul Uloom, asking whether the profession of running beauty parlours by Muslim women is justified by the law according to the Shariat. The fatwa said Muslim women are not permitted to practice this profession under Shariat.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Muslim cleric, Maulana Arshad Madani, on Tuesday backed Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband''s appeal to the Central government to cancel the visa of acclaimed author Salman Rushdie, stating that he has hurt the sentiments of the Muslims in the past.
His remarks against Narendra Modi nearly cost him his job, but Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi will for now remain vice chancellor of Asia's largest Islamic seminary,Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh.
Editor of the Milli Gazette and former president of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat Zafrul Islam Khan tells rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that this entire controversy is the result of a war between two factions of the Darul Uloom.
Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who stirred a controversy with his remarks on Gujarat, on Thursday said he has not resigned as the vice chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband. "I have not yet resigned. A meeting of the Majlis-e-Soora (governing council) will be held on February 23, which scholars from all over the country will attend. I will present my case and they will decide on whether I should continue or not," said Vastanvi.
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad, naib imam of Idgah and member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangimahli, the main pujari of the Ram Janambhoomi temple in Ayodhya, Acharya Satyendra Das Mahraj, and Mahant of Janki Ghat in Ayodhya, Janmey Sharan, have asked people respect the verdict of the court and maintain communal harmony
Notwithstanding the claims and counterclaims of different political parties about riding the crest of a populatiry wave in Uttar Pradesh, Tuesday's results of the three bypolls out of the 403 state assembly seats have sprung surprises for all key political players.
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said that wearing jeans or other tight-fitting clothes is not appropriate as per religious beliefs. In a posting on Tuesday, the seminary said wearing 'skin-tight' dresses is 'not lawful' and that clothes should be 'loose and simple'. In another controversial observation, it said a couple should first seek the opinion of a hakim or Unani practitioner before using contraceptives if needed for medical reasons.
A fatwa is not an order but a guidance of principle and any one can abide by it or ignore it, in-charge of the fatwa department of the seminary Mufti Habibur Rehman told media persons on Friday evening.
Darul Uloom Deoband head Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi on Thursday said he will abide by the decision of a three-member panel probing his pro-Narendra Modi remarks and won't challenge in court the outcome if it is against him.
The Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) will be holding a first of it's kind conference on the Kashmir issue in Deoband on Sunday. While talking to rediff.com, Mehboob Madani, JUH chief confirmed the news and said that Indian Muslims would deliberate the issue in such a manner for the first time.