After Amartya Sen, yet another noted intellectual has come out strongly against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Acclaimed author and Padma Shri awardee Amitav Ghosh has said that for him Modi remains someone culpable for the Gujarat riots of 2002 and for someone like him to become prime minister would be deeply destabilising for India. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN's Deputy Editor Sagarika Ghose, he also said that the politics of Hindu nationalism is destroying Hindu religion.
Suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt wrote a letter to senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Arun Jaitley, inviting him for a national debate on any issue pertaining to the 2002 riots in the state.
'She had the courage to not cow down before the entire law and order apparatus, to remain sane and human despite inhuman suffering meted out to her and her family.'
Twenty years after the burning of a train in Godhra killed 59 'karsevaks' and triggered one of India's worst post-Partition riots, the poll-scape reflects the yawning gulf between the two communities.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended interim protection from arrest till July 19 to activist Teesta Setalvad in a case linked to the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
Counter-attacking the divisive and communal barb, BJP on Monday said Congress was the 'biggest communal party' because it was responsible for the partition of India and the Bhagalpur riots.
The hearing on Bilkis Bano's plea challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the gang-rape case by the Gujarat government, could not be held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday as the judges concerned were hearing a matter related to passive euthanasia as part of a five-judge Constitution bench.
Making a scathing attack on his rival, Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad on Saturday described Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as an 'opportunist' and said his protest over the elevation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi within the Bharatiya Janata Party was a 'charade' to corner Muslim votes.
A day after party chief Rajnath Singh defended his appointment as Uttar Pradesh in-charge, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Wednesday said Amit Shah is an "experienced" leader and asserted that no charges have so far been proved against him. Shah, a close confidant of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, is embroiled in a controversy related to the 2002 Gujarat riots and the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the bail pleas of three convicts serving life term in the 2002 Godhra train burning case, which plunged Gujarat into one of the worst communal riots, terming it a "very serious incident".
Several saffron brigade leaders including Godhra BJP MLA Haresh Bhatt, Shiv Sena leader Babu Bajrangi and VHP leaders Anil Patel and Dhaval Jayant Patel were shown on Tehelka tapes beamed on TV channels bragging their "feats" during the 2002 Gujarat carnage, which, they claimed, had the sanction of Modi.
"Just because Modi enjoys the patronage of senior BJP leader L K Advani, the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, the latter cannot escape culpability for the mass murder," Lalu said.
By polarising the Hindu vote, the expose might help the BJP and Modi, but in the long run, it will dent Modi's credibility.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi cut short a television interview at his Ahmedabad residence on Friday after he was repeatedly asked questions about the post-Godhra riots in 2002. Modi terminated the interview to CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate programme midway when questioner Karan Thapar asked if he had any regrets about the Gujarat riots and also about his image as an anti-Muslim. Modi removed the microphone from his shirt and told Thapar that he cannot continue.
Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesday met party chief Sonia Gandhi in the wake of controversy over his remarks linking 2002 Gujarat riots with birth of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen even as he accused Bharatiya Janata Party of diverting the nation's attention from National Investigation Agency's "observations".
Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu is running fast out of options and desperately needs props to avoid his party's total political annihilation, but what options is he left with, writes Mohammed Siddique
'Apparently, the EC deals with such communications as mine in a summary manner, and it has no intention to conduct its affairs, as a quasi-judicial authority ought to.'
The Supreme Court on Tuesday remarked the Gujarat government's reply to pleas challenging the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case is very bulky wherein a series of judgments have been quoted but factual statements are missing.
The Congress on Monday disapproved of the remarks of party general secretary Shakeel Ahmed and party MP Rashid Masood that the 2002 Gujarat riots had led to the formation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri (who was killed in 2002 Gujarat riots), today took objection to the Special Investigation Team `locus standi' at the hearing on her application seeking more time to file protest petition against SIT's closure report giving clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 61 others.
A Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Saturday rejected the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, a 2002 Gujarat riot victim, to open the final report of the Special Investigation Team.
The top court said the faith of people in the efficacy of law is the saviour and succour for the sustenance of the rule of law.
Bano was gang-raped and seven members of her family were killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The income tax department's marathon "surveys" at BBC's offices ended on Thursday, after clocking over 58 hours in total, as officials prepared an inventory of financial data from select staffers and collected digital and paper data.
The samples will be sent to the forensic laboratory at Red Hill in Hyderabad for DNA testing.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred to May 9 the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the remission granted to the 11 convicts last year in the case of gangrape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members during the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
The Centre has issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question', sources said.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
All the Gujarat cadre officers have one thing in common. They do not need Modi's 'informal interactions' and advice because they are from the so-called 'Modi school of governance.' They know Modi well enough to perform their assigned roles.
'We are losing the battle of secularism, but we have not lost.'
"I am praying that God lets me sacrifice myself for the sake of harmony," said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the Gujarat University Convention Centre hall in Ahmedabad.
Hitting out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "late realisation" of the malnutrition problem in the country, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that instead of "merely making comments on the issue", the PM should provide a solution for it. "Last week, the prime minister expressed agony and pain over the issue of malnutrition in the country and said that it was a shame for the country. But actually, it is shameful," he said.
Chennai Super Kings' batters dazzled before the bowlers ran riot to thrash Gujarat Titans by a thumping 53-run margin.
Gujarat High Court on Tuesday rejected applications by former state minister Maya Kodnani and two others against the decision of the trial court judge who had refused to recuse herself from Naroda Gaam riot case.
'Little about this regime, given its vindictive credo, is a complete surprise. But we were still taken aback by the CBI raid as it was a complete abuse of due process.' 'These are not legal inquiries, but abusive use of State power. They are not legitimate investigations, but a witch-hunt.' 'Ours is a typical, classic case of the State and its organs being used as an outlet for motivated vendetta of the vilest kind.'
Supreme Court judge Bela M Trivedi on Tuesday recused herself from hearing a plea filed by Bilkis Bano, who was gang-raped and seven members of her family killed during the 2002 Gujarat riots, challenging the remission of sentence of 11 convicts in the case by the state government.
Prominent Muslim cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq has said BJP's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi's past can be ignored if he changes himself.
Nearly two decades after the communal violence in Bhagalpur in Bihar, the Centre on Thursday announced a Rs 29.81 crore relief and rehabilitation package for the next of kin of those killed and injured in the riots.
If Indira Gandhi hadn't targeted the RSS, Narendra Modi wouldn't be sitting pretty with his second majority and looking at a third, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
