There is no guarantee that if we speak in only Indian languages, all our faults will be washed away and India will shine. Why then do they bully and belittle the English-speaking? asks Shyam G Menon.
As authorities are yet to take action against MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi for his repeated hate-speeches, Rediff.com takes a look at the firebrand leader's journey to national 'notoriety'.
Showing total disregard for the US constitution, Trump has said that this could be the last election to be held in the country. A Trump presidency could lead to mass deportation of undocumented migrants and harsh family separation, warns Aseem Chhabra.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
The former BJP MLA has been held guilty under IPC Section 188 (disobedience to orders duly promulgated by government officials) for violating CrPC Section 144 restrictions at Akhlaq's Bisahda village.
According to the analysis, there has been a 55 percent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
Kumar, whose NDA-allied Janata Dal-United has won 12 of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar, has emerged as a key player in government formation
Maharashtra has witnessed 823 incidents of communal unrest since January this year, with demands for the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb and the spread of distorted facts on social media fomenting fresh trouble. Districts like Nandurbar, Pune (Rural), Ratnagiri, Sangli, Beed, and Satara have seen communal unrest in recent days due to right-wing organizations' demands for the demolition of the Mughal emperor's tomb in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The state witnessed 4,836 Hindu-Muslim related communal crimes in 2024, with 170 incidents classified as cognisable and 3,106 as non-cognisable cases. The violence in Nagpur, triggered by protests demanding the removal of Aurangzeb's tomb, highlights the role of social media in spreading inflammatory content and instigating people. While the state has taken measures to curb the spread of misinformation, concerns remain over the impact on communities and the need for promoting peace and understanding.
The complainant, Ajay Agrawal, a Supreme Court advocate and a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, alleged that Suranya Aiyar made objectionable remarks on different social media platforms on January 20, 2024, and other dates.
'What is happening in the process of getting this cheap popularity for our younger generation?'
Designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the founder of the banned Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has released a new video asking Sikhs not to fly in Air India aircraft after November 19, as their lives can be under threat.
The Congress on Wednesday questioned the Election Commission's move to get a post on electoral bonds scheme deleted from social media platform X and said that the issue raised in the post makes the government 'extremely uncomfortable'.
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
However, there is no restriction on the movement of people anywhere in the valley, the officials said.
Shah said "a bitter display of spite", Kharge unnecessarily dragged the prime minister into his personal health matters by saying that he would die only after removing Modi from power.
'If the platform is public, then every Indian regardless of his ideology and commitment has got the right to convey his view'
Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva overcame world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final on Sunday, to win a second WTA 1000-level event in a row.
Two days after violence broke out during a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, life is gradually returning to normal with schools reopening and shops resuming operations. Internet services remain suspended and authorities continue to monitor the situation closely with restrictions in place on entry of outsiders and public representatives. The area around the Shahi Jama Masjid remains deserted, while the police investigate the violence and make arrests.
'Diplomatic and economic responses are first announced and then implemented. A military response is announced only after it is done.'
Hours after Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje's assertion that the suspect involved in the March 1 blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe was from Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader issued a retraction and offered an apology.
Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Sunday suggested that the government should impose a ban on websites that exclusively display pornography and hate speeches."However, it would not be right to place a blanket ban on all categories of websites. It is also important to distinguish between intermediaries such as network service providers, website operators and individual users for the purpose of placing liabilities," Balakrishnan said.
Thakur had on December 25 said Hindus have the right to respond to those who attack them and their dignity as she spoke about the killing of Hindu activists.
The Allahabad high court on Thursday dismissed as withdrawn Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah's petition challenging the first information reports lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh for alleged hate speeches after he stated that he wanted to reply to the Election Commission notice in the matter.
The Congress accused Facebook of interfering in India's democratic process and social harmony and being soft on members of the ruling BJP on applying its hate-speech rules.
Delhi high court judge Justice S Muralidhar was on Wednesday transferred to the Punjab and Haryana high court. A government notification about the transfer was issued on Wednesday which said that after consultation with Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday transferred Justice S Muralidhar, judge of the Delhi high court, as judge of Punjab and Haryana high court. The notification further said the President has directed Muralidhar to assume charge of his office in Punjab and Haryana high court.
The poll panel also referred to the instances of "inappropriate vocabulary and language" used during the ongoing campaign by persons, "in particular, by those invested with the statutory status of star campaigner".
They said there was "genuine concern" that if the present ruling dispensation loses people's mandate, the transition of power may not be smooth and there could be a constitutional crisis.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the opposition alliance INDIA as a collection of arrogant dynasties who will take India back by two centuries as he exuded confidence that people will bless the "garib ka beta" with a record-breaking mandate in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Alt News co-founder Mohammad Zubair was released from Tihar on Wednesday night, hours after being granted interim bail by the Supreme Court in all FIRs lodged in Uttar Pradesh against him for alleged hate speech, prison officials said.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed further proceedings before the high courts in matters involving challenges to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 or Cable TV Networks (Amendment) Rules 2021.
The Manipur high court has directed the state government to operationalise mobile towers, on a trial basis, in all those district headquarters which have not been affected by ethnic strife.
The Rampur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh which fell vacant following the disqualification of SP leader Mohammad Azam Khan is one of the five seats going for the bypolls.
They also slammed the "violent rhetoric" against India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu and said free speech does not mean a license to incite violence or vandalise property.
The panel discussion titled 'Kashmir: From Turmoil to Transformation' was held on Thursday. It was moderated by columnist Se Hoon Kim and addressed by president of the Jammu and Kashmir Workers Party Mir Junaid, and Touseef Raina, president of the Municipal Council of Baramulla.
A senior official said that the state had sought several companies of paramilitary forces and these have been provided to maintain law and order situation.
Amid outrage over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by the Bharatiya Janata Party's now-sacked two functionaries, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said it is high time Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the 'proliferation of hate speech and Islamophobic incidents' in the country, asserting that his silence is interpreted by some as condoning what has been happening.
'The best remedy would be to scrap Section 124-A of the IPC, a colonial vestige, altogether.' 'However, if legislators don't want to do so, they can do two things.' 'They can formally amend Section 124-A to bring it in line with what the Supreme Court has said about sedition.' 'The words which stand on the statute book today were inserted in 1898.' 'The Supreme Court's words are not a part of Section 124-A.'
The top court said this approach is part of our constitutional culture and there is no need for it to formulate a code of conduct for public functionaries.
If you love India, you cannot weaponise religion to stay in power, asserts Ramesh Menon, author, Modi Demystified: The Making Of A Prime Minister.
