Indications are that the DMK combine will win more seats than the AIADMK and BJP, but is facing a tough fight in about half a dozen from the rest, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy of the electoral contest in Tamil Nadu.
A group formed by controversial Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Yogi Adityanath --known for his interest in religious conversions dubbed "ghar wapasi" -- offered all possible help "including guns" to the Hindus of Dadri's Bisada village.
The group claimed that its members only burnt photocopies of pages allegedly carrying "objectionable comments on women and Dalits" in the Ramcharitmanas.
Authorities in Nuh district Sunday razed some illegal structures including a hotel from where stones were allegedly pelted on a religious procession last week, even as a mahapanchayat was held in support of four men arrested over arson at a mosque and the death of its junior imam.
Right-wing activist Kajal Hindustani, who was arrested for allegedly delivering a 'hate speech' that caused a communal clash in Una town of Gujarat's Gir Somnath district, was on Thursday granted bail by a sessions court.
The report, released on June 21, alleged that some senior leaders of the BJP "made inflammatory speeches against minority communities".
A mosque was set on fire and a short circuit apparently triggered a blaze in another in Haryana's Nuh district, while two brothers belonging to Muslim community were allegedly beaten up in Gurugram by a group of about 30 people, the police said on Thursday.
'How can Hindus protest efforts to ban an edition of the Gita in parts of Russia, and force a publisher to withdraw an academic critique of Hinduism, all in the same breath? It makes the Hindu community seem petty, self-serving, and hypocritical. Episodes like this allow Hinduism to be "owned" by the most conservative, intolerant, extremist voices. These people do not speak for me, and they certainly don't represent the form of Hinduism I practice and love," Princeton University's Hindu chaplain Vineet Chander tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Nineteen years after a blast shook the Hindu Munnani office here killing two persons and injuring four, the trial in the case has begun at a local court. The blast on Tamil New Year Day on April 14, 1995 at the state headquarters of the Sangh Parivar group killed 'Bible' Shanmugam, a Munnani leader besides another who allegedly planted the bomb.
On seeing them, Gandhi got off his vehicle, walked up to them and shook hands with several people in the crowd.
Post your financial planning queries for rediffGURU and financial planning expert, Colonel Sanjeev Govila.
Three persons from Indore were picked up by the Maharashtra police and are being interrogated in Mumbai in connection with the Malegaon bomb blasts amid suspicions that Hindu extremist groups could be involved in the recent explosions in Malegaon and Modasa in Gujarat.
Udayanidhi has handed over to the BJP one real issue to draw the line between it and the INDIA alliance, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
'I am not a Hinduwadi leader, but a nationalist leader. I am a leader of every religion, every caste, every language and every class'
Earlier, two women devotees could not proceed to the shrine after protesters forced them to return. Protesters pelted police with stones and the latter hit right back with vengeance wielding batons with telling effect, leaving many fallen and writhing in pain on the road.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
The government announced the decision apprehending spread of rumours through social media by anti-social elements ahead or during the rally called to be held on Monday.
Videos of Tuesday's protest outside Durga Bhawan temple on Spon Lane in Smethwick area of the West Midlands city were circulating on social media overnight, with groups of masked men seen shouting and hurling items. Police officers could be seen holding and pulling some of these masked men trying to scale the temple fence.
A group of 171 Pakistani Hindus travelled to Jodhpur on the Thar Express train on Sunday. Though the Hindus are on a pilgrimage, their leader said they would not go back to Pakistan, according to BBC Urdu.
Peace committee meetings were held in Nuh and Sohna on Tuesday following communal violence in the two towns, with people assuring the administration that they will cooperate fully in maintaining peace, officials said.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The posters were put up on the shutters of the shops late on Sunday evening, Purola station house officer Khajan Singh Chauhan said.
The Sangh chief said, "Even Veer Savarkar had said if the Hindu community gets united and organised, it will speak about the Bhagwad Gita and not about finishing or harming anyone."
Two home guards were killed and at least 15 others, including several policemen, were injured on Monday as a mob in Haryana's Nuh district tried to stop a Vishwa Hindu Parishad procession, pelting stones and setting cars on fire, officials said.
The South Asia Solidarity has asked the British government to withdraw the status of the Sewa International and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.
Seattle is not only the first American city to ban caste discrimination but is the first jurisdiction at any level globally outside South Asia to do so.
The arrested person is identified as a 29-year-old man from Kolhapur who allegedly used Tipu Sultan's image with the caption 'Bharat Ka Raja' on social media, which caused enmity between two communities, he said.
Cow vigilante Monu Manesar, who was booked by Rajasthan Police for the murder of two Muslim men in February and is also accused of inciting communal hatred in home state Haryana, was arrested Tuesday, officials said.
Police have booked more than 10 people for 'promoting enmity' after they allegedly burnt photocopies of the pages of Ramcharitmanas in the Vrindavan area of Lucknow on Sunday.
As a hugely divisive debate raged over Tamil Nadu minister Udhayanidhi Stalin's "eradicate Sanatan Dharma" remark, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking its direction for registration of an FIR against him.
A right-wing group on Sunday said it had issued a "diktat" barring entry of Muslims at Garba events during the upcoming Navratri festival at Mandvi town in Gujarat's Kutch district to prevent "love jihad" incidents.
The jama'ath of a mosque in Kerala has allegedly opposed the participation of people belonging to the lower strata of the Muslim community in their general meeting, drawing sharp criticism from progressive organisations in the society.
Wearing his infectious goofy grin, 'Samba Magician' Ronaldinho cast a spell on the football-crazy denizens of Kolkata as his arrival for a two-day visit in Kolkata ushered in an early onset of the Durga Puja festival.
Significantly, none of the one-time frontrunners of the temple movement were around. Even former local MP and founder of the Hindu hardline Bajrang Dal Vinay Katiyar kept away from Ayodhya.
UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has met with local police officers and Hindu and Muslim community leaders in Leicester and assured them that thugs behind the recent violent clashes would face the full force of the law.
'There has never been a problem between Hindu and Muslims in Kairana.' 'We are a people that smoke from the same hookah.' Once the seat of an influential tradition of Indian classical music, Kairana has become a metaphor for the exodus of Hindus.
The State Department condemns the recent reports of attacks on the Hindu community in Bangladesh, a spokesman said.
