The politics of hate does not pay. The people are too sensible to fall for such a ruse, says Amulya Ganguli.
The one-minute-long ad features a young Hindu girl, dressed in a white t-shirt, who chooses to get stained in Holi colours in order to protect her young Muslim friend who has to go to the nearby mosque to pray. The advertisement ends with its classic tagline, 'Daag achche hain' (stains are good).
Sri Rama Sena founder Pramod Muthalik, re-arrested on Saturday after being granted bail in the January 24 pub Mangalore pub attack case, has been hospitalised.Earlier, speaking to PTI, he said he would not bother even if 1,000 cases were filed against him as he has been fighting for the cause of Hinduism. Muthalik is to be produced at a court in Virajpet in Madikeri on Monday for making a provocative speech at Gonikoppal in December 2003.
'The feeling is growing that if India slips in the realms of liberal tenets, it will be a tragedy not only for the country, but also for the world because it will lose a remarkable role model,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
'Is he one who defends individual liberty at all costs, or is he one who allows some give and take that recognises the primacy of the social contract, our coming together to live in a society?'
'The osmosis between Hinduism and Islam that really gave birth to the Hindustani or Indo-Islamic civilisation was due to the conversation between Muslim mystics and yogis.'
"India despite problems, has had religious harmony there for 2,000 years," he said.
Passports were issued to the couple -- Mohammad Anas Siddiqui and Tanvi Seth, after he met them in his office.
'The fragmented polity of the country provides space that further divides society and fragments it. It is beneficial to those who are looking for opportunities to get votes.' BJP ideologue Tarun Vijay reacts to Raj Thackeray's assault on north Indians in Maharashtra.
Raut said that the country is in such a state of mind that it can accept the Congress or Deve Gowda, but does not want the Modi- Shah duo
India is too diverse to be governed centrally and with a single system. The way forward is for the central government to keep the monopoly of military power and a share of national resources while the provinces must have greater autonomy, recommends Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Lauding India for its secular values, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Sunday said the country's "religious tolerance" can be a "role model" for the rest of the world. "India's long tradition of religions tolerance can be a role model for rest of the world," he said in Delhi while speaking at an international Anti-Terrorism Conference, which was attended by leaders from several countries.
Describing Bodh Gaya as the "land of enlightenment", Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government would develop the site as the spiritual capital for it to serve as a civilisational bond between India and the Buddhist world.
Vineet Chander shares five poignant lessons that he learned from watching The Love Guru.
'The Goddesses were a good example to depict how women were looked upon with so much respect which has gradually vanished somewhere.' 'People don't think or believe that whom they are worshipping are like the real women in their lives.'
'Gods of different religions haven't warred, so we shouldn't either.'
In a rare honour Dr Ravi Gupta, assistant professor of Religion at Center College in Kentucky, has been selected as one of the five young people representing different religions to meet with the Pope and to hand him a present symbolising Hinduism. Gupta will give the Pope an incense burner in the shape of the sacred Hindu symbol, Om.
"They say I am anti-Hindu. No. I am anti-(Narendra) Modi, I am anti-Hegde, I am anti-Amit Shah. According to me, they are not Hindus. Mr Anant Kumar Hegde, who says he wants to wipe out an 'ism', a religion from the face of this earth cannot be a Hindu," Prakash Raj said.
Is this Rahul on Kailash Mansarovar Yatra? Fake photos, says BJP
Amid a raging row over alleged forced reconversions in Agra, a Hindu organisation has announced its plan to "convert a large number of people" on December 25, which was welcomed by a local Bharatiya Janata Party MP who said people are within their rights to choose their religion.
They denounced the Sangh for stating in its mouthpiece Organiser that the Guru Granth Sahib is known for its salutations to Lord Ram.
The chaplain Rajan Zed, after reciting the original lines in Sanskrit, then read the English translation of the verses.
A dear friend pays tribute to celebrated Urdu writer Qurratulain Hyder who passed into the ages on Tuesday
For the past, blame the Congress. For the present, blame the Congress. For everything, blame the Congress. But for your future, vote BJP.
'Indian secularism doesn't deserve a tombstone. It needs a new shrine,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
A Hindu organisation flayed a US Court decision not to change textbooks that misrepresented Hinduism.
Two siblings of ethnic Indian origin claiming to be Hindus have demanded that Malaysian authorities change their religion on their birth certificates that show them as Muslims.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday deplored violence against dalits in the name of cow protection
'I think he would have liked to have thrown a ringed fence around India to keep out the modern world,' says historian Judith Brown.
The existing rule allows entry to a Hindu by 'birth or religion,' he said, adding that it will be amended by adding the word 'faith.'
'The objective is not to make India into a one religion place, but to ensure that there is harmonious and peaceful co-existence of all faiths with each of them having their cultural personality.'
A statuette of Lord Hanuman is among few items that United States President Barack Obama always carries in his pocket and seeks inspiration from whenever he feels tired or discouraged.
The British government has come out in full praise of the contributions made to English society by British Hindus and charity organisations run by them.
The preferred course of action to challenge Wendy Doniger's many published works and polemical Hinduphobic statements is to debate it, Aseem Shukla tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
'The outrage that followed the destruction of the Babri Masjid was an inability to see the event for what it was: The rectification of a grave historical wrong, the restitution of a hurt of a people and the countering of moral injustice,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
Jayendra Saraswati, the shankaracharya of Kanchi, discusses the temple entry for women controversy, the Ram Janmabhoomi temple issue and gurus getting into business with Rediff.com's Saisuresh Sivaswamy and A Ganesh Nadar in his first interview since being acquitted recently by a court.
'Our modern icons have assumed infallibility and think course correction or admission of a mistake as taboo.' 'Much will depend on the sagacity of the national leadership to show humility that our Gods showed.' 'Else, we are doomed in the coming year to divert our attention to firefighting rather than the task of nation building,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
