Leading the campaign in Bengaluru, MLA and former minister V Sunil Kumar staged a sit-in demonstration near the Sadashivanagar police station, amid chants of "Jai Sri Ram" by BJP workers.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the argument that a three-judge bench, rather than a two-judge bench, should hear appeals of convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case. The court found that the Gujarat High Court commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment, therefore not requiring a three-judge bench. The hearing of the appeals will continue on Wednesday, with the state government seeking restoration of the death sentences of 11 convicts.
Zakia Jafri, the wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots, died on Saturday in Ahmedabad at the age of 86. Ehsan Jafri was among 69 persons who were killed inside Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, on February 28, 2002, a day after coaches of the Sabarmati Express train were burnt in Godhra, resulting in the deaths of 59 'karsevaks' returning from Ayodhya. The incident triggered horrific rioting across the state. Zakia Jafri hit the national headlines as she waged a legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court in a bid to hold top political leaders accountable for the large conspiracy for the riots post the Godhra train burning episode. Her son Tanveer Jafri said that his mother was visiting his sister's house in Ahmedabad when she complained of feeling uneasy. The doctor who was called in declared her dead at around 11:30 am. Social activist Teesta Setalvad, who was co-complainant in Jafri's protest petition in the Supreme Court, posted on X that Zakia Jafri was a compassionate leader of the human rights community.
Congress Member of Parliament Jagdambika Pal, who served as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for three days in 1998, had to face an awkward moment on Monday during the debate on the Liberhan Commission's report in the House, when the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party pointed out that the report listed him as a karsevak.Pal was the first Congress leader to speak during the Lok Sabha debate on the report, which indicts top BJP leaders L K Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The karsevaks marched to Ayodhya from Faizabad this morning through the railway track despite the presence of heavy police force.
Can ordinary citizens counter this backward march? Can peace activists ensure that the two communities retain their bonds? Do they have a choice, asks Jyoti Punwani.
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh on Tuesday admitted to have instructed the district magistrate not to shoot, as it could have led to multiple casualties of Karsewaks.
The deployment came on the day of the consecration of the new idol of Ram Lalla at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Several family members of Rafiq Mansuri, his friends, former neighbours and acquaintances gathered on Monday for the 'haldi' ceremony of his 19-year-old daughter Misbah at his residence in Ahmedabad's Gulbarg Society, which was largely abandoned after the 2002 massacre.
As a festive spirit prevailed in Ayodhya, there was an emotional outpouring among residents of the holy city as the consecration of the new idol of Ram Lalla was held on Monday and said they indeed feel they are living in a divya (divine) Ayodhya, navya (new) Ayodhya and bhavya (grand) Ayodhya.
Family members of Dalit icons B R Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Kanshi Ram and other 'prominent people' belonging to the scheduled castes are among those invited for the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya, according to sources.
The IUML is a major ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and an influential political party among the Muslim community.
Besides, various representatives of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and their allies are also aiding in hand-delivering the invitations.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed a "Godhra-like" incident may take place during the "return journey" of the large number of people expected to converge at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh from across the nation for the inauguration of the Ram temple.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
He was also seen standing next to Jaswant Bhabhor, a former Union minister of state for tribal affairs, in a photo shared by the Dahod district information department.
According to the prosecution, the victims were killed on February 28, 2002, and their bodies burnt with an intention to destroy evidence.
The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) will challenge before the Gujarat high court the recent acquittal of all 67 accused in the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case by a special court, sources said.
The commission had rejected the theory that it was a spontaneous act by karsevaks whereas the CBI court has ruled that there was no evidence that demolition was a conspiracy.
'His biggest contribution as defence minister was to change the rules of bringing martyred soldiers' bodies home.'
A special court in Gujarat on Thursday acquitted all the 67 accused, including former Bharatiya Janata Party minister Maya Kodnani, in the 2002 Naroda Gam riots case in which 11 people were killed.
Additional metropolitan magistrate MV Chauhan committed the case to the sessions court in Ahmedabad for trial against Setalvad, former state director general of police RB Sreekumar and ex-Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt.
Samajwadi Party founder and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who contributed Rs 11 lakh to the Ram Temple fund, has refused to 'take responsibility for her family's past actions'.
Setalvad was taken into custody on June 25 last year along with former Gujarat Director General of Police R B Sreekumar and ex-IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt in an offence registered by Ahmedabad crime branch police for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame "innocent people" in the post-Godhra riots cases.
Eleven convicts walked out of Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release on August 15 this year.
Nanavati was appointed as judge of the Supreme Court with effect from March 6, 1995, and retired on February 16, 2000.
The Central Board of Secondary Education class 12 sociology paper held on Wednesday asked students to name the party under which the 'anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002' took place, a question the board later said was 'inappropriate' and against its guidelines.
Ehsan Jafri was killed during the riots. Zakia Jafri, his wife, had filed the petition challenging the special investigation team's report giving a clean chit to Modi and 63 others.
Godhra is one of the 14 seats which the AIMIM is contesting in the next month's elections to the 182-member Gujarat assembly.
About 25 years after the incident, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday said he "felt sad" for ordering firing on 'karsewaks' in Ayodhya in 1990.
Ram Vilas Vedanti said Advani tried to persuade the karsevaks to come down from atop of the structure.
Pataliya was arrested by the Godhra Police in January 2018, nearly 16 years after being booked in connection with the incident in which 59 'karsevaks' were burnt alive in two coaches of the Sabarmati Express.
The 11 convicts on Monday walked out of the Godhra sub-jail after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy.
It is not immediately clear if they have to be present in court or can appear through a video conference due to restrictions imposed to fight the spread of coronavirus.
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.
Thackeray said he has to undergo a surgery on June 1 and after recovering from it, he would again address a public meeting.
He told the court that he had met Kodnani at Sola Civil Hospital that morning.
Here are the key figures among the 32 accused in the Babri mosque demolition case who were on Wednesday acquitted by a special CBI court in Lucknow of all charges.
'Despite our being a part of a welfare state, benefits are not trickling down to the intended beneficiaries at the desired levels. People's aspirations about leading a dignified life are often met with challenges. One of them, primarily, being poverty'
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