The Bharat Ratna for him comes nine years after the honour was bestowed on former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The two leaders together spearheaded the journey of the Jana Sangh and then the BJP for over five decades.
Narendra Modi has proved through execution of this event in Ayodhya that amongst all his contemporaries in politics he knows ordinary Indians like none other, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Monday alleged that the saffron party leaders were capabale of "killing their own men to come to power".
A day earlier, the properties of two people accused of rioting were demolished in Saharanpur where stone-pelting had taken place as well.
'Why were they silent when over 128 temples and shrines including Shivlings were broken down at the time of the construction of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor?' a Varanasi resident asks Rashme Sehgal.
A day after the NDMC's demolition drive following communal clashes, Jahangirpuri's C-Block, the epicentre of Saturday's violence, witnessed heavy security deployment and barricading as it remained out of bounds for the media, and residents stayed indoors.
Hemmed in by barricades and police and paramilitary swarming all over the place, the troubled Jahangirpuri on Friday showed signs of returning to normalcy, with the local peace committee calling for communal harmony and members of the warring communities embracing each other, agreeing to let bygones be bygones.
'You will see more laws that treat Hindus and non-Hindus, especially Muslims, quite unequally.' 'Once you see this kind of erosion of secularism, it will be very hard to get it back.'
'Modi gave the slogan of 'Jai Shri Ram' just four days ahead of polling for the Delhi Assembly. Will be happy if (the number) goes up by two-four seats with the help of Shri Ram,' the Shiv Sena said.
"Had there been no demolition, probably the courts too would have ordered status quo," he said then. And his last wish, he said, was to live till the temple comes up.
'...that has plants and flowers of all colours and hues in it.' 'Do you think a garden with just one plant or one type of flower will be appealing?' 'No. It will look drab, uninteresting and lustreless because a garden would be captivating only if it had many flowers of different colours.'
Rizvi along with some Mahantas from Ayodhya will also approach the Supreme Court before December 5 with a solution to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
Pitching for the safe passage of Communal Violence Bill in the current session of Parliament, Minorities Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan on Thursday said it is not a divisive bill and efforts are on to arrive at a consensus on the issue.
The court asked the UP govt to get examined the disputed premises by a five-member team of the ASI at its expense.
Former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Friday quit the Congress and rejoined the Samajwadi Party, a move which is likely to shore up the SP's prospects in the 2017 assembly polls.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the security of former special judge S K Yadav who had pronounced the verdict in the Babri Masjid demolition case and acquitted all 32 accused, including Bharatiya Janata Party veterans L K Advani, M M Joshi and Uma Bharti.
Four people have been booked for making objectionable and inflammatory posts on social media sites, officials said on Friday.
In his report, Justice Liberhan said the senior police officers were at hand to ensure that their men toed the line and that the demolition of the disputed structure was allowed to go ahead with "military precision as orchestrated by the leaders present at the spot and carried out by their henchmen."
A magnificent Krishna Janambhoomi temple in Mathura was a recurrent theme for the ruling BJP in the run-up to the assembly polls, reports Nitin Kumar.
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.
In an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana', the party claimed the foundation stone ceremony in Ayodhya is "personality centric and political party centric".
She said she will go to Ayodhya on Wednesday and visit the makeshift temple to seek Ram Lalla's blessings.
Although conventional political wisdom would decree that the construction of a 'magnificent' Ram temple at his 'birth-place' would bring the BJP a big yield of votes in the prospective elections, its leaders know by now that the mandir must not exist in isolation in its game plan, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Jawaharlal Nehru did not unfurl the Tricolour at the Red Fort on August 15, 1947. But, in a gesture of nationalistic symbolism -- one that has endured by repetition over the 76 years of independent India -- Nehru took to the ramparts at Red Fort's Lahori Gate on August 16, 1947, unfurled the Tricolour there and delivered his first Independence Day speech.
A week after violence erupted in Uttar Pradesh over the remarks on Prophet Muhammad by a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, no untoward incident took place following the Friday prayers, an official said in Lucknow.
The silence is specially deafening from three parties that symbolised hope for Muslims: The Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party. 'What fear prevents these leaders from at least talking about the way our community is being targeted?' 'Will they really lose Hindu votes if they do so?'
Challenging the verdict is a deterrent to future peace and harmony and a socially irresponsible act, argues Vivek Gumaste.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on Raj Thackeray's latest political ploy and wonders if this Thackeray versus Thackeray skit will help the BJP finally achieve its goal of ejecting the Maha Vikas Aghadi government from a state that has largely been insulated from the communal disharmony sweeping across parts of north India.
It has sought permission to begin prosecution proceedings against Deputy Prime Minister Advani, Union minister M M Joshi and 19 others.
"Shouldn't those who killed 92 persons get death sentence?... when should capital punishment be awarded?" the 46-year-old controversial politician asked.
In these raids being conducted since Sunday morning, the NIA said, it has seized incriminating materials, including digital devices, documents, two daggers and cash Rs 8,31,500.
The controversial judgment in the 125-year-old legal battle in the Ayodhya title suit may have reopened the debate about the Babri Masjid issue. But the 18th anniversary of the demolition of the 16th century mosque remained a non-event on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it does not want freedom of press to be muzzled but it cannot create a separate avenue for journalists to approach it directly for quashing of FIRs lodged against them.
They said it was then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who on February 1, 1986 got the permission for starting prayers at the disputed site and got the locks opened.
Suspended Indian Administrative Service officer Durga Shakti Nagpal submitted her reply to a charge sheet served by the Uttar Pradesh government over the demolition of the wall of an under-construction mosque in Gautam Buddha Nagar.
'I speak after asking Ram Lalla. I spoke with Ram Lalla's inspiration'
Applying balm on the wounds of the two religious groups is a better course of action for the rulers. Common sense dictates the verdict be accepted in good grace by all sides, suggests Virendra Kapoor.
According to trust sources, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat , Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also on the list of invitees.
