Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'It was a machinery of death. A large number of Hindus were first converted and then persecuted from 1560 all the way to 1812!' says novelist Richard Zimler.
'... are losing faith in the institutions of government, where people do not believe that the institutions of government operate according to the Constitution, within the confines of the law, where these institutions are seen to be representing a small faction of a particular community against all other (minority) communities.'
Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May has banned controversial Islamic scholar Zakir Naik from entering the United Kingdom.May banned the entry of the Indian scholar on the grounds of his 'unacceptable behaviour'. The renowned Islamic scholar was scheduled to address lectures at Wembley Arena and Sheffield.
To equate the Hindu propensity not to persecute non-Hindus is a sign of mature self-confidence, not weakness as the rabid insist, asserts T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
Bollywood stars have been posting stunning pictures during this lockdown.
The MP from Thiruvananthapuram was taking a dig at the BJP president for holding the Congress responsible for India's partition on religious lines. Tharoor said, in fact, it was the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League who were espousing the two-nation theory.
Why did Mountbatten suddenly declare that the Partition of India would take place with inexplicable haste on August 15, 1947, almost a year ahead of schedule? Colonel Anil Athale (retd) explains the likely reasons for the British decision to hastily grant India independence.
Leading Pakistani newspapers on Monday ran front-page stories on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP's rout in the key Bihar polls, in which Pakistan figured as a major issue during campaigning that saw party president making the controversial "firecrackers would go off" remark.
None of the more than half a dozen new Indian Americans candidates, many of whom caught national attention by giving tough fight to their opponents and out raising them in the fund raisers, could make it to the House of Representatives.
'Politicians insist on focusing on the North even though the rest of India offers a better way of engaging with our Muslims namely, live and let live.'
'Bangladeshi Muslims want to increase their population in India.' 'They have made colonies in India.' 'Rohingyas are doing the same.' 'This has to stop.'
'For showing us a shining vision of how even a ceremonial role can be infused with life by a patriot, a scientist and a humble man of the people, representing the best of India's pluralist ethos, we will remember Dr Kalam.'
The BJP's panicky return to basic-instinct majoritarianism in Bihar has pushed Muslims back into the 'secular' basement, says Shekhar Gupta.
Noted writer Nayantara Sahgal, who recently returned her 'Sahitya Akademi' Award over the Dadri lynching case, has said secularism is under threat like never before and that individual freedom and rights have to be protected even these are guaranteed in the Constitution.
Incisive Editor, brilliant scholar on Islam, and now BJP leader, M J Akbar is at his intellectual best when he dissects the Muslim world and its problems, and offers up a solution from his unique perspective, as he did in this recent speech at the 10th R N Kao Memorial Lecture in New Delhi.
The ordinary life lived in Pakistan is rarely a part of Indian imagination. This is this gap that Pakistani television serials have succeeded in bridging, says Mohammad Asim Siddiqui.
Ashraf Palarakunnummal has one mission in life -- to ensure the dignity of the dead. This he does by seeing to it that expats who die in the Gulf are transported back to their home countries without too many hassles for the bereaved families. Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com talks to the Good Samaritan who was honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman recently.
'Modi's campaign has been strikingly devoid of anti-Muslim rhetoric. After the kutta pilla incident, it has been several months since he said something horrible about the Muslims of India. It is the result of democratic constraints. He has to make compromises... He's trying to reinvent himself. He will politically hurt himself if 2002 becomes the definition of Mr Modi again', says political scientist Ashutosh Varshney.
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