The Kerala High Court has stated that laws and regulations should serve as a unifying force between religions and communities, not create discord. The observation came while dismissing a plea against the entry of Christian priests into a Hindu temple.
He said that just as there are rules related to religious conduct in mosques and churches, there are also traditional rules in Hindu religious places.
All along, we were told SIR was an essential exercise carried out as part of the Election Commission's regular duties. But now that the ideological mentor of the ruling party has declared that SIR is a means of detecting infiltrators, one understands the unseemly haste with which it is being carried out, notes Jyoti Punwani.
The Union minister said such calls were tantamount to "inviting violence".
Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan on Thursday criticised the decision taken by authorities at the Somnath temple in Gujarat to restrict entry of non-Hindus inside, sans permission, and stated that the Central government has never supported any discrimination on the basis of religion.
Dubbing the explosion in Varanasi as "a heinous act of Jehadi terrorism", Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Tuesday demanded the holy city of Kashi be accorded the status of a "protected heritage site" and entry of non-Hindus into it be banned.
The famous pilgrim place of Lord Shiva, the Somnath temple in Gujarat will now be off-limits for non-Hindus as authorities have decided against entry to people following other faiths without prior permission.
Posters asking non-Hindus to stay away from the ghats of the Ganga and the temples along the river came up in Varanasi, prompting the police to launch a probe.
There are several other famous temples across India that disallow non-Hindus to enter their place of worship, Rediff.com lists some of them.
What should be made out of the Madras high court order involving non-Hindus' entry into Hindu temples, when many non-Hindus are among the hundreds of thousands that have been worshipping at these temples for generations, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The incident happened on Friday at Lajpat Bhavan in Swaroop Nagar when private guards and volunteer staff were checking the visitors' identities to prevent any non-Hindus from entering the venue, they said.
When the police personnel stopped him and asked him to leave the temple premises as non-Hindus are not allowed entry into the temple, Thomas allegedly assaulted the cops, they said.
'This is fake. Tyagi was made to sign on a blank paper of the register for media entry and later the names of Rahul Gandhi and others were added in the register,' Congress said.
SIT chief Sukhwinder Singh visited the Shiva temple, one of 12 jyotirlingas in the country, examined relevant CCTV camera footage and met the temple's trustees.
'He has also sung songs that say there is no god, that man is himself god and there is no being higher than man should that song be held against him, to show he is an atheist?'
Rakhi Singh has accused the Muslim side of destroying Hindu symbols on the Gyanvapi premises and demanded protection of the entire complex in order to ensure that these symbols are not lost.
'The state government does not believe in disallowing non-Hindus to do business outside Hindu temples.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday charged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with 'deliberate insult' to Hindu sensibilities for taking along a minister from another faith inside an ancient temple where it is prohibited.
Amid a raging debate over 'love jihad', a Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party MLA has asked organisers of forthcoming Navratri festival to disallow entry of non-Hindu youths in pandals where 'garba' or devotional dance is performed in the praise of goddess Durga.
In an observation that came against the backdrop of a raging debate over the 'hijab' row in Karnataka, the first bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthi bemoaned that of late, certain forces have raised controversies relating to dress code and it is spreading all over India.
The issue of denial of permission to Mansiya V P to perform Bharatanatyam at Koodalmanikyam temple, Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district has become a matter of debate in the state.
The drive begins just days ahead of the Char Dham Yatra in the state.
"Karnataka has always forged inclusive economic development and we must not allow such communal exclusion- If ITBT became communal it would destroy our global leadership. @BSBommai please resolve this growing religious divide," Mazumdar-Shaw said.
Initially, banners were placed during the annual Kaup Marigudi festival in Udupi district, stating that non-Hindu vendors and traders should not be allowed entry.
Gandhi said he did not need anybody's certificate about his religion.
Barring entry to non-Hindu devotees should be construed as 'contempt on Hindu religion' and anyone who is ready to follow the temple traditions should be allowed to worship, Bhattathiripad said.
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.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has welcomed the Somnath Temple Trust's decision to allow non-Hindus inside its premises only after permission and suggested that people from other faiths should be allowed only after they admit to great respect for Lord Shiva.
After the controversy surrounding Kannada actress Jayamala's entry into the Sabarimala temple, a new row has been kicked up by Malayalam actress Meera Jasmine, a Christian, offering prayers at Raja Rajeshwara temple at Taliparamba near Kannur.
Expressing his opposition to a legislation for allowing non-Hindus to worship in temples in the state, Ravi said his case was entirely different as he is a Hindu and his son was also brought up as a Hindu.
According to custom, only believers of Hinduism are permitted entry at the temple, a major pilgrim centre and tourist attraction in the southern part of the country.
Trupti Desai's fight earned women the right to enter the inner sanctums of the Shani Shingnapur Temple, the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple and the Haji Ali Dargah. Her next target is Sabarimala in Kerala. Aditi Phadnis reports.
With the Gujarat going to the polls, name calling has peaked this election season with words like neech and Babar bhakt being flung around.
Almost a century before the current Sabarimala movement -- to facililate the entry of women between the ages of 10 and 50 into the Kerala shrine -- there was the Vaikom temple movement, to throw open temples in Kerala to all castes, a movement led by among others a man whose 71st death anniversary we mark today. A fascinating excerpt from Rajmohan Gandhi's new book, Modern South India: A History From The 17th Century To Our Times.
The Modi government is learning to deal with the reality that it does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf on the futility of the 'who is a Hindu?' debate.
The vituperative campaign against the BJP by the Shiv Sena does not make for an easy post-poll tie-up should either of the two be forced to come together to cobble the numbers. Either must get a clear 145 seats to avoid a forced remarriage to the same political spouse. Any one going with Congress or the NCP only means the platter serves up a goulash, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
'...because we are truer to the spirit of the Hindu faith.' 'There is absolutely no question that the Hinduism of the mob lynchers, the people who have killed others because of what they are eating or how they are worshipping or the faith they belong to or what they're doing professionally, those are, to my mind, not Hindus at all.'
The controversy over Sant Rampal and his army of followers taking the law into their hands has once again thrown the spotlight on the clout that India's godmen possess.
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