January 22, 2024 has passed into history. Scenes from a day of religious fervour in many parts of India.
Indian Olympic medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal reached Uttar Pradesh on Sunday to take part in the Ram Temple 'Pran Pratistha' ceremony to be held in Ayodhya on Monday and expressed their delight, saying that she feels fortunate to have come for the event.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited Arichalmunai, a southern tip in Tamil Nadu, in Rameswaram as part of his Ramayana-connect visits in the state, and paid floral tributes at the seashore.
On Friday, November 3, 2023, Kangana Ranaut declared that she will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election if Lord Krishna so wishes.
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'When our daughters, wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Vignesh Phogat, were protesting at the Jantar Mantar, the police kicked them with their shoes.'
A man playing Lord Hanuman in a 'Ramlila' fell down at the feet of the person portraying Lord Ram for a bit longer, the audience clapped and it seemed a scene well enacted, except that it turned out to be the last performance of the 62-year-old.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has sent a high-level team to Ayodhya to deal with cyber threats ahead of the inauguration of the Ram Temple in the historical town on January 22.
With the Ram Mandir scheduled to open its doors to visitors in January, Ayodhya is expected to welcome travelers both from India and abroad.
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani has said the Ram Janmbhoomi movement, whose primary objective was construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, also became a symbol of 'reclaiming the true meaning of secularism from the onslaught of pseudo-secularism'.
Aiyar in a video posted on Facebook, however, stated that she did not live in the colony represented by the RWA and that she did not receive any "notice" (letter) from it.
Struggling to gain political traction on issues of corruption, the West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party is shifting its focus to emotive topics such as the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in a bid to achieve its target of securing 35 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state.
"The holy water of the Sharda Kund at the Sharda Peeth PoK was collected by Tanveer Ahmed and his team. Our civil society member across the LoC (Line of Control) carried it to Islamabad, wherefrom it was sent to his daughter Maghribi in the UK.
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Atal (Bihari Vajpayee), Advani and Joshi have contributed a lot for the BJP to reach where it is now, he said.
The Uttar Pradesh cabinet will hold its meeting on Thursday in Ayodhya as the city gears up for the opening of the Ram temple in January.
'They were very vocal on the defence of the Constitution, reservation, SC/ST Act and democratic rights.'
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Members from the Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal too were part of the group, their participation seen as another indication that the party is all set to switch sides from the SP to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
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.
While the country awaits for the grand pran pratishtha ceremony of Ram Lalla at Ayodhya's temple, on the sixth day of the ceremony, the Ram Lalla idol was bathed with water from 114 Kalash (vases), each containing specially medicated liquids.
'If we want real democracy, the economy itself will need to be democratised.'
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
He also said that now everyone should listen to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's advice to shun habit of fighting on small disputes.
The gifts were in a bag that had a striking graphic image of the new temple and of Lord Ram in a very young avatar.
On the second day of the 10-day Ganesh festival, several devotees in Mumbai bid farewell to the idols of their favourite deity after worshipping them for one and a half days.
'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
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In addition to these temple models, metallic rings, lockets and other cloth items bearing Lord Ram's name are flying off the shelves in Ayodhya, according to shopkeepers.
The BJP had registered a one-sided victory on all the 17 SC-reserved seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. But in 2019, out of these 17 seats, it lost Nagina and Lalganj seats to the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The Vishwaguru who addressed the maximum rallies and boasted of being blessed with divine energy, who promised guarantees in his own name, turned out finally not invincible, points out Jyoti Punwani.
'Sonia did not visit this place once since she won. Who's to say they won't lose this one, too?'
The push to develop Ayodhya as a tourism centre, accompanied by large-scale infrastructure projects, comes on the back of years of limited income growth and tourist inflows.
By the end of 2023, the construction at the sanctum sanctorum is expected to be completed, Rai said.
Kharge accused PM Modi of inciting people over the issues "that the Congress will never do".
Nakul Nath's move has added fuel to rumours swirling for the last few days that he, along with his father, are defecting to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"I challenge BJP to prove corruption charges against me. If proved, I will resign from politics," said Hemant Soren.
'The allegations of government involvement in targeted assassinations abroad are likely to help, not hurt, the ruling party.' 'True or false, they convey a sense of muscularity and, in some quarters, are celebrated as a harbinger of 'great power' status.'
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