'In my 26 years at Raj Bhavan, working with more than ten governors, I can tell you C P Radhakrishnan Sir stands out.'
Bihar is no stranger to being at the centre of a tectonic shift in national politics fuelled by turbulent regional forces.
The Supreme Court of India has dismissed the bail plea of former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case. The court ruled that there was no merit in his plea for bail or suspension of sentence. Bhatt, along with co-accused Pravinsinh Zala, was found guilty of murder, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal intimidation by the Gujarat High Court in 2024. The case stems from the death of Prabhudas Vaishnani, who was detained by Bhatt following a communal riot in Jamjodhpur in 1990. Vaishnani's brother alleged that Bhatt and other police officers tortured him in custody, leading to his death.
Jaswant Singh, who was suspended by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday for going ahead with his decision to contest the election from Barmer constituency as an independent candidate, has claimed that he had never supported either the Ram Janambhoomi movement or the Rath Yatra led by Lal Krishna Advani.
The Bharatiya Janata Party decided to put on hold Shah's proposed rally and the Rath Yatra, saying it will wait for the final order from the high court, which will now hear an appeal by the saffron party on Friday morning.
Around 10 lakh people are expected to gather for the festival in the temple town from across the country, and some foreign nations, director of health service Bijay Mohapatra said.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi performed the traditional ritual of Pahind by sweeping the path with a golden broom, paving way for the Yatra to begin.
The apex court, however, allowed the West Bengal unit of the BJP to continue with its proposed public rallies and meetings under its "Ganatantra Bachao Yatra".
The total length of rath yatra procession stretches up to 1.5 km. It will return to the temple after almost 11 hours of journey.
The nine-day festival, June 21-29, is considered the biggest of all Iskcon celebrations and the theme for this year's yatra was 'Krishna Bhakti in Russia'. Prakriti Prasad reports.
The devotees pulled three 40-foot high colourful chariots carrying the sacred deities of Lord Jagannatha, Lady Subhadra and Lord Balarama from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square. The giant chariots were accompanied by a procession of singers, musicians and dancers. At Trafalgar Square, where the procession concluded, thousands of people had gathered to witness cultural and educational displays and exhibitions linked to the Rath-yatra.
The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) said it will set up an exclusive healthcare centre for the families of servitors. Ahead of the Rath Yatra, a massive sample collection exercise was conducted on Monday night and one servitor had tested positive, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said.
"This entire period is highly sensitive in terms of law and order, healthcare, sanitation, education, and disaster management. Hence, all related departments and district administrations must work with coordination and accountability," Adityanath said, according to an official statement.
Putting at rest speculation over his participation in senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's 'rath yatra' in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced he would flag off the event from Sitab Diara in Saran district on October 11 to mark birth anniversary of Jay Prakash Narayan.
According to Hindu scriptures, Ganga Dussehra marks the day the holy river Ganga descended to Earth from Lord Shiva's locks, moved by King Bhagirath's penance. The day is considered highly auspicious and symbolises virtue, penance, and the collective well-being of humanity.
With Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani reportedly planning another rath yatra, the Congress on Monday attacked the BJP patriarch and hoped that this yatra did not create 'discord'. "There is yet another yatra by the eternal yatri, the Bhishm Pitamah of the BJP, L K Advani. The ambition of the yatri knows no bounds. We hope this is not a journey of vendetta, hatred and creating discord," said party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi.
A priest of the Jagannath Temple in Puri is setting up a 300-room luxury resort with a strong spiritual focus, aiming to offer a "satvik" experience to pilgrims and travellers seeking spiritual serenity with modern comforts. The beachside project, valued at Rs 200 crore, will be a pure vegetarian and non-liquor retreat, offering a blend of spiritual tranquillity and luxury hospitality. The 'Jagannatham' project, being built on a seven-acre beachfront plot, is expected to open in 14-16 months, before the Rath Yatra of 2026.
Amid high alert and tight security in the wake of serial blasts at Bodh Gaya, the world famous annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath celebrated on Wednesday with fanfare, religious fervour and a spirit of camaraderie.
In the letter to the BJP, the West Bengal government said, "The areas proposed to be covered by the yatra are, because of publicity and propaganda, gradually turning into communally sensitive pockets. Intelligence reports indicate that public perception is that the religious overtones of the yatra will be turned into communal propaganda."
An estimated 9 lakh devotees witnessed the world famous 'Ratha Yatra' of Lord Jagannath on Wednesday with religious fervour, enthusiasm and a spirit of camaraderie amid tight security.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Over ten lakh devotees witnessed the world famous annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath held in Puri on Sunday with fanfare, religious fervour and enthusiasm amid tight security as the practice of people climbing the chariots was stopped in a major reform initiative.
The petition states that such yatras tend to create communal unrest in the country.
The festival, however, will be different this time as the number of pilgrims and devotees would be cut down considerably after the recent floods played spoilsport and snapped transport lines connecting West Bengal and Orissa
Beyond the public rallies and welcome sabhas, Bhartiya Janta Party's senior leader Lal Krishna Advani holds en-route to his sixth rath yatra which started on October 11, there is much preparation that goes on the backstage that misses the immediate attention, says Priyanka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and other dignitaries greeted the people on Lord Jagannath's annual car festival.
The name rath yatra may give you the impression that L K Advani is going to undertake an all-land march. Until you learn about the list of flights the Bharatiya Janata Party veteran would use as part of his nation-wide trip against corruption starting next week.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has resorted to a rath yatra to press for a separate Vidarbha state. For a change, the party does not want to make it an emotional issue like the Ram temple but reach out to the people of 11 districts.Party legislator from Vidarbha, Sudhir Mungantiwar, a frontrunner to take over from Nitin Gadkari as the president of the Maharashtra unit of the party, and Devendra Phadanvis, a confidante of Gadkari, would begin the 'yatra' from Friday.
Through the yatra the UP CM would try to send the message that he was in the driver's seat, notwithstanding all the hue and cry within the party.
The division bench said the order needs to consider afresh the 36 intelligence inputs submitted by the state government before the single bench.
During the Rath Yatra, Lord Jagannath, his elder brother Balabhadra and younger sister Subhadra are carried from their home temple to another temple, located in what is believed to be their aunt's home.
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With Diwali failing to thaw strained ties in the Mulayam clan, a show of strength is on the cards as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav takes out his 'Rath Yatra' on November 3, two days before ruling SP's silver jubilee show organised by his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
The government has to specify what it intends to do with caste census data. It will be closely tracked if the government would simultaneously move towards removing the present 50% bar on reservations using means which are permitted in law. If this is not done, the entire exercise will become meaningless and could boomerang on the BJP, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
An apex court bench headed by Justice S K Kaul also asked the BJP state unit to submit a revised plan for its "Save Democracy Rally" for consideration by the state government.
Destiny had decided that a grand temple of Lord Ram will be built in Ayodhya and it chose Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this, BJP stalwart L K Advani has said in an article to be published in a special edition of the Rashtra Dharma magazine next week.
In a letter to his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, the chief minister declared his intention to commence his yatra, which was put off last month after the open turf war with his uncle Shivpal Yadav.
Bhatt was earlier sentenced to life imprisonment in a 1990 custodial death case in Jamnagar and 20 years in jail in a 1996 case relating to planting drugs to frame a Rajasthan-based lawyer in Palanpur. He is currently lodged in the Rajkot Central Jail.
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
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