Jaishankar said that the Pahalgam attack "was an act of economic warfare. It was meant to destroy tourism in Kashmir, which was the mainstay of the economy. It was also meant to provoke religious violence because people were asked to identify their faith before they were killed."
Now it's all jibes about his chameleon-like politics and fading grip on the administration. But there was a time Nitish had the BJP trembling in the state, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Samajwadi Party leader and Kairana MP Iqra Choudhary has moved the Supreme Court seeking effective implementation of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. This move comes amidst several petitions challenging the law's validity, including those filed by the Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay. The Supreme Court, in December 2022, had restrained all courts from examining fresh suits and passing interim orders in pending cases seeking to reclaim religious places. The Act aims to maintain the religious character of places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947, but the dispute relating to Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was kept out of its purview. The court has listed Choudhary's plea with other pending pleas for February 17.
Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country.
'Iranians admire Indian cinema and often mention Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan when you meet them.'
The Act prohibits conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
India's hospitality sector is rolling out the red carpet for investors. A flurry of upcoming IPOs, or initial public offerings, the entry of new players, and ambitious expansion plans by Indian and global hotel brands are ushering in what could be the industry's most formalised era yet. Leading the charge are real estate titans, who are turning their hotel arms into global hospitality chains.
Can a culture survive as a way of life, even as the language and writing at its core, alter with time? Can we be rational and Malayalee or do we have to necessarily be religious and proudly cultural to be Malayalee? asks Shyam G Menon.
The court issued the interim direction on a bunch of seven petitions challenging the provisions of Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 2021.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar also indicated that it may not take up the pending scheduled petitions, heard earlier by a three-judge bench, during the day as it was sitting in a combination of two judges.
As of now, there is nothing to suggest that the 'Michaelpatti episode' has the potential to polarise Dravidian Tamil Nadu on religious lines, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Trump couldn't care less anymore about the Israeli demand for Iran's 'de-nuclearisation' and 'de-militarisation.' Trump pins hopes on a grand bargain with Iran as a partner in America First, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Madhya Pradesh government has issued a new notification after the amendment in the MP Religious Freedom Rules 2021 for the same on Thursday.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Rajasthan government recently made recitation of bhojan mantra in hostels compulsory.
The CM said that the film exposes the conspiracies of 'love jihad', religious conversion and terrorism and its "hideous" face.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has vowed to reclaim every inch of land taken under the pretext of Waqf, stating that the state government will actively investigate all "occupied" land. He also criticized the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its leaders, alleging that they failed to uphold the principles of socialist leader Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia. Adityanath praised the Maha Kumbh, highlighting its significance as a symbol of India's spiritual heritage and national unity.
The Committee of Management, Shahi Jama Masjid, moved the high court challenging the suit and the Sambhal court order which directed the survey through an advocate commissioner.
BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress partly vehemently opposed the bill, calling it "anti people", "inhuman", "anti constitutional", "anti poor" and "draconian", and urged that it should not be passed for any reason and should be withdrawn by the government.
Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi was on Wednesday suspended from the Maharashtra legislative assembly till the ongoing budget session ends on March 26, over his remarks eulogizing Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
'I am not an aspiration-oriented politician.' 'This is the time to redefine politics.' 'Politics of power is not real politics.'
Coming on the heels of two successful bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden -- the Official State Visit of the Indian leader here in June and a bilateral meeting in New Delhi in September -- USCIRF in its announcement of the meeting said the Congressional hearing is on how the US government can work with the Indian government to address violations.
'It is important India to stay focussed on its primary national objectives: Combating terrorism; not losing sight of other security and strategic concerns (on the Sino-Indian front for instance); ensuring a strong economy and registering growth which includes improving the lot of common people; and finally making certain that the social fabric remains intact and harmony among people is not jeopardised, at least any further,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The escalating military tension between the two nations, a deluge of information, and the inability to sift through fake and real news can significantly affect the psychological well-being of individuals, said mental health experts.
'We are Indians irrespective whether we are Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayali or Tamilian.' 'I am the best example of this integration.'
They alleged that the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance was being used to "victimise especially those Indian men who are Muslim and women who dare to exercise their freedom of choice".
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday that religious freedom does not include a fundamental right to convert other people to a particular religion and that it certainly does not embrace the right to convert an individual through fraud, deception, coercion or allurement.
The consequences will be stern in case SC/ST and minors are converted.
The Gujarat high court on Thursday turned down the state government's plea seeking rectification of its recent order in which it stayed the operation of section 5 of the new anti-conversion law.
"Bhagwat has done national service by speaking the truth on what missionaries do," the Sena said.
The BJP chief said while the party did not believe in discrimination on the grounds of caste, creed, religion and language, "we will not indulge in appeasement to expand the party's base.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider a plea of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi seeking the implementation of the 1991 places of worship law, which asks to maintain the religious character of a place as it existed on August 15, 1947.
He further said that people were converted from Hindus to Muslims and appealed Muslims to reconsider whoever considers Arabs as ideal.
'Those were not kind days for a woman with a break-up. The world has changed; today, nobody cares.'
The Bill has been pending with the Governor for over a year after the Assembly passed it last April 6 amidst uproarious scenes and boycott by the opposition parties.
The issue of conversion of some Muslims in Agra rocked the Lok Sabha for the second day on Thursday with opposition members creating uproar and demanding immediate discussion on the matter, which they said could have grave consequences like causing riots.
The youth brigade, set up in 2002 by Yogi Adityanath who is now Uttar Pradesh chief minister, filed a complaint against Yohannan Adam, the pastor of the church, accusing him of converting Hindus to Christianity, a charge the pastor denied.
Senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sankh leader Indresh Kumar favoured the Karnataka government's proposal to bring a law against forced conversions in the state.
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