What we have in the Congress is a useful glue to hold a non-cultural, unified Opposition together. That is the sacrifice the Congress must be willing to live with if showing the BJP the door is what the collective Opposition wants, observes Shyam G Menon.
Appearing before cheering fans at the star-studded opening ceremony of the Kolkata International Film Festival in Kolkata on Thursday, Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan spoke of staying positive and alive, and on the new crop of historical films being steeped in 'fictionalised jingoism'.
'... while leaving the dirty work he orders to his subordinates.'
The aim is to ensure that such crimes are checked and effective action is taken against the culprits.
World over, pluralism is in retreat. Luckily for us, Indian pluralism and its consequent tolerance of diversity is rooted in our basic values. As long as we remain faithful to these values and keep our institutions in good health, the Indian miracle of last 75 years is likely to last centuries, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
"The consequence of the demand to declare Hijab as an essential religious practice is huge because there is an element of compulsion or else you will be expelled from the community," Navadgi told the court.
Samajwadi Party member of Parliament Shafiqur Rehman Barq has been booked for sedition following his recent remarks allegedly defending the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and equating it with India's own freedom struggle, police said on Wednesday.
A 'Hindu India' would not be Hindu at all, but a 'Sanghi Hindutva state', which is a different country altogether, says Tharoor in his new book The Battle of Belonging that was released on Saturday.
'Nehru's inability to take religion seriously as a category led to serious errors of judgement in his dealings with the Muslim League, and later, also with the Hindu right.'
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of those affected by the shocking situation in Christchurch. A joint decision between NZC and the @BCBtigers has been made to cancel the Hagley Oval Test. Again both teams and support staff groups are safe," the New Zealand cricket board tweeted on their Twitter handle.
'You will see more laws that treat Hindus and non-Hindus, especially Muslims, quite unequally.' 'Once you see this kind of erosion of secularism, it will be very hard to get it back.'
In a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said divisive ideologies anchored in hate and prejudice were making every effort to weaken the strong foundation of India.
A day before the crucial talks between the Centre and the protesting farmer unions, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday said the government is ready to consider any proposal other than repeal of three farm laws, the key demand of the farmers.
Andhra Pradesh home minister Mekathoti Sucharitha hoisted the National Flag at the Jinnah Tower.
Haridwar hate speech accused Jitendra Narayan Tyagi, who has been asked by the Supreme Court to surrender by September 2, said his life is in danger and he may be killed in a suicide attack.
'An inquiry should also be conducted against the police officials of Vasai and Nalasopara and Tulinj police (in Palghar district) for delayed the investigation on Shraddha's complaint'
Nepal's constituent assembly on Monday rejected calls to remove the key term secularism from the new constitution and revert the Himalayan nation to a Hindu state, triggering protests by Hindu activists.
In the Kashmir Valley, we need to begin to make a distinction between an insurgent who fights the security forces and a terrorist who murders unarmed civilians, suggests Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The SC is dealing with legal and constitutional issues relating to discrimination against women in various religions and at religious places including Kerala's Sabarimala Temple.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Ali Abbas Zafar, director of the web series Tandav, and others seeking the quashing of FIRs against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus, and issued notices Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states on their pleas.
The State Department condemns the recent reports of attacks on the Hindu community in Bangladesh, a spokesman said.
'I am pleased to announce that I have chose Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential running mate,' Donald Trump wrote on his Twitter handle.
Indian-American Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has criticised the US Supreme Court over its two landmark rulings of legalising same-sex marriage and upholding the healthcare law, and has called for "getting rid" of the apex judicial body.
The police made the statement after a bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal said the issue involved the larger question of Ranaut's fundamental right to free speech and that the court will have to grant her some ad-interim relief.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week.
A division bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Riyaz Chagla noted that while Goswami's comments targeted the Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi, he did not make any statement that would cause public disharmony or incite violence between different religious groups.
The letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa reports
Both countries are closer than before due to these two leaders's public display of mutual connectivity and warm exchanges of words, but how it will help India to serve its interests will be known on Tuesday.
The test for Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be to convince not just friends in the media with crisp sound bytes but the very people most affected by the politics of hate through concerted action, says Shehzad Poonawala.
A magisterial court had on July 2 dismissed his bail plea and sent him to 14-day judicial custody (JC) in the case, citing the nature and gravity of the offences against the accused and observing that the matter was at an initial stage of investigation.
India's most powerful prime minister in five decades gets publicly admonished -- if gently -- by the US vice-president. The question is, would this make him reflect on how and why, or which ones of his government and party's missteps exposed his flank like this? asks Shekhar Gupta.
China is acutely conscious of the need for the next Dalai Lama to be under its control. It was for this reason that China recently stressed their claim on Arunachal Pradesh. There were rumours that the next Dalai Lama may be found in Tawang. If that happens, India-China relations will become tense and there may be demands for the child to be handed over to the Chinese, points out Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The apex court also issued notice, including to the Centre through the office of the attorney general, on Ranjan's plea seeking clubbing of FIRs and protection from coercive action.
China remains the elephant in the room and has to be tamed, which the United States alone is unable to do and therefore calls allies to come on board.
She further said that the religious dress codes should not be imposed on players.
India's tweaking of IT rules allow formation of Centre-appointed panels, that will settle often-ignored user grievances against content decision of social media companies, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, adding that this was necessitated due to the "casual" and "tokenism" approach of digital platforms towards user complaints so far.
No nation is fully sovereign to do what it wants to do in the face of opposition from others, points out Aakar Patel.
'The most important priority for the next 25 years should be to strengthen our democracy so that it is supportive of social harmony, and to not just respect but to take pride in the diversity of Indian society in terms of the variety of languages, religion and religious practices and social norms,' explains Nitin Desai.
The Shahi Imam also said he will soon seek an appointment to meet Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the meeting was necessary in order to safeguard Hindus, Muslims, democracy and secularism in the country.
In a video posted after the alleged attack, Goswami said he was told by his security guards that the attackers were allegedly Youth Congress workers. However, there was no confirmation of the same by either police or the youth outfit.
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