The synod of Syro-Malabar Church has alleged that scores of women from Christian community from Kerala were being lured into the trap of Islamic State and used in terror activities. The VHP welcomed the Church statement.
The politicisation of ethnic sentiments in the state has coincided with the ascent of the BJP and increased activities of far right Hindu outfits, which organised rallies and other events on religious occasions such as Ram Navami a festival not very popular in West Bengal- unlike states in north India.
The Constitution is a terrific document, but it is also one that has suppressed the Hindu majoritarian sentiment. We are living through times when this suppression is being popularly rejected, notes Aakar Patel.
Congress MP Sushmita Dev said that speeches given by Modi and Shah are also punishable under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code as they "blatantly promote disharmony and feelings of enmity on the grounds of religion and such acts are also likely to prejudice the maintenance of public harmony and tranquility between religious communities".
The NIA has asked him to him to appear before it on March 30 in a case filed against him under an anti-terror law.
Amid tight security, the 137th edition of Lord Jagannath's rathyatra began in Ahmedabad on Sunday morning from the ancient Jagannath Temple in Jamalpur area.
Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph has declined to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dinner for top judges on Saturday on the ground that the event and the ongoing judges conference clashed with Good Friday and Easter weekend.
Bhagwat said a sense of idealism is good and described himself not as 'anti-modern', but as 'pro-future'.
'The JD-U has become an ideology-less accessory to the BJP,' says Ambassador Pavan Varma, who has been expelled from the JD-U.
The Samajwadi Party on Thursday justified the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to ban a proposed yatra by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to garner support for the construction of the RamTemple at a disputed site in Ayodhya.
The EC on Saturday had issued a show-cause notice to Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast accused currently out on bail, over her remark made during an interview to a news channel.
The inter-faith ceremony, where there was a traditional Hindu-style 'hawan' and chants of Sikh 'kirtan', saw participants also reading out the Preamble of the Constitution and taking oath to preserve its "socialist, secular" values.
While Ayodhya resembled a city under seige earlier during the day, the scene was no different elsewhere in the state with police and central forces keeping an eye over the security situation and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath personally monitoring it from a hi-tech control room in the state capital.
All educational institutes across the state are closed for the second consecutive day, the officials said.
'We must begin dialogue with openness and goodwill, but we will not proceed very far without trust and good faith. The alternative is the violence of 'might is right,' which settles very little and destroys so much of real value,' says Dr Rudolf C Heredia, author of Religious Disarmament -- Rethinking Conversion in India.
The Punjab government on Saturday decided to put a ban on the screening of the controversial movie 'Messenger of God' featuring Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, in apprehension of breach of peace.
The Dalai Lama is a huge charmer, knowing how to say things that will please an audience in his gentle avuncular manner.
Wearing garlands, the farmer leaders, who had called for observing 'Sadbhavana Diwas' (Harmony Day) on Saturday after the immense outrage over violence by protesters during their Republic Day tractor rally, sat on the dais during the fast, as crowds of supporters swelled, especially in Gazipur where the Bharatiya Kisan Union is leading the protest.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday raked up the issue of BJP leader Rajnath Singh's alleged meeting with 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya Thakur.
'Mohan Bhagwat's reaffirmation of the RSS's Hindu rashtra ideal has shown that nothing has changed, that it remains firmly rooted in its fundamental beliefs, that the willingness to listen to voices from outside its fold was a pretence about being openminded,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
The National Investigation Agency carried out searches at the premises of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, his NGO and a few associates for the third consecutive day on Monday, even as it blocked the website of outlawed Islamic Research Foundation founded by him.
The litigants and their counsels -- altogether over 50 people -- met the three-member mediation panel on the Avadh University premises in Faizabad.
'In Yogi's Raj, Hindu festivals are State festivals.' 'He celebrates them, so does his police force, as he boasted in the assembly on Tuesday.' 'Eid, Christmas -- these can be observed, but expect nothing from the State to facilitate these celebrations,' says Jyoti Punwani.
The Election Commission on Friday rejected Arvind Kejriwal's contention on distribution of pamphlets appealing to Muslims to vote for Aam Aadmi Party during Delhi polls, holding that it amounted to model code violation and cautioned him to be careful in future poll campaigns.
Ajmer dargah Deewan Zainul Abedin Ali Khan's statement on triple talaq has led to a feud in his family with his younger brother dubbing him as a non-Muslim and staking claim to the post of the Deewan of the shrine.
The fringe organisation, run by a few radical Sikhs of foreign nationality in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom openly espouses the cause of Khalistan and in that process challenges the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.
'I bow to the 125 crore citizens of this great nation and promise to stay true to the trust they have bestowed on me.'
Taking exception to Uttar Pradesh government's proposed move to withdraw cases against Muslim leaders in Muzaffarnagar riots, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday asked Governor B L Joshi to press the government to withdraw all cases, including those lodged against its leaders, in connection with the violence.
A disparate global network of violent fundamentalist Islamic groups threatens India's eastern flank as much as the north and west with a real possibility of these spilling over into our borders, says Shyam Saran.
Archis Mohan tells us how the event came to be celebrated on June 21
Ansari addresses these issues in his new book Dare I Question? Reflections on Contemporary Challenges, a collection of his speeches and writings, made mostly in his last year in office and some in recent months, and brought out by Har-Anand Publications.
Tired of living under the restive shadow of communalism, Ayodhya residents, be it Vijay Singh or Mohammad Azim, do not want any fresh political trigger for communal disharmony.
Can you find a world leader who has met generations of Indian politicians, most US Presidents, European head of States, several Popes, celebrated cricketers, Hollywood and Bollywood stars, some of the greatest scientists and many ordinary people, including what he calls, 'Chinese brothers and sisters?'
Those who always talk of 'samajwad' and 'bahujan' are extremely selfish, he said in an apparent reference to Bharatiya Janata Party's key rivals in Uttar Pradesh - the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party.
'Babur has been facing gross historical injustice for the last two centuries, when he had no role either in the demolition of any temple or in the construction of the so-called Babri mosque at Ayodhya.'
'The conventional view is that it's the women who are being provocative and drawing attention to themselves. Has anyone considered the alternative view?' asks Kanika Datta.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence is quite active in fomenting trouble in Punjab and the grenade attack in Amritsar was a pure act of terrorism, Singh said.
IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, whose suspension by UP Government has sparked a controversy amid allegations that she was targeted for taking on the powerful sand mafia, on Friday met the Secretary to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
"We direct the government to either bring in a law or an ordinance (for the construction of the Ram temple). There will be no compromise on this," Ramanandacharya Hansdevacharya, the patron of the ABSS, said in his concluding remarks at the conclave.
The grief-stricken mother wishes for death penalty for the guilty.
