Modi, in his book Jyotipunj, written in Gujarati and released in Ahmedabad on Monday, has written on unsung heroes of the Sangh Parivar who worked in oblivion throughout their lives to build the organisation in Gujarat. Modi says that he has obtained his sanskars from these RSS leaders. In the 200-page book, he has written about the lives of 16 leaders of the Sangh Parivar.
'I want the country to know what's happening to our daughter.'
Forcible marriage, noisy protests and burning of effigies marred the Valentine's Day celebrations in Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh as the Bajrang Dal and other outfits of Sangh Parivar took to the streets to enforce their "code of conduct" and prevent 'love birds' from moving around.
'If the Sangh Parivar is actually interested in constructing a Ram temple in Ayodhya why doesn't it do so on the land owned by the VHP?'
Sixteen-year-old Ashwini, a student of class ninth at the Aikala High School in Kinnigoli, along with her friend Mahadevi had gone to Maroor near Moodabidri in a bus to meet Saleem, a conductor-cum owner of the bus on Tuesday afternoon. A group of suspected Sangh Parivar activists stopped the bus and took the three to Maroor police station. Police then called Ashwini's parents and handed her over to them.
An increase in the farmer income support scheme PM Kisan Nidhi, the introduction of a 'robot tax' to fund reskilling of people who lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), and a reduced income-tax (I-T) to bring relief to the middle classes - these are some of the items in the Budget wish list submitted by Sangh Parivar affiliates to Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives of the affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the farmer organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS); trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS); Laghu Udyog Bharati, which works for micro and small industries; and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which works on economic and policy issues, met the FM and other officials over the last couple of weeks as part of the pre-Budget consultations.
'The disquiet in the Sangh is, of course, over demonetisation.' 'But more than that, it is about the growing centralisation in the running of the government and party,'
The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
Even as the race for the Congress president's post is hotting up, its veteran leader and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh on Friday said he is not interested in becoming the party chief.
'He should declare whether he belongs to the Sangh Parivar, and if he believes so he has to abide by its discipline,' Ashok Singhal said.
Politicians from the Left and the Congress party in Kerala have rallied behind Malayalam superstar Mammootty, who is facing online harassment from certain right wing sympathisers in connection with his 2022 film, Puzhu.
The Centre has rejected the Maharashtra government's proposal to ban right wing group Abhinav Bharat, which is accused of carrying out the bomb attack at Malegaon in 2008. The decision has been taken by the home ministry after it came to the conclusion that the group has not been involved in any terrorist or anti-national activity in recent years.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-RSS of carrying out a "well-planned conspiracy" against national heroes and said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's ideology was contrary to the RSS' ideas. He defended the relationship between Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru, saying they were "two sides of the same coin". He also criticized the BJP-RSS for their alleged attempts to appropriate the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.
'The nuns were subjected to abusive language and all types of mental torture.'
'...still have lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls but could have won 140 seats.'
The Kerala assembly on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government to refrain from implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country.
'It showed me that this man had courage. He makes his own decisions, but he also trusted me enough in that moment to walk with me into the crowd,' Modi tells Lex Fridman on his podcast.
Caste assertions, including from the upper castes, could have the Sangh Parivar stumble yet again in its efforts to construct a Hindu rashtra.
Speculations were rife over the post with senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who was in the state to oversee the party's post-election activities, and chief minister Nitish Kumar keeping off from the issue when asked by the press.
Senior RSS leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's call to drop the Aurangzeb tomb controversy challenges decades of communal rhetoric in Maharashtra, igniting hopes for unity and a balanced historical narrative.
Arun Jaitley will visit Kerala on Sunday. The same day, Kerala Governor P Sathasivam will discuss law and order with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
The Election Commission has said it will allow suspected fake voters to cast their ballots in the Palakkad assembly by-poll, but will take action against them later. The CPI(M), Congress, and BJP have accused each other of enrolling fake voters. The by-poll is scheduled for November 20.
'In the course of my interactions with him, Modi insisted that he does not believe charisma alone can sustain people's trust for long.' 'That is why Modi consistently refers to Mahatma Gandhi to contextualise his politics.' 'He believes in taking his ideas to the masses and getting their acceptance as an index of approval.'
A revealing excerpt from Ajay Singh's The Architect of the New BJP: How Narendra Modi Transformed the Party.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed a "Godhra-like" incident may take place during the "return journey" of the large number of people expected to converge at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh from across the nation for the inauguration of the Ram temple.
Stalin's comments came two days after Naidu said there was a need to manage the population in Andhra Pradesh given there will be an increase in the aging population.
'The Parivar's ideology and politics was and remains the very opposite of what Dr Ambedkar stood for.'
When the pandemic shows no signs of abating, when millions of Indians have no jobs, when millions of Indians struggle to survive, when the economy is in crisis, Dominic Xavier wonders if India needs such distractions.
'BJP takes Lingayat support and later on they throw them out, ditch them and humiliate them.' After months of speculation Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa resigned from the chief minister's post. A powerful Lingayat community leader, Yediyurappa could not even complete his term, owing to the internal politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party. So how does Lingayat community view his exit? Congress working president, Karnataka state and Lingayat leader Eshwar Khandre speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com, said, "The community which voted him and felt that they will lead the government are now disenchanted."
\nIn an apparent shift in its stand, the Sangh fountainhead has also said that it would work along with other non-Parivar positive movements and organisations to play a crucial role in the country's destiny.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to expand his cabinet when Parliament breaks for recess during the Budget Session. Archis Mohan reports
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.
I learnt that Yogi was deeply unhappy with the BJP's choice of Lok Sabha candidates. He had proposed a list of names, but hardly any of his suggestions were accepted.
"The ruling party's student wing -- ABVP -- has been emboldened to intervene violently in any attempt by students to have open discussions about matters that the Sangh Parivar deems to be inappropriate. This is thuggish censorship. We stand against it," the statement reads.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
GST would make compliance easier for big businesses, but hurt small scale industries., says SJM
