- Tuesday, April 23, 2024
RAM NAVAMI was celebrated on Wednesday (17) across the country with joyous processions and special prayers, as Ayodhya's Ram temple witnessed grand festivities to mark the first Ram Navami after its consecration, a day described as a "generational milestone" by prime minister Narendra Modi. Modi greeted people on the festival,…
Bayview Projects, backed by filmmaker Boney Kapoor and real estate developer Bhutani Group, on Tuesday bagged a contract to develop the International Film City near the upcoming Noida International Airport in Uttar Pradesh, according to officials. The financial bid for the greenfield project was opened on Tuesday afternoon by the…
THE UK and Indian governments are striving to establish a modern relationship, Alex Chalk, the lord chancellor and justice secretary, said last Friday (26). He was speaking at the Guildhall in the City of London where the Indian High Commissioner, Vikram Doraiswami, hosted a reception to mark the 75th anniversary…
Film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann Khurrana, Anupam Kher, Kangana Ranaut, Tiger Shroff and Asha Bhosale among others are at the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Complex in Ayodhya for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony. Cricket legends Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, and Venkatesh Prasad are…
INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a temple Monday (22) that embodies the triumph of his muscular Hindu nationalist politics, galvanising loyalists in an unofficial start to his re-election campaign this year. Modi, in flowing golden-coloured traditional dress, unveiled the black stone idol to the deity Ram in the heart…
Official sources have confirmed that the centre has approved a security deployment exceeding 150 CISF personnel for the Ayodhya airport, in anticipation of the upcoming consecration ceremony at the Ram temple on January 22. The "Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham" is the country's 68th civil airport terminal to come under…
As preparations unfold for the consecration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, a notable Indian community activist in New York has expressed appreciation for measures that enable diaspora members to contribute to the temple's development. Social activist Prem Bhandari had earlier appealed to prime minister Narendra Modi to allow members…
AUTHORITIES in India's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh have banned the distribution and sale of Halal-certified products, including dairy, garments and medicines saying it was illegal. Bakery products, sugar, edible oil and other products which were labelled as 'Halal-certified' by the companies manufacturing them would be banned from distribution…
Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have taken the step of closing a private school following an incident where a teacher instructed her students to slap a Muslim classmate. Neha Public School in Khubbapur village was subjected to closure by officials who cited its failure to meet the…
Legendary actor Rajinikanth, who arrived in Ayodhya, offered prayers to Lord Hanuman yesterday. He wore a white kurta for his visit. The actor's sacred visit comes at a time when his film Jailer is performing well at the box office. Earlier, Rajinikanth met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at…
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday met the team of the recently released film The Kerala Story in Lucknow. He greeted actor Adah Sharma, director Sudipto Sen, and producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah. During the meeting, the team discussed the film with CM Yogi…
Filmmaker Om Raut, who is gearing up for the release of his much-anticipated film Adipurush, recently met Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. Taking to Instagram, Raut dropped a picture from his meeting with Yogi Adityanath. In the image, he is seen presenting the CM with a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji…
According to a report by a partisan Democratic Congressional committee, Donald Trump did not disclose foreign leaders' gifts worth $250,000 to the First Family, including $47,000 worth of gifts from Indian leaders such as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, then-President of India Ram Nath Kovind, and Uttar Pradesh chief minister…
Suniel Shetty believes rather than the stunts, actors today are more focussed on getting their body language right in their quest to earn the title of an action hero. In the 90s, Shetty carved out a niche for himself as an action star with movies such as “Balwaan”, “Waqt Hamara…
Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice to his party workers to stop commenting on movies comes late as the "mob is out of control now". According to party sources, in his address at the BJP national executive on Monday, PM Modi had suggested party workers…
Suniel Shetty recently met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and urged him to help the industry get rid of the 'Boycott Bollywood' trend. On Thursday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met members of the Bollywood fraternity in Mumbai, Suniel Shetty, Subhash Ghai, Jackie Shroff, Rajkumar Santoshi, Manmohan Shetty,…
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday pitched his state as a safe investment destination and also interacted with prominent Bollywood personalities during his visit to Mumbai, where Maharashtra's Opposition parties targeted him over his roadshow. Adityanath assured industrialists of a strong law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh,…
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and leaders cutting across the political spectrum on Friday condoled the death of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mother Hiraben, recalling her simple and compassionate life that was an inspiration for all. Hiraben, Hiraba to many, passed away at an Ahmedabad hospital on Friday…
After her brief stint in India, Priyanka Chopra is off to Los Angeles. Priyanka shared a photo of herself on her Instagram story revealing that she is flying back to Los Angeles. Priyanka was in India to promote her haircare brand alongside a visit to some rural areas in Uttar…
The Indian mission in Australia is providing consular assistance to a 28-year-old student from the north-western city of Agra who was stabbed multiple times in Sydney and is under "serious but stable" condition after undergoing surgery at a local hospital. "The Indian Consulate in Sydney has provided consular assistance to…
The much-anticipated Bollywood film Samrat Prithviraj, which opens in cinemas on June 3, has been banned in Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar. The high-profile historical war drama stars superstar Akshay Kumar in the lead role. Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar makes her silver screen debut with the film. Directed by Chandra…
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who attended a special screening of the period action drama Samrat Prithviraj with his cabinet colleagues, on Thursday declared the movie tax-free in the state. The screening of the movie was held at Lok Bhawan here, and Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, female lead Manushi…
THE All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi has said that "India belongs to Dravidians and Adivasis", and not to him, or Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP head Sharad Pawar and prime minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a rally in Bhiwandi town here in Maharashtra on Saturday (28) evening, the…
INDIA's Supreme Court on Wednesday (11) suspended a colonial-era sedition law that activists say is often used by prime minister Narendra Modi's government to target free speech and dissent. Modi's critics say that the law, which was once used by Britain to target independence hero Mahatma Gandhi, has been abused…
An Indian court granted bail Wednesday to three students jailed for celebrating India's defeat to arch-rival Pakistan in a T20 World Cup cricket match last year, their lawyer said. The students were arrested in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in October and charged with sedition just days after…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday praised filmmaker Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, a film based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s. He said the film is "bringing the truth in its correct form" and history has to be presented in…
TOP officials of India's ruling Hindu nationalist party and an army of its supporters bombarded voters with disinformation as key states went to the polls, specialists say. The five state votes held over several weeks starting February 10 set the stage for the next general election in 2024, and the…
PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi's party won India's most populous state with a big majority, according to the count on Thursday (10) of a state assembly vote that could offer clues to the national mood before a 2024 general election. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won or was…
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party was set for a resounding victory but a reduced majority at elections in the country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh, exit polls forecast Monday. Exit polls are not always reliable in India, but an average of four indicated that the Bharatiya Janata…
A regional Indian party has claimed it will unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in provincial elections in Uttar Pradesh state, the most crucial test for Modi before a general election in two years. The Hindu nationalist BJP has maintained it will retain power in the bellwether…
INDIA's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh began voting on Thursday (10) in the first of a series of local elections that will be a key test of the popularity of prime minister Narendra Modi and his ruling party. With a population almost as big as that of Brazil, keeping…
HINDU hardliner Yogi Adityanath, who is seeking re-election as chief minister of India's most populous state, touted his record on fighting crime and putting law and order above religion and caste in a rare interview with Western media. The 49-year-old monk from prime minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party…
ELECTION rallies were cancelled in India's heartland Thursday (6) as authorities fret over a sudden Covid surge, driven by the Omicron variant, which has seen confirmed infections nearly triple in two days. Teeming crowds have thronged campaign events for next month's poll in Uttar Pradesh -- the country's most populous…
A left-wing Indian opposition party has launched a perfume with what it calls the "fragrance of brotherhood, love and socialism" that will "end hatred". The product was unveiled by the Samajwadi Party in the hopes of wooing voters in elections in early 2022 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.…
FARMERS in India have vowed to intensify their months-long protest against laws aimed at liberalising agriculture as tension flared a day after eight people were killed in clashes between growers and ruling party supporters. Four of the eight were killed when a car linked to a senior ruling party official…
MAHANT Narendra Giri, president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP), the largest grouping of sadhus in India, was found dead on Monday (20) at Baghambari Math in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The police said a seven-page ‘suicide note’ was found in which the…
AS Bhupendra Patel took charge as the chief minister of Gujarat from Vijay Rupani, there was speculation as to what led to the change of guard in the western Indian state. The perceived “mismanagement” of Covid-19 by the Rupani government and his differences with other leaders of the ruling Bharatiya…
A boatman in India has been praised after he rescued a baby girl found floating in a wooden box in the Ganges river. The infant was found in a wooden box decorated with images of Hindu deities. Police said the box had a birth horoscope card which had the time and…
RASHTRIYA Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday (13) said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) alleged “apathy” towards protesting farmers will make it pay in next year’s key Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. He said "artificial" issues like love jihad and cow terror will not save the saffron…
MORE than 1,600 teachers in India died from Covid-19 weeks after their polling duty between April and May. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, schools in India remained closed, therefore hundreds of thousands of government teachers were asked to monitor polling booths as some states across the country held elections. A letter to…
FORMER union minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Ajit Singh died aged 82 at a Gurgaon hospital on Thursday (6) morning battling Covid-19, his family said. Singh, a prominent farmer leader and son of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 20, the…
A LEADING Indian spiritual leader, His Holiness (HH) Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji (HH Pujya Muniji), gave a cheque of Rs 5,100,000 (around £50,000) towards the rebuilding of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, north India. During his meeting last week with the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state Yogi Adityanath, HH…
In India's most populous state, the Hindu nationalist BJP government is on a mission against "love jihad", the conspiracy theory that Muslims are luring Hindu brides with the aim of conversion and eventually national domination. While interfaith marriage remains rare in the Hindu-majority nation, this zealous drive in Uttar Pradesh…
INDIAN PRESIDENT Ram Nath Kovind said on Wednesday (5) that laying of the foundation stone of Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya defines India's spirit of social harmony and people's zeal. He said it will be a testimony to ideals of 'Ram Rajya' and a symbol of modern India "Felicitations…
INDIAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kicked off the construction of a Lord Ram temple in the north Indian city of Ayodhya on a spot where a mosque was demolished nearly three decades ago. The event fulfils a long-standing promise by Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, and marks the…
Hundreds of millions of people in India, including in its two largest cities, were ordered on Wednesday (8) to wear face masks or coverings amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Residents in the capital New Delhi and financial hub Mumbai, which have a combined…
Ajay Devgn, Saif Ali Khan, and Kajol starrer Tanjahi: The Unsung Warrior has taken the box office by storm. The film has collected Rs 75.68 crore in four days and it is expected to do well at the box office in the coming days. Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government declared…
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi in Lucknow on Monday (30) hit out at Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, saying there is no place for violence or "revenge" in the country. In a jibe at the chief minister days after he had said that those who had damaged public assets would…
Zaheer Ahmed had just returned home from work in northern India last Friday afternoon and stepped out for a smoke before lunch. Minutes later, he was dead, shot in the head. His death, and the killing by gunfire of four other Muslim men the same afternoon in the mainly Muslim…
India's Supreme Court on Thursday (1) moved the rape trial of a powerful regional politician to the capital, New Delhi, to allay fears he could influence the outcome, a further embarrassment for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The case against Kuldeep Singh Sengar, a BJP legislator from northern Uttar…
Fresh protests erupted in India on Tuesday (30) amid growing public fury over a car crash that critically injured a teenager who accused a lawmaker from the ruling party of rape and harassment. Two of the 19-year-old's aunts were killed and her lawyer was badly injured when a truck collided…
An Indian teenager who accused a senior politician of rape is fighting for her life after being critically injured in a car crash that killed two relatives, raising suspicions of foul play. Her lawyer was also badly injured in the accident, which occurred in northern Uttar Pradesh state Sunday when…
UK-BASED rapper Taran Kaur Dhillon, also known as Hard Kaur, has been booked for sedition for allegedly posting objectionable remarks against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on social media, police said Thursday (20). A written complaint was filed by a local lawyer, Shashank Shekhar,…
A journalist jailed for making derogatory comments on social media against a chief minister with the ruling-right wing party was ordered released by India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday (11). Prashant Kanojia, a freelance journalist, was arrested Saturday after he uploaded and commented on a video of a woman claiming to…
A group of Hindu seers met on Monday (3) to outline a plan to urge India prime minister Narendra Modi to press for early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya, saying "Hindus" have reelected him with a huge majority to complete the task. The meeting was organised in Faizabad by…
INDIA'S mammoth election, the biggest in the world, was a frequently bad-tempered affair and awash with insults. Ahead of the vote counting and results due on Thursday (23), here is a look back at the worst of the mudslinging during almost six weeks of campaigning. Thief Versus Prince Prime minister…
A DAY after exit polls forecast a return of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, enthused state BJP leaders predicted Uttar Pradesh would give them more than 74 of its 80 seats to enter lower house of the Indian parliament, a claim dismissed by the…
BSP president Mayawati termed the Bahujan Samaj Party- Samajwadi Party- Rashtriya Lok Dal (BSP-SP-RLD) alliance as a combination of ideas and said it will not sit silent till the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh state and the Narendra Modi government in the Centre were uprooted. “Unlike the Bharatiya Janata…
IF Uttar Pradesh were a country, it would be one of the world's most populous. And this poverty-stricken northern melting pot of over 200 million people is the biggest prize in India's election ending on Sunday (19). Uttar Pradesh (UP) has 80 parliamentary seats, the most of any state, and…
At their usual evening gathering, six retired Muslim academics outdo each other with gloomy predictions if Narendra Modi is re-elected prime minister in India's polls ending Sunday. "We are one step away from being turned into second-class citizens," Mohiuddin Azad told AFP in Azamgarh, a northern city long associated with…
Prime minister Narendra Modi staged a show of strength on Thursday (25) in the city of Varanasi, one of the most sacred places for India's majority Hindu population, as the country's 39-day staggered general election neared its mid-point. Dotted with ancient temples and sitting on the banks of the Ganges…
CONGRESS leader Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday (24) termed prime minister Narendra Modi as "Pradhan Prachar Mantri" and accused the BJP of "wasting drinking water" to clean roads in Banda, an arid town in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region. Priyanka's comments drew a sharp reaction from chief minister Yogi Adityanath who said…
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress over its "big ego" while continuing his attack on the BJP, suggesting that voters will walk away this time from the tea being offered by the 'chaiwala' prime minister Narendra Modi. Mocking Modi at a public meeting in Hardoi,…
INDIA'S election watchdog on today (15) banned two outspoken politicians from campaigning in the country's national vote for making provocative speeches which it said could stir communal unrest. The measures came after the Supreme Court called on the election commission to get tough on hate speech during the world's biggest…
The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday (7) said that Prayagraj, which is hosting this year’s Kumbh Mela, will have the largest temporary city in the world. The city will have 250km long roads and 22 pontoon bridges, and the Kumbh Mela area will be brightened up with over 40,000 LED…
Nayabans isn't remarkable as northern Indian villages go. Sugar cane grows in surrounding fields, women carry animal feed in bullock carts through narrow lanes, people chatter outside a store, and cows loiter. But this week, the village in Uttar Pradesh state became a symbol of the deepening communal divide in India as some…
Some 2,000 baton-wielding Indian police were on duty in the flashpoint city of Ayodhya on Thursday to prevent any clashes around the anniversary of the destruction of a mosque. Hindu zealots reduced the Babri mosque to rubble in 1992, kicking off riots across India that left thousands dead, most of…
Indian authorities will launch a major security operation at the ruins of a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya on Sunday (25) when tens of thousands of Hindu monks and religious leaders gather to urge the government to build a new Hindu temple on the disputed site. A militant Hindu mob demolished…
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party has been turning up the heat on some controversial and potentially highly divisive religious issues in recent days, with crucial state elections only weeks away and a general election due by next May. Top officials from his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)…
Private security guard Ajit Singh Rana says he supports a police crackdown on gangsters in India's most populous state, even after cops gunned down an Apple executive at a road stop in what human rights activists say was the latest in a series of extra-judicial killings. Police have said the shooting was an accident, but…
INDIAN federal investigators Wednesday (11) charged a politician from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party with raping a teenager whose plight was ignored by police until she tried to set herself alight. The Central Bureau of Investigation charged Kuldeep Singh Sengar with the 2017 rape of a 16-year-old girl, whose father…
by Amit Roy IF YOU are comfortably seated, here is your starter question for 10: what row unites Oxford and Aligarh Muslim universities? The answer is, of course, a controversy over removing portraits. Since 1938, the Aligarh Muslim University, a respected educational establishment in India founded in 1875, has had…
An eight-year-old boy was shot and killed in police crossfire as he played outside with friends in northern India, an officer said Thursday (18). It is not clear who fired the bullet that hit Madhav Bharadwaj, who was with his grandfather when he was shot late Wednesday (17) as police…
Amid protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's opulent period drama 'Padmavti', Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has written to Union Minister Smriti Irani to put the film's release on hold. In a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Minister, the Rajasthan Chief Minister is said to have said that “Padmavati (should)…
The Taj Mahal and its origins may have been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons recently but Shiraz, a silent cinema classic, brings the romance back. The 1928 movie, made by German filmmaker Franz Osten and produced by Himansu Rai, who also acts in it along with Seeta…
The ongoing protests against the BHU administration for victim-shaming a first-year student turned violent on Saturday night as police conducted lathicharge in the campus injuring several female students. At least four girls were reported to have suffered head injuries in the clashes that ensued. As demonstrations against the government and police intensify…
In a major train accident, at least 23 passengers were killed and over 60 injured when 14 coaches of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express jumped the rails in Khatauli near here this evening, officials said. Khatauli is around 40 km from Muzaffarnagar. PAC, ATS and NDRF teams have been rushed to the spot. Heavyweight cranes and gas…
Indian police said Thursday they have arrested three suspects in the murder of a 60-year-old Muslim man lynched in apparent revenge after a fellow Muslim eloped with a local Hindu woman. Authorities said they were still searching for the ringleaders of a six-strong Hindu gang that beat Ghulam Mohammad to…
India prime minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat on Friday (31) increased the punishment for cow slaughter from seven years to life imprisonment as Hindu hardliners push for tougher protections for the holy animal. Under the stiffened penalties passed by Gujarat's state assembly, anyone caught transporting cows for slaughter…
India has sought divine intervention to rid its government buildings of the scourge of spitting- wall tiles imprinted with the images of gods. Officials in Uttar Pradesh state have installed tiles with images of Hindu gods and goddesses in "vulnerable" corners of government buildings where reddish brown sprays from chewing…
Indian vice-president Hamid Ansari said on Saturday (25) universities must uphold liberal values and respect dissent, a month after violent protests erupted at a university in the capital Delhi over a speech by a student accused of sedition. Addressing students at a university in the northern state of Punjab, Ansari…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked Hindu hardliner Yogi Adityanath, who has been accused of inciting violence against India's Muslim minority, to lead its most populous state after his party won a landslide victory last week. Adityanath's appointment to lead Uttar Pradesh was denounced by opposition party members. But officials of…