India: Citizens first - Muslims, Modi and brutal rapes of Muzzaffarnagar | Lakshmi Chaudhry

Citizens first: Muslims, Modi and brutal rapes of Muzzaffarnagar

by Lakshmi Chaudhry Dec 23, 2013

"If there are Congress leaders who are visiting the riot affected areas I will welcome any suggestions from them on resolving the situation there. You will see that Samajwadi Party is willing to take constructive suggestions from all quarters and work towards implementing them," declared Akhilesh

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India: Communal Violence in 2013 Part - II | Irfan Engineer

[see Part I here]

Communal Violence in 2013: Part - II

by Irfan Engineer

(Secular Perspective Jan, 16-31, 2013)

In the previous article, we examined the trends in riots and the all India statistics of communal riots provided by the Union Govt. We also described some of the communal riots in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. In this article, we now propose to describe some riots in J&K, UP, MP, Bihar

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India: Judgement day of Zakia Jafri Case - 26 Dec 2013 | Teesta Setalvad

http://hillele.org/2013/12/20/judgement-day-of-zakia-jaffri-case-december-26-2013-teesta-setalwad/

The Feminist December 20, 2013

JUDGEMENT DAY OF ZAKIA JAFFRI CASE - DECEMBER 26 2013 (Teesta Setalwad)

Teesta Setalvad

GRAVITY OF CHARGES:-
CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST MODI

Introduction:-

The Zakia Jafri (supported by Citizens for Justice & Peace) Criminal Complaint against Narendra Modi and 59

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India: The Alchemy of Sleazire | Ruchir Joshi

The Telegraph, December 22 , 2013

{{THE ALCHEMY OF SLEAZIRE
- Fiction triumphs over documents and observation}}

The Thin Edge - Ruchir Joshi

VS. Naipaul, the man also known as Lord Vidiamort, is an interestingly connected person. Close to 12 years ago, Lord Vid was in India, being feted and celebrated by odd sections of our intellectual and political elite for winning the Nobel prize. His

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India's Army recruits on caste, region, religion lines, Supreme Cout has been told

The Hindu - 4 Dec 2013

Army recruitment done on caste, region, religion lines, SC told

Grouping of people from a particular region in an Army regiment is unconstitutional and amounts to discrimination on caste, region and religion basis, a petitioner challenging the recruitment policy told the Supreme Court.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court countering the assertion of the Army which had

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India: Is Modi Our Palin? - Dheeraj Tiwari

The Economic Times removed this section on Narendra Modi after putting it online.

https://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=dnFe9EA_4G8U1eM&hl=en&ned=in

Is Modi Our Palin?

by Dheeraj Tiwari

Insulting the intelligence of voters is could be suicidal in an election year. In the 2008 US Presidential elections, Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for the vice president’s post, committed that offence

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India: Notice to students for not attending Narendra Modi's 'Run for Unity'

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/notice-to-students-for-not-attending-narendra-modi-s-run-for-unity-461619

Notice to students for not attending Narendra Modi's 'Run for Unity'

All India | Reported by Rohit Bhan, Edited by Nadim Asrar | Updated: December 22, 2013 10:49 IST

Jamnagar: Narendra Modi's much-hyped 'Run for Unity' campaign to mobilise support for the world's tallest statue in

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Cartoons on Modi by Orijit Sen, Manjul and by unnamed

cartoon by Orijit Sen

cartoon by Manjul

cartoon by unnamed

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Muzaffarnagar coverstory by Outlook - 30 Dec 2013

Outlook Magazine, 30 December 2013

EXCLUSIVE | cover story: muzaffarnagar
Thread Bared
They had invested hope in the village pradhan. He had said he’d protect them. Instead, what happened at his house during the morning of the riots will make you shudder. Outlook meets Muslim women at the camps, the faceless Nirbhayas of Muzaffarnagar....
by Neha Dixit
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?

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India: Hindu priests condemn Ayodhya incident, appeal for peace

http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/one-year-of-nirbhaya-rape-case-why-crimes-still-continue


Hindu priests condemn Ayodhya incident, appeal for peace

21 Dec 2013 05:12 PM, IST


Hindu priests condemn Ayodhya incident, appeal for peace

By Abu Zafar, India Tomorrow,

New Delhi/Ayodhya, 21 Dec 2013: As news spread about attack on a Muslim shrine and murder of a 22-year-old undergraduate student

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India: Joint Statement of Religious Leaders in support of “Supreme Court order on Section 377”

http://jamaateislamihind.org/eng/joint-statement-of-religious-leaders-on-supreme-court-order-on-article-377

Joint Statement of Religious Leaders On “Supreme Court order on Section 377”

19 December 2013

New Delhi, 19 Dec 2013: The decision of the Supreme Court on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code is not only in line with the eastern traditions of this country, moral values and religious

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Communal Violence in 2013: Part - I | Irfan Engineer

Communal Violence in 2013: Part - I

By Irfan Engineer

The year 2013 was worse than 2012 from the standpoint of communal violence.
According to the Home Ministry data released in the National Integration Council meeting, 107 people were killed in communal riots across the country, which includes 66 Muslims and 41 Hindus in 479 incidents of communal violence this year. Apart from those killed,

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Video of Rajya Sabha TV Discussion: Desh Deshantar - Communal Violence Prevention Bill - The road ahead [Hindi]

Desh Deshantar - Communal Violence Prevention Bill: The road ahead

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India: Riot Survivors - Victims who retain the memory (CP Bhambhri)

Economic Times - Dec 6, 2013

Riot Survivors: Victims who retain the memory

by CP Bhambhri

An inter-religious violent conflict, commonly described as a communal riot, not only leads to killing of innocent men and women and destruction of property, it leads to flight of those targeted from their residence. They end up in so-called relief camps. It is not only that more than 45 Muslims were

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Pakistan: Conspiracies, communal riots and terror in Rawalpindi

(The News International, 20 November 2013)

by Sabir Shah
The monster of terrorism has reigned supreme here since October 1951, when the then Pakistani Premier Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead at the famous Company Bagh (renamed Liaquat Bagh later), which also became the assassination venue of a former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.

Terrorism however struck Rawalpindi with full

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Ghettoisation changing demography of rural Muzaffarnagar post riots | Sandeep Joshi

(Report in The Hindu, MUZAFFARNAGAR, December 18, 2013)

by Sandeep Joshi
With at least six small colonies being built in the rural areas of Muzaffarnagar for settlement of riot-hit Muslims who have permanently left their villages out of fear of the dominant Jat community, ghettoisation, which was till now relevant in big cities, is the new phenomenon in this agrarian belt that is bound to have a

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Turkish Foreign ministry statement on condemns execution of top islamist in Bangladesh

MFA STATEMENT ON EXECUTION OF ABDUL QUADER MOLLA
Turkey's Foreign Ministry condemned the execution of one of the leaders of Bangladeshi Jamaat-e-Islami Party, Abdul Quader Molla.
MFA statement on execution of Abdul Quader Molla
Posted 13.12.2013 07:47:34 UTC
Updated 13.12.2013 13:47:41 UTC

Turkey's Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its website saying the decision to execute one of the

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India: Progressive Muslim groups slam clerics, SC's verdict on Section 377

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muslim-groups-slam-clerics-SCs-verdict-on-Section-377/articleshow/27501217.cms

Muslim groups slam clerics, SC's verdict on Section 377
Mohammed Wajihuddin,TNN | Dec 17, 2013, 07.25 AM IST

MUMBAI: Echoing the sentiments of the LGBT community, some Muslim groups have opposed the Supreme Court's recent order which recriminalizes homosexuality. The groups

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The fascist Jamaat-e-Islami of Bangladesh and its corporate business

Friends,

Here is only a partial list of businesses and corporations owned by orcaffiliated with the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. Their revenues go into billions of Takas and they employ tens of thousands of workers and students.

Many who support the JI in BD are armed and operate as death squads in the true spirit of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and their mother organization, the

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India: Cabinet clears Communal Violence Bill [reports on CNN IBN and The Times of India ]

Cabinet clears Communal Violence Bill, say sources









CNN-IBN
Dec 16, 2013 at 08:47pm IST




#communal violence bill #bjp #muzaffarnagar riots #centre #cpi #d raja

New Delhi: The Cabinet on Monday cleared the
Communal Violence Bill, said sources. After the law comes into force,
the Centre will be duty bound to send forces to riot-hit areas only on
the request of the local

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UK: Muslim fundamentalists threaten shops selling alcohol

Shop owners told they face 40 lashes if they continue selling 'evil' alcohol

DOZENS of Muslim protesters walked with one of
Britain's most controversial hate preachers to demand restaurants and
shops in one of London's most popular areas stop selling alcohol.



By: Cyrus Engineer
Published: Sat, December 14, 2013

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Modi 'Run for Unity' marathon had posters all over parts of central Delhi, but here is cartoonists take

Modi flags off 'Run for Unity' marathon, appeals not to view event politically
Express News Service : Vadodara, Sun Dec 15 2013
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/modi-flags-off-run-for-unity-marathon-appeals-not-to-view-event-politically/1207860/

Here is a cartooninsist take:

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India: With the closing of relief camps in Muzaffarnagar, even the meagre food support has disappeared

The Hindu, December 14, 2013


BAREFOOT

Winter in exile

by HARSH MANDER

With the closing of relief camps in Muzaffarnagar, even the meagre food support has disappeared.

As the winter cold descends this year on Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in Western U.P., some 20,000 people will camp in makeshift unofficial camps amidst squalor and official neglect, or survive in small rented tenements

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India - Muzaffarnagar: Riots Victims Await Closure | Deevakar Anand

With probes into crimes committed during the riots moving at a snail’s pace, the Akhilesh Yadav regime has a lot to answer for
Deevakar Anand
December 12, 2013
http://www.tehelka.com/muzaffarnagarriots2013/

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India: Witnesses getting cold feet in Ishrat Jahan Case ever since BJP declared Modi as thier Prime Ministeral candidate

Ishrat case: witnesses get cold feet over Modi
Rajesh Ahuja, Hindustan Times New Delhi, December 14, 2013
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ishrat-case-witnesses-mum-after-modi-nomination/article1-1162427.aspx

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India: BJP unambiguously homophobic

The Telehraph, 14 December 2013

BJP comes out, vows to oppose homosexuality
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN

New Delhi, Dec. 13: BJP president Rajnath Singh today said his party “unambiguously” endorsed the re-criminalisation of gay sex — the first conclusive statement from the party that makes the legislative option difficult for the UPA.

“We will state (at an all-party meeting if it is called) that we

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Panel to look into reports of children’s deaths at Muzaffarnagar relief camps

The camps were set up in the aftermath of September’s communal violence

Spurred into action by the Supreme Court rap, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday constituted a high-powered committee to look into the veracity of the reported deaths of children due to cold in the relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts and suggest remedial measures. The committee will be headed by the

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India: BJP’s minority fear over Modi dissipates

The Telegraph, 13 Dec 2013

BJP’s minority fear over Modi dissipates
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN

New Delhi, Dec. 12: The BJP believes this week’s Assembly poll results have dismissed its worst fears over consolidation of minority votes around the Congress because of Narendra Modi’s projection as prime ministerial candidate.

The BJP is now mulling adopting the Gujarat model of giving Muslims more tickets

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India: Former Top official in Home ministry joins the BJP

The Times of India
New Delhi, December 13, 2013

Former Union Home Secy RK Singh joins BJP

Special Correspondent

Former Home Secretary R.K. Singh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday. Mr. Singh, a 1975 batch IAS officer from the Bihar cadre, retired from his post on June 30 this year after a two year tenure.

Mr. Singh was welcomed into the party fold by party president Rajnath

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India: BJP refuses to spell stand on Section 377; Lekhi supports SC order / Samajwadi Party supports supreme court ruling

1.)


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/BJP-refuses-to-spell-stand-on-Section-377-Lekhi-supports-SC-order/articleshow/27261418.cms

BJP refuses to spell stand on Section 377; Lekhi supports SC order
TNN | Dec 13, 2013, 06.02 AM IST

NEW DELHI: While opposition BJP stuck to its non-committal official line on the Supreme Court's verdict on homosexuality, party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi

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All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat statements on the execution of Jamaat leader in Bangladesh and on the Indian Supreme court judgment on homosexuality

Mushawarat condemns the judicial murder of Bangladeshi leader
All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat

New Delhi, 13 December 2013: The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, today severely condemned the Bangladesh government’s hasty execution of a controversial verdict issued by a discredited and politicised tribunal.

President of AIMMM, Dr

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India: [Fake article attributed to] Shanti Bhushan says Aam Admi Party might spoil the party for BJP in 2014 elections, But most Aam Adami voters in Delhi seem pro Modi

Daily apologizes to Shanti Bhushan for article gaffe
PTI | Dec 13, 2013, 07.48 PM IST

Daily apologizes to Shanti Bhushan for article gaffe
'Mail Today' carried an article in the name of Shanti Bhushan which was critical of Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal.
NEW DELHI: In a bizarre gaffe, a newspaper here published an article on Friday purported to have been written by former Union law

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Will the BJP make it 2014 elections ?

Indian Express, 13 December 2013

Many a slip

by Suhas Palshikar

Electoral victories in four states may not add up to a BJP wave in 2014.

One unavoidable dimension to the analysis of the recently held assembly elections has been their relevance to the Lok Sabha election in 2014. For this reason, if for nothing else, the BJP could read into these outcomes the possibility of a better electoral

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Bangladesh: Execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader sparks violent attacks against minorities

Execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader sparks violent protests in Bangladesh
AP | Dec 13, 2013, 11.48 AM IST

Execution of Jamaat-e-Islami leader sparks violent protests in Bangladesh
Tyres have been set on fire by activists of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan protesting against the execution of Bangladeshi Islamist leader, in Islamabad. (AFP photo)

DHAKA: The execution of an Islamist opposition leader in

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Modi's silence on 377 - cartoon by Satish Acharya

Modi's closet no. 377

Cartoon: Satish Acharya

Copyright: Sify.com

http://www.sify.com/news/modi-s-secret-hideout-imagegallery-national-nk0mS5hfhce.html

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India's ruling Congress party’s clear stand in support of for gay rights appears to have caught the homophobic BJP off-guard

Sonia, Chidambaram root for gay rights after SC verdict, law may change
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sonia-chidambaram-root-for-gay-rights-after-supreme-court-verdict-law-may-change/article1-1161785.aspx

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short interview with Jyotirmaya Sharma about his book on Swami Vivekananda and Hindu Nationalism

Religion Dispatches
December 9, 2013

Political Hinduism: India's Disenchanted Religion
By Jyotirmaya Sharma



Jyotirmaya Sharma

Jyotirmaya Sharma is professor of political science at the University of Hyderabad, India. His recent publications include, Hindutva: Exploring the Idea of Hindu Nationalism (Penguin/Viking, 2003; second edition published in december 2011) and

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India: Jamaat e Islami (The Muslim Right Wing ) Opposes Legalisation of Live-in Relationships, not to speak of Homosexuality

In a recent judgement, the Apex Court asked Parliament to framed guidelines and make a law to address the ‘concerns’ of those already in the outside-marriage relationship. More unfortunately, the judgement said that live-in relationship is neither a crime nor a sin. A court of law is indeed within its jurisdiction to ascertain whether or not a particular act is crime. But it is beyond its

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India: Minorities panel for action against [SHAM] adami Party leader

Hate speech: Minorities panel for action against AAP member
Rakhi Chakrabarty,TNN | Nov 29, 2013
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Hate-speech-Minorities-panel-for-action-against-AAP-member/articleshow/26544217.cms

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Mathrubhumi: Surprised that Javed Anand wants us to learn from the Sham Admi Party That Has Nothing To Say About Modi

Mathrubhumi: 'Left should learn from Aam Admi Party: Javed Anand'
http://mathrubhuminews.in/ee/ReadMore/3606/javed-anand-on-aam-admi/E

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AAP-style politics to enfeeble democracy - India needs a rights-based redistributive programme

The Telegraph, 11 December 2013

TIME FOR CHANGE
- India needs a rights-based redistributive programme

by Prabhat Patnaik

Let us begin by accepting the two propositions that have been generally advanced about the results of the just-concluded assembly elections: one, that there is a strong anti-Congress wave in the country; and two, that this would not necessarily ensure victory for the

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Poster : Homophobes Unite - All Those Who Favour Crimilarising Gay Sex and are for section 377 raise your Hands

from sacw.net

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India: BJP's Rajasthan MP Arjun Ram Meghwal planning to raise anti-homosexuality bill in Parliament

The Hindu - December 11, 2013

Bikaner MP to raise anti-homosexuality bill in Lok Sabha

by Mahim Pratap Singh

While Wednesday's Supreme Court judgment on re-criminalising homosexuality has upset the LGBT community, Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal has welcomed the decision.

Last year, Mr. Meghwal had presented a private member bill in the Lok Sabha against the Delhi High Court judgment of 2009

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Is the Muslim vote a monolithic entity ? - Tanweer Fazal

One community, many rights
The question of the Muslim vote, instead of being reduced to a monolithic entity, should actually be about justice and redistribution in accordance with the needs and aspirations of the community

by Tanweer Fazal
- See more at: http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2013/12/6139#sthash.etw5IiQy.dpuf

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India: Modi will have hard time if he does come to power suggests James Manor

Indian Express, December 11 2013

Two nightmares foretold

by James Manor

If Modi leads the ruling alliance in 2014, he will have to deal with decentralisation in national politics and centralisation in state politics.

Despite the astounding showing of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, the recent state elections make it somewhat more likely that Narendra Modi will be the next prime minister. Only

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India: Religious Homophobes win Gay sex declared illegal by the Suprme Court

NDTV


Gay sex illegal, says Supreme Court, sets aside high court order

All India | Written by Neha Khanna , Edited by Deepshikha Ghosh | Updated: December 11, 2013 10:40 IST

Gay sex illegal, says Supreme Court, sets aside high court order
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said gay sex between consenting adults remains a criminal offence, in a major setback for the largely closeted homosexual

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India: Women’s Voices Go Unheard Within Walls of Ahmedabad Ghetto | Raksha Kumar / India Ink - The New York Times

December 10, 2013
Women’s Voices Go Unheard Within Walls of Ahmedabad Ghetto
By RAKSHA KUMAR

AHMEDABAD, Gujarat — On a hot October morning, an intense discussion was waging between three women in a nondescript beauty salon in the Juhapura locality of Ahmedabad, the city’s largest Muslim ghetto.

While the most common topics of discussion in a beauty salon are fashion, cosmetics and men, here the

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India: Snoopgate and the Gujarat Model of Governance

by India United Against Fascism
http://www.sacw.net/article6832.html

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Reassessing Secularism and Secularisation in South Asia | Humeira Iqtidar and Tanika Sarkar in EPW

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 50, December 14, 2013

Reassessing Secularism and Secularisation in South Asia
by Humeira Iqtidar and Tanika Sarkar

Revisiting Secularisation


Secularisation, once a key concept in debates about modernisation and modernity, has received very little academic attention over the last half century. In fact, it is often seen as a subset of or

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India: Muslims masquerade as Hindus for India jobs (Report on al jazeera)

Muslims masquerade as Hindus for India jobs
Facing religious discrimination in the Hindu-dominated job market, many are forced to assume fake identities.
Shaikh Azizur Rahman Last updated: 10 Dec 2013
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/12/muslims-masquerade-as-hindus-india-jobs-2013129134443863250.html

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India: Will Communal Violence Bill be tabled in Parliament?

by Irfan Engineer

With the defeat of Congress in the 4 states results of which were declared on 8th December 2013, one does not know the fate of the Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill 2013 that was to be introduced in the last winter session of the Parliament under UPA II. Some may say the UPA II government is now a lame duck govt. and would not introduce

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Photo of a banner that appeared in Pune soon after BJP victories in 3 states in assembly elections - 8 December 2013

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On Ahmedabad’s Segregation | Rupa Subramanya

India RealTime / WSJ blog


May 6, 2013, 9:00 AM


A New Twist on Ahmedabad’s Segregation



By Rupa Subramanya




Sam Panthaky/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe Anjuman-E-Islam school building in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, March 30, 2011.

Some Hindu property developers in Ahmedabad, the commercial hub of
the Indian state of Gujarat, are looking to expand to

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USA: Hindu American Foundation reveals its supremacist ideology through smear campaign against CAG and Indian Muslims

Hindu American Foundation reveals its supremacist ideology through smear campaign against CAG and Indian Muslims

HAF's Opposition to House Resolution 417 is a disservice to India and Hinduism say Indian Americans


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington D.C, Friday, December 6, 2013

Coalition Against Genocide (CAG - http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/), has condemned the Hindu American

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India: Modi's promised path is dangerously narrow and sectarian (Editorial, Economic and Political Weekly)

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 50, December 14, 2013

Illusions and Disillusionment

Editorial

What began as a silent whisper after the 2002 atrocities in Gujarat has reached a crescendo over the past six months: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a serious contender for the post of the prime minister of India. The powerful (and dubious) media management strategies of

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Reliance and right-wing politics gain a foothold in Raghav Bahl's media empire

The Network Effect
Reliance and right-wing politics gain a foothold in Raghav Bahl's media empire
By RAHUL BHATIA | 1 December 2013
- See more at: http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/network-effect

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Nationalism, Secularism & Modi | Nilotpal Basu

People's Democracy, No. 49, December 08, 2013

Nationalism, Secularism & Modi

Nilotpal Basu

A WEIRD political discourse raged across the country focusing on the nature of Indian nationalism; and its natural attribute, secularism. As is now becoming so familiar with BJP’s and more significantly, Modi’s campaign style; the emphasis is clearly on constructing imagery to drive home a political

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UK: Segregation on campus is never OK, whoever makes the rules

The Conversation, 27 November 2013

Segregation on campus is never OK, whoever makes the rules

by Sylvia McLain
(College Lecturer/Research Fellow in Biochemistry at University of Oxford)


I don’t like to take off my shoes in the house. Where I grew up, this was considered “uncultured”.

These days, with clean, fragrant carpeting and super-polished hard wood floors, or for reasons of culture or

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India - Karnataka: 'Made snana' the barbarian ritual continues unabated, govt remains halfhearted about a proposed anti-superstition bill

[Dear Friends
Greetings! The dehumanising practice of rolling over the leftover food of
Brahmin families by the low caste people was held at Kukke Subramanya
Temple located in the Mangalore City in the State of Karnataka in India
once again on December 06, 2013 under heavy police protection. The Police
was deployed to mainly thwart any possible protest by Dalit groups.

There is a Public

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India: The AAP and its experiments in populism | Mukul Kesavan

The Aam Aadmi Party’s poll figures show it running a dead heat with the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Delhi election next month. This isn’t just in terms of vote share; the poll shows the AAP translating electoral support into seats. Despite the widespread disaffection with the Congress, anti-incumbency doesn’t seem to be helping the BJP, whose vote share is projected to decline

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Why is rape in Goa different from rape in Muzaffarnagar? asks Saeed Naqvi

New Age, 8 December 0213

Why is rape in Goa different from rape in Muzaffarnagar?


In Tarun’s case, there is that uncertainty as to what really happened. Here is rape with as many witnesses as can fill a court of law. Efforts to administer justice in the case of an alleged rape in the lift of a five-star Goa hotel, contrasted sharply with gross inaction in Muzaffarnagar. The star-struck media

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India: The lingering Ayodhya dispute is a conflict between history and faith | Garga Chatterjee

The Friday Times, Issue: 06 Dec 2013

Faithless debates
by Garga Chatterjee

The lingering Ayodhya dispute is a conflict between history and faith

Some debates do not die. They remain unresolved, as they are not debates unto themselves but venting spouts for other concerns and tendencies. The strengthening and weakening of the concerns affect the vigour with which the debate is carried out.

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UK: Three members of 'Muslim' vigilante group jailed

Three members of 'Muslim patrol' jailed in London

Agence France-Presse | Updated: December 07, 2013 19:37 IST

London: Three members of a self-styled "Muslim patrol" in London who harassed passers-by for wearing short skirts, holding hands and drinking alcohol have been jailed, in a conviction welcomed by the local mosque on Saturday.

The men were jailed for up to 16 months on Friday after

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India: Anti-black magic activist Dabholkar killing: Two held

Police in western India have arrested two men in connection with the killing of an activist who campaigned against superstition and black magic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25278729

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India: Sardar Patel was not in favour of the RSS penetrating the state apparatus

The Indian Express, December 07 2013

Sardar and the swayamsevaks
by Christophe Jaffrelot

Patel appreciated some RSS attributes. But he was not in favour of letting the organisation penetrate the state apparatus.

As early as the 1920s, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel showed ambivalent attitudes vis-à-vis the Muslim minority in Gujarat and India at large. On the one hand, he had been supportive of the

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India: Photos of public events by both the Hindu Far Rght and Muslim Far Right on 6 Dec 2013 in Delhi

On occasion of 6 December 2013 - the Hindu Far Right Rashtravadi Shiv Sena were as celebrating victory day (the day of destruction of Babari Mosque demolished by hindutva activists in Dec 1992) at Jantar Mantar.



See low res photos below



Participation of some 50-6à people with headbands. Very loud, provocative and threatening speeches (clear incitement to violence), lasting a few hours -

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India: Photos of 6 Dec 2013 public meeting in New Delhi on 21st anniversary of Babri Mosque demolition

Photos taken on 6 Dec 2013 at Pension Parishad sit-in site at Jantar Mantar. Some 40 organisations in India responded to call for a protest meeting by People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism.

[small sized Photos by Harsh Kapoor]



[The below photos (in a bigger size) are by Mukul Dube]

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Editorial in Indian Express re UP govt's abdication of responsibility towards victims of Muzaffarnagar riots

Indian Express, 6 December 2013

Editroial: A harsh winter

Dec 06 2013

The UP government has abdicated its responsibility towards victims of the Muzaffarnagar violence

Three months after communal conflict forced large numbers of Muslim families to flee their homes and villages, they are at risk from the elements. The onset of winter has reportedly claimed several lives in relief camps. Most

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Power to forgive: Mandela’s death and Babri anniversary | Sandip Roy

firstpost.com

Power to forgive: Mandela’s death and Babri anniversary

by Sandip Roy Dec 6, 2013

He was going for a long time. It was time, indeed well past time. But still the heart catches when the news finally comes.

Waking up to a world without Nelson Mandela is not unimaginable. We have come perilously close to it over and over again. The idea of Nelson Mandela was strong. But the

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Communal violence bill: No distinction between majority & minority community in new draft - Government

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/no-distinction-between-majority-minority-community-in-new-draft-government/articleshow/26925998.cms

No distinction between majority & minority community in new draft: Government
By ET Bureau | 6 Dec, 2013, 04.00AM IST

NEW DELHI: The government has defended the revised bill aimed at preventing communal violence, with an official

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UK: Secular neutrality is a pillar of higher education. We can't cave in to faith groups in our institutions – even if it causes offence

British universities shouldn't condone this kind of gender segregation

by Polly Toynbee

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/26/british-universities-gender-segregation-secular

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U.S. Evangelicals, Indian Expats Teamed Up to Push Through Modi Visa Ban

India Ink Blog / The New York Times
December 5, 2013

U.S. Evangelicals, Indian Expats Teamed Up to Push Through Modi Visa Ban
By ZAHIR JANMOHAMED

Jaipal Singh/European Pressphoto Agency
Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat, speaking at a public rally in Jammu city, Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday.
In March 2005, the United States denied a visa to Gujarat’s chief minister, Narendra Modi, now

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FIR Against Author Taslima Nasreen on Cleric's Complaint

FIR Against Author Taslima Nasreen on Cleric's Complaint

By PTI - LUCKNOW

Published: 05th December 2013 04:01 PM

Last Updated: 05th December 2013 04:01 PM

An FIR has been lodged against controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen for allegedly hurting religious sentiments following a complaint by a prominet Muslim cleric in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh.

The case was lodged

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Gujarat's High Statue Politics Has Blessings of Hindu Priests: AFP photo in Outlook Magazine

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India: draft of Communal Violence bill encroaches on the rights of the States say's Editorial in The Hindu

The Hindu, December 5, 2013

Editorial

Sharpen the focus

With its long history of communal violence, India certainly needs a specific law with a strong focus on preventing clashes between the majority community and minorities and providing reparations to the victims of such violence. The present revised draft of the Prevention of Communal Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill seeks

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India: 40 children dead in UP riot relief camps

At least 40 children dead as UP riot relief camps brace for a long winter
Pritha Chatterjee : Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Thu Dec 05 2013
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/at-least-40-children-dead-as-up-riot-relief-camps-brace-for-a-long-winter/1203511/

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India: The Congress deserves to give itself a second chance

The Telegraph, 5 December 2013

FOR THE NATION’S SAKE
- The Congress deserves to give itself a second chance
FIRST PERSON SINGULAR: A.M.

Unabated price rise, coupled with unending stories of venal acts at high places, has caused wide discontent across the nation. The Indian National Congress, the principal constituent of the coalition government in New Delhi, has not escaped the opprobrium for

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Bangladesh’s new radical Islamists | Haroon Habib

The Hindu, December 5, 2013

Bangladesh’s new radical Islamists

by Haroon Habib

The resurgence of new radicals such as the madrasa-based Hefazet-e-Islam, patronised by both the Jamaat and the BNP, is viewed by India as inimical to the interests of a stable, democratic Bangladesh

Bangladesh is set to go to the polls on January 5, 2014 to elect its 10th Parliament amid a protracted political

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Aria Thaker's book review of Communal Violence: Causes and Responses by Irfan Engineer

The Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 49, December 07, 2013

The Origins of Communalism

by Aria Thaker
Aria Thaker (ariathaker@gmail.com) is with Davenport College, Yale University, United States.

Book Reviews

Issues of Communal Violence: Causes and Responses by Irfan Engineer (Mumbai: Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution), 2013; pp 51, Rs 150.


In his Issues

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2002 riots: Order on Jafri's petition deferred to December 26

2002 riots: Order on Jafri's petition deferred to December 26
Press Trust Of India : Ahmedabad, Mon Dec 02 2013, 16:54 hrs Small Large Print

A local court Monday once again deferred the pronouncement of order on Zakia Jafri's petition against SIT's closure report that gave clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and others in the 2002 post- Godhra riots case.

Metropolitan Magistrate

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Posters on occasion of 21st anniversary of Babri Masjid Demolition - 6 Dec 2013

posters by HK / 4 dec 2013

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Bhagalpur riot victims to get back land

Bhagalpur riot victims to get back land: District administration
Santosh Singh : Patna, Wed Dec 04 2013

Seventeen families who fled their homes after the 1989 Bhagalpur riots may finally get back their plots of land. "Our team will visit Garhotia on Thursday to restore all 17 plots... to the families," said Bhagalpur District Magistrate Prem Singh Mina.

This comes a day after The Indian

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India: Historian Irfan Habib under attack for speaking against ghetto mentality of certain sections of Muslim intelligentsia

http://sacw.net/article6757.html

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Call for Demo on 21st anniversary of Babari mosque demolition (New Delhi, 6 Dec 2013)

On the 21st anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid

Stand up for Secularism and Democracy

Raise your voice for Justice for Victims of Communal Violence

December 6, 1992 must count as the darkest day in the history independent India. While the crowds mobilized by organisations of the RSS destroyed Babri Mosque under a planned conspiracy, the institutions of the Indian state, elected state

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Announcement: Book release Muslim Identity - Hindutva Politics 7 Dec 2013, Hyderabad

BOOK RELEASE MEETING

Muslim Identity - Hindutva Politics By K. Balagopal

5.30 pm, Saturday, 7 December 2013 Basheerbagh Press Club, Hyderabad

M.T. Khan, the noted civil rights functionary, will release the book.

Speakers:

- Khadar Mohiuddin, the poet, will introduce the book.

- Mir Ayub Ali Khan, Deputy Editor, Times of India, will speak on "Hindu nationalism - A case of Hyderabad State".

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Kashmir: Understanding Article 370

by Ram Puniyani

Those gripped by religious nationalism are unable to understand the regional-ethnic aspirations of the people. Many an ultra-nationalists of different hues also fall into this trap many a times. With formation of Indian nation the integration of regions like Himachal Pradesh, North Eastern States and Jammu& Kashmir created some challenging situations. Though in all these

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Bleeding heart third worldism in the name of poor and hungry is nice coming from right and left. BKU had no role in Muzaffarnagar killings and Swadeshi Jagarn Munch has no links with the Hindutwa right wing

[Lovely to see the famous Indian progressive NGO types rub shoulders with the most retrograde sections of the India's right wing, all for a good cause they will tell you. Bloody shameless hypocrites these third worldists from India as from elsewhere. The impresario call for a 'Bahu Beti Bachao' Mahapanchayat from BKU (which also represents the largest contingent of India's Kulaks in Via Campesina

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NDTV progamme: Row over communal violence bill: attempt to polarise ahead of polls?

ndtv.com - 3 Dec, 2013

The BJP slams the government's fresh attempt at reviving the controversial communal violence bill. Is this bill an attempt to polarise voters ahead of the general elections, as the opposition alleges? Or, is India in desperate need of a law to deal with communal violence?

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/left-right-centre/

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On use of social networking platforms by the Muslim Far Right

Digital jihad

by Razeshta Sethna

Dawn, 2013-12-02

AS militant groups increasingly use social networking platforms to reach out to bigger audiences and shape media coverage of their actions, their drive to create sympathisers remains as relevant to them as their traditional objective to kill or destroy the enemy.

Hardly media shy, the late Pakistan Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud had met

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Bravo comrade Karat for demanding a federal law against superstition, black magic

The Hindu
Mumbai, December 2, 2013

Karat demands Central Act against superstition, black magic

Staff Reporter

CPI(M) general-secretary addressed rally marking 100 days since Dr. Dabholkar’s murder

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general-secretary Prakash Karat on Monday demanded a Central Act to prohibit superstition and black-magic.

He was speaking at the rally organised here to mark the

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Disgraceful Gurdwaras: Punjab's DGP Notified By NCSC

A breakthrough has been achieved in our Representation with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), regarding the shocking incidences of caste-based segregation in the historic
gurdwaras of Punjab.

The Commission has taken the matter into cognizance and decided to investigate further, in accordance with the powers conferred to it under the Article 338 of the Constitution of India.

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Announcement: Press Conference on Muzaffarnagar by CPA on 6 Dec 2013, New Delhi

The CPA Fact Finding team recently visited Muzaffarnagar for the second time since the violence broke out to see the current situation. The team comprised Kamal Chenoy, Harsh Mander, E. N. Rammohan, Sukumar Muralidharan, John Dayal and Seema Mustafa. Earlier, the team visited Muzaffarnagar on September 14 to look into the genesis of the violence there and the reasons for its spread.
CPA will

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India: CPM Should Learn from Late PC Joshi and Not from Mulayam Singh Yadav

INSAF Bulletin 140 December 2013
International South Asia Forum (32 Cowan Ave, St. John’s, NL, Canada A1E 3N7 (Tel.709-368-3252; e- mail; bulletin@insafbulletin.net


CPM SHOULD LEARN FROM LATE PC JOSHI AND NOT FROM MULAYAM SINGH YADAV

by Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi

The Communist Party of India (CPM) is the life-line of the communist movement in India. There are other communist parties too,

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India: BJP youth wing leader held for murder of ex-RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi

BJP youth wing leader held for murder of ex-RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi
Deeptiman Tiwary,TNN | Dec 2, 2013, 03.27 AM IST

[photo caption] Sunil Joshi was found murdered on Decmeber 29, 2007.

NEW DELHI: Months after home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde created a political furore by saying RSS and BJP were "promoting Hindu terrorism", National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a youth wing leader

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India: A Symphony of the Absurd | Ambrose Pinto

From: Mainstream weekly, 30 November 2013


To secular Indians, who hold that religion belongs to the private and personal space, two recent national events of three state agencies should be a matter of concern. The first one was the act of ISRO Chairman Dr K. Radhakrishnan performing pooja with the replica of the Mars Orbiter Mission at the Lord Venkateshwara Temple in Tirupati a day before the

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India: Very silly this talk of a Hindu left by Mr. S.G. Vombatkere, hoping NAPM will tell him that

Is there a Hindu Left?
by S.G. Vombatkere

While it may not be possible to create a viable Hindu Left before the upcoming 2014 general elections, the Left parties’ work in that direction could be to motivate voters to press the NOTA button on the EVM, rather than drift into voting for the BJP or INC, or for any ragtag coalition of regional, casteist parties that cannot possibly have a national

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India: After Godhra riots, Snoopgate haunts Narendra Modi (Amulya Ganguli )

Daily News and Analyisis, November 30, 2013

After Godhra riots, Snoopgate haunts Narendra Modi

Amulya Ganguli

The Narendra Modi government's decision to set up a commission to inquire into the allegations of snooping by Gujarat's official agencies of a young woman, reportedly at the behest of an unnamed "sahib", will not mark the end of prevailing suspicions and innuendos.

What is more, in

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Meena Menon reviews 'RIOT POLITICS — Hindu-Muslim Violence and the Indian State'

The Hindu
Books » Reviews
November 26, 2013

The network that influences polls and politics

Meena Menon

RIOT POLITICS — Hindu-Muslim Violence and the Indian State: Ward Berenschot; Rainlight, 7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 495.


Towards the end of his book Ward Berenschot writes that riots provide politicians with an occasion to prove their usefulness to prospective voters

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Divided they stand in Modi's land | Amanda Hodge

Divided they stand in Modi's land

Amanda Hodge

The Australian, November 30, 2013 12:00AM

THE doorway to slain Gujarat MP Ehsan Jafri's house is a tangled riot of perfume and colour, with fallen purple bougainvillea leaves teetering on a sea of wild mint and basil.

Inside there is only crumbling bricks and mortar.

All traces of the family that lived in this corner of prosperous Ahmedabad,

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Murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar: Pune Cops Claim Hindu Right Wing not involved ?

Indian Express

No basis to doubt Hindu extremists, Pune cops tell HC

Express News Service : Pune, Sat Nov 30 2013

The Pune crime branch Friday told the Bombay High Court there was no evidence to support allegations that Hindu right-wing extremists were behind the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and hence there was no need to hand over the probe to National Investigation Agency (NIA).

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Why Big Business strongly favours Narendra Modi | Praful Bidwai

Daily News and Analysis, Nov 28, 2013


India’s corporate world has launched a concerted campaign to “adopt” top politicians and enlist their support. Hence the media blitzkrieg projecting Narendra Modi as a “development” messiah, and major industry lobby meetings with him and with Rahul Gandhi.

Big Business would like the next parliament election to be a presidential-style contest. It’ll be

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India: Operation Blue Virus Blows The Cover Social Media - how some leaders buy hate or popularity | Cobrapost expose

Cobrapost exposes how social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and others are coming in handy for politicians to artificially boost their popularity, and malign their opponents, with help of IT companies across India which specialize in providing customized online reputation management services, for a fee. About two dozen such companies have been uncovered. There is little social about

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India: AAP leader Kumar Vishwas in trouble, hauled up by Minorities Commission for 'hurting religious sentiments'

India Today
Another AAP leader Kumar Vishwas in trouble, hauled by Minorities Commission for 'hurting religious sentiments'
India Today Online New Delhi, November 28, 2013 | UPDATED 08:10 IST

Demanding action against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas for allegedly hurting religious feelings, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has written to Election Commission and Delhi Police

Read More

BJP members' lumpen response in the 'Tehelka' case

The Indian Express, Nov 29 2013

The vandals

BJP members'lumpen response in the 'Tehelka' case brings great discredit to the party.

The charges against Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal elicited an unseemly burst of enthusiasm from the BJP on Thursday. Shortly after managing editor Shoma Chaudhury had resigned from her post, BJP workers, led by a leader in search of the spotlight ahead of the Delhi

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BJP's Vijay Jolly booked for vandalising Shoma Chaudhury's house

zee news

BJP's Vijay Jolly booked for vandalising Shoma Chaudhury's house

Last Updated: Thursday, November 28, 2013, 23:08
New Delhi: BJP leader Vijay Jolly was Thursday asked by Delhi Police to appear at a police station on Friday morning to record his statement after he defaced the name plate and poured black paint in front of the residence of Tehelka's former managing editor Shoma

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India: No room for hatred, as winter session is UPA's last chance

Hindustan Times

by Harsh Mander
November 21, 2013

The continued human suffering and cynical engineering of social ruptures in Muzaffarnagar is another reminder of the imperative for a law to prevent further communal violence. This statute was promised by the UPA government when it assumed power in 2004. But so far it has been unable to muster
the political courage to steer it through

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India: Patel’s communalism — a documented record | Frontline, December 13, 2013

Frontline, 13 December 2013


The J.L. Kapur Report noted at page 162, volume 1: “According to the Times of India, dated February 18, 1948, Ex. 242, Mr.... »

A cabal of self-confessed Hindu nationalists, as distinct from Indian nationalists, consistently lauds Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel because it finds in him a soulmate. He is not praised by himself; significantly, he is always pitted against

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Masters of manipulation | Frontline, December 13, 2013 Cover Story

The subtext of Narendra Modi’s counterfactual about a putative Vallabhbhai Patel prime ministerial stint is the Sangh Parivar’s assumption that the destiny of the Indian “nation” has always been, and continues to be, in the direction of a Hindu “rashtra”. By SUHIT K. SEN
http://www.frontline.in/cover-story/masters-of-manipulation/article5389192.ece?homepage=true

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India - Madhya Pradesh: Former RSS pracharak vows to teach BJP a lesson in Dhar

Indian Express

Former RSS pracharak vows to teach BJP a lesson in Dhar
Milind Ghatwal : Bhopal, Mon Nov 25 2013, 12:00 hrs Small Large Print

A former RSS pracharak is set to play a decisive role in Dhar, because he has campaigned against the BJP for being more "pseudo-secular" than the Congress.

Nawal Kishore Sharma is contesting as an independent in a constituency whose victor was decided in

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RSS: Still in the mood for love?

Deccan Chronicle
RSS: Still in the mood for love?
Anand K. Sahay | 25th Nov 2013

From what we have seen so far, the RSS appe­a­rs to have erred in guiding Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to the position of Bhara­t­iya Janata Party’s candidate for Prime Minister.
Much of this false image-building seemed at first exhilarating but la­ter turned painful and in­sulting for many (

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India: Whither secularism? Government releases Rs5 coins with Vaishno Devi emblem

Daily News and Analysis

Whither secularism? Government releases Rs5 coins with Vaishno Devi emblem
Wednesday, Nov 27, 2013, 6:42 IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

by R N Bhaskar



Coins and currency notes were never meant to promote any religion. However, curiously, just when national elections are round the corner, the government has released into the market five-rupee (Rs5) coins which

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After Supreme Court rap, UP issues fresh notification on Muzaffarnagar relief

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/after-supreme-court-rap-up-issues-fresh-notification-on-muzaffarnagar-relief/articleshow/26425511.cms

After Supreme Court rap, UP issues fresh notification on Muzaffarnagar relief
By PTI | 26 Nov, 2013, 07.34PM IST

LUCKNOW: Following a Supreme Court directive, the Uttar Pradesh government today recalled its controversial notification

Read More

India: The Hindu Right Wing Very Active in Demanding Arrest of Tehelka Founder Tarun Tejpal

Photo of ABVP protest Delhi, published in: news.oneindia.in on November 26, 2013

And Bangaru Laxman the Former President of BJP who had had to resign because of the Tehelka Sting operation that exposed him taking a bribe is reported to be pleased. See report in Deccan Herald
Tejpal's fall gladdens Bangaru
Hyderabad, Nov 26, 2013 DHNS:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/371271/

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Matri Shakti and Durga Vahini - the women's wings of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Demand Tarun Tejpal's arrest

http://in.news.yahoo.com/women-groups-demand-tejpals-arrest-124004418.html

Women groups demand Tejpal's arrest
IANS India Private Limited/Yahoo India NewsBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS India Private Limited/Yahoo India News

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Women organisations in the national capital Tuesday staged a rally, demanding the arrest of Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, accused of

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India: Sufi dargah unites, Ajmer divides

Hindustan Times

Sufi dargah unites, Ajmer divides

Sunita Aron, Hindustan Times Ajmer, November 26, 2013

Remember the mesmerising number ‘Khawaja mere Khawaja’ from Bollywood film Jodha Akbar. It is inspired by the life of 12th-13th century Sufi saint Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti.

Even politicians, including those in saffron robes, prefer to kick-start their election campaign after paying

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Have no illusions about Narendra Modi's idea of India | Hasan Suroor

Hindustan Times, November 26, 2013

Hasan Suroor

November 25, 2013

Have no illusions about Narendra Modi's idea of India

With the entry of Narendra Modi in the electoral fray as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, it is becoming clearer by the day that Muslims are going to be the biggest elephant in the room in the run-up to what, many believe, might turn out to be one of the most

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Honoring Hate: Public Felicitation of Riot Accused

Honoring Hate: Public Felicitation of Riot Accused
Ram Puniyani

Communal violence has tormented our country, more so from last three decades in particular. From the decade of 1980s its form has taken very menacing proportions and the country bleeds from time to time with the death of innocents, and at the same time takes place political ascendance of those behind engineering the violence. As

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India: Karnataka BJP held worship rituals to ‘protect’ Modi from the evil eye

Karnataka BJP holds pujas to ‘ protect’ Modi

By Vanu Dev in Bangalore

THE BJP feels that its detractors are casting an evil eye on the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the wake of recent Patna serial bomb blasts that allegedly targeted him.

And the party’s Karnataka unit is making all efforts to ward off “evil spirits that are working against his upcoming Bangalore rally

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Downing shutters on the fear factory - Dismantling Bal Thackeray’s legacy | Ruchir Joshi

Mail Today, 25 November 2012

Downing shutters on the fear factory

by Ruchir Joshi

Dismantling Bal Thackeray’s legacy of fear will require concerted effort

A LOT OF TV and print reportage and commentary were generated last week. Despite the risk of repeating some of what others have said it might be useful to make a precis of, say, the five chief things we learned last week.

1. It’s possible

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News Coverage for Narendra Modi / Shalli Kumar fake Republican Party event in the US

*US Republicans deny they invited Modi to address party Congressional
leaders*

Daily Mail, UK
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2508526/US-Republicans-deny-invited-Modi-address-party-Congressional-leaders.html

*We didn’t invite Modi: US Republicans*

News Room Post
http://www.newsroompost.com/didnt-invite-modi-us-republicans/

*Congressman distances himself from Modi fan

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Announcement: WSS public meeting on Muzaffarnagar on 30th November at ISI, Delhi

Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression

invites you to a public meeting on Sexual violence against women in Muzaffarnagar

30 November 2013 (2-5 pm)

at ISI, 10, Lodhi Institutional Area, New Delhi

Condemn the politics of communal violence!

Women's bodies are not your battlefields!

The explosion of communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and adjoining districts of Uttar

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UK: Universities should be the last place to ban free speech

Universities should be the last place to ban free speech
The censorship of an atheist bookstall at freshers' week is just another example of heavy-handed repression in our universities

by Nick Cohen

The Observer, 23 November 2013
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/23/censorship-in-uk-universities

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Programme - National Minority Women’s Convention For Safeguarding Democracy And Secularism (26 Nov 2013, New Delhi)

ANNOUNCING

NATIONAL MINORITY WOMEN’S CONVENTION FOR SAFEGUARDING DEMOCRACY AND SECULARISM

NOVEMBER 26, 2013

CONSTITUTION CLUB OF INDIA
Rafi Marg, New Delhi



8.00-9.00-Breakfast

9.00-9.30- Registration


NAMES OF SPEAKERS ARE IN ALPHABETIC ORDER, THEY MIGHT BE SPEAKING IN THIS ORDER.

9.30--12.00

Inaugural Session:

Democracy, Secularism & Growth of Fascist Forces

Chair: Seema Mustafa

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India - Shiv Sena: 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Uddhav Thackeray’s future

livemint, Nov 17 2013.
Home» Opinion
Lok Sabha polls hold the key to Uddhav Thackeray’s future
If Shiv Sena fails to do well in the Lok Sabha polls, the party’s cadres may leave en masse and join MNS or NCP

by Makarand Gadgil
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/fSczG98SdBUHVXpbYtN7KL/Lok-Sabha-polls-hold-the-key-to-Uddhav-Thackerays-future.html

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Bangladesh: Jamaat and its friends must understand that the country is not theirs to burn

From: Dhaka Tribune, November 24, 2013 at 00:44


Terrorism by any other name
Tribune Editorial

Jamaat and its friends must understand that the country is not theirs to burn

Activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, hoist placards containing pictures of 10 top Jamaat leaders, accused and convicted in war crime cases, demanding their unconditional release at a

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India: नरेन्द्र मोदी, भा ज पा और संघ परिवार की यौन राजनीति

http://sacw.net/article6341.html

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India: summary of 3rd Prof. Iqbal Ansari Memorial Lecture on Communal Violence and the Question of Justice [22 nov 2013]

The crisis in the Indian judicial system is self-evident. The fact that the Supreme Court is forced repeatedly to constitute Special Investigation Teams (SITs) is an admission by the court that the present machinary is complicit and essentially unaccountable. Transfering cases outside the concerned state is also a pointer that in fact it is the law which is running like a refugee, says Vrinda

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India: Rose Petals for Terrorists, Headgears for Hatemongers | subhash gatade

NEW DELHI: BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana, accused of inciting communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, were on Thursday 'felicitated' at a rally in Agra.

BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the rally later.

Sangeet Som, who was arrested for his alleged role in inciting communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, was recently released on bail by a Deoband court. He was accused of

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India: Hindu Far Right Organisations Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal Oppose Concert by Pakistani Singer - set fire to posters in Ahmedabad

Indian Express

VHP members stir against Pak singer’s concert, detained
Express News Service : Ahmedabad, Thu Nov 21 2013

Ten members of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, who were protesting against Pakistani pop singer Atif Aslam's concert scheduled on November 23 in Ahmedabad, were detained on Wednesday. The Saffron activists torched posters of the the singer to protest against the

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Bharat Bhushan: Take me to the past, Doc | Business Standard

Unlike Marty McFly in Back to the Future, Modi lacks a
time-travelling car to go back to the past so that his own future can be
set right






















 

 by Bharat Bhushan























Can one go back into the past to

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India: The Two Lucknows During Muslim Holy Month

India Ink / The New York Times
November 20, 2013


Photo: Sonia Paul

The Two Lucknows During Muslim Holy MonthBy SONIA PAULA view of Awadh Point, a three story building in Old Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on Nov. 9.The raised sign for Avadh Point on Victoria Road in Old Lucknow is missing two letters, the “O” and the “I.” The “D” in Avadh also hangs precariously, as if it is ready to become the third

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India: Religion as a barrier in women’s empowerment | Book reveiw by Rajesh Komath

The Hindu, November 18, 2013



Religion as a barrier in women’s empowerment
Rajesh Komath





RELIGION, PATRIARCHY AND CAPITALISM: Jayanti Alam; Kalpaz Publications, C-30, Satyawati Nagar, Delhi-110052. Rs. 865.













The book is a collection of chapters on the varied dimensions of a
woman’s life in the contemporary Indian society under the larger
umbrella concepts of religion and

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Book review: Religion & politics in colonial India | K. N. Panikkar

The Hindu





Books
» Reviews





October 29, 2013





Religion & politics in colonial India
K. N. Panikkar



How initiatives in vernacular education made an early difference in the Indian public sphere and civil society




This is a fascinating study of the role of vernacular education in the
making of the political and social consciousness in Bengal in the 19th
and 20th centuries. It

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India: Communal Violence Bill to be introduced in upcoming winter session of Parliament

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/communal-violence-bill-to-be-introduced-in-upcoming-winter-session-of-parliament/articleshow/26062742.cms?prtpage=1




You are here: ET Home›News›Politics and Nation




Communal Violence Bill to be introduced in upcoming winter session of Parliament



By Aman Sharma, ET Bureau |




NEW DELHI: The home ministry plans to introduce a

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Communalism is the biggest threat, All India Secular Forum convener says

Communalism is the biggest threat, All India Secular Forum convener says
TNN | Nov 20, 2013, 06.17 AM IST


GUWAHATI: Social activist L S Hardenia and chief convener of All India Secular Forum (AISF) on Tuesday said communalism is the biggest hurdle in the path of development of the country.

Hardenia, who was in Guwahati to attend a lecture, said at present several forces are trying to bring

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Nepal’s Hindu undercurrent

The Telegraph, 20 November 2013

Nepal’s Hindu undercurrent
ASHIS CHAKRABARTI

Kathmandu, Nov. 19: Nirmala Thapa had to decide what to do first — cast her vote or have her darshan of the Kumari Devi, the legendary girl goddess.

Her polling booth was next door at Hanumandhoka, the old royal palace and the site of the most infamous assassinations in Nepal’s blood-soaked royal history — in 1846.

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Top Republican Denies Association With Banned Hindu Supremacist

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/11/19/top_republican_denies_association_with_banned_hindu_supremacist


Top Republican Denies Association With Banned Hindu Supremacist
Posted By John Hudson Tuesday, November 19, 2013 - 11:07 PM Share

In 2005, the U.S. State Department banned the controversial Indian politician Narendra Modi from coming to the United States for his bigoted views

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Announcement: Third Prof. Iqbal Ansari Memorial Lecture (New Delhi: 22 November 2013)

New Delhi: Third Prof. Iqbal Ansari Memorial Lecture will be held on Friday, 22nd November 13. The lecture will be delivered by Advocate Vrinda Grover on the topic of “Communal Violence and the Question of Justice: Notes from the Field and the Courtroom” at FTK-CIT Hall of Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 3 PM onwards. The National Commission for Minorities (NCM)’ Member and Professor of

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Bipartisan House Resolution praises India's diversity, decries the role of Modi and sectarian forces in eroding religious freedom

Bipartisan House Resolution praises India's diversity, decries the role of Modi and sectarian forces in eroding religious freedom

Resolution gaining momentum on Capitol Hill with 15 initial co-sponsors and more lawmakers expected to join

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington D.C, Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Coalition Against Genocide (CAG - http://

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Saheb dekho kitna Zadey ho gaya...

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Show ownership proof: Court to Kalkaji priests

Show ownership proof: Court to Kalkaji priests
Abhinav Garg, TNN | Nov 19, 2013
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday demanded proof from the various pujaris staking claim on Kalkaji Temple land in south Delhi. Brushing aside colonial era court records and other documents translated from Urdu to English cited by some of the pujaris, a bench of Justice B S Chauhan and Justice Dipak Misra said "

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India: ISRO case: - IPS officer Sreekumar sees malicious propaganda by BJP

Rebutting the allegations against him, former Gujarat IPS officer R B Sreekumar on Tuesday said the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has undertaken a 'malicious propaganda' against him by a raking up the 1994 ISRO spying case.

"The BJP has undertaken a malicious propaganda against me by raking up a closed case," said Sreekumar, addressing a press conference here. Sreekumar also said that he will be

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India - Muzaffarnagar: Anatomy of a Riot

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/artbeat/anatomy-of-a-riot-what-we-can-learn-from-the-muzaffarnagar-violence

Anatomy of a Riot

Speculation is rife about the Samajwadi Party's own role in engineering the Muzaffarnagar riots

By NIDHI GUPTA

The Sunday Guardian

16th Nov 2013

Last week, BJP MLAs Suresh Rana and Sangeet Som, accused of giving inciting speeches and circulating a video that sparked

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Gujarat snoop scandal: Why BJP’s ‘daddy’ defence is shameful by Lakshmi Chaudhry | Firstpost.com

Gujarat snoop scandal: Why BJP’s ‘daddy’ defence is shameful
by Lakshmi Chaudhry
Nov 18, 2013

As the political drama over the now infamous Amit Shah tapes unfolds, it is difficult to decide which is more dismaying: the offence or its impassioned defence. According to the evidence presented on the audio recordings, the home minister of Gujarat employed critical law enforcement resources of the

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India: BJP to honour legislators accused of inciting Muzaffarnagar violence at Narendra Modi rally

BJP to honour legislators accused of inciting Muzaffarnagar violence at Narendra Modi rally

All India | Reported by Anant Zanane, Edited by Nadim Asrar | Updated: November 18, 2013 17:53 IST

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/bjp-to-honour-legislators-accused-of-inciting-muzaffarnagar-violence-at-narendra-modi-rally-447651

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India: Divisive project | Frontline

Frontline
Divisive project
The BJP is advancing the politics of communal polarisation aggressively in various regions of the country through its many Hindutva factories, creating a situation that can have dangerous consequences beyond politics. By VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN

http://www.frontline.in/cover-story/divisive-project/article5338333.ece?homepage=true&css=print

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Great Dictator Now Showing - Ninan Cartoon 16 November 2013

see original at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cartoons/ninans-world/articleshowpics/msid-25978513.cms

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India - Karnataka: VHP, Bajrang Dal oppose anti-superstition Bill

The Hindu,
Mangalore, November 18, 2013

VHP, Bajrang Dal oppose anti-superstition Bill

Special Correspondent

Expressing fear that the proposed anti-superstition Bill would endanger Hindu traditions, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal have said they would launch a series of protests and a legal struggle against the Bill.

A meeting of astrologers, temple administrators, and

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First Terrorist of Independent India

by subhash gatade

...Government have, however, noticed with regret that in practice members of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh have not adhered to their professed ideals.

“Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried on by the members of the Sangh. It has been found that in several parts of the country individual members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh have indulged in acts of

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Why is Madhu Kishwar Maligning Mansi Soni – Investigate the Stalker | Mukul Sinha

Truth of Gujarat, November 17, 2013


Why is Madhu Kishwar Maligning Mansi Soni – Investigate the Stalker
Mukul Sinha November 17, 2013 |

Narendra Modi Stalking Mansi-Soni-Amit-Shah-Madhuri

As reported by NewsRoomPost.com, when Madhu Kishwar, a self-acclaimed women’s activist and a staunch supporter of Modi, was asked by NewsRoomPost to react to the Gulail-CobraPost exposé regarding the

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Announcement: Demonstration To Demand CBI Enquiry Into Gujarat Stalking Tapes 18.11.2013 (Monday) 2 PM Jantar Mantar, New Delhi

JOIN
DEMONSTRATION
TO DEMAND
CBI ENQUIRY INTO
GUJARAT STALKING TAPES
18.11.2013 (MONDAY)
2 PM
JANTAR MANTAR

Illegal surveillance is a serious crime, a violation of Constitutional rights.
When done to a woman, especially to probe her personal life and relationships, it's often stalking - violence against women.
But what when an elected head of state, his Home Minister, and a posse of senior cops

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Modi exposes weaknesses of India's democratic institutions | The Times of India

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cursor/entry/modi-exposes-weaknesses-of-india-s-democratic-institutions

Modi exposes weaknesses of India's democratic institutions
TK Arun
16 November 2013, 01:42 PM IST

The report that Amit Shah made the Gujarat police carry out extensive, intrusive and wholly illegal surveillance of a young woman at Narendra Modi’s behest in 2009 casts a dark shadow

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India: Widesspread Protest by Vediaviksudhirke Against Modi Visit to Karnataka

1. Bellary:
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/vedike-members-stage-dharna/article5359699.ece

2. Shimoga
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/modis-claims-of-development-in-gujarat-are-a-sham-vedike/article5360213.ece

3. Protest in Bangalore by Dalta Sangharsha samiti (Ambedkarvada)
http://www.vbepaper.com/Details.aspx?id=9645&boxid=15313328&

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Pakistan: Curfew in Rawalpindi after clashes between Sunnis and Shias -BBC,16 Nov 2013

BBC News


16 November 2013
Last updated at 20:48 GMT











Pakistan imposes curfew in Rawalpindi after clashes



Roads into the city were closed on Saturday, causing traffic chaos in neighbouring Islamabad




The
Pakistani authorities have imposed a curfew in Rawalpindi, near the
capital Islamabad, after eight people died in sectarian clashes on
Friday.
The

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The Early Bloomers | Outlook Cover story by Saba Naqvi

The Early Bloomers
Narendra Modi’s ‘history of gaffes’ no doubt reveals his own ignorance but also stems from the hoary RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
Saba Naqvi
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?288539

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RSS to launch Islamic television channel to ‘Indianise’ nation's Muslim

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article-hl/MAH-MUM-rss-to-launch-islamic-television-channel-to-indianise-nations-muslim-4435359-NOR.html

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USA: Modi purported event "at Capitol Hill" exposed as fake | Coalition against Genocide Press Release

USA: Modi purported event "at Capitol Hill" exposed as fake | Coalition against Genocide Press Release
Sangh Front in the US, NIAPPI / Shalabh Kumar Reported to the Ethics Committee for Fraud
http://sacw.net/index.php?page=imprimir_articulo&id_article=6264

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Glorifying Communalists, Insulting Freedom fighters | Subhash Gatade

Glorifying Communalists, Insulting Freedom fighters
Nation Demands an Apology Mr Modi
by subhash gatade

'Though this be madness yet there is method in it'
- 'Hamlett', Shakespeare

I.

What would be your take if one fine morning, you get up and find name of a great freedom fighter getting replaced by someone who had collaborated with the colonialists, who had opposed people's anti-colonial

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Announcement: Communal Violence and the Question of Justice | 3 Iqbal Ansari Memorial Lecture (22 Nov 2013, New Delhi)

THIRD PROF. IQBAL ANSARI MEMORIAL LECTURE

On

Communal Violence and the Question of Justice: Notes from the Field and the Courtroom

By Adv. Vrinda Grover,

Senior Lawyer and Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library

Presided by Prof. Farida Abdullah Khan

Member, National Commission of Minorities

03:00 PM, Friday, 22 November 2013

at FTK-CIT Hall, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

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Announcement: National Minority Women's Convention for Safeguarding Democracy and Secularism, 26 Nov 2013, New Delhi

NATIONAL MINORITY WOMEN’S CONVENTION
FOR SAFEGUARDING
DEMOCRACY AND SECULARISM
NOVEMBER 26, 2013
NEW DELHI

9.00am-5.00pm

schedule with speakers to be released soon.

ANHAD, BMMA, JTSA, JWP, MWF, SAHRWARU, YWCA

400-500 women from 15 states are expected to participate from diverse backgrounds. The National Convention is expected to float a platform for liberal, progressive voices from the

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Sensational grist - concept of “love jehad” with the feudal-patriarchal prejudices of “honour” in north India | Frontline

Frontline, Cover Story Print edition : November 29, 2013

Sensational grist

The Sangh Parivar has successfully dovetailed its concept of “love jehad” with the feudal-patriarchal prejudices of “honour” in north India. By AJOY ASHIRWAD MAHAPRASHASTA

With blatant lies under its surface, the Sangh’s campaign of “love jehad” has a filial relationship with the notion of Hindu victimhood, its

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Bhagva Brigade Poster | Photo Frontline Magazine

A poster of the Bhagwa Brigade notifying the recruitment of 'Hindu Yoddha', or warriors, in Bhopal on September 14, 2010. The campaign was to recruit 10,000 activists from all over Madhya Pradesh to be trained to deal with religious conversion, 'love jehad' and such other issues. Photo:A.M. Faruqui

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India: Email post Attacking IPS Officer RB Shreekumar being circulated by Madhu Kishwar, CSDS Delhi

Madhu Kishwar madhukishwar@manushi-india.org

4:04 PM (16 November 2013)

Nambi Narayanan Demands Probe on IPS Officer RB Shreekumar & Gang-who Sabotaged ISRO's Satellite Program at CIA's Behest

This is the unedited version of my interview with ISRO's lead scientist Nambi Narayanan on 26 August 2013 regarding the role played by rogue IPS officer, RB Shreekumar in sabotaging ISRO's satellite

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India: The Hindutva brigade’s Internet campaign has taken propaganda to new heights of incredulity

Frontline, November 29, 2013

Cyber assault

In Chicago, supporters of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi listen to his address through a videoconference organised by the Overseas Friends of the BJP on November 3. Photo:PTI
Saba Dewan, film-maker. She found it strange to be flooded, on Eid, with cartoons, photographs and posts criticising the sacrifice of goats and other animals. The posts

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Combating Hindutva challenge - Editorial, Kashmir Times

Kashmir Times

Editorial: Combating Hindutva challenge
Secular forces should make it a battle of ideologies and not a clash of personalities

Tragically, the Congress leaders have virtually fallen in the sangh parivar’s trap of converting the ongoing elections in some states and the for the coming 2014 polls for the Lok Sabha as a clash between personalities or simply as a battle between the two

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RSS to Hindus: shun family planning, have more kids

Ramesh Babu, Hindustan Times
Kochi, October 27, 2013

RSS to Hindus: shun family planning, have more kids

For the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), it’s the more the merrier.

On the lines of the Catholic church’s campaign to have more children and win rewards, the RSS has advised Hindus to go for bigger families and not to limit their number of children. Concerned over the dwindling size of

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KKSV's Protest Rally, Meeting and Burning the Effigy of the Mass Murderer Narendra Modi (17 Nov2013)

KKSV's Protest Rally, Meeting and Burning the Effigy of the Mass Murderer Narendra Modihttps://www.facebook.com/events/535732679836316/?ref=25&source=1

Karnataka Komu Souhardha Vedike or Karnataka Communal Harmony Forum is an organization formed with an objective of inculcating the values of tolerance and co-existence between various religious communities. KKSV has also committed itself to

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India: Subramaniam Swamy makes up with RSS – Merger of Brand Hypocrisies | Mukul Sinha

http://www.truthofgujarat.com/subramaniam-swamy-makes-rss-merger-brand-hypocrisies/

Subramaniam Swamy was left out of the 13 day Vajpayee Government.It’s not long back that Mr Swamy was one of the loudest critics of RSS. On not finding a birth in the 13 day Atal Behari Government of 1998, Mr Swami had heaped abuses on RSS. In an interview given to Rediff on March 21, 1998, Swamy states:
Q

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India Court orders removal of word ‘Ram Leela’ from Bhansali’s film

http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/court-orders-removal-of-word-ram-leela-from-bhansalis-film/article5351373.ece?homepage=true

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Abuse of HIstory: Modi Style | Ram Puniyani

History is not just the past. It is a potent weapon for various political agendas in the present. It can be clearly seen in the use of history in rise of Hindu-Muslim rightwing in India. As far as presently dominant Hindu national politics is concerned, this abuse of history can be seen in the type and period of History used. When Meenaxipuram, conversions of dalits to Islam took place in 1981,

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Muzaffarnagar riots: charge sheet against 2 BJP MLAs

The Hindu,
Muzaffarnagar, November 14, 2013
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/muzaffarnagar-riots-charge-sheet-against-2-bjp-mlas/article5350651.ece?homepage=true

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Narendra Modi, History and myth making

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/namo-s-mythology

NaMo's mythology

Jug Suraiya

12 November 2013, 10:17 PM IST

Can Narendra Modi legitimately lay claim to the political ideology of Sardar Patel, in whose honour he's erecting a huge, 2,500-crore statue made of pieces of iron collected from all over India as a symbol of national unity?

An impassioned countrywide

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criminal justice aftermath of caste and communal conflicts | G Mohan Gopal

Frontline

CRIMINAL JUSTICE - Caste and carnage

http://www.frontline.in/the-nation/caste-and-carnage/article5338781.ece?homepage=true

The series of five cases of mass murder from Bihar must wake India up to the need to strengthen its capacity to deal with the criminal justice aftermath of caste and communal conflicts. By G. MOHAN GOPAL

DOES the caste of the victim or the accused play a role in

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India: Rehabilitate UP riot victims for meaningful normalcy, says AB Bardhan

Economic Times

Rehabilitate UP riot victims for meaningful normalcy, says AB Bardhan
PTI Nov 6, 2013, 04.57PM IST


ALIGARH: Senior CPI leader A B Bardhan today said that no meaningful normalcy can be achieved in the riot-hit districts of western Uttar Pradesh till the victims are fully rehabilitated and return to their original homes.

"There can be no meaningful normalcy in the riot-affected

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India: Mumbai property broker posts online ad, says no to Muslims | IBN

IBN, Nov 7, 2013

A leading property portal is in the line of fire after a broker posted an advertisement for the sale of a flat in Mumbai clearly mentioning that Muslims are not welcomed. The advertisement about a flat located at Dadar's Hindu Colony in Mumbai was put up on 99acres.com by broker Vishal D'Souza. The advertisement read: "Excellent brand new 2BHK fully furnished flat with cross

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CAUGHT ON PHONE: 'Uncle' stopped PAC from reaching riot-struck villages in time during Muzaffarnagar violence? | Daily Bhaskar

Daily Bhaskar, Nov 5, 2013

Records of purported cell phone conversations "reveal" that the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) was "asked" to go slow during the September 7 and 8 communal violence in and around the western UP district. Rihai Manch, a UP-based civil society group, has unearthed the mobile conversations recordings apparently of a Jat boy with several other persons

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Several Hindu youths arrested for Patna serial bomb blasts before NaMo rally | NVO News

NVO News, Nov 11, 2013

After arresting several Muslim youths on suspicion of being behind Patna bomb blasts, state police have arrested a person belonging to the Hindu community for allegedly being behind serial bomb blasts in Patna. A report by leading news agency IANS says that following a tip off from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Bihar police teams have arrested Raju Sao, from

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Chinki Sinha: Nonlinear Narratives - notes from Muzaffarnagar

Nonlinear Narratives - notes from Muzaffarnagar

Chinki Sinha

Muzzaffarnagar, November 5, 2013

That they want gun licenses isn't such a misplaced demand, a man says. After all, the state has failed to protect them. The fields with the sugarcane crop rising tall, and hiding so much, have become the killing fields. Nobody is cutting the crop anymore. It turns brown, and ripe. Unclaimed, uncared

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Peace Talks Videos: Preventing Communal Violence (8 segments)

This clip is part 1 of a conversation in between ex IAS officer, activist and author Mr. Harsh Mander, anthropoligist and human rights researcher Mr. Shiv Visvanathan and actress and activist Nandita Das on the theme " Preventing Communal Violence".


This clip is part 2 of a conversation in between ex IAS officer, activist and author Mr. Harsh Mander, anthropoligist and human rights researcher

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Invitation for book release: 'Minority rights in India' by Prakash Louis

Common Concern invites you on the book release of

“MINORITY RIGHTS IN INDIA”

compiled by Dr. Prakash Louis.

on

18th Monday, November, 2013

Time: 4:30 pm

Venue: Indian Social Institute, 10 Institutional Area,

Lodi Road, New Delhi [Behind Sai Baba Temple]

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The Idea of India | Renuka Rajaratnam

http://www.thehindu.com/books/books-authors/the-idea-of-india/article5335299.ece


November 10, 2013

Updated: November 10, 2013 15:44 IST




The idea of India

RENUKA RAJARATNAM






The HinduSalman Rushdie. Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash


Our literary fiction of the 1980s and 1990s endorses the Nehruvian narrative of pluralism.


“Bad times,” mused Salman Rushdie in his Imaginary Homelands,
“

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India: RSS, Madani, Laxmanpur Bathe by Kuldip Nayar

From: Mainstream Weekly, 9 November 2013

RSS, Madani, Laxmanpur Bathe

Kuldip Nayar

Fundamentalism is rearing its ugly head once again. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has openly said that it would take part in politics. On the other hand, even the liberal Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has talked about the Muslim vote. The impending parliamentary elections may be compelling the political parties.

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Why do we Need the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill? | Ambrose Pinto

From: Mainstream Weekly, 9 November 2013

by Ambrose Pinto

If media reports are right, then the UPA Government is likely to table the Communal Violence Bill in the winter session of Parliament. There has been wide opposition to the Bill. The media has alleged that the Bill is for appeasement of minorities and a vote-catching device for the UPA in the elections of 2014. Even the Centrist forces

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India: Hindutva's dark legacy: Sangh Parivar (Mis)Appropriates Patel

Kashmir Times

Hindutva's dark legacy: Sangh Parivar (Mis)Appropriates Patel
By Praful Bidwai

Whatever its other sins-and there are many-the Sangh Parivar can never be accused of one thing: of having produced a half-way tall intellectual. Indeed, no star in the Hindutva firmament, from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder KB Hedgewar, and its longest-serving sarasanghachalak MS Golwalkar, to the

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Battle for Justice and Democracy: Laxmanpur-Bathe | Kavita Krishnan

Battle for Justice and Democracy: Laxmanpur-Bathe
in EPW, Vol - XLVIII No. 45-46, November 16, 2013

by Kavita Krishnan

The acquittal of the 26 people found guilty for the Laxmanpur-Bathe massacre of 1997 by the Patna High Court is a grave miscarriage of justice. This article traces the events of that time and the manner in which the ruling of the sessions court, finding these accused guilty,

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India: Construction and Consolidation of the Telangana Identity | H Srikanth

The Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 45-46, November 16, 2013

Construction and Consolidation of the Telangana Identity
by H Srikanth
(H Srikanth (hskant@gmail.com) is with the North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong)

The movement for a separate Telangana state has been hailed by many intellectuals as a democratic struggle of the people of a region against political domination and

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Indigenous Modernities: Nationalism and Communalism in Colonial India | Giorgio S HANI

Ritsumeikan Annual Review of International Studies,

2005. ISSN 1347-8214. Vol.4, pp. 87-112


Indigenous Modernities: Nationalism and Communalism in Colonial India

by Giorgio S HANI

In this paper, it is argued that colonial policies facilitated the development of

ethnicized religious communities in South Asia and that, despite the secular

credentials of its leadership, ‘India’ could not help

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Hindutva, the Gujarat Style | Rathin Das

http://www.truthofgujarat.com/hindutva-gujarat-style/?fb_comment_id=fbc_271757622949148_831571_271814722943438





Hindutva, the Gujarat Style

Rathin Das, November
9, 2013 








Jay Hindu Rashra caps distributed
in rath yatra at Ahmedabad
Opinions will obviously remain
divided over how far away the six-decade-old Indian republic is from a
proclaimed, or at least, perceived ‘Hindu Rashtra’.

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India: Modi, Media and Money | Sandeep Bhushan

http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/modi-media-and-money
Open Magazine, 16 November 2013

Modi, Media and Money
The interplay of these three ‘M’s is doing Indian democracy a gross disfavour
BY Sandeep Bhushan

SPIN
MEDIA HALO Modi arrives for a National Media Workshop organised by the BJP on 17 August in Delhi (Photo: RAUL IRANI)

Is news television all about TRPs? Or is it an agenda of

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Markus Daechsel's new book offers insights on identity construction in the subcontinent's middle classes

From Indian Express

It's dark in the middle
Khaled Ahmed : Mon Nov 11 2013

A new book offers insights on identity construction in the subcontinent's middle classes

News has not got to us in South Asia yet that nationalism, a disease of the nation-state, is an evil based on a pledge of war. Both leftist and rightist identities lead to totalitarianism, with the rightist one often called fascism.

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India: Garlended Mr Som BJP's MLA in UP Gets Bail - Gets Riot Hero Welcome

arrested for his alleged involvement in inciting violence in Muzaffarnagar, BJP MLA Sangeet Singh Som was released from Muzaffarnagar jail on Monday, after being granted bail.

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Narendra Modi, a modern parallel of the ruthlessly ambitious Mughal emperor Aurangzeb | Harbans Mukhia

From: The Economic Times, 12 November, 2013

Narendra Modi, a modern parallel of the ruthlessly ambitious Mughal emperor Aurangzeb

By: Harbans Mukhia



Who could imagine that Aurangzeb and Narendra Modi would have some things in common? But life surprises.

To begin with, both are Gujaratis at least by birth. Aurangzeb was born in the town of Dahod, 200 km from Ahmedabad. Modi's birthplace is

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Counting and counting on Jat set - some URLS

Centre plans fresh headcount of Jats for job quota
[by]Smriti Kak Ramachandran
Study to ascertain community’s socio-economic status in Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/centre-plans-fresh-headcount-of-jats-for-job-quota/article5340489.ece

Centre likely to declare quota for Jats to counter Modi's 'backward' card
http://

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India - Muzaffarnagar: Why aren't the Muslims going home?

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/why-aren-t-the-muslims-going-home-113110900732_1.html

Business Standard

Joel Rai
November 9, 2013

Why aren't the Muslims going home?

The families that were affected by the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar district have no hope of their homes being restored to them. Is the government really unable to reassure them of a safe return?

Read More

India: The pompous pracharak Narenda modi seems to be deliberatly distorting historical facts (or is he following some RSS historian)

Watch: Modi gets his facts wrong again
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/news/Watch-Modi-gets-his-facts-wrong-again/videoshow/25597583.cms

Now, Modi confuses freedom fighter with Jan Sangh founder
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/now-modi-confuses-freedom-fighter-with-jan-sangh-founder/433391-37-64.html?utm_source=ref_article

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India: transcript of NDTV Debate: Politics of 'Secularism' vs 'Communalism'

url: http://tinyurl.com/o62v47q

The NDTV Dialogues: Politics of 'Secularism' vs 'Communalism'


New Delhi: On this episode of The NDTV Dialogues, we focus on an issue that has increasingly been dominating our headlines, 'Communalism', the rise in communal violence in the run-up in the 2014 elections.

Following is the full transcript of the show:

NDTV: Good evening and welcome to the NDTV

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Will Fanatical Violence Shape The Elections?

Kashmir Times

Will Fanatical Violence Shape The Elections?: Patna blasts & poll 'semi-finals'
By Praful Bidwai

The October 27 bomb blasts in Patna, timed to precede BJP Prime-Ministerial nominee Narendra Modi's much tom-tommed rally, mark a new, murky and dangerous turn in Indian politics. If the turn persists, we will probably see extremely bloody Assembly elections in five states over the

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Shrinking Numbers and Growing Persecution Threaten Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan | India Ink

Shrinking Numbers and Growing Persecution Threaten Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan
By BETWA SHARMA

Betwa Sharma [photo]
J. K. Sharma, a Sikh magician at his shop in Shor Bazaar in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 7.
KABUL, Afghanistan — J.K. Sharma, a large Sikh man in a black turban, works out of a small room lined with jars and herbs in the ruined and dusty Shor Bazaar in Kabul. In a war-ravaged

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India: Nowhere People After Muzaffarnagar Riots

web feature at outlookindia.com













All photos: Sanjay Rawat/ Outlook

Muzaffarnagar: Riots


Nowhere People


They have been driven away from their homes. And now the
Akhilesh government wants them

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India: Use of Religion in Politics - Aam Admi Party candidate in Delhi is straight out of a TV soap on the Hindu Epic Mahabharata

Mahabharat's 'Bheem' Praveen Sobti is AAP candidate from Wazirpur

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/mahabharats-bheem-praveen-sobti-to-contest-from-wazirpur-as-aap-candidate/1/322427.html

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India: A government dole for Muslim brides of poor families by the Congress in Karnataka

Open, 7 November 2013
Karnataka’s Bridal Brouhaha
A scheme for Muslim women gives the opposition pre-poll ammunition against the Congress in an electorally crucial state

A government dole for Muslim brides of poor families by the Congress in Karnataka has become a political handle for the opposition against the party. Under the scheme, each beneficiary bride is to get cash and household goods

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What is Communalism? | A paper by Dilip Simeon (1981)

http://www.sacw.net/article6174.html

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Film Reveiw of Shahid | Defending his faith... Harsh Mander

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Harsh_Mander/defending-his-faith/article5308343.ece


BAREFOOT
Defending his faith...
HARSH MANDER

Hansal Mehta’s Shahid — based on the life of human rights lawyer Shahid Azmi — is honest and free of bitterness and despair.

A film of outstanding ethical and political courage and humanity, Hansal Mehta’s Shahid is a riveting account of the true story of

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Singing a Hindu Nation: Marathi Devotional Performance and Nationalism By Anna Schultz

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India - Maharashtra: Ally RPI's Athawale asks BJP to dump Hindutva

The Times of India

Athawale asks BJP to dump Hindutva
TNN | Nov 10, 2013, 02.24 AM IST

NAGPUR: Relations between BJP and its ally RPI (Athawale) have once again turned sour with Ramdas Athawale openly asking BJP to dump its Hindutva agenda. Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Athawale stressed that BJP could not come to power without support of Dalits and Muslims and therefore it must

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Anshu Malviya's Hindi Poem: थाडा सिंह चरावे गाई, एक अचंभा देखा भाई | चुप हो वरना विकास होगा !

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Anshu Malviya's Poem: कौसर बनो की अजन्मी बिटिया की ओर से [From Kauser Bano’s Unborn Daughter]

An English version of this poem by Anshu Malviya appeared in Communalism Combat of February-March 2012. It was Translated from the Hindi by Javed Anand
http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive/2012/feb-march12/voices.pdf

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Namita Bhandare: Mr Modi, Build Toilets with Tax-payers’ Money, Not a Tall Statue

From: Hindustan Times

Narendra Modi should make real promises, solve real issues

Namita Bhandare , Hindustan Times
November 08, 2013

The man who hopes to be India’s next prime minister is talking about national pride. It will be built on the foundation of the world’s tallest statue, a statue of a man neglected by the Congress and now appropriated by its principal rival, the BJP.

When

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Muslim voters do not behave any differently from the rest of India | Sohail Hashmi

Daily News and Analysis

Muslim voters do not behave any differently from the rest of India
Saturday, Nov 9, 2013, 7:07 IST | Agency: DNA

by Sohail Hashmi

The only exception, of course, is their opposition to any form of communalism.

If, and this is a big If, a Muslim Vote Bank (MVB) existed, it would reveal itself in even a cursory study of the constituencies where Muslims are in a position

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Modi (mis)appropriates Patel | Praful Bidwai

The News International

Modi (mis)appropriates Patel

Praful Bidwai

Saturday, November 09, 2013

[Modi (mis)appropriates Patel] Whatever its other sins and there are many one charge can never be made against the Sangh Parivar: that of having produced a halfway tall intellectual. No star in its firmament, from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s founders, to the present leaders of the Bharatiya

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Communal politics - Editorial, Deccan Herald

Deccan Herald

Editorial

Communal politics

Nov 7, 2013, DHNS:

The embers of the communal violence that gripped UP’s Muzaffarnagar two months ago are still smouldering and there are signs of fresh trouble again. Those who left or were driven away from their homes are still in relief camps and they do not hope to and want to return any time soon.

But the safety and security of even the

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Save nation from communal forces: Shabnam Hashmi

The Hindu
Kozhikode, November 8, 2013
Save nation from communal forces: Shabnam Hashmi

Staff Reporter

The Hindu Shabnam Hashmi, social activist. Photo: G. Ragesh

Robbing an entire generation of their power to think freely and intellectually is the biggest sin committed by Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, has said.

Inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Minority,

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Communal tension in Lucknow over dead cows | The Times of India

The Times of India

Communal tension in Lucknow over dead cows
Shalabh, TNN | Nov 8, 2013, 08.11 PM IST

LUCKNOW: Tension gripped Hanskheda village on Friday morning as body parts of at least five cows were discovered in a mango orchard next to a government basic school.

Angry villagers said such incidents have been taking place frequently in the Para area but the administration and police did

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‘Jamat-e-Islami’s communal propaganda will help RSS’ | deccan chronicle

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/131108/news-politics/article/%E2%80%98jamat-e-islami%E2%80%99s-communal-propaganda-will-help-rss%E2%80%99

‘Jamat-e-Islami’s communal propaganda will help RSS’
DC | 8 Nov 2013

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat releasing the first issue of Mukhyadhara, a CPM sponsored magazine, by handing over a copy to Qutabbudin Ansari, victim of communal violence in

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'Only I know how much Nehru toiled for India' | rediff.com

Rediff.com

'Only I know how much Nehru toiled for India'

Last updated on: November 06, 2013 01:53 IST

Suddenly the country has been completely taken over by a storm of discussion over the relationship between India’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, largely engineered by some of the major parties in an apparent political move as the

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India: Hindutva Brigade and Asaram’s Sins | Nilotpal Basu

People's Democracy, November 03, 2013

Hindutva Brigade and Asaram’s Sins

by Nilotpal Basu

IN these troubled times, when the helpless aam admi is exposed to a degree of fire and brimstone from the likes of Narendra Modi, attention on the criminal travails of Asaram Bapu in the mainstream media was welcome. Not that the media did full justice to multiple dimensions of the so-called Godman’s ‘

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India: Viscious Racism Against Nigerians in Goa - see NDTV report and an anti racist resource

NDTV report

Nigerians are like a cancer, says Goa minister; locals call for their boycott

Mapusa, Goa: The murder of a Nigerian last week is threatening not only to snowball into a diplomatic row, but is also developing into a worrying situation in the tiny tourist state where angry posters have sprung up as locals single out Nigerians and say they will not rent homes to them.

http://

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Sectarian violence in Myanmar | The Economist

From: The Economist

Sectarian violence in Myanmar
The silence of the muezzin
Oct 29th 2013, 6:57 by I.S. | THANDWE

A SUNNI mosque looks as if it has seen better days. Many of the tiles on its roof are missing and one of the minarets looks as if it is about to collapse. But inside, the cool white floor tiles are spotlessly clean, and the carpeted prayer-rooms look well-kept. A bearded old imam,

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Schedule of Screenings of the film `Fabricated’ in Delhi (7 to 11 nov 2013)

1. Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association presenting the release of the report `Guilt by Association’ at 2 pm, November 7, 2013, with spakers: Dr. Binayak Sen, Wajahat Habibullah, Ashok Agarwal and Rebecca M. John,

2. Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Opp. Daulat Ram College, at 3 pm, November 8, 2013

3. Jawaharlal Nehru University at 9 pm organized

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By building the world's tallest statue, Modi is hoping his stature will also rise

Business Standard, November 7, 2013

Constructing a 'taller' leader

Bharat Bhushan

In embarking on building the world's tallest statue, Modi is hoping his stature will also rise - if not across India then at least in Gujarat

The construction of a 182-metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the tallest in the world, is also about adding inches to the stature of Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya

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Silence speaks more | Christophe Jaffrelot

Indian Express, November 07 2013

Silence speaks more

Christophe Jaffrelot

Modi attempts a new tone towards Muslims. But facts from Gujarat tell another story.

In 2002, during the election campaign that followed the Gujarat violence, Narendra Modi made at least one controversial speech targeting Muslims. On September 9, in Mehsana district, he described the relief camps where riot victims had

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Full text of the lecture delivered by the Vice President of India at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in London, United Kingdom on November 1, 2013

An Indian Perspective

Identity And Citizenship

Instead of a narrow concept of a singular identity implied by the classical concept of citizenship, the need is to recognise and accommodate the existence of a plurality of social identities.

by Hamid Ansari

Full text of the lecture delivered by the Vice President of India at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies in London, United Kingdom on

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India: Sangh brand of scaremongering and communal propaganda re Muslim population

Muslim population myths
by TK Arun
(Times of India, Oct 30, 2013)

At the recently concluded national executive meet at Kochi, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh joint secretary Dattatreya Hosabale called upon Hindus to start having more children. The RSS fear is that Hindus will become a minority in India in the not-too-distant future. This rests on a number of population myths the RSS has

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India: Narendra Modi and why 2002 cannot go away

The Hindu, November 6, 2013

Narendra Modi and why 2002 cannot go away

N. Ram

The Gujarat pogrom is the elephant in BJP’s parlour. It is the unbreakable genetic connection between 2002 and the present that makes it clear that a Narendra Modi prime ministership would be disastrous for democratic and secular India

There is a buzz around Narendra Modi wherever he goes these days. The jauntiness

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Statue of Unity on One Side: Asthi Kalsh Yatra on the Other

‘Statue of Unity’ on one side: Asthi Kalsh Yatra on the other
Ram Puniyani

In the last week of October-first week of November, we saw two contradictory processes. On one side the foundation stone was laid for the statue of first Deputy Prime Minister of India, Saradar Vallabhbhai Patel, being called as Statue of Unity. On the other side the BJP in Bihar was taking out ‘Asthi Kalash’ (Pitcher

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Prabhat Patnaik : Middle-class uprisings take the place of earlier workers’ ones

The Telegraph, 6 November 2013

PERFECTING THE STATE
- Middle-class uprisings take the place of earlier workers’ ones
PRABHAT PATNAIK

From Tunis to Cairo to Istanbul to Delhi to Rio de Janeiro we are witnessing an upsurge of middle class militancy. To call these uprisings “middle class” is not to denigrate them, not to belittle their moral concerns or seriousness of purpose; it is merely to

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India: The maths of 2014 | Bharat Bhushan

Asian Age, November 6, 2013

by Bharat Bhushan

“Today’s India is not falling apart — it does not need a Sardar Patel to keep it together by force. It needs a conciliator who is accommodative, inclusive and willing to share power with the periphery.”

There can be little doubt that the timing of the 14-party anti-communalism convention in the capital last week had much to do with the rising

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A Secular Offensive ? | Mukul Dube

5 November,

by Mukul Dube

That there are dozens of Parishads and Dals and Senas and Samitis and Kendras, all working towards a “Hindu Rashtra” or “Akhanda Bharat”, shows how successful the RSS has been in spreading its tentacles, in building a web which now enmeshes all areas of life in India. It has been demonstrated that, for all their nominal autonomy, these outfits cannot even dream of

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Patel would not have endorsed Modi: Rajmohan Gandhi

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/patel-would-not-have-endorsed-modi-rajmohan-gandhi/article5311851.ece
Patel would not have endorsed Modi: Rajmohan Gandhi

While Sardar Patel grew under Mahatma Gandhi, Modi was groomed by RSS, says Rajmohan Gandhi

Amid a slugfest between Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress over Sardar Patel, a noted biographer of

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India: Journalist claims RSS, VHP threats after article on Sardar Patel

The Times of India

Journalist claims RSS, VHP threats after article on Sardar Patel
Raj Shekhar, TNN Nov 1, 2013, 08.18AM IST

Tags:

Vidya Subrahmaniam|
Tamil Nadu Police|
tamil nadu|
Tamil edition of The Hindu|
sardar patel|
Narendra Modi|
edition|
Congress|
Callers

NEW DELHI: Journalist Vidya Subrahmaniam has filed a police complaint claiming that she has

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VHP model for BJP yatra with victims’ urn in Bihar

The Telegraph, November 4 , 2013
VHP model for BJP yatra with victims’ urn
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN

New Delhi, Nov. 3: When the BJP launched an asthi kalash yatra in Bihar last week, it was taking a leaf out of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s book to try and whip up grief and anger over a tragedy.

Party marchers are carrying urns containing the ashes of those killed in the October 27 blasts ahead of

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India: 51 years after the India - China war of 1962 still no raparations Indian chinese who were interned and hugely discimininated against

51 years after war, it is Diwali for seven people deported to China from Assam
Samudra Gupta Kashyap : Makum, Sun Nov 03 2013

It's Diwali that she missed the most, says Chang Yuet Ho. She was around 12, Chang estimates, when she last saw her friends lighting hundreds of earthern lamps and bursting crackers.

Fifty-one years later, last month, Chang found herself back in the midst of the

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Muzaffarnagar Communal Violence and after: Report and Videos by NAPM

Hinsa, Sazish, Sangeen aur Shanti
A report by NAPM / 25 September 2013

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM8FdNUEZBRE15VxGfg4lCw

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India: Sadbhav Mission's Flyers and Memo in Aftermath of Communal violence hit Muzaffarnagar, UP

Dard Mandi Paida Karo Aur Zulm Se Lado (Version 2)
by Sadbhav Mission Delhi
Flyer in Hindi - PDF - 215.6 kb

Build Compassion, Fight Oppression
Flier by Sadbhav Mission Delhi - October 2013
PDF - 43.6 kb

Memorandum by Sadbhav Mission to SDM re Relief Camps in Kairana (Shamli)
PDF - 49.2 kb

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I feel your absence greatly: Nehru to Sardar Patel (Akshaya Mukul)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/I-feel-your-absence-greatly-Nehru-to-Sardar-Patel/movie-review/25157039.cms

I feel your absence greatly: Nehru to Sardar Patel
Akshaya Mukul, TNN, Nov 3, 2013, 07.18AM IST

History, as French historian and codirector of legendary journal Annales Marc Ferro says, exercises a double function both therapeutic and militant. BJP's prime ministerial

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Authorities probing PAC role in fresh Muzaffarnagar killings

Authorities probing PAC role in fresh Muzaffarnagar killings
Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui, TNN | Nov 2, 2013, 02.58 AM IST

LUCKNOW: Authorities are probing whether provincial armed constabulary (PAC) jawans had actually shot dead three Muslim youths at Hussainpur in Uttar Pradesh's communal riot-hit Muzaffarnagar district on Wednesday. Inspector General (special task force) Ashish Gupta confirmed the

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India: Ultra Right wing parties form Grand Hindu Alliance to contest Assembly elections in Delhi

From: The Hindu,
NEW DELHI, November 2, 2013

Ultra Right wing parties plan to contest Assembly elections

Shubhomoy Sikdar

They may not have had much electoral success in the past but claiming to stand for the protection of “rights and values of the Hindus”, the ultra Right wing parties across the spectrum are planning to contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.

Four such parties-

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When the Jews supported Hitler | Jawed Naqvi

Dawn

When the Jews supported Hitler

[by] JAWED NAQVI

Published 2013-10-31 07:37:55

TWO media-savvy Muslim clerics have covertly offered their support to Narendra Modi. Maulana Mehmood Madani represents a faction of the Sunni Jamiatul Ulema-i-Hind.

Maulana Kalbe Sadiq speaks for a section of India’s Shias. There are several other clerics, initially hand-reared by the Congress to flaunt

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India: Indira Gandhi killers families ‘honoured’ by SGPC, demands for another memorial

Truthdive - 31 October 2013

Amritsar, Oct 31 (ANI): After the construction of the controversial memorial dedicated to separatist Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other ‘martyrs’ of Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple Complex in Amritsar, demands are now being made for another memorial in memory of assassins of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi .

Shiromani Gurdwara

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India: Confront these painful truths about communalism

From: Hindustan Times, November 01, 2013

by Rajdeep Sardesai

Why does an underworld don who offered the Indian cricket team Toyota cars if they beat Pakistan in Sharjah in 1986 become a resident of Karachi and India's most wanted in 1993?

Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar's revelation (made on camera at a function despite a subsequent denial) only confirms what many players of the 1980s

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India: How Smiley's people fish in democratic electoral politics - Needed oversight of Indian intelligence agencies

From Kashmir Times, November 01, 2013

The Implications for Democratic polity

by Ravi Nair

It is a measure of the political naivety of Rahul Gandhi that he is willing to publically and unquestioningly parrot dubious information allegedly given to him by an intelligence official. Any seasoned politician would have made discreet enquiries from local party activists before making broad

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India: The Communal Violence Bill Spares Politicians says editorial in DNA

Daily News and Analysis

Editorial
dna edit: A bill that spares politicians

Thursday, Oct 24, 2013, 9:00 IST | Agency: DNA

In providing strict punishments to public servants who condone targeted violence, the Communal Violence Bill gets something right. But not everything.

In the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar communal violence, that left over 50 dead and several thousand Muslims homeless, the

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India: Not just survivors, nation needs to mourn 1984 riots: Jaspreet Singh

The Times of India

Not just survivors, nation needs to mourn 1984 riots: Jaspreet Singh
Malini Nair, Oct 27, 2013, 06.44AM IST

Tags:

survivors|
Rahul Gandhi|
Primo Levi|
Jawaharlal Nehru|
Jaspreet Singh|
1984 anti-Sikh riots

Facts, fiction and pure chemistry merge in Canadian research scientist-turned-writer Jaspreet Singh's novel, 'Helium' , based on the 1984

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Love Jihad and Demographic Fears (Mohan Rao)

September 19, 2013

Mohan Rao is a Professor at the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

He can be contacted at mohanrao2008@gmail.com

The write-up has been lifted from his facebook wall.

One of the most remarkable campaigns by Right-wing forces over the last few years in India goes under the startling name of “Love-Jihad”. Love Jihad crudely

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Book reveiw by V. Geetha: Atheists of Madras Edited by V. Arasu | Frontline

From: Frontline, Print edition : November 1, 2013

Books
Published: October 16, 2013 12:30 IST | Updated: October 18, 2013 11:46 IST

Atheists of Madras

Author: Edited by V. Arasu
Publisher: New Century Book House, 2012
Price: Rs. 3000 for the six volumes.

On a small band of freethinkers of the old Madras province who provoked anxiety and dread in missionary and religious circles.

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India - Muzaffarnagar: The Riots are Over But the Protracted Battles Continue (Gulail Investigation) | Video

(A video on gulail.com - 23 September 2013)

The state took sides and ignored its own assessments to allow murders, creating deep enmity between jats and muslims

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India: Debate over article 341 - Muslim and Christian Dalits are denied their dues (Anis Ansari) | gulail.com

Muslim and Christian Dalits are denied their dues

by Dr Anis Ansari

Constitution of India has been written with the intention of preserving secularism and human rights. All the people have been accorded the status of equality under its Article 14. Article 15 provides for guarantee of equal rights to all the citizens in educational institutions. Article 16 gives the guarantee of equal rights

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India - Muzaffarnagar riots 2013 and aftermath: A list reports and statements by civil society groups, NGO's and womens groups (as on 31 Oct 2013)

1. Muzaffarnagar 2013: Violence by Political Design | Report of an independent fact finding group
[organised by CPA New Delhi, 17 September 2013)
http://sacw.net/article5612.html

2. The communal fire in Muzaffarnagar - An appeal from Aman Ekta Manch
(18 September 2013)
http://sacw.net/article5616.html

3. A Human Tragedy Unfolds: View from Muzaffarnagar Relief Camps
A Preliminary Citizens’

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On Population Paranoia Among Hindutva Fundamentalists | Subhash Gatade

Time for a Group Marriage of Sangh Pracharaks ?
On Population Paranoia Among Hindutva Fundamentalists

by subhash gatade

This communalisation of demography has a fairly long history. As early as 1909, U N Mukherji, who would go on to co-found the Punjab Hindu Maha Sabha, wrote a book entitled 'Hindus: A Dying Race,' which influenced many subsequent publications by the Sabha, the parent

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India: Hide and seek of the HinduRight | Anti-Sardar Patel book sold from RSS HQ in Gujarat

The Times of India

Anti-Sardar Patel book sold from RSS HQ in Gujarat
Ashish Vashi, TNN Aug 27, 2009, 12.17am IST

AHMEDABAD: Narendra Modi displayed great alacrity in banning Jaswant Singh's Jinnah book in Gujarat. But another such tome, authored by RSS ideologue H V Seshadri, which also slams Sardar Patel for precipitating Partition, has been in circulation for the last 27 years. And here's

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India: Text of the resolution adopted at the Convention Against Communalism + News reports on the event

The Hindu, October 30, 2013

Resolution against communalism

Text of the resolution adopted at the Convention for People's Unity & Against Communalism

India is a country with various religions, languages, castes and cultures. But there is an underlying unity in the diversity. A unity, which is based on the unity of the people, which makes us all Indians.

This unity of the people and the country

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The disputed legacy of Vallabhbhai Patel | Seema Chishti

Indian Express, 30 October 2013


How justified is the BJP in claiming Sardar Patel as their own? And the Congress in contesting the claim?

The Sangh's attempts to 'adopt' Patel are old. M S Golwalkar had tried to play Patel's anti-left instincts, urging him in letters to let the RSS help in battling the communist hold over the youth. The BJP, founded in 1980, seeks a past with a connect to the

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Rahul Gandhi's remarks insult Mumbai's riot victims

Daily News and Analysis

Rahul Gandhi's remarks insult Mumbai's riot victims
Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013, 7:08 IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

Jyoti Punwani

If Rahul Gandhi’s remark about Pakistan being in touch with Muzaffarnagar’s Muslim victims has any relevance, it is in Mumbai. The March 12, 1993 serial blasts remain till date, the only Pakistan-backed act of vengeance proven to have been

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Modi on Patel - Nehru

Modi’s-Abusing History for Political mileage Ram Puniyani The politics of Modi’s parent organization RSS is based on distortion of history, medieval history in particular. To begin with the projection of kings through the prism of religion, to demonize Muslim kings based on distortions and falsehoods of History, and then in turn spreading hatred against Muslims of today has been the foundation

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Nitish Kumar draws Hitler parallel with Narendra Modi | Indian Express

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/nitish-kumar-draws-hitler-parallel-with-narendra-modi/1188781/0


Santosh Singh Tue Oct 29 2013

Patna : Two days after facing the brunt of the attack at BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s “Hunkar” rally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hit back on Tuesday, comparing Modi to Hitler and saying that his desperate dream to unfurl the national flag at

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Open Letter to Omar Abdullah - Police Officers facilitating the sale of Temples & Asthapans

(via Dilip Simeon's Blog)

An open Letter

Shri. Omar Abdullah
Hon’ble Chief Minister,
State of Jammu and Kashmir,

Subject: Incentives / Perks be granted to the Administrators / Police Officers who facilitate the selling of Temples and Asthapans of Kashmiri Pandits in Kashmir Valley.

Hon’ble Sir,

With all humility in our command we (KPSS on behalf of Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir) express

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