'Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday afternoon, in the presence of party president J.P. Nadda. “I would like to thank J.P. Nadda ji, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah that they invited me to their family and gave me a place in it,” he said. Sources have suggested that Scindia will likely be given a Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh and a cabinet ministerial berth for switching over...'
'BJP Member of Parliament and lawyer Meenakshi Lekhi today said in the Lok Sabha that Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports associated with judges’ transfers should be made public so that people know the reasons for the transfer. Lekhi made the statement while speaking about the recent Delhi Riots. While doing so, she segued into a speech about judges' transfers...'
'A special SIT judge hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case, in which former BJP minister Maya Kodnani is an accused, has been transferred as principal district judge of Valsad by an order of the Gujarat High Court. According to a notification issued by the Gujarat High Court on Friday, principal judge, city civil court, Ahmedabad, M.K. Dave has been transferred as principal judge of Valsad district. He will be replaced by S.K. Baxi, who served as principal district judge, Bhavnagar, before being transferred here...'
'West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party chief Dilip Ghosh on Sunday claimed that women had “lost all decency” and were being made to stage protests under the influence of drugs, the Hindustan Times reported. Ghosh made the derogatory remarks on International Women’s Day while commenting about an incident at Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University that led to massive outrage last week...'
'Joe Biden's presidential campaign has appointed a former aide to Hillary Clinton as senior advisor on Muslim American engagement following revelations that his predecessor has close ties to India's right-wing Hindu government. The appointment of Farooq Mitha, a longtime Biden supporter and former Muslim advisor to the Clinton campaign in 2016, comes after weeks of pressure to remove Amit Jani as coordinator given his strong ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party...'
'Six hours after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued a 48-hour ban on Asianet News over their coverage of the Delhi riots, the Malayalam news channel is back on air. On Friday, Asianet and MediaOne were barred for 48 hours by the ministry which alleged that their coverage of the recent Delhi riots had been biased, critical of the Delhi police and could have incited violence. While Asianet News is back on air, MediaOne has not resumed transmission.
'The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear a petition filed by social activist Harsh Manderseeking action against leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party for their hate speeches leading up to communal riots in Delhi until the matter of the activist’s allegedly derogatory comments about the judiciary are sorted out. “You made statements against the Supreme Court,” said Chief Justice of India SA Bobde. “We will not hear you now... If this is what Harsh Mander feels about the Supreme Court, then we will have to decide on that first.”...
'Tamil Nadu’s opposition party DMK and AIADMK’s ally PMK have condemned the nomination of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) vice-chancellor M Jagadeesh Kumar as head of the Madras University vice-chancellor search panel. Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who is also the chancellor of Madras University, has nominated Kumar as the incumbent vice-chancellor P Duraisamy’s three-year tenure is ending this May...'
'In a bizarre statement, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and parliamentarian Ramesh Bidhuri has said that using “namaste” as a greeting prevents contamination from the Covid-19, but using “adaab” does not. “Greeting people with a namaskaar is India’s heritage,” Bidhuri told ABP News. “Experts have suggested it should be used as a greeting to prevent contact in order to avoid the coronavirus, but not adaab, because it directs the rays of the air into the mouth.”'
'The Modi government on Friday banned two Malayalam news channels – Asianet News and Media One – for 48 hours starting 7.30 pm today for their coverage on the violence in North East Delhi. An order issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the coverage of Asianet News was done in a manner which “highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community”.