'The Congress made a spectacular comeback in Gujarat on Wednesday, taking control of the rural local bodies in a stunning blow to the BJP in an election seen as a referendum on the ruling party’s state and central leadership. The setback to the BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah’s home state comes barely weeks after the party suffered an embarrassing defeat in the assembly polls in Bihar.
'For all its rhetoric, the two-day special discussion in Parliament on “Commitment to the Constitution” has done little to dispel the concerns of civil society over growing intolerance. But it should be no surprise, for in his earlier avatar as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi has a record of disclaiming knowledge of such a warning even from one of his own trusted police officers.
'His 2003 visit to the UK was a nerve-racking and politically fraught affair, writes Satyabrata Pal, who was India’s Deputy High Commissioner in London at the time... Throughout 2002, after the Gujarat riots, the British media was up in arms, particularly since a family of Indian origin was among the Muslim victims. The Conservatives demanded that the Labour government live up to its claim that it ran an ethical foreign policy, Amnesty and other human rights organisations were on the warpath, the NRIs were split down the middle, and the bilateral relationship came under strain.
'Human rights activists and environment campaigners have criticised the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying their efforts have led to harassment and other reprisals since it took power more than a year ago. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) cancelled Greenpeace's permit to operate in India on Friday, in the latest move against nongovernmental organisations.
'In 2013, the Gujarat government denied an entertainment tax exemption to Meghdhanushya, KR Devmani’s Gujarati film on the gay community featuring Manvendra Singh Gohil, the openly gay prince of Rajpipla. The response to a Right to Information petition filed by Scroll.in has now confirmed that Meghdhanushya was the first and only film to be refused a tax exemption certificate on the grounds of its subject matter in the 16 years since Gujarat's entertainment tax policy came into effect.
'Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to Britain is still weeks away but it has already become a subject of heated debate in Cambridge University with the vice-chancellor facing pressure to withdraw his invitation to the Indian prime minister to address the Senate, its most important academic body. A group of students and faculty members have written to the VC Leszek Borysiewicz protesting his decision arguing that by inviting him the university would be seen condoning “ongoing attacks on academic freedom and freedom of expression in India’’.
'On Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by Sanjiv Bhatt, the former Indian Police Service officer from Gujarat, asking for two police cases against him to be transferred out of Gujarat and investigated by an independent agency. Bhatt said he feared the state was trying to falsely implicate him since he had given testimony against Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat. One of those two cases pertained to a complaint filed by Tushar Mehta, then Additional Advocate General of Gujarat, alleging that Bhatt had hacked into his email account.
"Dr. Dinanath Batra’s books are popular among school kids in Gujarat.e. His books are a must-read in Gujarat. Gujarat State education minister prescribed his books as reference books complementing the prescribed text books as per the syllabus In order to get a peek into Dr.Batra’s books, the following is a passage on stem cell technology in ancient India from his book titled Tejomoy Bharat.
'Zakia Jafri, a frail 76-year-old, has begun what may be the last legal battle to pin blame on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for deadly riots that shook Gujarat when he was chief minister, and claimed her husband's life. Modi denies any involvement in the 2002 unrest, one of the worst outbreaks of religious violence in independent India. In 2013, a panel appointed by the Supreme Court said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him. It was the third investigation to come to the same conclusion.
'One police official saw his promising career flatline and was dogged by minor misconduct charges until he took early retirement this year. Another endured a long suspension before being fired last month, but not before a sex video surfaced that purported to show him with a mistress. (Apart from the receding hairline and healthy mustache, his wife said, he looked nothing like the man on screen.) A third faces a possible inquiry into decade-old charges of disclosing sensitive information. It could cost him his pension.
