'A group of people harassed an Australian couple at a restaurant here on Saturday, even threatening to skin the young man’s leg, for sporting the tattoo of Hindu goddess Yellamma on his shin. Their ordeal did not end there as the city police not only detained them but also forced the man to apologise to the group for ‘hurting their religious sentiments.’... “One of them came to me and confronted me about my tattoo. Soon, they surrounded us and threatened to skin my leg and remove the tattoo,” a shaken Gordon, a law student, told The Hindu on Sunday.
'Fourteen prominent women’s organisations and over 20 women academics from universities across the United Kingdom have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is due to visit the U.K. in November, expressing their alarm at the rise in gender violence in India.
'A day after he was trolled on Twitter for saying the good things about Pakistan must be appreciated by India, actor Naseeruddin Shah said he felt he was targeted for the statement only because he was a Muslim. "My name is Naseeruddin Shah and I believe that's why I was targeted. It really pains me to say this. I have never ever been aware of my identity until now," the celebrated actor told Rajdeep Sardesai in an exclusive interview for India Today TV. "Four generations of my family have lived in India.
'Aggressively pursuing its campaign against Pakistani personalities, Shiv Sena activists today blackened the face of ORF chief Sudheendra Kulkarni over his refusal to cancel the book launch function of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, prompting strong condemnation from political parties. However, undeterred by the violent protest, which Shiv Sena called "very mild", the organisers, including the Observer Research Foundation, went ahead with the programme which was held amid tight security following threats of disruption by the pro-Hindutva party.
'Pakistani ghazal legend Ghulam Ali's concert in Mumbai scheduled on October 9 has been cancelled. "Ghulam Ali will not be coming for the concert which was to be held on October 9," event organiser Randhir Roy said. The concert was cancelled after a meeting between organizers and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. The Shiv Sena had threatened to disrupt the show...
'Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to address the UK's Indian diaspora at Wembley Stadium during his visit in November, with 60,000 people now registered to attend the event. Four Labour MPs have announced that they will be donating their pay rises to contribute towards the cost of putting on a show for PM Modi at Wembley, which will see artists, dancers, and other performers coming together to honour the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the UK in ten years.
Massive protests mark Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley: Diverse communities join hands to counter the Modi PR machine... San Jose, CA: September 27, 2015: Passionate crowds of protesters greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with loud slogans and a sea of placards upon his arrival at San Jose’s SAP Center for a stage-managed Silicon Valley “community reception.” The posters, chants, and surprise banner drop challenged the Modi PR team’s attempts to whitewash the controversial politician’s record.
'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.
"What causes anyone who offers a critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the functioning of his government to be attacked by his supporters as anti-Indian and anti-Hindu? Worse, as terrorists whose efforts have been orchestrated by—take your pick—the security agencies of the United States, the Christian Church, or unnamed colonial masters?
"If you believe in secularism, celebrate Nepal's constituent assembly's decision that the country would remain secular as envisaged by its interim constitution. But tone down your excitement, for this is a flawed and ambiguous secularism. If you believe in the line of argument that 'Nepal was the only Hindu rashtra in the world and so should have remained one', it is time to accept you have lost the battle. At the same time, you don't have to be devastated - for Nepali secularism has a more than pronounced Hindu tilt...
