As a gesture of defiance, a panel discussion was held later with writer Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, journalist Tarun Tejpal, and two members of the Rajasthan Muslim Forum — Salim Engineer, national secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and Mohammed Hasan, an academic and activist.

Though the human right groups expressed shock over the cancelling of author Salman Rushdie’s video address at Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), the Muslim activists assembled at the venue expressing joy and satisfaction.

The ministry of home affairs is seriously worried about the NSCN(I-M)’s direct involvement in the election process of Manipur.

Former BSP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, after being virtually hounded out of the BJP, has now floated a new organisation called Rashtriya Adhikar Manch.

Former BJP MLC Ramashish Rai, who demanded a probe into the financial transaction behind the induction of Babu Singh Kushwaha into the BJP, joined the Congress on Tuesday.

Dubbing the Manmohan Singh government the most corrupt, BJP leader L.K. Advani on Tuesday said some of its ministers were already in jail while some were waiting for their turn and asked people to overthrow the UPA in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee accused the BJP of being responsible for the Rajya Sabha’s failure to pass the Lokpal Bill by changing its stand within 24 hours.

For them, elections are a ticket to respectability and acceptability in society, apart from being a road to freedom.
For the half-a-dozen-odd contestants who are contesting from inside the jail, confinement does not affect their prospects or their campaign which is being efficiently managed by their supporters outside the jail. If at all, being behind the bars earns them the much-needed sympathy from voters.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday lambasted the Akali Dal-BJP alliance government for wasting funds meant for Centrally-sponsored schemes on the sangat darshan programme (public interaction) and bringing down Punjab from its No. 1 position to 12th position. Mrs Gandhi was addressing a public rally in support of Congress candidates at Gurdaspur.

Martin Scorsese’s lavish 3D adventure Hugo won 11 Oscar nominations on Tuesday, just ahead of hotly-tipped silent movie The Artist, with 10 nods for Hollywood’s top awards.