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Varanasi:   A petition filed in August 2021, seeking daily worship rights at the Maa Shringar Gauri Sthal within the contentious Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque complex in Varanasi, is driven by five women. The petitioners, backed by the Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS), headed by Jitendra Singh Vishen, have largely remained unknown so far. ThePrint spoke to four of the five women — including a housewife married to a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) member, a beautician and an RSS worker — on what inspired them to fight and what united them. Lakshmi Devi Originally from Mumbai, Maharashtra, Lakshmi Devi moved to Varanasi after marriage. Her husband Sohanlal Arya, VHP vice-president for Varanasi ‘ prant’ , was the first to claim the black stone structure found inside the “ wuzukhana ” of the Gyanvapi mosque was a Shivling. Lakshmi, a housewife who has studied till intermediate, said she was inspired by her husband to join the legal battle. Speaking to ThePrint, the 66-year-old a...

Congress leader  Rahul Gandhi  on Saturday posted a tribute to his father former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi remembering him as a visionary leader and a wonderful father whom he dearly misses. "My father was a visionary leader whose policies helped shape modern India," Rahul Gandhi wrote along with a video of Rajiv Gandhi's speech: 'India is an old country but a young nation. And like the young everywhere, we are impatient. I am young and I too have a dream. I dream of India strong, independent, self-reliant and in the forefront and the front rank of the nations of the world, in the service of mankind. I am committed to realising that dream through dedication, hard work and the collective determination of our people." My father was a visionary leader whose policies helped shape modern India. He was a compassionate & kind man, and a wonderful father to me and Priyanka, who taught us the value of forgiveness and empathy. I dearly miss him and fondly remember th...

FOR ONE side, it’s closure of sorts. For the other, the wounds from three years ago have reopened. With a Supreme Court panel finding that the accused in the gangrape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian in 2019 were allegedly killed by the police in Hyderabad on the pretext of an encounter, the refrain from their families was this: “The truth is out… the government should now support us with compensation.” But for the family of the veterinarian, the report has come as a bitter leftover. “We are not yet fully aware of all the recommendations of the Commission but we support the police officials,’’ said a close relative. All the others who hailed the “encounter” three years ago — from Ministers to youth organisations in Telangana — reacted on Friday with silence. Telangana Home Minister M Mahmood Ali, who had backed the police in 2019 and even questioned the victim’s failure to dial 100, said: “I do not want to comment on the issue, let the courts handle it.” The four accused were c...

As Assam battles flood fury, over 500 families from two villages of the Jamunamukh district, are living on the railway tracks, the only high ground that did not submerge in the floodwaters. People from Changjurai and Patia Pathar village have been left in the lurch after they lost almost everything they had in the floods.  The villagers, who have taken refuge under temporary shreds made of tarpaulin sheets, claim they have not received much help from the state government and district administration over the last five days. 43-year-old Monwara Begum is living under a temporary shred along with her family after their home in Patia Pathar village was destroyed in floods. Four other families from have also joined them to survive the floods. They all are living under the same sheet in inhumane conditions, with almost no food. "For three days we were under the open sky, we then took some money on credit and bought this tarpaulin sheet. We are five families living under the...