Firstpost Editor's Picks: Assam NRC final list, slowdown in GDP growth, Salman Khan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Inshallah; today's must-read stories

Assam NRC final list: BJP wanted to weaponise citizenship exercise, but is now struggling with a political hot potato

The final and updated National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was released on Saturday and it has put the BJP — which had once championed the humongous exercise to identify illegal immigrants in the state — in such a tricky spot that the party is desperate to distance itself from the Supreme Court-monitored exercise.

GDP growth slips to 5%: There may be more bad news coming before things get better; economy must be sole focus now

These bad numbers fall into the account of this government alone. In its first term, it did, indeed, inherit a mess from the United Progressive Alliance government and so got sympathy when it pointed fingers at Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram. This time it has inherited a mess from itself.

‘Abduction’, conversion of Sikh teenager in Pakistan’s Punjab angers minorities; woman says she embraced Islam willingly

The teenager, Jagjit Kaur, released a statement Thursday saying she has married a Muslim and converted to Islam of her own volition. However, her family alleges that an influential Muslim family has kidnapped her at gunpoint.

Salman Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Inshallah isn’t the first project to fall out because of actor-director tiff

Although it is interesting to see how someone such as Bhansali felt the need of a star at this stage in his career or Khan’s innate inability to shift gears, it is not the first time a top star and a filmmaker have parted ways due to different perspectives.

1984, When the Sun Didn’t Rise: Scars of anti-Sikh violence won’t fade, Teenaa Kaur Pasricha finds

1984, When the Sun Didn’t Rise opens in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar which, over the years, has come to be known as ‘Widows Colony’ — many of the families of those killed in 1984 live in this quaint neighbourhood.