Nitish thought that his stakes as chief minister were far greater than his stakes in protecting one of his party MLAs. He could not allow his rule-of-law train to be derailed by a small rock on the track. On the contrary, if he removed it to keep the train moving at a steady speed he would gain strong public admiration and sympathy that would help him take the masses along in carrying out other tasks. A fascinating excerpt from Arun Sinha's Nitish Kumar And The Rise Of Bihar.
A new book by former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi claims that former chief election commissioner T N Seshan proposed an immediate halt to the general election process after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 and even offered to become home minister. Gandhi, who was joint secretary to then president R Venkatraman, writes that Seshan was the one who broke the news of the assassination to the president and arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhawan "super-fast" that night. According to Gandhi's account, Seshan told Venkatraman that he felt the election process needed to be stopped and that he was ready to take on the role of home minister if necessary. However, Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra assured the president that the situation was under control and that there was no need to pause the election process. Seshan's suggestions were ultimately ignored, but he did manage to postpone the second and third phases of polling.
Seeing a certain tousle-headed gentleman standing in the queue, I was both astonished and elated. My happiness radiated on my face and words suddenly deserted me.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday will hold silent protests across Bihar to mark the first anniversary of the Patna blasts during Narendra Modi's 'Hunkar' rally last year.
Three people who had been detained Ranchi in connection with the Patna serial bomb blasts have been released after interrogation, even as raids continued in several areas of Jharkhand in connection with the blasts.
'Last year, India exported more software than Saudi Arabia exported oil.' 'Last year India got $83 billion of private equity.' '50 percent of India's FDI has come in the last five years.'
Intelligence Bureau hinted on Sunday that the Indian Mujahedeen was responsible for the eight explosions in Patna that claimed five lives ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi rally on Sunday.
Hungry and desperate for food, over 100 flood victims in Bihar's Nalanda district broke into a government warehouse and looted food grain on Monday to protest inadequate assistance given to them by the government, officials said.
The Bihar police and the National Investigation Agency are probing the angle of a human bomb in the serials attacks in Patna ahead of Narendra Modi's rally on Sunday.
'He always used to say, 'I have taken up this post to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and I will do it during the time I am here'.'
Five more bombs were found on Tuesday during searches at the sprawling Gandhi Maidan in Patna, where another political rally is scheduled for Wednesday, after Sunday's multiple blasts at a BJP meeting in which six persons were killed and 82 injured.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday claimed that Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was the "target" of the serial blasts carried out by Indian Mujahideen modules in Patna.
The arrest of Yasin Bhatkal comes as a huge relief to the Bihar police, who expect to now crackdown down on active terror units in the state, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
'And no one expected the case to be detected, because there was nothing.'
Four suspects have been arrested in connection to the serial blasts that rocked Patna on Sunday. They have been identified as Imtiaz Ansari, Kaleem, Mohammad Ainul and Akthar, according to sources.
a senior police official told Rediff.com that the Indian Mujahideen may be using Hindu youth for terror activities. "It is a serious matter," the official said.
Patna blasts' suspect Meher-e-Alam, who was detained by the National Investigation Agency from Darbhanga on Wednesday, has escaped from custody.
The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a warning about havoc rainfall or a cloud burst hitting Bihar's flood-affected districts in the next 24 to 48 hours, officials said on Sunday.
Though the NITI Aayog did not give its estimates for the required GDP growth at constant prices, economists pegged it at 9 per cent, a feat not seen since the GDP series was revised with 2011-12 as the base year.
The National Investigation Agency probing the Bodh Gaya attack has ruled out a Naxalite or Hindu extremist link and states that everything now goes on to show that it was either an outsourced group of the Indian Mujahideen or the outfit itself which could have carried out the blasts.
Bihar's progress in the last 10 years under Nitish Kumar has been acknowledged by Biharis -- but whom will the astute Bihari choose this time, A Bihari Abroad asks as the first round of polls in the state begins on Monday.
The Patna attack was just the beginning, the alleged SIMI terrorist told NIA agents. His organisation has resolved to attack Narendra Modi wherever possible.
The really disturbing numbers relate to inequality.
'Does the BJP opening up a new assault on Rajiv Gandhi indicate that the BJP's internal calculations are pointing to the election results not going as it hoped, and hence a sign of desperation?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Two days after ten explosions rocked the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, investigating agencies are scouting for leads in the case.
Sabir Ali's stint in the Bharatiya Janata Party lasted for a couple of hours. Accused of being a Yasin Bhatkal sympathiser, till only a few days back he belonged to a party that has been accused of going soft on terrorists. Vicky Nanjappa analyses if there's any truth to these allegations
The Indian Mujahideen, who allegedly carried out the attack, enjoyed the support of local political leaders, suspect investigators. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Amid a political uproar over bomb blasts at Narendra Modi's rally venue in Patna, Congress on Monday appeared to suggest that his brand of politics was allegedly providing an opportunity to disruptive elements to engage in such activities.
It might have taken several years, but the intelligence and security agencies in several states recently tracked down and arrested dreaded terrorists involved in creating havoc in the country. It began with the arrest of Zabbiuddin Ansari, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, then came the arrest of Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal followed by Lashkar-e-Tayiba bomb maker Abdul Karim Tunda, Zaveri Bazaar bomber Waqas Ahmed and now IM chief Tehsin Akthar. In a five-part series, Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa describes how each of these terrorists were painstakingly tracked by the Intelligence Bureau and arrested by the security agencies.
The wheels turn for bicycles, as manufacturers go back to the basics. After motorised two-wheelers overtook cycle sales in the country, manufacturers are focusing on commuter segment again and reviving entry-level cycles.
'There were no metal detectors, sniffer dogs or bomb detection devices. It was a complete intelligence and security failure,' says Mangal Pandey, president of the Bihar unit of the BJP, on the bomb blasts targeting Narendra Modi's rally in Patna on Sunday.
Six serials blasts rocked the venue of Narendra Modi's rally in Patna minutes before he arrived there to address the gathering while another crude bomb exploded at the railway station, leaving five dead and over a fifty injured.
'The Mahabodhi temple is the only example in the world where a religion's most sacred place is controlled by people belonging to another religion.'
Why are far right Hindu organisations growing in strength? Why is there a rising subscription to Neo-Wahabism, the Saudi Arabian version of contemporary Islam?
Rajiv Gandhi would have turned 72 on August 20. Had he lived. On a humid night 25 years ago, the former prime minister of India was murdered in cold blood by an LTTE suicide bomber. Neena Gopal was an eyewitness to the assassination, and in this exclusive extract from her new book, The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, she reveals for the first time what she saw in Sriperumbudur that night.
'Why should the people of Odisha divert water from the Mahanadhi when 13 out of 32 districts are chronically drought prone?' 'Water is a state subject. Can you really nationalise rivers for which you need drastic amendments in the Constitution?'
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