Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement about demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes was hailed as a "bold step" by President Pranab Mukherjee and the BJP, which called it a "surgical strike" on black money, but his rivals denounced it as a "heartless and ill-conceived" decision that would inconvenience people.
Claiming that the cultural values among children were taking a beating, the minister said many people have demanded that moral science should be introduced.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has accused BJP of practicing "politics of blood" by pitting one religion against another and one caste against another to come to power at any cost, escalating the Congress attack against the opposition party.
"Crores of Muslim women had always demanded that triple talaq should be banned, as it is also banned in Islamic countries," he said.
Given the vital role played by cyberspace in new-age electioneering, the UP police have constituted a digital monitoring cell to curb objectionable and defamatory social media posts on the eve of the elections.
Ajit Singh represented a bridge between a constituency that represented a more traditional era in politics and a modern, forward-looking, India, remembers Aditi Phadnis.
This was a rare instance when Gandhi raised an issue during the Zero Hour.
He also asserted that ease of living and ease of doing business were behind the spirit of the work being done under the Central Vista project.
'It was more than ego.' 'It carried with it a sincere belief that he was the quintessence of the country, that the country's destiny was irrevocably intertwined with his destiny.' An excerpt from T J S George's The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits.
The statue is located at the busy roundabout between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and National Gallery of Modern Art in south Mumbai.
A senior political commentator has said that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha is the modern 'Mahishasur Mardini' who has taken birth to trounce the Congress in Tamil Nadu.
What does a Muslim in politics do? Where does he go?
Here's the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the United States Congress.
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Demonetisation and Agniveer reveal the two mindsets India has become. In both these government schemes, one sees a desire to play the country like an orchestra anchored by conductor/conductors, argues Shyam G Menon.
Public intellectuals who frame the ideological antipathy between the RSS & Co and Jawaharlal Nehru in the light of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and Hindu Raj alone, miss the point by a yard, argues Shaan Kashyap.
While West Punjab became part of West Pakistan, East Punjab was given to India, and Bengal's division saw a large swathe of its eastern territory forming part of East Pakistan.
The senior Congress leader asserted that public institutions need the "patronage of the powerful".
We have our own problems for sure and they are not trivial, but for now, our economy is in not too bad a shape, our politics is as personality-driven and authoritarian as that of most countries in the world. We must make the best of what we have and not be excessively unhappy looking at the grass on the other side of the septic tank which may not be greener after all!, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday shared a fond memory of her great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru while remembering him on his 130th birth anniversary.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday attacked the Centre over the glitches in the new income tax portal, alleging that even after spending Rs 4,200 crore on it, the government had "failed" to make it user-friendly and created a "mess" instead.
According to an official statement by the Committee, the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 has been decided to be given to the World Food Programme "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict."
He was admitted to the AIIMS on June 11 with a kidney tract infection, urinary tract infection, low urine output and chest congestion.
The Orwellian surveillance State is here. And here to stay, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
The bill bars commercial surrogacy and allows the process only by close relatives for "altruistic" reasons.
The joint committee of Parliament examining the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 has adopted its report on the bill with several opposition MPs, including those from the Congress, Ttrinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal, submitting their dissent notes.
'A Muslim is lynched somewhere, and you forward the video of the lynching through WhatsApp.' 'So, you participate in that lynching without actually doing it. You endorse it without being a party to it.'
Speaking with reporters, Gandhi said, "This (school) is India's future. Hate and violence has destroyed it. Nobody has benefited from this. Violence and hate are enemies of development."
'People say my personality doesn't have sharp edges, but politics doesn't have to be about pulling down your opponents or bad mouthing them.'
Athawale, known for his rhyming repartees, added: "BJP ne Congress ko latka diya hai, Shiv Sena ko jhatka diya hai aur NCP ko sarkaar mein atkaa diya hai (the BJP has left the Congress in a quandary, shocked the Shiv Sena and taken the NCP along in formation of the government)."
Praising the US for turning barriers into bridges of partnership, he said that America had stood with India when the support was needed the most, like when terrorists attacked Mumbai in November 2008 and in other economic endeavours as well
The veteran Congress leader said the NDA's success was attributable to the absence of a strong and united Opposition.
'Didi' became the real 'Dada' as she got past the post, on a wheelchair and a foot in cast, a souvenir from the Nandigram battle against former protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari.
'For the UDF, it will depend on how far Rahul Gandhi will succeed with the goodwill he has.' 'That will make a difference.'
On Wednesday, Bengal's own daughter she firmly pitched herself as, was sworn in as the chief minister of the turbulent state for the third successive term amid raging fires of political violence and a rampaging pandemic.
The contentious bill providing for legal sanction to police to obtain physical and biological samples of convicts and detainees for investigation in criminal matters was passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, with Home Minister Amit Shah asserting it will act as a defender of human rights of law-abiding citizens.
The country may become militarily impressive, pile on GDP and the durbar of the ruling party may fill with the wealthy indebted to the rulers for their riches. But the spontaneous camaraderie of a free people will diminish and with it, our shared ownership of the country, warns Shyam G Menon.
The new law, effective from January 1, weakens the role of the State Council, China's Cabinet headed by Premier Li Keqiang, in formulating military policy, handing decision-making powers to the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high-command of the two million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) headed by Xi, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.
Senior Congress leader and former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh feels that Sonia Gandhi should retain the leadership of the party for now, as Rahul Gandhi still has things to learn.
