It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
Under pressure from the rank and file, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi may directly take on Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign chief Narendra Modi at a rare media interaction early next month, reports Anita Katyal.
The Congress president inaugurated a photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life at the historic Swaraj Bhavan where the former prime minister was born.
How could a President, seen as a political time-server, have manoeuvred things to a stage where he could strike fear into the heart of a prime minister who, only two-and-a-half years before, had been elected with the largest majority in history?
It's intriguing that the prime minister now wants his American partner to help protect the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. That's conceding to the Americans a pre-eminence India has always contested, resented and feared, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appeared to have reservations about the Congress support to the 'liberation struggle' against Kerala's first Communist ministry led by E M S Namboodiripad, which was dismissed in 1959 within two years of coming to power.
The files were apparently declassified accidentally.
Why should the Congress party be hitched to the Nehru-Gandhi family like train compartments to the engine was how the late P V Narasimha Rao reacted to the suggestion that Sonia Gandhi be made the Congress chief after the assassination of her husband Rajiv Gandhi in May, 1991.
As per reports, the new Social Science textbook for Class VIII in schools of Rajasthan has erased Nehru from the pages of history.
In a state where thin margins and minor swings decide electoral outcomes, nothing can be left to chance, even for those relishing the cocooned life, observes Shyam G Memon.
The recent remarks by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru appear to have rubbed 10 Janpath the wrong way, if party sources are to be believed.
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday struck down a public interest litigation seeking directions for covering of statues of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in various parts of Uttar Pradesh as they may help Congress "derive" political mileage during the assembly polls.
According to the officials, the three-storey coaching institute, surrounded by residential and commercial establishments, had permission to use the basement as a store room, but it was being used as library in violation of the rules.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
'His script, his body language is different, at the most he is a trained pracharak, a national politician building a base, an audience, a community of behaviours and followers from a younger generation, attempting to talk to children so they become his enthusiasts. Many are and that is his victory.'
The only visible hint of the impending election is the hoardings put up by local election authorities, urging citizens to exercise their franchise.
It is thanks to the policy of liberalisation conceived by Manmohan Singh and enforced by P V Narasimha that the Indian economy has now become the world's 5th largest economy by nominal GDP, asserts Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said V D Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru or any other freedom fighter should not be maligned as they do not belong to any political party.
'Hang my son if he has done wrong.'
I think the 'What-if-it-had-been-Patel?' sentiment represents a yearning for more of what we are already seeing around us in India today, observes Aakar Patel.
'How come with Nehru at the helm, India missed so many buses? He had such unchallenged power that he could have taken the country in any direction he wanted. The sad conclusion is inescapable that Nehru let things drift in true Hamletian ambivalence,' says B S Raghavan.
With a staff in one hand and the other on his granddaughter's shoulder, the old man briskly takes the lead as the sun breaks over the horizon.
'Vijaya Raje Scindia had assured the prime minister that nothing would happen to the Babri Masjid'
Voting began on Monday in the Congress presidential polls as senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor face-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
'When the Congress is put against someone like Narendra Modi, they do not have anything new to offer to the people of India.'
May we suggest that Rahul spend Tuesday night with the homeless in Delhi who are shivering in cold and frosty conditions?
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sources said Rahul and the King share a "special relationship" and had promised to attend his wedding celebrations.
Given the prevailing state of flux in the polity, it is early days yet to predict a presidential polarisation of the Modi versus Rahul variety. But it cannot be ruled out, Neerja Chowdhury
As the battle between the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party over Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy continues, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Monday hit out at the National Democratic Alliance government saying it has no understanding of Nehru's values.
"Any patriotic person should discuss Indian politics within India. It does not suit the leader of any party to go abroad and discuss the country's politics and criticise the country. Rahul baba, you must remember that people of the country are watching it closely," Shah said.
A list of those with low attendance in the Lok Sabha throws up some big names, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Sonia Gandhi said that in the last 75 years, India has left an indelible mark on the international arena in all fields including science, education, health and information technology through the hard work of its talented people.
A day after the Prime Minister alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party is changing India's history and geography, a combative Narendra Modi on Sunday hit back accusing Congress of altering the country's geography by allowing partition and history by neglecting our heroes and eulogising only the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The 'Make Rahul Gandhi All India Congress Committee president again' chorus is growing louder in the Congress with half a dozen state units so far seeking his elevation to the top post, even as uncertainty and suspense persisted over whether he would take on the mantle.
The Congress is all set to hardsell itself as probably the only major political party in the world to touch the major milestone of completing 125 years on 28 December 2010, the party will also commemorate the 25th death anniversary of Indira Gandhi on 31st October, 2009.
'All of Indira Gandhi's bad economic ideas are being strengthened, from nationalised banks to anti-poverty, handout yojanas,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'They hate him so much that if PM Modi says the Sun rises in the east the Congress will say the Sun rises in the west.'
