President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and top leaders of the Congress paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her 97th birth anniversary but no one from the National Democratic Alliance government was present at the event.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ramdhari Singh Dinkar's poems speak to every Indian, uniting them across political, social, religious and caste divides. They elevate; they inspire; they stir the soul and goose-bump the flesh.
'The Congress is not pragmatic about politics or about people.' 'Rahul's intention is good, but good intention does not win you elections.'
The most important lesson is that you have to build your political proposition, and sell it yourself. You can't leave it to the courts, media, NGOs and civil society and expect them to play the role of the Opposition. That's precisely what Mr Modi's challengers have been doing and we know the results, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The party said it was 'an inexcusable slip-up', for which responsibility was being fixed and action would be taken.
Shah said, "Rahul baba cannot see development as he sports Italian spectacles."
Everyone knows who will win the election to succed Sonia Gandhi as Congress president. But who would YOU prefer?
'When I realised that I was to take the pictures of Pandit Nehru, I was very nervous and scared.'
When Union Minister Maneka Gandhi sought to project her son Varun as a possible future chief minister of Uttar Pradesh last Sunday, it was widely seen as an attempt to claim Sanjay Gandhi's legacy. Anita Katyal reports
Anti-Congress regional parties may have felt the possible impact of Rahul's South-North yatra, pending a second East-West padayatra, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday lashed out at Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for calling a group of protesting Students' Federation of India (SFI) members 'criminals' and said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government has 'let loose such a deranged man'.
'Dialogue is the soul of democracy which should not be denied, but it was by Mrs Gandhi,' says Mohan Dharia who resigned as a Union minister in protest against her policies.
Gandhi said the BJP, in power in Madhya Pradesh since 2003, is only working for a few rich people.
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
'India may be new to world politics and her military strength insignificant in comparison with that of the giants of our epoch.' 'But India is old in thought and experience and has travelled through trackless centuries in the adventure of life.' 'Throughout her long history she has stood for peace and every prayer that an Indian raises, ends with an invocation to peace.' Jawaharlal Nehru's memorable speech to the United States Congress.
The state government had earlier said the 182-metre tall statue will be inaugurated on Sardar Patel's birth anniversary on October 31 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
...Is a cultural swaraj under way, wonders Ajit Balakrishnan.
'In Western UP, last time a lot of Dalits voted for the BJP.' 'This time, there is a rethink among Dalits about the extent of their support for the BJP.'
'Rahul Gandhi might not be holding any post as of now but everyone knows that he is the "captain of the ship'
Barring 2004 and 2009 when Navjot Singh Sidhu won the Amritsar seat as a BJP MP and 1998 when Daya Singh Sodhi from BJP was elected as the MP, it has essentially a Congress bastion.
"75 years ago our country showed the whole world the strength of walking on the path of truth and non-violence. Today, we are remembering the sacrifice of all freedom fighters by taking out an 'Azadi Gaurav March' with our Congress family," he said.
Irani attacked Rahul Gandhi on his home turf on the food park issue, charging that he was more interested in protecting the interests of a business house.
Referencing to a decline in manufacturing in democratic countries such as India and the US in recent years as production shifted to China, Gandhi said the shift had produced mass inequality and anger which needed urgent attention and dialogue.
'If one looks at it closely, this reflects the BJP's frustration and its fear of defeat'
Anil Shastri, one of the late prime minister's six children, recounts memories of his father.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf wonders why no one objects to jokes about Rahul Gandhi, but are upset when Lata Mangeshkar and Sachin Tendulkar are mocked.
The teary-eyed Congress worker said he committed a "grave error" and appealed to the party workers and leaders to accept his apology.
All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi faced some uncomfortable questions when he went for an interactive session at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the bastion of Left-leaning students, on Tuesday.
A new Congress leader may make an electoral impact by his very presence. Congress voters who had moved away from the party, after being influenced by the BJP's 'family rule' campaign, can now return with a certain moral satisfaction, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The 144-page book titled Mahatma Gandhi -- Images and Ideas for Non-Violence has been authored by broadcast journalist Vijay Rana. It was released at a function in Nehru Centre on Wednesday night.
'It would indeed be difficult for someone from outside the Gandhi family to run the party'
The National Democratic Alliance convener alleged that it was a "conspiracy to demoralise the armed forces" whether it was Kargil purchases, the Tehelka expose or the coffin issue.
Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday said there would have been no Partition had Mohammed Ali Jinnah been made the first prime minister, adding to the row on a remark by Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav.
'... dividing society not just on religious lines, but also creating rift in families and among brothers and sisters.'
He also said if the prime minister likes abusing the Congress and his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, 'be my guest, but do your job'.
They said the proposal to bring a motion was mooted at the meeting of party MPs this morning and Congress leaders are now talking to other party leaders over it.
The Modi wave has blotched the Congress party's copybook. For the first time since the Lok Sabha was constituted in 1952, the party has failed to secure enough seats to be designated as a parliamentary party, notes A Surya Prakash.
'Gandhi was ambivalent about the RSS; the Sangh, for their part, actively distrusted him.'
