Former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, who resigned from service in 2019 as a mark of protest against the "shutdown" of Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, joined the Congress on Monday.
'You don't have to lose your identity to be part of Congress. You can be who you are, as long as you believe in the core principle of strong citizenry and nation-building through that concept'
'What governments have been doing -- in civil service, journalism, business, everywhere -- is making it difficult to do the right thing.' 'Media now ask themselves: "Is it feasible for us to do this story? Will this make our life difficult?"' 'The government should make it easier for people to do the right thing and harder to do the wrong thing. Right now, it's the opposite.'
From all indications, Sunil Kanugolu is here to stay, though whether his magic will help the Congress in the northern states in the Lok Sabha elections remains to be seen, wonders Aditi Phadnis.
With Kanhaiya Kumar likely to join the Congress party on Tuesday, CPI Bihar state secretary Ram Naresh Pandey on Tuesday confirmed that some days ago Kanhaiya had taken out the AC installed by him in the CPI's state office in Patna.
In a message to the student leader -- the screenshot of which the student activist put up on Twitter -- Poojary said, "Just shut your mouth or we will shut your mouth forever. Tell Umar Khalid and Jignesh Mewani also. Mafia don Ravi Poojary."
Gujarat Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and student activists Shehla Rashid and Gurmehar Kaur accompanied the former JNUSU president.
'Like one-one drop of water fills earthen pots and one-one brick helps to construct a house, donation of Rs 1 to my campaign fund will help me fight to take the voices of marginalised and exploited people to Parliament.'
This senior cop who deposed in such detail about the Elgar Parishad, however, claimed to know nothing about the opposition to it from organisations such as Milind Ekbote's Samastha Hindu Aghadi as well as Pune's then Mayor Mukta Tilak.
'But will there be matching action as far as tribals are concerned on the ground?'
On joining the party, Kumar said, "I am joining Congress because it's not just a party, it's an idea. It's a country's oldest and most democratic party, and I am emphasising on 'democratic'...Not just me many think that country can't survive without the Congress..."
'They killed one Gauri, but now there will be lakhs of people who will continue to do Gauri's work.'
None of them had anything to do with the violence at Bhima Koregaon, where they were not even present, points out Aakar Patel.
A students' march against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Saturday featured issues beyond free speech, with "simmering discontent" against the Narendra Modi government finding expression through colours, posters and poetry.
'The BJP must realise that a resurgent Rahul Gandhi will take the battle straight into its camp.' 'He is not going to be held back by the misdeeds of UPA 1 and 2, so there is no point harping on them,' says Sanjeev Nayyar.
The party is set to rule the state for the sixth term.
'Who will vote for and against who will be clear once the election results are declared on December 18.'
An SIT officer probing the murder case said the investigation is in final stage and a chargesheet will be filed in two months.
Despite being hailed as one of India's most progressive and most developed states, it is witnessing the fallout of lopsided progress.
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
M D Riti remembers Gauri Lankesh, the courageous journalist who was murdered in Bengaluru on Tuesday night.
'It will not be a battle of unequals as it may have been thought a few months ago, but one on more or less a level playing field.' 'The Gujarat outcome cannot but breathe new life into the Congress for having almost succeeded in bearding the lion in its den,' says Amulya Ganguli.
''The Congress has forgotten how to mobilise people on political issues,' says Aakar Patel.
'It is very hard to get the police to file a report against someone from an upper caste.' 'Things are so bad that sometimes we have to sit on a dharna with the body of a Dalit victim to get the police to file a complaint.'
'In Bihar, the Dalits are not a consolidated socio-political constituency,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'Gujarat is a high turnout state and the BJP, even if it leads opinion polls, must ensure that its base comes out and votes.' 'The Congress can be confident that, even though its base is smaller, their voters will turn out because they are angry.'
'Had Sam Bahadur not dictated the timing of India's military intervention, Bangladesh would not have been created without a prolonged battle.' 'Manekshaw's strategy won the war for India in just 13 days,' says Sudhir Bisht.
Fresh protests erupted on the University of Hyderabad campus on Tuesday over the alleged suicide by Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula even as members of a social outfit tried to hold a demonstration outside the residence of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, who has been accused in the suicide case.
The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti leader said that reservation formula given by the Congress for his community will be over and above the 50 per cent quota for the Schedule Tribes, Schedule Castes and Other Backward Class.
The result in Gujarat was not as grand as the saffron party had expected as the party did not even cross its 2012 tally.
A total of 89 seats -- out of 182 -- spanning the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions, are up for grabs in the first phase with 977 candidates in the fray, including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
'The BJP will be wiped out in rural Gujarat.' 'In urban areas, its tally may come down from 55 of the 60 urban seats it won in 2012 to 35 to 40 seats this time.'
'The Gujarat model which is being shown is not the right picture.' 'Farmers are not getting their dues, youth are unemployed and factories have shut shop.'
'Gauri was a woman of great integrity and few people know how modestly she lived, generously sharing the little she had.' 'Her only asset was the home her mother built.' 'But she had even bigger riches -- her capacious heart,' remembers former husband and close friend, Chidanand Rajghatta.
'(Upper caste) leaders talk against the Constitution, reservations and the nation and still get away.'
'It will be our attempt that in order to get the country out of the condition it is in because of their (the BJP) coming to power, the Congress will go to them (leaders of parties opposed to the BJP) and if there is need for support we shall do so too.'
'Gau rakshak groups are beating Dalits and circulating videos on social media because they know that no one will touch them.'
The narrow win in Gujarat can be contributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his no-holds-barred approach and party president Amit Shah who plays to win and knows that there are rules to be followed when suited and broken when needed.
'The continuing crisis in agriculture, the inability of successive governments to provide secure jobs to millions of youths having varying degrees of skills, and fragmentation of politics have created a sense of despondency.'
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