After spending nearly 50 years in a colonial bungalow at 24, Akbar Road, the Congress moved into a new office on January 15. Rasheed Kidwai, who knows the history of the Congress better than the Congress, looks back at the people who breathed life into this address.
'A less tense US-China relationship would make Beijing less likely to provoke India -- including on the border -- in retaliation for its close defence ties with the US.'
'On October 12-13, he started shivering from fear in his tent.' 'That was the time he wrote a letter to my mother to conduct Ganeshji's Atharvashirsha.' 'The moment he finished writing that letter, he told us, he felt serene calmness.'
'He may respect others, but he is unlikely to admire them'
'The touchstone is reciprocity which will be applied to friends and foes alike.' 'It will be a bitter pill to swallow.'
'You have to separate the concept of India as a nation State which is very young and the Upanishadic wisdom which is timeless.'
Bill Aitken came to India nearly 60 years ago. He never returned. An Indian citizen since 1972, he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how India changed his life forever.
'I will never ever forget Paatal Lok 2 because I left for the shoot the night I got married!'
'UPSC is a very tough exam. I am trying my best to make a success out of it.'
'I will win the election. The Congress and BJP are fighting for second place.'
'My father died in the liberation struggle. Bangladesh is our Motherland. This is home,' says Monindra Kumar Nath, a Hindu who has lived his 74 years in Dhaka.
'If you stay out of power for long, you become irrelevant, your party members become restless and start looking to jump ship.'
'The nation cannot afford a government indifferent to its plight/'
'Neither are Baloch insurgents capable of breaking up Pakistan, nor has Pakistan learned any lessons from the 1971 debacle that led to the country's dismemberment.'
'Trump administration wanted a positive tone at this summit, but there was still some anxiety that there could be some awkward moments -- and there were not.'
'The government is saying 88 Hindus have been killed, but it could be much more.' 'Their properties are being looted, their businesses have been ransacked. I am getting distress calls from there.' 'Muslims who believe in the philosophy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are also under attack. Most of those who have fled Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's fall are Muslims.'
Christina Rindiki's all-women team on the India-Myanmar border in Champhai, Mizoram, delivers 300 plus Amazon packets daily. The women handle all aspects of the operation and made around 450 deliveries per day this month alone. This is their story.
'Jairam Mahto's new party dented the NDA because he pulled a lot of the OBC vote.'
'India mattered to him and he wanted to matter to India.'
'General Paddy was amongst the last line of generals who stood by his convictions and brooked no interference in matters which were his domain.' Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah (retd) salutes his former chief who passed away on August 19.
'Will President Dissanayake calibrate his foreign policy taking into account India's immediate security concerns? We need to watch.'
Have You met Mr Tata, interacted with him? If you have, we would love to hear from you. Please mail your memories of your encounter with Mr Tata, complete with the date of the meeting, your full name, where you are based, what you do. And if you have a photograph of yourself with Mr Tata, please mail that too. Do mail your recollections to ReadersWriteIn@rediffmail.com
Dr Theyiesinuo Keditsu, a professor of English Literature with PhD and MPhil degrees, was spotted at a restaurant. The next day she was offered Paatal Lok 2.
'...to think apna time aa gaya after the 2024 election.'
'The visit of the honourable PM with the workable strategy towards conflict resolution will help greatly.' 'But visiting the state without concrete proposals may not bring the desired outcome at this stage.'
...'hum decide karenge kaun banega mukhyamantri. This decision is not to be taken in Mumbai.'
'He is convinced that this will help him in the next election.' 'But as we know, the best laid plans of mice and men can go awry.'
'I don't want what happened to me should happen to anyone else,' says Shagun Parihar, the BJP candidate from Kishtwar whose father and uncle were killed by terrorists.
'Ratan had the quality that JRD and Russi Mody had -- they could walk with kings and never lose the common touch.'
'Amritpal was just a plant.' 'We have to be careful that such kind of people do not emerge in Punjab.'
Arun Maira who worked for 25 years with the Tata Group, remembers his early years with Ratan Tata.
'While my generation carries with it the memory of the Chinese perfidy of 1962, this generation will carry the memory of Chinese perfidy in Galwan.'
>Rohini Acharya, Lalu Yadav's daughter who donated her kidney to her father in December 2022, is on her introductory campaign trail in the constituency that has been represented by her father four times.
'The Galwan clash in 2020 resulted in a large number of troops being moved from J&K to Eastern Ladakh which caused a thinning of deployment in the Jammu area.'
'If you want to win you need to perform.' 'Governments have found a way to buck anti-incumbency, but one policy intervention will not pay in all elections.'
BJP candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar's wife and son who keep themselves far from the political limelight reveal what it is like to campaign for the first time.
'There is a difference between a politician and leader.' 'A politician will have his pound of flesh first and do everything else later.' 'A leader will sacrifice everything to help people.'
Run by a former cricketer and son of India's military heroes, Mike's Forest Retreat is an ode to all that we hold dear.
'China did not expect India to show such strategic resolve in defending its territorial integrity.'
'Tensions and dialogue are likely to go hand-in-hand with China.' 'The goal should be to cultivate power so that one can negotiate from a position of strength.'
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