Protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act turned violent in Cachar district of Assam on Sunday, with protesters throwing stones at police and the police using batons to disperse the crowd. The incident occurred in Berenga area of Silchar town where around 300-400 people protested without permission. The Cachar district administration imposed prohibitory measures across the district under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to prevent further unrest. The order prohibits gatherings of five or more people without permission, carrying weapons, organizing protests, and traffic disruptions.
'There is a saying in Assamese about inflicting pain on an adversary: He cut my hands with a sword and rubbed salt into my wounds.' 'This has never been the BJP's culture but it started happening openly and frequently under Himanta Biswa Sarma.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah accuses West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of facilitating illegal immigration from Bangladesh, leading to demographic changes. He promises to end infiltration if BJP wins the upcoming elections.
Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list commenced in nine states and three Union territories on Tuesday, amid objections from several parties with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the anti-SIR offensive in West Bengal with a rally in Kolkata and alleging 'silent, invisible rigging' through the exercise.
Senior Congress leader Ripun Bora has been summoned by Assam Police for questioning in connection with a case related to party colleague Gaurav Gogoi's alleged links with Pakistan. The summons comes after Bora publicly stated that Gogoi's wife received salaries from the Pakistan government, which prompted Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to claim that Bora "knows a lot" about Gogoi's alleged links. The case centers around allegations of Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, who is claimed to have links with Gogoi's British wife Elizabeth Colburn, interfering in India's internal affairs. Gogoi has vehemently denied the allegations and accused Sarma of making baseless accusations.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says most of those present with singer Zubeen Garg in Singapore during his death have yet to respond to CID summons, and addresses related political accusations.
'Mob fury has become very common these days. And these attacks are all planned very well.' 'In all these attacks, you see that they have a very clear cut plan to make the victims as the oppressors and the guilty.' 'The attackers escape and they face no consequences as they have the backing of some political leaders.'
'Age matters and the way Tejashwi has been doing an aggressive campaign, only a young leader like him can do it.'
Campaigning has concluded for the second and final phase of the Bihar assembly elections, marking the end of a month-long intense political battle. Key candidates and prominent leaders from various parties held rallies and roadshows to woo voters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress party of supporting terrorists groomed by Pakistan and protecting infiltrators during a rally in Assam. He also highlighted development projects undertaken by the BJP government in the state.
The Election Commission is expected to initiate a phased, pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list, prioritizing states with upcoming assembly elections. This cleanup exercise aims to weed out illegal foreign migrants and ensure accurate electoral rolls.
'Previously, contributing only 25 per cent of material costs, states now face burdens of 40 per cent to 100 per cent of total costs, ensuring poorer states will curb project approvals, directly stifling work demand.'
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and several other top leaders of the NDA.
"Around 20 candidates have been shifted to Jaipur from Assam today," said Congress chief whip in the Rajasthan assembly, Mahesh Joshi.
The Election Commission is ramping up preparations for a special intensive revision of voter lists across India, assessing the progress made on mapping current electors with voters as per the last SIR in different states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the NDA's victory in the Bihar assembly elections as a win for good governance, development, and social justice. He congratulated alliance partners and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.
A former cricketer, Devajit Saikia represented Assam in four first-class matches during the 1990s before transitioning to cricket administration.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said that Pakistani national Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, allegedly linked to Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi's British wife, has visited India 18 times. Sarma, while speaking in the state assembly, claimed that the initial information in the case is "very fatal" for the Congress and will have a "huge impact" on the politics of Assam. He also stated that the investigation findings will put some people in an indefensible position.
Security forces in Manipur have launched a major crackdown on the banned People's Liberation Army (PLA) following an ambush on an Assam Rifles convoy. Fifteen cadres have been arrested, including suspects directly involved in the attack. Investigations are underway to determine if the PLA has political patronage and if weapons looted during ethnic clashes are being used against security forces.
Newly appointed Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi has denied allegations of having links to the Pakistani establishment, calling the claims made by the BJP a "C-grade Bollywood movie" that will "flop miserably." Gogoi said he had only visited Pakistan once 12 years ago with his wife, who was working on an international project focused on climate change. He questioned why the BJP government had not acted on the allegations in the past 11 years if there was any wrongdoing. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who made the initial allegations, said he would release further evidence on September 10 after a Special Investigation Team (SIT) completes its inquiry.
Democracy in India is too important to be left to a leader with a limited appeal. If Rahul Gandhi cares for India, he should step aside for a new crop of leaders, suggests Harishchandra.
An agitated mob attacked a convoy carrying the accused in cultural icon Zubeen Garg's death case in Assam, leading to violence, property damage, and internet shutdowns.
Sixteen per cent of the candidates contesting in the first phase of Assam assembly elections have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to a report by poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
After big win in Bihar, the BJP is likely to push harder in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK government and the uneasy BJP-AIADMK alliance are preparing for a tense election filled with seat-sharing fights, changing alliances, and the unpredictable entry of Vijay's TVK party, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2016 assembly election results to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2021 battle in Assam.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
Last month, the Cabinet had approved the Repealing Bill to abolish the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorce Registration Act and Rules of 1935, which permitted underage marriages under specific conditions.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
Left to its machinations, the BJP would have loved to cut Nitish down to size, but it can't afford to do so as the JD-U is in alliance with the BJP at the Centre, and cannot form a government on its own in Bihar. For now, both need each other: Nitish for legitimacy, the BJP for numbers, points out Ramesh Menon.
Mizoram government reiterates its opposition to the Centre's plan to fence the India-Myanmar border and scrap the Free Movement Regime (FMR), citing ethnic ties and concerns for refugees.
The Congress's performance in the Lok Sabha elections showed that it may be down but not out, and Modi is determined to ensure that in the next round in 2029, it is consigned to irrelevance, points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Senior Assam Congress leader Debabrata Saikia has filed a police complaint against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for his alleged "hateful statement" such as Lok Sabha MP and former party president Sonia Gandhi's "residence should be burnt".
As soon as the House reassembled, Sarma stood to give his reply, which was objected by all opposition members saying "the matter was over".
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 31 assembly seats spread across 10 states and Kerala's Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, from where Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is making her electoral debut. Though these bye-elections are not going to have any bearing on the governments, they are seen as a big test for the Congress and the INDIA bloc which failed to put up a united show in the recent Haryana assembly polls. Most of these seats fell vacant after the sitting MLAs contested the Lok Sabha elections and won while in some constituencies, the bypolls are being held due to death of the representatives. The Wayanad seat was vacated by Rahul Gandhi, who also won from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency which he kept. Voting will be held in seven seats in Rajasthan, six in West Bengal, five in Assam, four seats in Bihar, three in Karnataka, two seats in Madhya Pradesh, and one seat each in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Meghalaya. Votes will be counted on November 23.
Political parties have fielded sons, wives and daughters-in-law of legislators who quit after being elected to the Lok Sabha.
Thousands of TMC supporters thronged the rally route, waving the party flags, raising slogans and holding aloft colourful posters.
Party general secretary Arun Singh told a press conference that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Majuli and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, constituencies these two top BJP state leaders currently represent in the 126-member assembly.
