The spark for the raging violence was lit by demonstrations by tribal groups against a move to grant the majority Meiteis the Scheduled Tribe status, which the residents of the hills had been enjoying for decades since Independence.
Sarma's eyes, according to those close to him, were always set on the top job in Assam. However, the leader who owed his early rise to two former chief ministers from the Congress had to toil for many years with dogged determination to achieve his goal.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was given a one-year extension on Thursday, beyond his present tenure that was to end next week, according to an official order from the personnel ministry.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has handed over portfolios of nine rebel ministers, who are currently camping in Guwahati, to other ministers.
The death toll on Wednesday climbed to 68 in the series of attacks by suspected Bodo militants belonging to the National Democratic Front of Bodoland faction in Sonitpur and Kokrajhar districts of Assam while the Centre was rushing additional forces to the state.
Almost a week after winning the Assam Assembly polls, Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to decide on the name of its Chief Ministerial nominee on Saturday in a crucial meeting called by the central leadership of the party.
New Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Monday said controlling the 'alarming' COVID-19 situation in the state is his first priority and his aim will be to make the state one of the top five in the country in the next five years.
Jay Shah, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will continue as BCCI secretary for his second consecutive term.
The real brilliance of this RSS campaign, therefore, lies in building a dominant power base with, and for, a mostly non-RSS leadership. That is why the rise of the BJP in Assam is their stand-out victory, says Shekhar Gupta.
On Thursday, violent mobs went on the rampage in the Nagaland capital vandalising and setting on fire government offices and vehicles, prompting deployment of five columns of army to bring the situation under control.
'Deeply hurt by Modi's conspicuous silence for over a month-and-a-half since the outbreak of violence, people in Manipur came on the roads and crushed their radio sets to express their frustration and anger.' 'The fact that Modi's Mann Ki Baat did not have a single reference to the Manipur violence further accentuated this hurt and anger.'
The decision comes at a time when Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is holding the executive meeting of Shiv Sena.
Mehbooba also became the second Muslim woman to become the chief minister of any state in India.
Nine more bodies were recovered from a village in Baksa district on Saturday morning, taking the toll to 32 in the violence unleashed by National Democratic Front of Bodoland-Songbijit militants in Bodoland Territorial Administration Districts area in Assam.
'There are people who left and abused the party, so they should not be taken back'
Electioneering for the third and the final phase of polling in Assam to be held on April 24 in six constituencies - Gauhati, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Mangaldoi and Nowgong -- came to an end on Tuesday afternoon with the election department expecting a high turn out on the basis of overwhelming response of voters in the last two phases of polling in the state.
The recent bouts of violence by suspected Bodo militias that killed over 30 hapless 'Muslims, mostly children and women, and rendered several thousands homeless in lower Assam recently, once again offers a shocking glimpse of the horrendous game of violent communalism being played by the Congress government of Assam in furtherance of its cynical power politics for the last several years.' 'The result is, the state is a simmering communal cauldron that sporadically erupts at the slightest real or imagined provocation,' says R N Ravi.
'We have raised our complaints with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, that it was getting difficult to work with the NCP and Congress ministers'
'Till the time the chief minister continues to have command over the state forces, we don't think that gives any hope of peace coming back to Manipur.'
The prime minister came down heavily on the Congress government in Assam and the previous UPA government at the Centre for "failing" to fulfil dreams and aspiration of the people.
What some of our leaders were up to on Thursday and Thursday.
More than three years after assuming office, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will effect a major reshuffle of his ministry on Sunday in a bid to refurbish administration with several ministers facing the axe.
The elections in two eastern Indian states were keenly observed in Bangladesh for two major contentious issues, writes Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.
The rebel members of Legislative Assembly of the ruling Congress in Assam on Saturday apparently failed to cause much discomfort for veteran Tarun Gogoi, the chief minister, in the special sitting of the legislature party. At the end Gogoi came out victorious with all the MLAs promising to try winning all the 14 Lok Sabha seats for the party in Assam in the next general election.
After a revolt in the Shiv Sena, party president Uddhav Thackeray was ready to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra if the dissidents dumped rebel leader Eknath Shinde, a proposal that was unacceptable to rebel MLAs and the national saffron outfit, legislator Deepak Kesarkar claimed on Friday.
'We are the real Shiv Sena and we will remain in the Sena.'
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday and Tuesday.
Authorities have put almost the entire country under lockdown, banning gathering of people and suspending road, rail and air traffic till March 31.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
In a subtle warning to the Shiv Sena rebels currently camping in Guwahati, party leader and cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray has said the road from Mumbai airport to Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex in Mumbai, goes via Worli.
Keeping patience is the need of the hour, Sena MP Krupal Tumane
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has made it clear that there was no proposal to recommend dissolution of the state assembly.
Shergill said the primary reason was that "the ideology and the vision of the current decision makers of the Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India".
Indicating a shift in stand, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Thursday said his party is open to consider quitting Maharashtra's ruling alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) if the rebel MLAs camping in Assam return and discuss their grievances with CM Uddhav Thackeray, while coalition allies Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress vowed support to the beleaguered governing bloc and asserted its majority can only be determined in the assembly and not outside.
With the Rajya Sabha term of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ending, the BJP will have no Muslim MP among its 395 members of Parliament.
Addressing the Sena workers in Mumbai for the second consecutive day, he also said that doors of the state and party are closed for the rebels MLAs.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
Addressing a press conference, minister Neiba Kronu said members of the government's Core Committee on the Naga political issue will have a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), in Kohima on December 9 to decide on the approach in the aftermath of the civilian killings.
The BJP has changed five chief ministers since 2019, including in Gujarat and Karnataka.
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