The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also claimed that the entire controversy was an "international conspiracy by the Left-wing organisations, including Amnesty International," to defame the Narendra Modi-led Central government.
As a consequence of prominence given to the brutality during those few days, a very important aspect of that episode got almost glossed over. This was the intervention by a very significant section of people who restored faith in humanity, and conveyed the message that only a small section of Indians, that too politically backed, were consumed by anti-Sikh majoritarianism. The overlooked facet of the events of 1984 was the story of significant sections of the city's populace, public figures and nondescript ones, stepping out hand-in-hand, to first stand with little but bravery in hands, in the way of attackers, and thereafter to provide immediate relief to those who lives were uprooted and who lost family members in the violence, recalls Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
The Congress and All India United Democratic Front will battle it out in the seven constituencies of Assam's minority-dominated Dhubri district bordering Bangladesh in the second phase of polling on April 11.
All 18 members of opposition All India United Democratic Front were expelled from the Assam assembly on Monday, the opening day of the monsoon session by Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi amidst noisy scenes.
The AGP, an ally of the BJP, voted for the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, after Amit Shah's assurance. However, the scale, intensity and, persistence of the anti-CAA protests since then have taken it by surprise.
The Election Commission on Thursday removed Meghalaya police chief Kulbir Krishan following complaints against him in order to ensure free and fair state assembly polls on February 23.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate, and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
Bodo tribals influence as many as 30 seats. No wonder, national parties are keen to forge alliances with Bodo groups.
The encounter took place when the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group of J&K Police launched a joint cordon and search operation at Dhari Gote Urarbagi in Desa forest belt, some 55 km from Doda town, late Monday evening, the officials said.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Monday claimed that over 300-odd cadres, belonging to the banned United Liberation Front of Asom and the anti-peace talks faction of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland, were hiding in Bangladesh. He claimed that at least ten top ranking leaders of the ULFA had taken refuge in the neighbouring country and were operating from there.'ULFA chief Paresh Barua and NDFB chief Ranjan Daimary keep shifting their locations,'Gogoi said
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
Following a crucial round of talks between the UPDS leadership and Centre's peace interlocutors P C Haldar and Joint Secretary (Home) Sambhu Singh in New Delhi on Monday, the outfit's general secretary Haren Singh Bey informed the media that all the contentious issues had been resolved in the meeting and that the ball was now in the court of the government decide on signing of a peace accord.
'The violence that shook Assam was a direct outcome of the state's ethnic problem... The tension that created a rift between the Bodos and the non-Bodos for years found a blood-spattered expression.' Former NSG chief Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Kokrajhar, speaks to Indrani Roy/Rediff.com about last week's carnage in Assam.
There will be 2,364 counting halls as compared to 1,002 halls in 2016 in 822 assemble constituencies, a more than 200 percent increase, in view of the COVID guidelines, according to the Election Commission which had drawn flak from the courts over the conduct of polls during the pandemic.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The National Investigation Agency and Nagaland Police have arrested three suspected activists of NDFB-S, including Ajoi Basamutary on whose alleged instructions 36 people were killed in Assam's Sonitpur area last month.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
The renowned education reformist said the end of the hunger strike is the beginning of the new phase of the ongoing agitation.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Life was hit in lower Assam for the second day on Tuesday in three bandhs called to press for Bodoland and Kamtapur, while Karbi Anglong, which had erupted over statehood demand on the lines of Telangana, was slowly limping back to normal.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will get a 'decisive mandate' in the Lok Sabha polls and may take even less than 48 hours to decide on its prime ministerial pick, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday, asserting that it stands to reason that the party which gets the maximum seats in the alliance will be a 'natural claimant' for its leadership.
The setback promises to have far-reaching ramifications within and outside the party as it is likely to fuel voices that have challenged the Gandhi family's leadership and also those who have been a votary of a non-Congress front to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A joint team of army and police gunned down hardcore militant Elion Daimary alias Engarlang affiliated with the Bodoland mutant.
In a joint operation conducted by Army and Assam police, one NDFB(S) over ground worker was apprehended in Shimlabagan village in Chirang Reserve Forest area of Chirang district on Monday.
Newly floated Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), led by former All Assam Students' Union leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi, on Thursday forged an alliance with the Raijor Dal of jailed anti-citizenship law activist Akhil Gogoi for the upcoming assembly elections.
The elections in two eastern Indian states were keenly observed in Bangladesh for two major contentious issues, writes Prakash Bhandari from Dhaka.
Even as the electioneering heats up for the third and the last phase polling in Assam, main opponents the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have drawn up electioneering strategies to outsmart each other.
81 per cent voter turnout recorded in West Bengal, 80 per cent in Assam.
Accusing the BJP of adopting an anti-Assam policy, Mahanta said, "Let the BJP form a new government alone. We will welcome that".
Nineteen political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, received over Rs 1,100 crore during assembly polls in five states and Union territories in 2021 and spent over Rs 500 crore, a big chunk of which went towards advertisements and travel expenses for star campaigners, a study said on Friday.
Along with Dr Singh, AGP candidate Kumar Deepak Das also won the second RS seat from the state.
China has long coveted Arunachal Pradesh, which it calls Southern Tibet. But, as Venkataraghavan Subha Srinivasan explains, in 1947, the present state of Arunachal Pradesh constituted the North East Frontier Tract of Assam. When India adopted its Constitution on 26 January 1950, NEFT became 'a separate politico-administrative entity' although it was constitutionally still a part of Assam. Its administration was brought directly under the President of India with the Governor of Assam acting as his agent. A revealing excerpt from his book The Origin Story of India's States.
The Grand Old Party must bring widespread reforms across all levels of the organisation to show it is no longer in a state of inertia and to present itself as a viable political alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress veteran Kapil Sibal said.
In the Congress, Sushmita Dev enjoyed the indulgence of the Gandhi family. She has been true to them and has been graceful in her gratitude to the party that gave her unparalleled political opportunities.
'The Kuki-Zo are aware of this rich resource in their areas and feel the Meitei push for ST status is because of this reason'.
As counting is on in the five states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal -- here's a look at where the heavyweights stand.
