Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership, delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of leaders leave it.
References to freedom fighter and India's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
"Several (Congress) meetings happened, but not even a single suggestion was taken," Azad said.
Seventeen former leaders of the Democratic Azad Party (DAP), including ex-deputy chief minister Tara Chand and ex-Pradesh Congress Committee chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, on Friday returned to the Congress fold and were welcomed back by the party which said they were on a 'leave of two months'.
Mubashir Azad, the son of Azad's youngest brother, also said his uncle was "disrespected" by the Congress leadership which hurt him.
Azad said the Bhim Army will run parallel to the party and continue to fight for Dalit rights and enrol new members.
Afsar Dayatar/Rediff.com captures glimpses of Simran Shaikh returning home to Dharavi, a couple of days after she became the most expensive hire at the Women's Premier League auction in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Months after exiting the decades-long association with the Congress party, Azad said that he was not against its policy of secularism, but its weak party system.
It took Udham Singh 21 years to avenge the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. And 34 years for his remains to return to India after execution in a British prison.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the agenda of the new political outfit would be to struggle for the restoration of J and K's statehood and to fight for the job and land rights of people.
'Nothing has been removed or added to my Twitter profile. The profile is as it was earlier'
The Pakistan army's Bahawalpur Corps has always had a special significance for India as it keeps an eye on the Jaish e Mohammed, explains Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The Congress on Friday called senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation 'unfortunate' and termed the timing 'awful', saying it has come at a time when the party is engaged in combating the Bharatiya Janata Party on various issues.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday launched a veiled attack on Congress leaders and said he gave sweat and blood for the party unlike those who are spreading 'falsehood' through social media.
While a tweet from a close aide of the Gandhi's and the Chief Whip of the party in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh took a dig on Azad for accepting the award, Congress stalwarts from the G-23 group have congratulated him for the 'well-deserved' award.
'Wait for more action the day after (the Friday meeting).'
'A man who has been treated with the greatest respect by the Congress leadership has betrayed it by his vicious personal attacks which reveals his true character. GNA's DNA has been Modi-fied,' Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
Mumbaikars were in for a pleasant surprise when they saw Aamir Khan at the airport with his ex-wife Kiran Rao and their son Azad Rao Khan.
Several opposition MPs in India have criticized the government's handling of the deportation of Indian citizens from the United States, questioning the treatment they received. A US military aircraft carrying 104 Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar, India, on Wednesday, marking the first batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump administration as part of a crackdown on illegal immigration. The deportees reported being handcuffed throughout the journey, sparking protests from opposition leaders who staged a demonstration in Parliament wearing handcuffs. While the government maintains it will address the issue at a later time, opposition members condemned the treatment of the Indians and questioned the government's handling of the situation.
A US military aircraft carrying 104 illegal Indian immigrants landed in Amritsar on Wednesday, the first such batch of Indians deported by the Donald Trump government as part of a crackdown against illegal immigrants.
Viral videos of a senior female professor getting 'married' to a student in the classroom at a state-run university in West Bengal triggered a furore, following which an inquiry was ordered on Wednesday, officials said.
'It was inspired by the Hamas attack and was like their attack -- well planned and well executed.'
'The BJP had a big threat from the Congress in J&K, therefore they were threatened by us.'
Shaheed was Manoj Kumar's first patriotic success. This small-budget black-and-white film had enormous impact, besides laying the foundation for Manoj's famous flag-waving Mr Bharat image that was strengthened by a string of subsequent films like Upkar, Purab Aur Paschim and Kranti.
Simran Shaikh stays in a tiny 12 by 12 feet room along with her grandmother, parents and siblings. On Sunday, her life changed perhaps forever when she became the most expensive hire at the Women's Premier League auction.
Azad would be accorded a grand reception on his arrival from Delhi Sunday morning, and a procession would accompany him to the venue of the public meeting at the Sainik Colony.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced reservation for Muslims in supplying goods and services up to a value of Rs 1 crore to various government departments, corporations and institutions in the state budget for 2025-26. The budget also increased the value limit of government contracts in which Muslims can avail reservation to Rs 2 crore. The reservation to Muslims under 2B category is in addition to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Castes coming under Category-1, Category-2A. The budget also included various welfare schemes for minorities, including Rs 50,000 to support simple marriages and Rs 1,000 crore under the Chief Minister's Minority Colony Development Programme.
Azad, 73, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ended his five-decade association with the Congress on Friday, terming the party "comprehensively destroyed" and lashing out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing" its entire consultative mechanism.
A member of the 1983 cricket World Cup-winning squad, Azad was suspended from the Bharatiya Janata Party for openly targeting the then Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over alleged irregularities and corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association in December 2015. He joined the Congress in 2018.
'After being married for almost 18 years, and since there was never any rancour between us, we are still very close, as parents of Azad, as colleagues in the film work that we do, and as friends.'
Crime Beat is engrossing enough to binge-watch, endorses Deepa Gahlot.
Azad, who had served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Union minister under various prime ministers and the chief minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, refused to divulge any further details on the formation of his new party.
In his maiden rally in Kashmir Valley after quitting the Congress last month, he said only a government with a two-thirds majority in Parliament can ensure the restoration of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
The stars Rediff.com Contributing Photographer Pradeep Bandekar sighted on Tuesday.
A war of words erupted in the Indian Parliament on Tuesday between Samajwadi Party (SP) MPs and BJP MP Hema Malini over the alleged mismanagement at the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. SP leaders accused the Uttar Pradesh government of failing to provide adequate food, water, and fuel, leading to the deaths of devotees. Hema Malini, however, defended the event's organization, claiming it was well-managed despite a stampede that occurred on January 29th.
Though the party has made no announcement, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, is being seen as the frontrunner for the key position.
The Congress on Wednesday said senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was consulted several times before finalising the names in the revamped Jammu and Kashmir unit of the party, rejecting reports that the former Union minister was not on board.
The Supreme Court has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Delhi Police's handling of appeals against acquittals in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases. The court emphasized the need for serious and earnest prosecution, not just for the sake of it. This comes in the wake of a public interest litigation filed by a former Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee member, seeking justice for the victims of the violence.
'We repent our decision today as we feel we betrayed our (Congress) party, while the DAP betrayed us'
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