This is the first time that the House is meeting after the BJP's overwhelming victory in the recent series of assembly elections held in February-March.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
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.
An interim report on the action has also been sent by the field investigation wing of the income tax department to the Central Board of Direct Taxes in Delhi, the administrative body for the department.
Akhilesh Yadav said those who are looking for "profit" in the situation will leave.
The complaint said the video was made with an "intention to insult and defame the Vice-President of India, his caste as well as his background of farmer and as a lawyer".
The controversy over a derogatory statement, made against former prime minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee by a Congress member during the debate over the Liberhan Commission's report in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, is not likely to die down soon with the party threatening to stall Parliament till he apologises for his remarks. "I am today both sad and angry," said deputy Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
Breaking her silence on the 'cash-for-query' allegation against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, party chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that plans were in the works to expel her from Parliament but any such action would help the lawmaker from Krishnanagar ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Opposition parties Nationalist Congress Party and Samajwadi Party on Wednesday demanded reservation for OBCs in the women's reservation bill and questioned the reason for calling a special session when the bill cannot be implemented before census and delimitation.
The drama began on Friday, June 11, in Patna. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sent invitation cards to 250-odd members of the Bharatiya Janata Party national executive (their meeting was to be held over the weekend) for dinner at the chief minister's official residence. The cards were dispatched via BJP Member of Parliament Sanjay Jha to be distributed among the BJP leaders.
Both the BJP and the Congress have banked on new and young faces, some of whom have been nominated by the parties for the first time.
The meeting comes a day after Danish Ali faced verbal abuse from BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri in Lok Sabha.
Led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition members in the Lok Sabha demanded sacking of Union minister Ajay Mishra from the government in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget and claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
Union minister Chirag Paswan, who joined politics after a failed Bollywood debut, has no plans to make a comeback in films and also jokes that he is such a 'bad actor' that even his Lok Sabha colleague and first co-star, Kangana Ranaut, will not agree to share the screen space with him again.
The lower house has been witnessing daily disruptions since the winter session began last week. It had passed a bill on transgender rights on Monday.
With elections elsewhere in India showing that multi-pronged contests usually work to the BJP's favour, the party can gain if it hangs on stubbornly. In the meantime, any additional support helps. That is why the archbishop's comment attracted political traction in Kerala, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Congress on Thursday said it will continue to avail all options still available under the law after a Gujarat court rejected Rahul Gandhi's application for a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case.
The 'aura of invincibility' around Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been 'shattered' by the Indian voters who gave the Opposition a new lease on life, this is how the international media described the outcome of India's general elections.
Senior Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are accompanying Rahul Gandhi to the court.
Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day as amid uproarious scenes with the opposition and treasury benches shouting slogans.
BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, complainant in the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if the Congress leader moves a plea challenging the high court verdict refusing to stay his conviction in the Modi surname remark case.
Wayanad will continue to support Rahul but not to the same extent as in 2019, when his margin of victory had been enormous. Articulate, to the point and speaking in fluent Malayalam, CPI's Annie Raja, had the people who gathered to see her, listening in rapt attention, notes Shyam G Menon.
The party finds Uttar Pradesh members of Parliament unaware of govt schemes.
'They want to win 45 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 general elections and joining hands with Ajit Pawar is in that direction.'
Anti-Congress regional parties may have felt the possible impact of Rahul's South-North yatra, pending a second East-West padayatra, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
At a meeting of the business advisory committee of Lok Sabha, which has floor leaders of all parties besides the government representatives and is chaired by the Speaker, most political parties favoured curtailment of the session, which started on September 14 and was scheduled to conclude on October 1.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced its 15-member election committee headed by Uttar Pradesh party unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi for the assembly polls scheduled to be held next year. The committee has five former state unit presidents including Kalraj Misra, Vinay Katiyar, Kesari Nath Tripathi, Om Prakash Singh and Ramapati Ram Tripathi, Shahi told reporters.
Azad had on Saturday kicked a row by seeking to draw a parallel between the RSS and the ISIS.
The first two sessions -- held on January 6 and January 24 -- were adjourned by the presiding officer without electing a mayor as the sessions were marred by ruckus and acrimonious exchanges among the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Aam Aadmi Party.
The BJP on Wednesday rejected as 'unfounded' the opposition's demand for the resignation of Union minister Ajay Mishra 'Teni' and all but ruled out a discussion on the Lakhimpur Kheri issue as the matter is sub-judice.
Addressing a press conference, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the party's chief whip in the Upper House Jairam Ramesh alleged that the government is throttling the voice of the Opposition leaders to prevent them from raising issues of public importance.
Maybe, the need for secrecy may have tied the government's hand from sharing details in Parliament. Still, it should consider the need of sharing the utmost within any consultative committee, so that relative secrecy is still maintained. But such a course should involve the prime minister or home minister, as it is much more serious than is being made out to be, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress, NCP, RJD members staged walkout in the Lok Sabha.
The government may introduce some important bill, sources said.
on Thursday adjourned sine die, ending the four-week-long second leg of the Budget session, during which treasury and opposition members locked horns over Rahul Gandhi's 'democracy' remark and the Adani issue.
In a brief statement, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit said, Ali, MP from Amroha, has been suspended for anti-party activities.
Due to protests against the farm laws, BJP leaders could not enter villages in western UP, he said, adding the farmers can also gherao them in the future.
The Rajya Sabha chairman asked him to authenticate his assertions and refused to accept newspaper clippings that the Congress leader showed to buttress his points.
Birla informed the House that four persons have been arrested - two from inside the House, and two from outside Parliament in connection with the incident.
