Amid a row over change in stand over voting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday asserted it is a secular regional outfit and maintains equal distance from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance bloc led by the Congress.
Senior leaders of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in India are calling for action against Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sasmit Patra for allegedly creating confusion among lawmakers regarding the Waqf (Amendment) Bill. The controversy arose after Patra, despite the party's announced opposition to the Bill, revealed he had voted in favor of it and stated that MPs could vote according to their conscience. The situation has led to accusations of a possible "deal" between the BJD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
'Like people say in China they have legalised corruption. You have to pay commission for everything and commission is legalised. People say the same should be done in India, then corruption will not be a problem. It will be an acceptable route and bribes can be paid by cheque.' Badri Narayan, one of India's leading thinkers, in an outspoken interview.
Unreserved railway tickets, which are bought by 16 million passengers daily in India, will soon be available through cell phones, thanks to a major IT initiative of Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS). The CRIS official also announced that the IT-based unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), which began six years ago as a pilot project to dispense unreserved tickets through a wider and universal access to information technology, would be extended to 6,275 stations.
'People want to listen to someone who is decisive and strong. Modi has created that image. The social media, English media, have created this image and they are allergic to Rahul Gandhi, says social historian Professor Badri Narayan.
'Politics is turning into gift politics. You are distributing computers, mobiles, tablets while not focusing on production that could provide jobs so that people can sustain themselves... This way you will create a class which is dependent on the State and that will keep growing.' Badri Narayan, one of India's leading out-of-the-box thinkers, in a hard-hitting interview.
Professor Badri Narayan Tiwari, social historian and anthropologist at Allahabad's G B Pant Social Science Institute, is clearly not surprised by the UP electoral results. He tells A Ganesh Nadar why.
'We were among the first organisations to voice our opposition to the three Acts long before anyone else and had sent memorandums collected from 3,000 tehsils across the country to the agriculture ministry to amend the Bills, but nothing was accepted,' says BKS general secretary Badri Narayan Chaudhary.
In a joint address to mediapersons by CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML-Liberation in Patna, CPI state secretary Badri Narayan Lal said, "The CPI-ML (Liberation) will contest 20 seats, CPI will field candidates in eight seats and CPM will fight on five seats."
Poet Ashok Vajpeyi on Friday said he won't participate in a cultural festival as he was scheduled to because the organisers asked him not to read poems critical of the government. A spokesperson from the Rekhta Foundation, which is co-organiser of the session, denied his claim that he was being censored.
'Modi's charisma and appeal is unparalleled.' 'Yogi has his own appeal and people connect.' 'He is seen as trustworthy, hardworking and honest.' 'People feel that these qualities are both common to Yogi and Modi.'
'Ambedkar's ideas have their own teeth -- if you don't have an appetite for them, you can't swallow them.'
Hailing the role of self-help groups in advancement of marginalised section of society, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said they provide the poor with "self-confidence to overcome poverty".
Naveen Patnaik, who steered the Biju Janata Dal to a landslide victory in the Odisha assembly elections, was on Wednesday sworn in as chief minister for a fourth consecutive term.
A septuagenarian widow has received family pension after waiting for over half a century for it.
Ashok Chowdhury, a Dalit politics expert said, "BJP had impressed the Dalits in the 2014, 2017 and 2019 elections, but it's difficiult to retain them now".
Electoral politics is going to be an important part of farmer protests going forward.
The BJP's bucket list this time includes districts such as Sultanpur, Aligarh, Firozabad, Deoband, Ghazipur, Basti and Mirzapur -- to rename a few. Virendra Singh Rawat reports.
The Naveen Patnaik-led party bagged 112 of the 146 assembly seats despite the Modi wave in the country.
The CM recently instructed officials to prepare a roadmap for providing local jobs to about two million people, especially in the rural-based industries, such as khadi, dairy, and food processing units and MSMEs.
BJD managed to retain 112 seats securing another term for Patnaik in the CM chair.
Even as Priyanka is gaining traction among the electorate and the media, her counterpart for the western UP region, Jyotiraditya Scindia, has been low key and perceptibly missing from the 'heat and dust' of elections in UP, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
'Mohan Bhagwat is very upfront with his views and arguments.' 'Mohan Bhagwat is competent to deal with Modi's personality cult.'
'Why do the English-speaking class feel they are the only ones who are efficient in work?' 'My own mother was from a village and she was more efficient than me. She used to handle crises better than me.' 'We will have to come out of our elite perception of governance.'
'Someone who has lost a dear one to Covid; that person is not going to forget and will not vote for the BJP.'
'There is dissatisfaction and disaffection for the BJP, but there is no anti-incumbency against the government in UP.'
The protest gave a harrowing time to commuters especially office-goers as there were massive jams due to the blockades.
'Modi will not require the Ayodhya issue because he already has other emotive issues like Pakistan.' 'The BJP does not need the temple for political mobilisation anymore.'
'Muslims may turn to the BJP or may not come out to vote in great numbers like they have in the past.' 'Anything can happen.' 'They can feel an increased sense of alienation, but that depends on the BJP -- on how it includes them.'
'The BJP is not the party it was 10 years ago. It has changed. It is emerging like the Congress.' 'Sometimes, I feel the BJP has taken the Congress' space.' 'Its politics is also resembling the Congress.'
'The unusual aspect of this election is that this time there is a triangular fight.' 'Previously, the fight used to be between two parties.'
'In its history, the RSS has never seen success as it is seeing now. And it wants to extend their base.'
'She should review her strategy of social engineering and get back to the BSP's initial plank of social change.'
The ruling party is worried as the alliance represents over 50 per cent of the state's population, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
Modi's tweets talk about the celebration of democracy and also puts emphasis on the education of girls, says Mayank Mishra
Even in this season of political-peeing-on-lampposts, Rahul Gandhi's statement takes the cake (with due apologies to another astute observer of poverty, the much late Mary Antoinette).
The BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will need to break several records to emerge victorious in the next Lok Sabha elections. Mayank Mishra reports.
The Congress, which had fought nine, lost all but managed to retain Kishanganj.
'Rahul Gandhi was given the impression that if the seat was given to me, then the alliance would be broken in all 40 seats.'
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