The event was attended by senior Congress leaders such as former prime minister Manmohan Singh
Dhankar wins vice presidential election by bagging more than 500 votes.
BKS and BMS leaders have told the BJP leadership that it is staring at a build-up of anti-government propaganda in the run-up to polls in five states.
The fifth round of talks was held on December 5, while the sixth round originally scheduled for December 9 was called off after an informal meeting of Home Minister Shah with some union leaders failed to reach any breakthrough.
A political slugfest broke out on Wednesday between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cavalcade, in a major security breach, got stranded on a flyover, 30 km away from Hussainiwala in Punjab, as a group of protesting farmers blocked his route.
BMS, BKS and SJM are trying to forge common cause with outfits on the other side of the ideological divide over the government's policies they are not in agreement with.
They alleged that while the two main political parties in the state -- the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party -- have 'cheated' them, the other parties are 'ineffective'.
If the protests have cemented the ties between the peasantry and the traders, the political implications for the BJP might become too serious to be disregarded because its core base was made up of the urban Khatri merchants.
'Modi is now the biggest messiah of OBCs and Dalits as V P Singh once was.'
The poll results will depend much on whether the caste and community coalition worked out by Akhilesh can withstand the onslaught of the Hindutva forces who have increased their efforts to polarise the electorate on communal lines.
Modi said the newly-sworn in government took four major decisions related to farmers' and traders welfare in the first meeting of the Union Cabinet.
'Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called us for a meeting in March 2016 and we submitted the same charter of demands that we are submitting now.' 'He gave us wishy-washy assurances.' 'We thought he was the new chief minister and we believed him, but later we found out that nothing is moving on the ground.' 'This time we want a written assurance and a concrete timetable for implementation.' 'We will not leave Mumbai, come what may.'
Radha Mohan Singh appointed in-charge of politically crucial UP. Kailash Vijayvargiya will continue to be the in-charge of West Bengal and he will be assisted by BJP national secretary Arvind Menon and party national IT cell head Amit Malviya.
"The death knell of Mamata Banerjee's regime has rung. We will form the next government in Bengal with a two-third majority," he added.
A Bharatiya Janata Party MLA in Punjab was allegedly thrashed and his clothes torn by a group of farmers at Malout in Muktsar district on Saturday, police said.
From the Republic Day violence to Lakhimpur Kheri incident and terms such as 'toolkit' and andolanjeevi entering the Indian political lexicon, it was controversies galore during the year-long farmers' movement against the contentious agri laws.
'By holding forth on Swadeshi economics, Bhagwat is showing his intent to fight back,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Thorat, 66, has been a farmers' leader and has been involved in the cooperative movement in Maharashtra. He is also a former revenue minister
'He will continue to fight against the BJP, Modi and RSS.'
Modi hit out at deleterious influences from abroad, referring to them as 'foreign destructive ideology', as well as a new "breed" of agitators -- 'Andolan-jivi' -- in the country who cannot live without a tumult.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit was cut short on Wednesday after a "major security lapse" as he was stranded on a flyover for 20 minutes due to a blockade by protesters, prompting the Union Home Ministry to seek an immediate report from the state government and strict action against those responsible.
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
The June 13, 2005 incident claimed five lives, including that of a pregnant woman, and left 21 injured.
'In North India, brother kills brother for a small piece of land. So if the perception goes that the government has come to snatch away land, then the issue can go to any extent.'
The second list has named 16 candidates from Uttar Pradesh and five from Maharashtra.
The mortal remains of Lakhbir Singh were cremated at his native village in Punjab's Tarn Taran amid tight security in the presence of his family members. No Sikh priest was present to perform Ardas (Sikh religious prayer) and no one from his village, Cheema Kalan, attended the last rites.
The BJP would want that by March 2022, when UP votes, the economy starts looking up and it heads into the polls with no other issue distracting from its main poll plank of the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The ultimate consequences of Rahul Gandhi's yatra may be known only in 2024, points out Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh told PTI that preliminary information from the scene suggests there was a minor altercation among some young boys, and within seconds, there was a stampede situation.
A day ahead of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's visit to Rajasthan to raise the voice of the farmers against the farm laws, he said that the Centre should withdraw the laws and after thorough consultation with farmers and states, come up with a new set of legislations which the tillers would themselves want and is not something that is forced upon them.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday strongly defended the three new agri laws saying their benefits have begun reaching 10 crore small farmers instantly, and condemned as 'very unfortunate' the Republic Day violence and 'dishonour' to the tricolour during the tractor parade by the protesting farm unions in New Delhi.
Another bill related to the farm sector, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, was passed on Tuesday.
"Farmers would like to remind the PM that it is 'andolans' that have liberated India from colonial rulers and that is why we are proud to be 'Andolan-jivi'."
The parties also said that the decision has come in late and had the Modi government shed its 'arrogance earlier' and repealed the laws opposed by farmers, a number of precious lives lost during the nearly year-long agitation could have been saved.
The Shiromani Akali Dal chief said the passage of the Bills marks a 'sad day' for the 'country's millions and for democracy'.
Shah, who held a closed door meeting to take stock of the party organisation, said he could 'sense massive public anger' against the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state and gave a call to 'uproot' it in the state polls.
'I was not really aware that this movement was slyly being propped up by the BJP and RSS.'
Banerjee said she would stand by the Dalit community till the end as her caste is "humanity" and she does not believe in differentiation on the grounds of caste and religion.
'The BJP's all-India plans can be expected to become clearer around 2022-2023, particularly if -- as some anticipate -- the senior Congress leadership cracks, broadly as between the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists and those who may be termed 'pro-changers',' observes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
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