India's second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine was commissioned into the Navy on Thursday in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who said this will further strengthen the country's nuclear triad and enhance nuclear deterrence.
Former prime minister and BJP veteran leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malaviya will be conferred with the country's highest civilian award the "Bharat Ratna" after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his consent in his regard on Wednesday.
The government has to specify what it intends to do with caste census data. It will be closely tracked if the government would simultaneously move towards removing the present 50% bar on reservations using means which are permitted in law. If this is not done, the entire exercise will become meaningless and could boomerang on the BJP, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
A strategist and a quintessential political leader with grassroots connect, Rajnath Singh is credited with expanding the Bharatiya Janata Party's organisational network in the Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s and the subsequent decades.
On January 29, the Central government had extended the ban imposed on the SIMI for five more years.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
'Indira Gandhi was a very weak person,' Kangana claimed. 'She had many crutches around and was constantly seeking validation.'
In the latest medical bulletin issued by AIIMS, the hospital said that he 'continues to respond well to treatment'.
'As events at Kargil and Pakistan's continued support to terror activities in India prove, Pakistan has always felt that the break-up/destruction of India was within its capability,' notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'It will be a long time before we will see the likes of Vajpayee again.'
As with biopics these days, Kangana Ranaut's films may be less about telling the story of a dark chapter of Indian history and more about giving fodder to those who seek to defend or justify government highhandedness today, observes Utkarsh Mishra.
Manmohan Singh represented the finest aspects of India, asserts Aakar Patel.
Vajpayee had always felt that India must act with conviction and panache. He decided that, irrespective of the attendant risks, he would undertake what many felt was a precarious course. A fascinating excerpt from N K Singh's Portraits Of Power: Half A Century Of Being At Ringside on Atalji's 96th birthday, December 25.
'During Eid Muslims get Eidi, but Opposition parties never gave that to them.' 'When PM Modi is giving Eidi to Muslims Opposition leaders are getting upset.'
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
Rediff.com reader Sathyhadeep shares his story of meeting former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The RSS chief recalled how Vajpayee "had almost solved the Kashmir issue but later governments did not follow up on Vajpayee's efforts".
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, BJP patriarch L K Advani tells CNN-IBN why he thinks former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee should be awarded a Bharat Ratna
A foreign ministry spokesman familiar with the process said Bangladesh will hand over Vajpayee's "Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War Award" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his upcoming visit to the country from June 6.
As the Lok Sabha debates a no-confidence motion brought against the Narendra Modi government by the opposition, the 28th such motion to be admitted in the Lower House, data compiled by a think tank shows all previous ones have either been defeated or remained inconclusive.
'Despite the subsequent events at Kargil and the October 12, 1999 military coup in Pakistan, the Lahore initiative firmly established Vajpayee's credentials as a crusader of peace,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Shekhar Suman joining the BJP when the nation is going to the polls is like gatecrashing into a wedding just when the guests are being served their meal.'
'He told senior journalists a few days after the Babri Masjid demolition, 'Jo hua theek hua. Maine isliye hone diya ki BJP ki rajniti hamesha ke liye khatam ho jaye.'
The first meeting of leaders of the National Democratic Alliance after the election results was held at caretaker Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's residence in New Delhi on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
Former RA&W chief A S Dulat, who served as Atalji's adviser on Kashmir, gives us an insider's glimpse of a prime minister he has hailed as the 'greatest after Nehru'.
Netflix India's content head Monika Shergill on Tuesday met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju in New Delhi, amid a row over the web series IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack.
The old Parliament building will now be known as 'Samvidhan Sadan', Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said on Tuesday as the functioning of Parliament shifted to its new building in New Delhi.
There is a proposal from the BJP camp that they would resort to a proportion-based increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for individual states, based on what they now have. On the face of it, this sounds like a fine argument that those demanding a 'freeze' now cannot oppose without reasons and justification, avers N Sathiya Moorthy.
Vajpayee had travelled to Lahore in a bus from India in 1999 and started a peace initiative with Pakistan in 2004.
The ethereal Hema Malini turns 75 on October 16, and gives us yet another reason to celebrate her.
He said Shiv Sena protected a political leadership for 25-30 years but they (the BJP) didn't want Sena and also the Akali Dal -- the erstwhile members of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Eyeing a return to winning ways in their home IPL clash with the Punjab Kings (PBKS), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) head coach Justin Langer on Saturday said the team was working hard to avoid lapses on the field and come up with a sharper display.
The matter of disqualification of 16 MLAs following the upheaval in the undivided Shiv Sena last year could have been effectively dealt with had the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) moved swiftly after the resignation of Nana Patole as the Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly, said senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Friday.
Vajpayee, who died on Thursday at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness, had made a significant diplomatic breakthrough and travelled on a bus from Amritsar to Lahore with a delegation that included the likes of Bollywood legend Dev Anand, writer Javed Akhtar and cricket icon Kapil Dev.
'In Independent India's politics you will not find any leader of a political party who has not contested elections or not held a powerful post.' 'It was only Balasaheb who never contested elections or held a post.' On the occasion of Balasaheb Thackeray's 99th birth anniversary, close aide Subhash Desai recalls vignettes about the Shiv Sena founder.
Atal (Bihari Vajpayee), Advani and Joshi have contributed a lot for the BJP to reach where it is now, he said.
BCCI banned the display of fireworks during the World Cup games in Delhi and Mumbai due to worsening air quality.
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Modi spoke to the BJP's longest serving president, who is credited with crafting the party's rise through the 90s when it came to power for the first time as the head of coalition governments under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and congratulated him.
Over the medium and long term, the BJP hopes to devour the AIADMK, they having identified the party as 'ideologically not as sound as the DMK', predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
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