The Congress in its poll manifesto had promised to undo the changes made to school textbooks when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power, and had also promised to scrap National Education Policy.
In the soup over his remark about "crushing" the electronic media, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde went on the defensive, claiming he had referred to the social media and that "media is my friend".
Office space allotted to its functionaries at the Congress headquarters on 24 Akbar Road has, over the years, emerged as a reliable yardstick to measure a leader's standing in the party hierarchy, says Anita Katyal.
'The Emergency was a temporary affair. It was withdrawn after 20 months.' 'But we are in this situation for the last 10 years.' 'If the Emergency was jhatka, this is halal, slow killing.'
This includes over $15 billion of proposed investment in the infrastructure sector in the Indo-Pacific and $9 billion for shoring up American defence in the region.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
CM Stalin has a procedural problem. Nominating new ministers would entail his having to seek formal permission from governor R N Ravi. Stalin does not want to interact with the person of this governor, as far as possible, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Any miscalculation and miscommunication are fraught with the risk of a major catastrophe, warns Rup Narayan Das.
Pakistan has formally lodged a protest with the US over its joint statement with India against the country's involvement in cross-border terrorism.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala accused the BJP of pushing India into a dark age of religious polarisation to "subserve its parochial political agenda in the short term".
With reports surfacing of differences between Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis, Fadnavis was out seeking new allies. A disgruntled Ajit Pawar was easy to persuade.
'There must be ideological differences but Savarkar is a freedom fighter, then ask Siddaramaiah, whose poster must be put, of Dawood Ibrahim?'
Congress President Rahul Gandhi met disgruntled Karnataka MLAs led by M B Patil in the national capital but the talks remained inconclusive.
The Trinamool Congress and the Communist Party of India on Tuesday said they will skip the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building even as the war of words over the prime minister and not the President scheduled to do the honours on May 28 continued between the government and the Congress.
BJP spokesperson alleges that the then Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pulok Chatterjee would "snatch files" from Dr Manmohan Singh to take it to 10 Janpath, Sonia Gandhi's residence.
Nitin Bhatnagar, a Maltese citizen and a former relationship manager of the Bank of Singapore, was taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on Tuesday.
Surjewala statement comes after some media reports claimed that investigators questioning the suspected middleman in the 'chopper kickbacks' case were trying to extract a false confession from him that he personally knew Gandhi at the time the AgustaWestland chopper deal was finalised.
The Punjab government on Sunday banned the public display of firearms, including on social media, and songs allegedly promoting gun culture and violence, as it tightened regulations after facing flak from the Opposition over the law and order situation.
This takes the total number of apprehended persons in this case to nine, a police officer said.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday drew flak as videos purportedly showing its jailed Delhi minister Satyendar Jain receiving massage and meeting visitors in his prison cell emerged, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress demanding his sacking and questioning the 'silence' of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The new report highlights how different parts of the intelligence community have arrived at disparate judgments about the pandemic's origin.
India in the past rejected similar reports.
A video showing the incident involving school teacher, Tripta Tyagi, and the Class 2 boy in Muzaffarnagar has gone viral on social media eliciting strong words from several political parties.
Rahul Gandhi-led Congress is undoubtedly making all efforts to correct the public perception about the party and the ruling alliance but it is proving to be an uphill task. Rediff.com's Anita Katyal reports
Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at Gandhi over his claims of being under surveillance by intelligence agencies and accused him of maligning India on foreign soil.
Portfolios were on Tuesday allocated in the new Bihar cabinet headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, predictably, retained the all-important home department which helps him keep direct control on the state police.
No violation of rules or regulations were found in the transfer of land by businessman Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality to realty major DLF, the Haryana government has told the Punjab and Haryana high court in Chandigarh.
In a snub to party leaders speaking out without authorisation, Congress on Monday virtually issued a gag order asking those not designated as official spokespersons not to air their views through the media.
The group's digital news site had put out reports, along with pictures, on dead bodies of suspected coronavirus patients floating down the river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which had led to nationwide consternation.
'If they are not, then the Modi government should order a JPC immediately.'
Under constant attack for remaining incommunicado during crucial periods, both Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi are now making a special effort to come out of their cocoons and articulate their views on key issues, says Anita Katyal.
Apparently disapproving Law Minister Salman Khurshid's controversial remarks regarding Election Commission censuring him on minorities' sub-quota issue, Congress on Sunday said the party always wants its leaders to speak as per the norms of public life and law of the land.
Secularism as a principle and practice in India is in "danger", but "forces of hatred" cannot alter the country's secular character, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said during an interview on his new book 'The Battle of Belonging'. In the book, Tharoor makes a stinging critique of the Hindutva doctrine, asserting that it is a political doctrine, not a religious one.
Chandrasekhar was reacting to the arrest of Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party leader S G Suryah under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act allegedly over a social media post.
Mishra was catapulted to the chief ministership of Bihar following the assassination of his elder brother Lalit Narayan Mishra in 1975.
With Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi evincing personal interest in the party's media outreach strategy, its communications, publicity and publications department is currently witnessing an unusual flurry of activity.
The Congress on Thursday questioned the decision of State Bank of India to give $1 billion loan to Adani group for the development of Carmichael coal mine during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's just concluded visit to Australia.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who had gone abroad for a "routine checkup" on February 27 following a surgery six months back, returned to New Delhi on Monday.
For the most battle-hardened, specialised and successful counter-insurgency army in the world, this is an unfamiliar, first-time experience of dealing with the north east's deepest complexities, observes Shekhar Gupta.
He said the answer to the Congress' current challenges lies in a combination of effective leadership and organisational reforms.
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