Mufti said her father Sayeed was not power hungry and wanted to deliver Jammu and Kashmir from its problems and troubles.
What are the political equations, the challenges, and the threats?
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
'Till today, we don't know how many people died of Covid in India.' 'How many migrated from cities to villages during the Covid pandemic?' 'How many corporates contributed to PM Cares?'
The prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
Mishra was catapulted to the chief ministership of Bihar following the assassination of his elder brother Lalit Narayan Mishra in 1975.
'If the Congress party wants to take on the BJP it cannot do it in this fuddy-duddy, grand old party, style.'
By comparing I.N.D.IA. with banned terror outfits, Modi has exhibited the kind of nervousness never ever associated with him even at the height of the Gujarat riots, and certainly since his prime ministerial days, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On the 46th anniversary of the imposition of Emergency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those "dark days" can never be forgotten and called for taking a pledge to strengthen India's democratic spirit and live up to the values enshrined in the Constitution.
'Rahul Gandhi might not be holding any post as of now but everyone knows that he is the "captain of the ship'
The speculation was triggered after Shravan Kumar, a Bihar minister, who is also the Janata Dal-United's in-charge for UP, said there were 'demands' that the party boss enter the fray from the adjoining state.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
The Modi wave has blotched the Congress party's copybook. For the first time since the Lok Sabha was constituted in 1952, the party has failed to secure enough seats to be designated as a parliamentary party, notes A Surya Prakash.
The action came after investigations carried out by an inter-ministerial committee formed by the home ministry in 2020.
'I am the senior most Congress party leader from Kerala, and I don't know why I am sidelined.'
'BJP loses a democratic election, then buys MLAs from the ruling party's flock and rides to power in these states.' 'Do you think Atalji would have tolerated this?'
Non-Congressism is the answer to India's current difficulties, says Dr Shambhu Shrivastava, who gives a historical perspective of non-Congress experiments in 1967, 1977, 1989 and 1998.
'Today, the BJP is using power in such a manner that they not only crush the Opposition, but even their own supporters can't rebel.'
Modi accused the Congress of criticising EVMs and the functioning of the Election Commission after they were reduced to 44 seats from 400 in Lok Sabha. "They did not question the EVMs after the recent Karnataka elections," he added.
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
Ramesh also said that business as usual approach will not work against Modi and Shah.
In a conversation with Kaushik Basu, professor in the Cornell University in the United States and India's former chief economic advisor, Gandhi said he is all for internal democracy in the Congress, which fought for India's independence, gave the country its Constitution and stood for equality.
Ghulam Nabi Azad said Congress was not afraid of "targeting" by the Modi dispensation and asserted that the more the party is attacked, the sooner it will return to power.
The BJP at 43 is a work in progress, with total ideological continuity and much substantive change in political method and style, observes Shekhar Gupta.
According to sources, several opposition leaders are also considering boycotting the inaugural function on Sunday, alleging that the government has insulted the President.
Once considered the unlikely heir to the political legacy of the Gandhi family, Sonia has earned the distinction of being the longest serving president of India's grand old party.
If only the Congress could rebuild on its strengths and develop a modern enough ideology, we could again be moving towards a clearer two-party political landscape, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
There's enough time for Mamata Banerjee to change her mind, Alva said.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Saket was among the nine members of Legislative Assembly who rebelled against the Harish Rawat government.
While Karat is opposed to any understanding with the Congress, Yechury is of the view that the situation warrants putting together a national alternative to the BJP, reports Archis Mohan.
The message for 2024 is that the man on the street is not going to be euphoric if the G-20 crowns Modi as king-emperor for 2023, or if India sends its first man to space just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Even a 'temple consecration' in Ayodhya, or a Uniform Civil Code, or both of them together, may not have enough electoral purchase if fuel and commodity prices are not rolled back, and money-in-the-pocket does not fatten, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
By the looks of it, the Congress cannot hope to return to power even in election 2024. What it can do is to start from the bottom, hold organisational elections, which are honest, and co-opt those elected to form teams of office-bearers at all levels, right up to the working committee. By the very nature of the elections that they are going to lose, the party should use the interim to shore up youth power, or whatever remains, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tharoor said Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha following his conviction in a 2019 defamation case has generated a 'surprising wave of Opposition unity' with many parties having begun to feel the truth of the adage -- united we stand, divided we fall.
"Nobody can forget June 25-26 in the history of India. 40 years ago, the country was bound with chains of Emergency and turned into a jail for the lust for power," he said.
Voters can be relied on to punish a party which makes reckless promises without actually implementing them, asserts Virendra Kapoor.
'Parties which supported me were all threatened. This could hardly have been called a fair election.' 'This is Modi's India.'
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.
Never a leader with a big base of his own, Sharad Yadav depended on state bigwigs like Lalu and Nitish to enter Parliament but enjoyed the aura and political weight which made him a strong presence at the high table of national politics in Delhi.
Shashi Tharoor has been removed as Congress spokesperson after the party high command received complaints that he had embarrassed the party with his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances