The minister also cautioned the social media giant and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg of repercussions under the IT Act in case of any data breach came to light.
'One investor told us one leader in Gujarat had sent him to Konkan to buy land.' 'How did these people come to know about this project in advance when locals didn't know?' 'It means those who are running the country are somewhere interested in selling the country's resources to private businessmen.'
'When you read that for the first time, areas in Gujarat dominated by Patidars/Patels have been declared 'sensitive' for the civic polls that were held this week, you sit up and take note,' says Jyoti Punwani.
In a veiled reference to the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Sunday said those who have been in power for the last 60 years have followed the "divide and rule policy in the country and conspired to snatch the rights of Dalit and backward communities".
Shares of RIL ended 2.4% higher as it pips TCS to become most valued firm
Marking a generational shift in state politics, Union Minister Sachin Pilot was on Monday appointed the Congress chief in Rajasthan where the party faced a rout in Assembly polls.
'It is entirely possible that Sonia Gandhi wants her son to be prime minister.' 'If so, it is game, set and match to the BJP,' says T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'People respect Sharad Pawar and his contribution, but now it is Ajit Pawar who is associated with Baramati. And he has done nothing for it,' retired IPS officer and AAP candidate Suresh Khopade tells Jyoti Punwani.
'What was predictable, but entirely missed by Modi's strident critics, is that the excessive and intemperate demonisation of Modi allowed him to assume his own metaphor -- the underdog, the martyr, the marginalised,' says Dr Aseem Shukla.
While courts are there to tackle crime and a few non-government organisations support victims of crime, NCW, a body empowered to take suo moto interest in a case, is in between, says Aparna Kalra
Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday sharpened his attack on the Congress in general and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in particular at a rally in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Chief ministers of states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka were among those who raised the issue of loan waver scheme for farmers.
'The Congress era was already over anyway! The real question is: Has India opened a new, post-coalition era and I'm very doubtful about that,' Christophe Jaffrelot, author of several books on Indian politics, tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com, analysing Mandate 2014.
India witnessed religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions and the police in some cases failed to respond effectively to communal violence, according to the US State Department report on International Religious Freedom.
'Whatever is shared on social networking sites, will it not jeopardise the security of the nation at times?' K N Govindacharya, the right-wing ideologue who has filed a petition against the government's reliance on Facebook and Twitter, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com
'Little about this regime, given its vindictive credo, is a complete surprise. But we were still taken aback by the CBI raid as it was a complete abuse of due process.' 'These are not legal inquiries, but abusive use of State power. They are not legitimate investigations, but a witch-hunt.' 'Ours is a typical, classic case of the State and its organs being used as an outlet for motivated vendetta of the vilest kind.'
'When you have a village which is controlled by the BJP, who are the people likely to perpetrate the attack?'
'I believe that in the BJP nobody can make anybody anything... I believe the media should analyse this after the end of my tenure!' 'My work is incomplete till I take the BJP to the four big states of West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.' BJP President Amit Shah, as never before!
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
West Bengal was the second-most industrialised state in terms of value added and first in terms of number of factories and employment even in the mid-1960s. With a severe and long process of deindustrialisation, it lost its primacy.
'Congress is on the defensive about scams and corruption charges... The media is against the UPA.... The Nehru family is not just another family; it is a national wealth,'Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.
His approach to issues once prompted jurist Fali S Nariman to declare, 'When Krishna Iyer speaks, the nation listens.'
'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.'
'The voter thinks that the State is not going to impartially deliver services, provide justice, basic law and order, social insurance -- so as a voter it's very rational that I may choose a criminal who will help me navigate the State.' 'A weak State allows a criminal politician to be the person who provides that guarantee to mediate whatever problem the citizen has with the State.'
'The Opposition has no option but to make it an 'All versus One' fight to even think about winning.'
Troubles for the beleaguered Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje mounted on Friday with the disclosure that she was the beneficiary of investments of over Rs 11 crore made by tainted IPL ex-commissioner Lalit Modi in her son's company at a high premium.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley assesses Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's first ever television interview
Considering that all sides to the game feel being targeted by the BJP-ruled Centre through taxmen and their ED/CBI counterparts, both factions may not rule out the possibility of patching up after a time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The really disturbing numbers relate to inequality.
'The innate fascism of the RSS is overshadowing Modi's development programme,' says Amulya Ganguli.
'What of Modi? They are willing to take their chances. Maharashtra's Muslims recall how the Congress scared them with the Bal Thackeray bogey for decades, yet, when it came to using all the might of the State to protect them from Shiv Sena goons, be it in 1970, 1984 or 1992-1993, it did nothing. For them, the Congress's secularism is a cruel joke.' 'This argument that we ('seculars') must vote for the 'winning secular candidate' has one more implication: Those who are against Hindutva must forever be stuck with the same corrupt, cynical and tired old parties, who are not even secular,' says Jyoti Punwani.
The PM alleged that a 'PC' (percentage commission) culture has become the state government's identity.
'A CEO is successful if he is able to retain the confidence of his shareholders. And the shareholders of India Inc have backed their prime minister-CEO to the hilt,' says Sudhir Bisht.
'All of Indira Gandhi's bad economic ideas are being strengthened, from nationalised banks to anti-poverty, handout yojanas,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The video clips showed some terrorists being killed, besides destruction of bunkers and other military constructions.
Seeking to allay any apprehensions among Muslims, Narendra Modi on Monday ruled out scrapping any existing constitutional and statutory mechanisms meant for their welfare and said he would instead work to strengthen them.
In a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'fakir' remark, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said his note ban decision has turned a majority of the country's people into pauper but not him, and it will lead to Bharatiya Janata Party's defeat in Uttar Pradesh.
Notwithstanding Congress' reprimand, Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Saturday intensified his attack on his friend-turned foe Mulayam Singh Yadav accusing him of conniving with the Bharatiya Janata Party to flare up communal passions and dared the Samajwadi Party leader to a public debate on Babri issue.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "blatant U-turn" on the issue of transparency.