Against the backdrop of the violent clashes with villagers from Meghalaya, the Assam cabinet on Wednesday decided to hand over the investigation to CBI, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress of repeatedly supplying "oxygen" to Pakistan, and slammed the opposition party for its leader Charanjit Singh Channi's remarks questioning the veracity of Balakot air strikes after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Congress is full of pro-Pakistan leaders who make statements against India's interests, and mocked the party for its letter that had advised its functionaries to toe the official line on the issue. Patra also criticized other Congress leaders for their comments on the Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks, accusing them of lowering the morale of the armed forces. He further slammed the Congress for claiming credit for the government's announcement of the caste census and said the party never carried out the exercise during its over 60-year stint in power.
Women staged a semi-nude protest in Assam's largest city Guwahati against an eviction drive in Silsako Beel (lake) area on Friday, as excavators ravaged to the ground several houses to clear alleged encroached land of the wetland.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi of raising questions on sensitive defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to a British citizen. Sarma alleged that Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Colburn, has links with the Pakistani establishment, including working for an organisation allegedly a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Gogoi has rejected the allegations as "baseless" and said the BJP is trying to divert attention from its own failures.
India's Amlan Borgohain bagged a golden double as he stormed to victory in the 100m and 200m.
The argument between the two leaders in the virtual space began after Kejriwal had on Wednesday tweeted that a closure of schools is not a solution and there is a need to open more schools across the country, and shared a link to a news report claiming a "closure" of some schools in Assam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation stone for a Rs 27,000-crore semiconductor assembly and test facility in Assam's Morigaon district on Wednesday. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was present at the event organised at the site of the facility in Jagiroad, said today is a landmark day for Assam and the North East. "Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji is laying the foundation stone for the Rs 27,000 crore Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility at Jagiroad," the chief minister posted on 'X'.
Noting that the border disputes go back to the British era, Sarma in an said Assam has been holding talks with other states too and faulted the previous Congress governments for not clearly demarcating boundaries while carving out new states.
"The Lampih area is extremely mineral rich," Assam government Spokesman and Health Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said, as he led a huge convoy through the dense forest and muddy slippery jungle track over a mountain to assert Assam's right over the disputed land and announce a slew of packages for 3,200 villagers who have to travel for six hours on horseback to reach the nearest road fit for motor vehicles.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
Sarma, after being elected unanimously as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance legislature party, said in his address that he was grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda, Sonowal and all other party leaders for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of the state, and pledged to carry out his duties with "dedication and honesty".
"Modi ji! Is this our Indian culture? Is this what has been taught in Vedas, Mahabharat, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita? I am asking BJP national president Nadda ji. Is it our culture?" he asked, referring to Sarma's comments.
Despite the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance throwing all its weight to snatch Jharkhand from the hands of a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-headed coalition, the saffron camp suffered a debacle leaving the party's rank and file wondering what had gone wrong.
Ajmal in an interview to a media house on Friday had commented on women and Hindu men as well as Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, purportedly as a rejoinder to his remarks on 'love jihad'.
The prime accused in the rape of a minor girl allegedly escaped from police custody, jumped into a pond and died on Saturday morning at Dhing in Assam's Nagaon district, an official said.
His comments come in the backdrop of the state government deciding to bring stringent laws and evoking the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act to check child marriages and underage motherhood.
The BJP has changed five chief ministers since 2019, including in Gujarat and Karnataka.
Earlier in the day, Saha was elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting held in Agartala on Monday.
In the recently concluded Tripura Assembly elections, the BJP won 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly while its ally IPFT won one seat.
A controversy had recently erupted with leaders from Maharashtra cutting across political lines objecting to an Assam government advertisement with the claims.
Party general secretary Arun Singh told a press conference that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Majuli and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, constituencies these two top BJP state leaders currently represent in the 126-member assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its two Assam allies -- the Asom Gana Parishad and the United People's Party Liberal -- on Wednesday 'almost finalised' their seat-sharing pact for the Assam assembly polls and a formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources said.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday congratulated the Indian badminton mixed team for clinching silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Addressing a press conference, minister Neiba Kronu said members of the government's Core Committee on the Naga political issue will have a meeting with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), in Kohima on December 9 to decide on the approach in the aftermath of the civilian killings.
The Assam finance minister said that it is not possible for the person to go back to his country of origin and collect a copy of police report to show that he was subjected to religious persecution.
Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this while comparing the two leaders' capability in politics.
Sisodia is scheduled to appear before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Guwahati on November 19 in connection with the original case filed by Sarma in June.
Sangma will go to Raj Bhawan at 11:30 am on Friday and meet the governor to apprise him of the assembly election results, the official said.
Non-BJP chief ministers holding the home portfolios are Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu).
In its complaint against Shah, the Congress told the EC that the home minister claimed in a speech in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon on October 16 that "...Bhupesh Baghel's government, for appeasement politics and vote bank politics, lynched Chhattisgarh's son Bhuneshwar Sahoo and got him killed..."
'Himanta Biswa Sarma has put a lot of effort in demonising Muslims this time.'
The accused person was working as a security guard at a company in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates that was storing the belongings of the late Argentinian footballer.
A team of navy, army, NDRF, and SDRF personnel are working to rescue nine workers trapped inside a coal mine in Assam's Dima Hasao district. The mine is suspected to be illegal, and one person has been arrested in connection with the incident. Rescue efforts have been underway since Monday, but no workers have been found yet.
Shah said the ULFA, the oldest insurgent group of Assam, agreed to abjure violence, disband the organisation and join the democratic process.
The body of an eight-year-old boy who had fallen into a stormwater drain in Guwahati on Thursday, was recovered about 4 km downstream in Rajgarh area, police said.
The public protest had erupted over the demand for rehabilitation of nearly 800 families evicted from the land they were living on for decades.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are well on the way to power in two north-eastern states, and is almost certain to be part of the ruling dispensation in the third.
He cited the names of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Scindia, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Kiran Kumar Reddy and Anil K Antony in his tweet.
In shooting, India have added Manisha Keer, Preeti Rajak and Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, while in athletics, Amlan Borgohain, Preeti and Prachi have been added to the squad.
The party is less forthcoming about who the chief minister will be if it stays in power.