Single political leaders, Narendra Modi boasted recently at an election rally, can end corruption. He claimed that only those free of filial ties could end decades of corrupt rule, says Rahul Bedi.
'It was more than ego.' 'It carried with it a sincere belief that he was the quintessence of the country, that the country's destiny was irrevocably intertwined with his destiny.' An excerpt from T J S George's The Dismantling of India: In 35 Portraits.
The Mughal Garden will be in full bloom with over 10,000 Tulip bulbs, 138 types of roses and 70 different kinds of about 5,000 seasonal flowers.
A protest over the issue of de-recognition of an Indian Institute of Technology-Madras students' group was on Monday held outside the human resource development ministry's office in New Delhi.
'Given this dissonance between India's age-old multicultural tenets and the anti-minority temper of the present times, it cannot be easy for the BJP to maintain its balancing act to convince the world that all is well,' observes Amulya Ganguli.
'The time has come to substitute the present Constitutional set-up with an alternative democratic framework,' argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
'In Eastern Ladakh the Chinese attempted salami slicing.' 'Our response has been superb. Our military has responded magnificently.'
Modi's absence from an event to mark the centenary of a definitive moment in Indian history puzzles Utkarsh Mishra.
In 2017, the former Union minister called Modi "neech aadmi" following which he was suspended from the Congress party.
'It's amazing how many different kinds of patriotic songs we have in our country.'
'Unquestionably, the spirit behind the Panchsheel agreement and the 'Hindi Chini bhai bhai' slogan were thrown overboard by the Chinese, and a trust deficit was injected between the two nations.' A revealing excerpt from General J J Singh's The McMahon Line: A Century Of Discord.
'When the Congress is put against someone like Narendra Modi, they do not have anything new to offer to the people of India.'
Replying to a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Lok Sabha, Modi also attacked the Congress for its politics in the last seven decades, saying the party's politics of last 70 years has been such that no Congress leader can be self-sufficient.
Sharjeel Usmani, the son of Assistant Professor Tariq Usmani of the AMU's Department of Geography, was picked by the Uttar Pradesh's anti-terrorist squad (ATS) sleuths from his uncle's house in Azamgarh on Wednesday and was subsequently produced in a court in Aligarh which remanded him in judicial custody, they said.
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday stepped into the raging debate on intolerance by condemning the murders of dissenters and some on the basis of what they eat and said the nation is deeply concerned at the "blatant violation" of the right to freedom of thought, belief and speech by some violent extremist groups.
The 70-year-old was the only contender in the election.
'According national security and higher defence management empathetic political attention they warrant is critical. Will Prime Minister Modi pick up this gauntlet?' asks C Uday Bhaskar.
Let us contain this raging fire, this tsunami of hate, appeals Sonia Gandhi.
As India celebrates its 70th Independence day, Rediff.com pays homage to millions who laid their lives for the country's freedom.
There has not been a single invention from India in the last 60 years that became a household name globally, nor any idea that led to "earth shaking" invention to "delight global citizens", IT czar N R Narayana Murthy said.
Namo, Namo as India's prime minister? Not yet, says Pakistan-based journalist Amir Mateen.
The disclosure of files provided by India's second army chief General Sir Roy Bucher to Nehru Memorial Museum and Library about Jammu and Kashmir related to the period of 1947-49, which may throw light on Accession, is in 'national interest,' the central information commission has observed in an order.
Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday took charge as the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years, citing Rahul Gandhi's slogan 'daro mat' to energise workers and declaring that the party will demolish the government's 'system of lies, treachery and hatred'.
Late US President Dwight Eisenhower's visit to Agra over five decades ago presents a stark contrast to the changed global security situation now as President Obama prepares to visit Taj Mahal next week.
'She was the only prime minister who won a decisive military victory.' 'She won a real war; she didn't play video games on prime time TV over surgical strikes!' 'She understood power better than any other politician, saw it as her birthright and used it with inborn expertise.' 'Every politician today who tries to be a "supremo" through populism and absolute control over his or her party is referring to the Indira Gandhi playbook!'
'There are thousand ways to pressure Pakistan to make it behave.' 'Going to the ICJ was the worst possible option,' says Colonel Anil A Athale.
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's sage advice remains as relevant today as it was during his lifetime, says Vivek Gumaste.
'There is no evidence that it was Nehru who ordered this surveillance (on Netaji's kin). It was a very low-level Bengal-based operation.' 'Netaji's grandnephew Sugata Bose has written in his book on the leader that the existing evidence that Subhas Bose died in that plane crash is overwhelming. No historian looking at that evidence can come to a different conclusion.' 'Contrary to popular belief, there were very little differences among the three (Netaji, Nehru and Gandhi). Netaji was of the opinion that some amount of violence was necessary to bring independence for India.' Historian Rudrangshu Mukherjee says that the controversy over the alleged spying on the kin of Netaji is a damp squib.
The debate on Sardar Patel's legacy is less about the Sardar and more about the acute sense of threat felt by the Delhi establishment at the rise of Narendra Modi and questions he has raised about the disproportionate share of credit given to a single family, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
The classic Third Year or Mid-Term Problem has afflicted all but two prime ministers who have lasted a full term, give or take a few months this way or that, points out T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
When the top stars refused to play Milkha Singh, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra went down another route. A riveting excerpt from the director's memoir The Stranger In The Mirror.
Does Pranab Mukherjee want to be 'PM' by office, not just by initials? The very prospect, with memories of the Narasimha Rao years scarred into their memories, scares the Nehru-Gandhis, says T V R Shenoy.
When Narendra Modi called for a debate on 370, he was simply reiterating a demand made long back, it was not a dilution of any stated position, nor was it a display of opportunism, it was rather a demand for the assertion of India's unity, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
With a decelerating economy that weakens India's hands on geopolitical issues, it will be interesting to know which way this trip will go.
'Modi, with his sharply honed political savvy and undoubted grasp of international affairs, is a past master at taking the measure of world leaders.' 'He would be the last person to think of the unpredictable and not too well-regarded Trump as the mediator,' says B S Raghavan.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi attacked the Modi government of forcing everyone into silence at a function to re-launch the National Herald newspaper.
Readers have responded resoundingly to our invitation to congratulate the ISRO team for Chandrayaan-3's successful Moon landing.
'The Indian middle class ignores the conflicts areas in Jammu and Kashmir, in Central India and in the North East.' 'The violence does not touch us at all and so we are able to easily look away from the underlying reasons and grievances.'
The existing building is a British-era building, designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker who were responsible for planning and construction of New Delhi.
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