Jawaharlal Nehru was a man of the people and of many gifts and achievements, says veteran author Ruskin Bond in his new book, and describes Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a man of humble beginnings, whose political acumen and yogic willpower have brought him to the top.
Nehru's faith in science and technology, his genuine respect for Bhabha, and their burning ambition worked synergistically to place India on the nuclear map of the world. Atomic energy developed and prospered because of Nehru's vision fulfilled by Bhabha's mission, recalls K S Parthasarathy, former secretary of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, on the occasion of India's first prime minister's 119th birthday today.
In a stinging attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, Shiv Sena member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Sunday said it wouldn't be surprising if the Enforcement Directorate issues summons against former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the National Herald newspaper case and paste the notice on his memorial.
Addressing the media Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Kiran Kumar took on the Congress High Command in New Delhi for dividing the state while adding that he did not care about his seat.
Former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh passed away on Saturday night after a prolonged illness, family sources said. He was 93.
'Those who had no participation in the freedom struggle and creating history are keeping out one of the heroes of the independence struggle. This act, done out of political vindictiveness, is not good and shows their narrow mindset. It is an insult of each and every freedom fighter,' Raut claimed.
'His secularism merely declared the equality of all religions in India under fundamental rights.'
Many were hoping that with Vajpayee's NDA gone, there would be a return to the Congress normal. Nobody was prepared for the opposite. Sonia Gandhi was sceptical. This became the only issue over which Manmohan Singh took on his party bosses and risked his government. Politically, it was riskier than the 1991 reform, recalls Shekhar Gupta.
Donald Trump survived an attempt on his life when a young gunman fired multiple shots at the former US president at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, injuring his right ear.
The warmth and respect for India were evident wherever I went and noticed how most Latin Americans have Indian gurus either directly or online and yoga was very much in vogue, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Amid criticism that the Congress had given a walkover to Irani in Amethi, sources said, the party in its wisdom believed that Rae Bareli's historical, emotional and electoral importance for the Gandhi family was higher than that of Amethi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed confidence that the NDA will get more than 400 seats and the BJP will win at least 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress has lodged complaints with the Election Commission against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of making 'false, divisive, malicious and slanderous' statements during their recent election campaign.
In all the highs and lows that India's most powerful, and only woman, prime minister faced in her life, the death of her younger son Sanjay was probably the most soul-destroying.
'I often wondered while watching the film/trilogy, what if Durga had lived. What if Ray made The Durga Trilogy.' Sandip Roy looks back at Pather Panchali's Durga and the woman who brought her alive, Uma Dasgupta.
'Consider Mrs Gandhi's view of her opponents: Traitors, anti-nationals, rumour-mongers.' Does the spirit of the Emergency-era Indira Gandhi still rule India? asks Vir Sanghvi.
'His contributions in setting up transparent precedents of governance are still basically intact despite the cynicism of several of his successors,' notes Jamini Bhagwati.
'She was once asked what the secret to political leadership was and she said it was the ability to like all kinds of people.' 'I don't think Rahul fundamentally likes people -- that's probably why he can't deal with them and it shows.' 'Sonia is a more talented political mobiliser than her son, but I think the decline of the Congress set in in 1969...'
How could a President, seen as a political time-server, have manoeuvred things to a stage where he could strike fear into the heart of a prime minister who, only two-and-a-half years before, had been elected with the largest majority in history?
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'All of Indira Gandhi's bad economic ideas are being strengthened, from nationalised banks to anti-poverty, handout yojanas,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Most politicians and even non-politicians have been honoured because of what they were purported to be electorally worth for the ruling party of their time, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'They were the leaders of my country and the children of Mother India, but they didn't die as martyrs.' 'They were killed, most unfortunately, by a well planned enemy plot, and they were victims of political violence,' states Sudhir Bisht.
'Rightly or wrongly, 1962 got ascribed to Krishna Menon and him alone. That's unfair.' 'Certainly, he was one of the guilty men, but he was not the only guilty man. Mistakes were made all around.'
'Under the more strident Modi version of Hindutva, Nehru has almost become a contemporary political figure.' 'The ruling party knows that without total erasure and distortion of Nehru, their fantasies will always be wobbly.'
Residents said that the Congress leader was a spitting image of her grand mother and her entrance into politics had lent fresh energy to the party.
The veteran star likened Modi to tall leaders of India, including Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, A B Vajpayee, K Kamaraj, C N Annadurai, M G Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa.
'We called him Sher-e-Kashmir but we realised he was no lion but a pussycat who surrendered.'
Political circles were abuzz on Saturday amid speculation that former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath may join the Bhartiya Janata Party.
It's intriguing that the prime minister now wants his American partner to help protect the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. That's conceding to the Americans a pre-eminence India has always contested, resented and feared, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking.
The nomination is an indication that the veteran Congress leader is not sure of victory from Raebareli, the Lok Sabha constituency she has represented for five terms.
'As his party's Supreme Leader, Modi has led India down the wrong road by insisting on friendship with China even as its soldiers went about claiming territory,' argues Harishchandra Dighe.
Arun Nehru's image of a political strategist, dealmaker and trouble shooter never allowed him to become a political leader of people, says Sheela Bhatt
'Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai? Don't you believe it. I don't trust the Chinese one bit,' Nehru told Gopalaswamy Parthasarathi before he traveled to China as India's ambassador. Asking GP to be ever vigilant, Nehru advised the diplomat to send telegrams on important matters only to him. Many such anecdotes from a long and eventful career as diplomat and bureaucrat crowd the pages of GP: 1912-1995, discovers Uttaran Das Gupta.
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.
Training his guns on India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief K S Sudarshan on Sunday\nsaid the 'English-minded' PM was responsible for the ills facing the country. Sudarshan had a word of praise for Indira G.
In the event that like in the 17th Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi again gets locked out of the House, the Congress needs a second-in-command who will keep the momentum going inside Parliament, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
27 out of 58 institutions and schemes being run by the Centre are named after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
'The West has always opposed a strong nationalist leader in India and Narendra Modi is no exception.' 'The West prefers weak leaders who are amenable to Western pressure and Mr Modi's independent stance is not to the liking of the West,' asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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