'Episodes of targeted attacks on Muslims established that for a section of people and, sadly, even officials of the State, the election results conveyed no lessons.' 'Opposition parties must not be hesitant in speaking out whenever the mob with tacit State support targets Muslims,' asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Plagued by differences, a meeting of Members of Parliament of the Janata Dal-United on Monday failed to take a common stand on the Women's Reservation Bill, but a majority of the party MPs in the upper House are set to vote in favour of the Bill.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The government assured the Opposition that reservation to Anglo-Indians will be considered later.
A delegation of 21 Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc MPs will pay a two-day visit to Manipur beginning Saturday to assess the ground situation first-hand and then make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to the problems in the violence-hit state.
Party sources are tight-lipped about the fate of Tyagi, who is a trusted aide of Kumar, the party's supreme leader, but has reportedly often left the latter embarrassed by going public on issues without waiting for a nod from the boss.
With the reality of coalition politics staring the BJP in its face, this was inevitable, points out Ramesh Menon.
The imbroglio in Parliament over a joint parliamentary probe into the alleged irregularities in the 2G spectrum allocation continued for the ninth day, with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha adjourning till noon following uproar by the opposition parties. Even before Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar could take her seat, opposition members including those from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, Biju Janata Dal, Janatal Dal United and Samajwadi Party trooped to the well.
The issue of black money created uproar in Lok Sabha on the first working day of Winter session with Opposition asking the government to fulfil its promise of bringing it back from abroad.
The Telangana Bill has been passed in the Lok Sabha after a voting and a heated debate on Tuesday. To ensure that none of the Members of Parliament use TV coverage to cause chaos and drama, Speaker Meira Kumar stopped the live telecast.
Parliament proceedings were adjourned amid ruckus and sloganeering by the Opposition members over the Adani issue.
After a spirited eight-hour debate in which 60 members participated, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, with 454 members voting in favour and two against it.
Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda said.
The party's state unit president Jagadanand Singh announced the names of Mohd Qari Sohaib, Munni Rajak and Ashok Kumar Pandey.
Two crucial bills, forming part of NDA government's reforms agenda, got approval of Parliament within minutes today after a number of non-NDA parties backed the legislations in Rajya Sabha where the ruling coalition is short in numbers.
Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Ahead of the Mumbai meeting, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that a few more political parties were likely to join the opposition INDIA during its upcoming meeting.
Among the parties that boycotted the proceedings of the House included the Congress, which was the among the first to walkout, followed by members of the CPI-M, CPI, TMC, NCP, SP, Shiv Sena, RJD, DMK, TRS and AAP.
The six suspended MPs were also present at the protest.
"This also shows that the ruling dispensation's exasperation (baukhlahat) and desperation (hataasha). But the people of the country are smart enough and they (the BJP) will be held to account (hisab kar diya jaaega) at the appropriate time", said the close aide of the Bihar CM, who had quit the NDA last year and has since become a strong votary of opposition unity.
Leaders of several opposition parties were stopped by the police at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi as they took out a protest march from Parliament House to hand over a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani issue.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Sakshi Maharaj, Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament from Unnao, has stirred a hornet's nest yet again by saying that Hindu women should produce at least four children in order to protect the Hindu religion.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The chief minister, who was re-elected as the JD-U president in 2019 for three years, relinquished the post in favour of Singh, its leader in Rajya Sabha.
Bijendra Prasad Yadav, the senior-most minister in the state cabinet, also lamented that the lack of cohesion was causing allies to engage in allegations and counter allegations, a job best left to the Opposition.
It's been 13 days that the Winter Session commenced, but no work has taken place as MPs continue to spar over the note ban.
The bill rules out any provision for anticipatory bail for a person accused of atrocities against SC/STs, notwithstanding any court order.
Congress along with Communist Party of India-Marxist and Janata Dal-United accused Irani of "willfully misleading" Parliament.
The Janata Dal-United and the Nationalist Congress Party also joined the walkout.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the government has taken care of the interests of everyone and 'the interest of India'.
The 21st Law Commission said the special status given to the entity of HUF was a 'so-called gift by the British', who could not comprehend the complex socioeconomic structure of Indian families. 'Now, this status is being used for the evasion of tax only,' it said.
Accusing the Congress party of "failing to keep national interests over its political agenda", Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said the chief opposition party stood "isolated" in disrupting the Parliament at a time when MPs of other parties condemned the Gurdaspur terror attack and stood in solidarity.
Pitching for larger opposition unity, six constituents of the erstwhile Janata Parivar on Monday shared dais at a mahadharna slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'divisive' politics and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling lies and not fulfilling poll promises on black money.
On paper, as many as 136 members should have opposed the Bill in a House of 241 members, reports Archis Mohan,
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu also made a fervent appeal to the leaders of various parties at an all-party meeting to ensure smooth and effective functioning of the House during the Budget Session.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad's controversial Ayodhya yatra rocked Parliament on Monday with both Houses being disrupted repeatedly due to clashes between Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party as demands were made for dismissal of the Uttar Pradesh government.
The RSS wants three nominees inducted: Tejaswi Surya, the young BJP MP from Bengaluru South, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, a Rajya Sabha member, and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Both the BJP and the Congress have banked on new and young faces, some of whom have been nominated by the parties for the first time.
Amid reports of Nitish Kumar shifting to Delhi as Rajya Sabha member to play a bigger role in uniting parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party, Bihar Janata Dal-United President Basistha Narayan Singh on Saturday dismissed any such possibility terming the reports as "imaginary."