Gandhi has been attacking the BJP government for allegedly inking the deal at a much higher price than the one the previous United Progressive Alliance regime had negotiated to benefit 'one businessman'.
After spending 40 years in the Indian Army, Lieutenant General Subrata Saha marches into the electoral battlefield as the BJP candidate from Rashbehari.
If the government seriously keeps out of business, the business world will know about it at a lightning speed; there would be no need for rock show-like events.
Narendra Modi, says T V R Shenoy, is 'busy trying to woo back two constituencies that were crucial when the BJP won power in the elections of 1998 and of 1999, namely UP (and the Hindi belt in general) and educated youth.'
'Whatever the legal position, it is my understanding that in practice, the Indian authorities have always treated Hindu refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh far more sympathetically than Muslims,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'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...'
'So complete is Modi's takeover of the foreign ministry, that Swaraj today is less important than a minister of state for secularism in Modi's government!'
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday during his one-day whirlwind visit to discuss ways to take Indian sports forward amid speculation that the country might bid for the 2024 Olympic Games.
'Indian politics has had three-and-a-half master narratives -- secular nationalism, Hindu nationalism, justice for lower castes and regionalism. The AAP seeks to go beyond that. Therein lies its promise and its challenge,' says Ashutosh Varshney, Brown University professor and author of book Battles Half Won, India's Improbable Democracy.
Silicon Valley can be replicated, but this will only be achieved so long as fresh talent is welcomed by both our countries - a move that will surely spark a billion ideas and discoveries.
While the list of CEOs given to the French media mentioned Gautam Adani, the list given to the Indian media omitted his name.
'Sanjeev Kumar was my favourite actor. But no one can compare with Amitabh Bachchan.'
The operation is not a favour to Nepal. It's in India's interests to rebuild a new Nepal
'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!'
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach, who is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month, feels that a huge country like India should win more Olympic medals and aim to become a sporting powerhouse in the future
Many of the stories, the pictures going out of India worldwide lately with these provocative processions, taunting of Muslims, bulldozers targeting mostly their properties, the sweeping 'othering' of a community of 200 million are painting the front pages and TV screens in the democratic world. That is where most of the friends we covet lie. Soon enough, these will also make our vital friends among the Muslim nations, from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, uneasy. The best time for course correction is now, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
While Prime Minister Modi may pursue the laudable aim of building a cooperative relationship with Pakistan, he and his advisers should never think that concessions (and dialogue is a concession in itself) will change the Pakistan army's approach to India, says Vivek Katju.
Modi said the wave in favour of the BJP was stronger this time than in 2014.
The bear hug in which the Prime Minister loves to smother Western VIPs might strike as theatrical, boastful and, above all, unhygienic, in these stricken times, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Many world leaders on Monday condoled the death of former president Pranab Mukherjee, saying they have lost a true friend who made immense contributions to the strengthening of India's relations with their countries.
Make no mistake, the Bangladeshi and Afghan missions in Chanakyapuri would report verbatim to their capitals the abrasive remarks attributed to the Indian leadership, casting a slur on their countries' political culture and national honour, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India's freedom, its rambling but working Constitution, its parliamentary democracy, its lumbering administrative machinery all have many a father, but its greatest claim to fame, especially today, that of being a modern state, is due to but one person: Its first and longest-serving prime minister, Nehru, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Hasty, ill-conceived steps show how isolated Mamata Banerjee had been from the national political trend. A fascinating excerpt from Sugato Hazra's Losing The Plot: Political Isolation Of West Bengal.
"We will soon find out. I'm in no rush. There's no testing... If you look at the end of the Obama administration, it was a disaster. What was going on. You don't have that right now. It's a much different feeling. I think people have...there's always danger, but I think people have much different feeling," he said.
Uttarakhand's Kumaon hills are setting new standards in dirt and poor solid waste management, sys Anjuli Bhargava.
'He is still compulsively an operations man. Just a whiff of a live operation, and he is back in the field, at least in his mind. That is why the immediate decision to send the NSG to Pathankot.' 'But there is a difference between classical intelligence or counter-terror operation and dealing with a larger threat to a place as sensitive and sprawling as an air force base. This is what led to confusion and mix-ups,' says Shekhar Gupta.
In an unprecedented act, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Derek O'Brien on Friday gave a 10-minute speech, not in the House but from a corridor of the Parliament building, in protest against, what he called, the government's reluctance to discuss the Delhi violence. Before beginning his speech, O'Brien, who is leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, said that opposition parties have given notices five days in a row to discuss the issue, but these have not been accepted.
Obama joked that he too wanted to wear a Modi kurta.
PM Modi also called for a strong action plan for combating extremism.
He also sought setting up of a global fund to contain terrorism.
She claimed no one cared about people of Kashmir but everyone wanted its land.
The Congress MP from Sivaganga also slammed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and said the people of Tamil Nadu do not want a government which has any "stain, scent or shadow" of the BJP as its 'Hindi-Hindutva' agenda "irritates" them.
'There will be much for President Trump and Prime Minister Modi to discuss including growing Chinese military cooperation with Pakistan, which heralds a new attempt by China and Pakistan to neutralise India's influence in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood,' notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy.
'If the Russian forces do capture Kyiv and set up some sort of provisional government, they might run into an insurgency, for which the geography is just right, it could prove costly for them.' 'In that event, the whole exercise could turn out to be counter-productive -- and costly in both foreign policy and domestic terms.'
A special episode of the Prime Minister's radio broadcast Mann ki Baat featuring US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aired on Tuesday night. The 35-minute special broadcast of 'Mann Ki Baat', which marked the rapport between Modi and Obama, touched on issues ranging from public health and personal inspirations of the two leaders, both of whom have come up from simple beginnings to assume to top positions of the respective countries. What follows is a transcript of the Mann ki Baat episode.
B S Prakash takes a tongue-in-cheek look at what India's neighbours think about the proposal of a SAARC satellite.
'Those who worked with him or came to know him rated him as one of our best, with a sharp intellect, unfailing courtesy and ready wit.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan fondly remembers Ambassador B S Prakash, wonderful human being, unusual diplomat and long-time Rediff.com columnist, who passed away into the ages on Monday, October 4, 2021.
'You cannot implement such a huge exercise, which is bound to cause misery to millions, without studying every aspect of its consequences, economic and social,' notes Sherna Gandhy.
'Sachin Pilot has revived the Congress.' 'What goes in favour of Ashok Gehlot is experience.'
The prime minister started off his remarks at the meeting in Tamil, welcoming China to the talks, which were held right after one-on-one discussions between Modi and Xi at the Taj Fisherman's Cove Hotel.
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