This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
Modi spoke to the BJP's longest serving president, who is credited with crafting the party's rise through the 90s when it came to power for the first time as the head of coalition governments under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and congratulated him.
Maintaining the balance of disappointment within the two communities at the present level is the best of a bad bargain.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he does not get 'intimidated' and fights for truth even if the world stands against it, remarks that come amid repeated confrontations between his party and the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
'They were as late as June 2023 and they did not follow it up with concrete measures immediately in terms of a secretariat or common minimum programme, working group or seat sharing etc.' 'They continued to have periodic meetings after a gap of weeks where they had tasty dinner and coffee, but beside that they did nothing else.'
With the Congress in power in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapping at its heels, the BRS is now fighting an existential battle.
With the Muzaffarnagar riots still fresh in its mind, the Centre has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to maintain status quo in Ayodha, where the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has called for a 'Sankalp Diwas' rally, and prevent any attempt to incite communal tension anywhere in the state.
Immediately following its ban being lifted on July 11, 1949, the RSS began debating entering politics in the pages of its house organ, The Organiser. Thus was born the Jana Sangh/BJP, points out Aakar Patel.Thus Was Born Jana Sangh/BJP, asserts Aakar Patel.
The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Tuesday issued certain guidelines for coverage of the keenly awaited Ayodhya verdict on September 24.
The one-time BJP stalwart, who for some years spearheaded the Ayodhya movement and was at the helm of UP affairs, when the 16th century Babri mosque was pulled down by Hindu 'karsewaks' on December 6, 1992, failed to mobilise support of more than 40-50 people .
The five-state assembly elections are seen as a now-or-never, no-holds battle for the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The VHP president said that it is beyond understanding that the administration is denying permission for a peaceful Yatra.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maurya resigned as the party's national general secretary on February 13, accusing the leadership of discriminating against him and not defending him over his controversial statements on the Ramcharitmanas and the Ayodhya temple consecration ceremony.
Earlier, another Congress legislator, Arjun Singh Kakodiya, had called Lord Shiva and Bajrangbali, or Lord Hanuman, tribals.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury accused the ruling dispensation of resorting to diversionary tactics.
'It is not his doing, but Rahul Gandhi is forced by circumstances.' 'In taking political decisions, everything has to get his clearance.'
Addressing a rally at Nanded as a part of the BJP's outreach campaign to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Shah said the BJP didn't bring down the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government last year.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
The 75th Republic Day celebrations at Kartavya Path on Friday showcased India's rich cultural diversity, military prowess, and 'Nari Shakti'.
Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde on Tuesday tore into the Uddhav Thackeray faction for 'abandoning' Hindutva and Bal Thackeray's ideology and even recited the Hanuman Chalisa in Lok Sabha as his party opposed the no-confidence motion against the Modi government.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP president, said, "Amit Shah has set a target of 35 seats. We will achieve that".
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
Calling the Congress's Bharat Jodo Yatra a "unique and historic" movement, Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena said Rahul Gandhi's march is much bigger than Lord Rama's padyatra from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka.
Hindu bodies except Nirmohi Akhara have opposed the suggestion of the apex court to refer the issue for mediation, while Muslim bodies have supported it.
As the adjournment of Parliament for an indefinite period with the Rajya Sabha also adjourning sine die kickstarts the final countdown for the general elections, Modi said the last five years were a period of "reform, perform and transform" with the country moving towards "big changes" at a fast pace.
Elections are about exploiting emotions and not things like roti, kapda and makan, a very senior BJP politician tells T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
'Getting Brijbhushan to rake up Thackeray's anti-north Indian stand is the BJP's way of cutting Raj Thackeray to size.' 'Could just one MP have stopped Raj Thackeray's Ayodhya tour?'
He attributed the construction of the temple, "a historic work" to the decisive and strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
The SC underlined that it has no control over what Mughal ruler Babar did.
Shah assured members of minority communities that none of them will lose citizenship due to the CAA.
A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
Seventy-seven MLAs were present in the assembly during the voting.
Raut said industrialists should be supported, but not corruption.
Banners terming Kejriwal "anti-Hindu" and showing him wearing a skull cap surfaced in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, and Vadodara cities on Saturday.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
SP leader Maurya had on Sunday alleged that certain portions of the Ramcharitmanas 'insult' a large section of society on the basis of caste and these should be 'banned'.
