As news of Hasina's departure spread, hundreds broke into Hasina's residence, vandalising and looting the interiors, providing dramatic expression to the anti-government protests that have killed more than 100 people in the last two days. At the centre of people anger is the Hasina government's controversial quota system reserving 30 per cent jobs for families of veterans who fought the 1971 liberation war. With volatile crowds taking to the streets -- some clambering on Hasina's father and Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's statue and smashing it with hammers in a lasting image underscoring the fickleness of history -- Army chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced that the 76-year-old prime minister has resigned.
'Indira Gandhi proved herself a great war leader, but failed as a statesman,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'Indira Gandhi and P N Haksar did not want Pakistan to leave as an embittered foe hell-bent on taking revenge for being humiliated so comprehensively.'
Action should be taken against those arrested for alleged Naxal links if there was evidence, he said.
More than the jingoism overkill, it's the tedious tone of telling stories of this genre that hurts Pippa, observes Sukanya Verma.
The Sena faction alleged corruption cases against BJP leaders are being suppressed.
Political observers lauded the SP's choices in fielding several non-Yadav and Scheduled Caste candidates, the party's alliance with the Congress, and Rahul Gandhi's campaign around the danger to the Constitution if the BJP won a big majority.
The latest gadget in the armour of Special Protection Group, the crack commando force that protects the Prime Minister and four other VVIPs, are electronic stunners that look just like an ordinary laptop.
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was the country's only female premier. She was a towering figure in post-war British and world politics.
Chourasia, a former Congressman who had joined the Hindu Mahasabha, returned to the party fold on February 25, ahead of local body elections.
Vice President Hamid Ansari, a former diplomat himself, explains his sense of India and the world. Nikhil Lakshman, traveling with Vice President Ansari to Peru and Cuba, listens in.
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis and a large number of senior leaders backing him, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
Anti-Congress regional parties may have felt the possible impact of Rahul's South-North yatra, pending a second East-West padayatra, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Possibly for the first time since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi called upon the nation to donate/sacrifice for the 'Bangladesh war' efforts, and also suffer blackout at nights with patience and pride, has the nation reacted so very positively to the government's diktat, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party from power at the Centre in 2024 will be her 'last fight'.
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
Nehru, 69, a cousin of Rajiv Gandhi and Minister for Internal Security in his government, died in a hospital in Gurgaon, according to family sources.
Rangeela's presence in the fray could have been trifle uncomfortable for Modi. He may not have posed an electoral challenge to the prime minister, but Rangeela's public meetings could have seen people flocking, if only to hear him mimic Modi. In a completely Modi-centric election, the presence of a 'rival' -- if only for a smattering of audience at his meetings -- would not have been particularly appreciated by Modi, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'Mr Modi has a huge opportunity before him.' 'Whether he grabs it the way Mrs Gandhi did in 1969 or squanders it as he did in 2014 will determine his economic legacy,' notes T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan.
The move is aimed at reflecting the diversity of India and highlighting the contribution of prominent personalities.
Justice S C Sharma passed the order on August 17 while hearing the petitions filed by Surjeet Singh (67) and Sharan Singh (68).
Modi accused previous governments of not providing people with facilities that were available to people elsewhere in the world even in the 20th century and in Gujarat a few years back.
The Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) stormed to power in Mizoram by dethroning the Mizo National Front (MNF) bagging 27 seats in the 40-member House on Monday.
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.
Of the 15 people who led the 132-year-old party post independence, four have belonged to the Gandhi-Nehru family.
As Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray is set to take oath as chief minister of Maharashtra on Thursday, preparations are in full swing at Shivaji Park in Dadar in central Mumbai.
Congress leaders alleged the BJP has made and failed in its every attempt to defame Rahul Gandhi and derail the yatra somehow as people from across the country including Delhi are overwhelmingly extending their support.
For someone like me who studied Sam so intently, if a lump could form in the throat during the emotive scenes, I think the cast did a superb job, notes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The 'black paper', titled '10 saal anyay kaal' also alleged that issues such as rising prices, unemployment, subversion of institutions and farmers' 'distress' had plagued the country.
'Besides Ayodhya, the BJP lost in nine other constituencies with a Ramayana imprint; it tasted success only in Thrissur.' 'In Rameswaram, K Navaskani of the Indian Union Muslim League won with a 44% voteshare in a 84% Hindu constituency.' 'In the 21 seats in the Ayodhya and Varanasi regions, both crucial to the Hindutva project, the BJP won just 7.' 'It won just 3 out of 12 seats around Modi's constituency,' points out Krishna Prasad.
For months, there has been talk that Narendra Damodardas Modi and Ajay Mohan Bisht, aka Yogi Adityanath, don't get along.
It also cautioned that if the legislation is passed, the "two crutches" on which the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is running at the Centre would not be able to escape responsibility.
The Congress suggested there was cash stashed in the trunk.
The clarification came in the wake of speculation within a section of the ruling Congress about a change in leadership after two-and-half years of this government's tenure.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will set a record by presenting the sixth Budget in a row -- 5 annual Budgets and one interim -- a feat achieved so far only by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. With the presentation of interim Budget on February 1, Sitharaman will surpass the records of her predecessors like Manmohan Singh, Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, and Yashwant Sinha, who had presented five budgets in a row. Desai, as Finance Minister, had presented five annual Budgets and one interim Budget between 1959-1964. The interim Budget 2024-25 to be presented by Sitharaman on February 1, will be a vote-on-account that will give the government authority to spend certain sums of money till a new government comes to office after the April-May general elections.
One of the most prominent leaders of the socialist movement in the 1970s, George Fernandes was a senior Janata Dal leader before he founded the Samata Party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday linked opposition parties coming together against the Bharatiya Janata Party to his government's campaign against corruption, and asserted that the clampdown on graft will continue without being hindered by "false allegations".
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
Rahul said that although Modi repeatedly attacked him, his father Rajiv Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi and great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, he gave him a hug.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
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