'He is such a big defence expert that he alone decided that the Rafale aircraft will be manufactured by a company that has never built one ever'
Many people believe that India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru made a blunder when he recognised China's sovereignty over Tibet but he did what he thought was best for his country, said the president of the Tibetan government in exile.
The BJP prime ministerial candidate was recently in the city.
People protesting against the Jawaharlal Nehru University violence were evicted from Gateway of India in south Mumbai on Tuesday morning as roads were getting blocked and tourists and common people were facing problems, a police official said. Police had appealed to protesters to shift but they didn't listen, so they were "relocated" to Azad Maidan near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the official said.
Although the BJP has never been ballistic about the BJD and Narendra Modi has avoided being critical of Naveen Patnaik, the BJP is optimistic that the party can improve its electoral fortunes in Odisha on its own, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Sports Minister Vijay Goel on Wednesday threw his weight behind beleaguered athlete Dutee Chand, saying they stand with the sprinter and will strongly pursue her case.
The former Congress president said Jawaharlal Nehru, as India's first prime minister, "consolidated democracy and entrenched the basic values of India's polity -- values to which we are still proud to lay claim."
'Their idea of unity is uniformity. They disrespect and fear diversity which means they deny our pluralism, our freedom of choice, which are integral to our 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.
'His assessment is wide off the mark from what is expected to be history's final verdict -- which is that Indira was the most unacceptable of all prime ministers because she was the only one who tried to throttle Indian democracy,' says Amulya Ganguli.
A powerful PM is only helping the mighty, Owaisi said.
He blamed policies of the Congress-led governments for the Kashmir issue remaining unresolved.
'What hurts people most is dynastic impulses and corruption under a family-ruled Congress party -- and Nehru has borne the brunt of it... I cannot be blinded by how the Nehru family has functioned but just as Gandhi can't be judged by his descendents, why should Nehru?' asks political scientist Ashutosh Varshney.
Here's a recap of the events from the past 24 hours.
The occasion provides the prime minister the opportunity to do some stocktaking of what his government has done during the past 12 months.
"I am pained at the needless and irrelevant controversies that are sought to be raised in the book published by Dr K L Nanadanji and presented to the Hon'ble President of India on May 9, 2008. I have no desire to join issue with any one on this matter and I respect the views of all my colleaguues, who have thought it proper to comment on it," Arjun said in his statement.
The Congress on Monday released a list of 30-star campaigners for the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
As Modi takes guard for a third term with trusted and seasoned hands around him, the BJP is hopeful that he will prove his detractors wrong and continue to fuel the party's expansion horizontally and vertically with his inventive policies in government and new set of ideas in politics with the core of Hindutva, development and welfarism remaining intact.
'Galbraith had a powerful ally in Washington -- not as blunt and direct as the ambassador -- but committed to see Krishna Menon go.' 'This was President Kennedy himself.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party is hopeful that the issue will come handy to its efforts to gain political traction in Dravidian state as it gears up for the Lok Sabha polls.
The prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
'It is perhaps a sense of intellectual inadequacy, of an ingrained inferiority complex born of the years when the BJP languished in the margins of Indian politics and society that, when faced with the soaring ideas about Indian pluralism, the Hindutva camp turns its face so resolutely against Nehru,' says Amulya Ganguli.
A wall hanging featuring Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad left the prime minister in awe
The CPI-M leader was fluent in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bangla, and also Malayalam. He was also well-versed in Hindu mythology, and often used those references in his speeches especially to attack the BJP.
The genesis of India's most-loved dish may go to canny cooks in the Mughal era, notes Sandeep Goyal.
The Congress' new headquarters located at 9A, Kotla Road in New Delhi was inaugurated on Wednesday, as the grand old party turned a page in its history after operating from its iconic 24, Akbar Road premises for the last 47 years.
Modi said laws which divide the country on communal lines and become a reason for inequality have no place in a modern society.
A senior police officer said adequate security arrangements have been made on the campus to maintain peace and tranquillity in the area.
'Nehru once told JRD, "I hate the mention of the very word profit".' '"Jawaharlal, I am talking about the need of the public sector making a profit!" JRD replied.' 'Nehru reiterated, "Never talk to me about the word profit, it is a dirty word".' A fascinating excerpt from Shashank Shah's The Tata Group: From Torchbearers To Trailblazers.
'There were deep discussions within the Sangh Parivar before this decision was made.' 'They were convinced, and only then did the Modi government proceed with the caste census.'
Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls.
When Dr Manmohan Singh arrives in Nigeria on a three-day state visit from October 14, he will be the first Indian prime minister to do so in 45 years. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had visited the oil rich nation in 1962, informed Nalin Suri while giving details about Dr Singh's imminent visit. "The prime minister is visiting at the invitation of the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, H E Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar Adua," Suri said.
'The Indian-American community is very excited to welcome Prime Minister Modi. He is the second prime minister to come to California after Jawaharlal Nehru, who visited the state in 1961.'
One hopes the new Lok Sabha will mark a break from a dismal tradition -- lack of interest in defence and security policies, argues Colonel Anil A Athale.
Former Vice President Hamid Ansari on Wednesday refuted the allegation that he had invited to India a Pakistani journalist who has claimed to have spied for Inter-Services Intelligence, and said a 'litany of falsehood' has been unleashed against him in sections of media and by a Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson.
The opposition leaders also accused the government of violating Constitutional norms by not inviting President Droupadi Murmu to the event.
'Speaking this year from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he excelled himself in content, diction and delivery -- all extemporaneously flowing, replete with felicitous expressions and captivating word play. 'The only other Indian prime minister with whom he stands comparison is Jawaharlal Nehru who too shunned prepared speeches and established instant rapport with his audiences,' says B S Raghavan.
