With the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government marking its first anniversary on Saturday, the first year is likely to be remembered for the fulfilment of decades-old Hindutva demands as Prime Minister Narendra Modi used the huge majority his party won in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to push through its core agenda.
Expressing solidarity with the people of Lakshadweep, the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution demanding the recall of island administrator Praful Khoda Patel and requesting the immediate intervention of the Centre to protect the lives and livelihood of the islanders.
The Aam Aadmi Party led by its chief minister designate Atishi staked claim to form a new government in Delhi on Tuesday shortly after Arvind Kejriwal resigned from the post, an effort seen as a bold gambit to seize the initiative ahead of assembly elections due in five months.
In a strategic move, the BJP has welcomed prominent Christian figures like Anil K Antony, son of Congress stalwart AK Antony, and seasoned Kerala politician PC George, into its fold.
'This chauvinistic attitude, what they call nationalism in the name of religion, is sad.' 'It is a tragic state that we are all in currently.'
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.
With the 2019 Lok Sabha polls less than eight months away, the party has resumed stoking the emotional issue through its second-and third-rung leaders.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his government has made a "solemn promise" for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood and will stand by it, adding the Centre was working very hard to create the right conditions.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Despite the upbeat statement, the party is expected to reflect on what caused the sharp fall in its numbers. It is expected to win about 240 seats against the 303 it had won in 2019.
Why has the BJP taken such great interest in the film? Not to put too fine a point on it, a possible reason is its propaganda value. Since the film shows the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits during their exodus from the Valley, Muslims are depicted in a poor light, observes Amulya Ganguli.
Neglect of older dedicated workers who worked without the urge for recognition by the new age social media-aided selfie powered activists was also evident in the poll results, it said.
Gupta, along with some other leaders, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri and the party's national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
Uddhav Thackeray claimed the new Narendra Modi government at the Centre, which was sworn in on June 9, will collapse and will be replaced by an INDIA bloc dispensation.
Since Kalpana is not an MLA, her becoming the CM will need a present MLA to vacate his or her seat.
Seen by political watchers as the favourite to retain power for a third straight term, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set itself an ambitious target of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats, a goal aimed as much at projecting its strength as at diminishing the opposition in popular imagination.
BJP president Amit Shah is chairing the meeting attended by top party leaders from across the country.
His successful piloting of the move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status is undoubtedly the highlight of his ministerial stint since the Modi 2.0 government assumed office on May 30.
After its decision to back Patil evoked allegations of betrayal from BJP, the Sena has gone on the offensive, saying 'nobody need teach us Hindutva'.
'It's dull because this time the election is spread over such a long period.'
However, Head priest Tantri Kandararu Rajeevaru told reporters at the temple that he had only consulted senior tantri Kandararu Mohanararu on the matter.
Giving a clarion call to defeat the Mamata Banerjee-led party in West Bengal, the prime minister while addressing a mega rally in Siliguri said, "The road to oust the corrupt TMC government from West Bengal will open from the Lok Sabha polls."
Bindu and Kanakadurga, who broke centuries-old tradition by entering the holy shrine, said there were no objections from the devotees and called those who were protesting riot-mongers.
Congress on Sunday took a dig at the PDP-BJP alliance, saying that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed should be "careful" about the conversion agenda being pursued by the saffron party.
In the 35-member municipal House, the BJP has 17 councillors. The number of BJP's strength increased from 14 to 17 after three Aam Aadmi Party councillors switched over to it on February 19. The AAP has 10 members while the Congress has seven. The Shiromani Akali Dal has one councillor.
Although Roy has remained tightlipped about the agenda of his visit, the political circles in West Bengal were abuzz with speculations over his next political move.
A day after the split in the saffron alliance, Shiv Sena on Friday lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party, calling it the "enemy of Maharashtra", signaling a return to its original pro-Marathi agenda for next month's assembly polls.
With no apparent wave on the ground or pressing everyday issues, that's what it boils down for voters as Rajasthan readies for assembly polls this week.
The feisty TMC boss also accused the CPI-M of ruining her party's relationship with the Congress, its ally in the Opposition bloc INDIA at the national level.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview.
The Congress and the NCP are not comfortable with the name Maha Shiv Aghadi (a grand alliance comprising the Shiv Sena)
Behind this never-say-die attitude of the BJP is probably the calculation of the Roman emperors that if bread is scarce, give the people circus, observes Amulya Ganguli.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday termed the cancellation of over 25,000 school jobs as 'gross injustice' and alleged that it was a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to stop these job losers from being deployed in poll duty.
In his first response to the issue, Stalin, president of the ruling DMK, said Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) has already responded to the matter twice.
Delhi BJP vice president Kapil Mishra hailed people for defying the cracker ban.
BJP sources said a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance is expected to take place soon to highlight its growing strength and to dispel the impression that the departure of some of its oldest allies such as the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Janata Dal-United have the left the saffron party without a major partner.
Amidst suspense about his whereabouts, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has reached his official residence in Ranchi, a source in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on Tuesday.
The announcement was made after AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar held a meeting with CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Friday evening.
...close to the 2024 general election. The BJP calling the Congress 'seasonal Hindu' is as laughable as the saffron party sparing itself the title of 'seasonal extreme Hindu.'
How else should one describe its election campaigns of the past years?
It was typically obsessive religion and personality cult with economic development for fig leaf, asserts Shyam G Menon.
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also recommended to the Congress to raise the issue of religious freedom during US-India bilateral meetings, and hold hearings on it.
