Asaduddin Owaisi, who was once the leader of a little-known outfit confined to the old city of Hyderabad, has emerged as a powerful voice of Muslims in the country in recent years.
As the 240-seater prime minister attempts to moderate his image of hardline hero, he has made room for others to elbow in and that is what is happening. And that it what will continue to happen from inside the BJP, notes Aakar Patel.
A strategist and a quintessential political leader with grassroots connect, Rajnath Singh is credited with expanding the Bharatiya Janata Party's organisational network in the Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s and the subsequent decades.
Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi was the centre of attention at the pran pratishtha ceremony of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya.
The Pope had made remarks while receiving India's envoy.
There was much speculation on a likely meeting between Bhagwat and Adityanath, especially in the backdrop of the BJP's recent electoral reverses in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'redistribution of wealth' remarks targeting the party, saying after facing 'disappointment' in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls, the PM has now resorted to 'lies' and 'hate speech' to divert people from the real issues.
Nadda enjoys warm relations with Modi, who was for a long time in charge of the party's affairs in Himachal Pradesh.
Politicians from the Left and the Congress party in Kerala have rallied behind Malayalam superstar Mammootty, who is facing online harassment from certain right wing sympathisers in connection with his 2022 film, Puzhu.
'Whether somebody else can take up (Narendra Modi's position) the answer to it is yes but for that (to happen) some kind of crisis must come and in that crisis Modi must lose the (trust) vote.' 'Only then another candidate from the BJP can come and most likely it could be Nitin Gadkari because he enjoys the confidence (of the RSS as well as that of BJP MPs).'
Samajwadi Party candidate Afzal Ansari is the incumbent MP and slain don Mukhtar Ansari's elder brother. Afzal had won the 2019 election on a BSP ticket after defeating the BJP's Manoj Sinha, now the J&K lieutenant governor.
Modi can abandon the path of Hindutva only at risk to his position within his own fraternity. But if he pursues a hard line, he faces the risk of being hauled up by his coalition-partners. For the first time in a decade, Modi is not in enviable situation, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The idol of Ram Lalla was unveiled on Monday at Shri Ram Janmaboomi Temple in Ayodhya in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
RSS leader Prafull Goradia, who recently quit BJP, is at the forefront of efforts to revive the Jan Sangh.
In the past year, Beijing has hosted at least 70 delegations from India as part of its outreach to the Indian business community, youth leaders and Sangh Parivar affiliates
He served as the Union health minister in Modi's first term from November 9, 2014 to May 30, 2019.
Proving wrong his detractors' claim of being sidelined after denial of chief minister's post for fifth time last year, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan won Madhya Pradesh's Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for the sixth time by a record margin of 8.21 lakh votes.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Here are some of the famous faces queued up to get ink mark on their fingers.
After Rahul Gandhi's remark accusing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of having killed Mahatma Gandhi, Union Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday went a step further alleging that the Sangh volunteers had distributed sweets in their homes after the assassination.
While there are some new faces in the cabinet, leaders such as BJP president JP Nadda and Jual Oram have returned as ministers.
They then vandalised the premises, breaking CCTV cameras and locking the main gate before leaving, he said.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tried to buy a house on his recent visit to Srinagar.
Ramesh asked the PM why river Ganga is "dirtier than before" even after spending Rs 20,000 crore on the Namami Gange project.
On Monday, April 29, 2024, Aditya Thackeray, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MLA, embarked on a roadshow for Rajan Vichare, the sitting MP and party candidate for the Thane Lok Sabha seat.
'Expunging remarks is within the powers of the Speaker.' 'Nobody can question or challenge the Speaker's decision.'
'It will be difficult to challenge Hindutva anymore as the police will have the power to charge you as anti-national.'
Modi earned his spurs as a doughty leader of the Opposition in the assembly, a post he held till 2004 when he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur.
'There are legions of unemployed degree holders across rural and semi-urban belts in Maharashtra. Now, they aren't finding brides.' 'This issue has now snowballed into a social crisis. In 2014 and 2019, they had voted for the BJP.'
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha on Monday, saying the leaders of the ruling party are not Hindus as they engage in "violence and hate" round the clock, drawing massive protests from the treasury benches, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing the Congress leader of calling the entire Hindu community violent.
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.
As the situation went out of control, police first used water cannon and then burst tear gas shells to disperse the unruly crowd.
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
'It is our right to not go there and pay a visit. It is the prerogative of every party on whether to visit a particular place or not'
Amid ongoing row over replacing German with Sanskrit as third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas, German Ambassador Michael Steiner on Wednesday reached out to Sanskrit teachers, including Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue Dina Nath Batra and decided to resolve the issue through more cultural exchanges.
'The Congress backstabbed us and the BJP frontstabbed us.' 'This is the only difference between the two parties.'
Gandhi, who is seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala, in a video appeal said this election is to save democracy and the Constitution.
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