Opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Bharat Rashtra Party and Samajwadi Party, came together in a show of unity on Thursday and accused the Modi government of getting the second half of the budget session washed out, while asserting that if this attitude continues, the country will move towards a "dictatorship".
'If the institutions of democracy are under pressure, it is time for serious thinking by the people and their parties. The correctives must come from within.'
Their leaders go abroad and abuse India, while BJP workers sacrifice everything for the sake of the nation, Modi said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also claimed that the entire controversy was an "international conspiracy by the Left-wing organisations, including Amnesty International," to defame the Narendra Modi-led Central government.
Should the anti-defection law in India exist only to prevent democratically elected governments from being toppled?
'Governments, democratically elected governments, are custodians for a short- specified time.' 'Parents don't let baby sitters decide the course of their child's future.'
He said there used to be mutual respect between the government and the opposition, which is diminishing.
'The darkest days of Indian democracy were (during) the Emergency when basic democratic rights were suspended. For a time it seemed as though India would move along the East Asian model -- everybody works hard, nobody asks questions, certainly not of the government.' 'There are people who say we are headed that way, but I am not persuaded by the evidence,' says Mahesh Rangarajan who recently resigned as director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi.
Kanhaiya, who came with Rohith's mother and brother to express solidarity with the students, was greeted with slogans for and against him at the gate.
'Umar is being targeted because he is emerging as educated, knowledgeable leader of the Muslim community and, unlike popular perceptions that many harbour about Muslims, took to peaceful means to protest against the NRC and CAA.' 'They (the State) are scared of educated Muslim leadership.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader attacked the Congress for according Rahul Gandhi a "special treatment" following his conviction in a defamation case and accused the party of pressuring the judiciary, and doing everything possible to stay relevant.
On the eve of the meeting hosted by it, the Congress clarified that it will oppose the ordinance on Delhi services in Parliament, a key condition put by the AAP to attend the talks.
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".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday assured that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not be implemented in Assam if the party is voted to power in the state in the coming assembly poll.
"How many more lies will be peddled to sustain a sinking dynast? India, certainly deserves better," Jaitley said.
Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Yadav of the rebel Janata Dal-United, D Raja of the Communist Party of India, Hardik Patel (Gujarat's Patidar leader), Dinesh Trivedi (Trinamool Congress) and Sushilkumar Shinde (Congress) attended the meeting and joined the march.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was 'putting pressure' on him to 'frame' the then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi in an alleged fake encounter case in Gujarat when he was being questioned by the probe agency during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
But it is less adventurous. It seems, at last, that in its eighth decade, Pakistan has settled into being a parliamentary democracy just like Bangladesh has and like we have always been, observes Aakar Patel.
'Hamas is going to be prepared. There will be booby traps and tunnels; it's going to be door to door fighting.'
Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters, Modi also referred to the next Lok Sabha polls, scheduled for 2024, saying he hopes that political pundits will note that his party's win in the four states has also made clear the verdict for the next general election as they had linked its win in 2019 to its sweep of the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017.
Generations of Indians don't quite grasp that there would barely be an India had it not been for the Sardar whose steadfastness and guile stitched together that which had been united only in philosophy and spirituality and sometimes not even then -- for thousands of years. A fascinating excerpt from Hindol Sengupta's The Man Who Saved India, Sardar Patel and His Idea of India.
'Try to get in 30 to 60 minutes of a brisk walk every day, like my grandparents would do in the village -- twice a day they would go for morning walks and they would go after dinner.'
The Centre for Media Studies after releasing a report on 2019 polls expenditure, also claimed the recently-concluded election has signalled that the more the expenditure, the "more vicious and ugly" the campaigns become.
Kharge said this during an interaction with party delegates at Congress office in Srinagar, where he sought their support for the All India Congress Committee presidential election.
'What are the compulsions of the Election Commission that it cannot see any violations by the prime minister'
The challenge is to enhance opportunities for people to generate livelihoods through entrepreneurship, both big and small, argues R Jagannathan.
The United States has so far allocated only 7.5 million doses of Covid vaccines to India, which is not enough, a top Indian-American Congressman said while urging the Biden Administration to do more.
The Congress released a booklet 'Nau saal, Nau sawaal', asking nine questions from Modi. The BJP rejected the Congress' criticism as a 'bundle of lies and mountain of deception' and said the questions are born out of 'pathological hatred' of the PM.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The court said it is the responsibility of Parliament to show its collective will to restrain criminals from entering politics or legislature to save democracy and the country governed on democratic principles and the rule of law.
'By manipulating India's electoral laws, the aim of the Modi government is to weaken democracy to such an extent that it ultimately crumbles.'
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, which will replace an ordinance promulgated for handling the transfers and postings of senior officers in the city government, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday amid a walkout by opposition parties.
The 52-year-old Congress leader reached Surat in the afternoon via a scheduled commercial flight along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and proceeded to the sessions court.
Citing India's commitment to deep economic reforms and ease of doing business, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Monday that this is the best time to invest in the country as policy-making is focussed on the needs for the next 25 years for a 'clean and green' as well as 'sustainable and reliable' growth period. In his special address to the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda 2022 summit, Modi underlined a host of reform measures undertaken by his government to stress that it has worked to reduce the administration's interference in business by deregulating many sectors and to clear the way for free trade agreements with different countries. India was once associated with "license raaj", he noted and highlighted the measures, including reduction of corporate tax to boost business and doing away with over 25,000 compliance requirements.
There is no dearth of political will today to act against corruption and officers should take action against the corrupt, however powerful, without any hesitation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Amid opposition unity talks, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the Trinamool Congress, alleging that it was fighting elections in Meghalaya to ensure the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in the state, drawing a sharp reaction from the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
The Opposition candidate in the July 18 presidential polls, Yashwant Sinha, held his first campaign strategy meeting on Wednesday at the Nationalist Congress Party office in New Delhi and said a "rubberstamp President" will not work in the country.
Proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were disrupted as Opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout.
The Congress is planning to call a meeting of Opposition parties in May. It is possible to keep all possibilities open in case Karnataka yields a hung House, leading to a recalibrated Opposition.
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