Flurry of economic reform suggests Modi realises his muscular nationalism script is getting jaded. Chances are he'll try for economic recovery but stick to what's worked so far, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Opposition parties have expressed solidarity with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Labelling All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal as the 'enemy of Assam', state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday asserted that he is an extremist in protecting Indian and the Assamese culture.
India's 71st Republic day celebrations in the United States on Sunday were marred by protests and marches, albeit peaceful ones, against recent changes in the citizenship law by large number of Indian Americans in various cities of the country.
...but when they awaken, it's going to be overly optimistic to assume everybody will walk off the sleeping bed and come back to full life, Rajan noted.
The fascists in control of our nation, are afraid of the voices of our brave students. Today's violence in JNU is a reflection of that fear, Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet
'How can we forget the hoax perpetrated on the UN and on all of us when it was stated in the security council, no less, that Iraq had nuclear weapons?' recalls Ambassador B S Prakash.
'There is a need for a younger person at the top, but the old guard wants to grab the post themselves,' points out Amulya Ganguli.
In the opinion piece after the summit, the leaders said the cooperation, known as "the Quad," was born in crisis. It became a diplomatic dialogue in 2007 and was reborn in 2017.
From the Aadhaar verdict to #MeToo's arrival in the country to the entry into the Sabarimala temple -- India had a newsworthy 2018. As we step into 2019, these are the top moments from the year gone by.
'Soli steadfastly believed in Voltaire's famous dictum that he would disagree violently with anyone but defend to death that person's right to disagree with him.'
'The challenge before the two countries is to turn the peak into a plateau and enter an irreversible phase of cooperation,' notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
'In our democracy, it is not one Rama who will deliver the ideal State (or Ramrajya) but many Vibhishanas, who speak up and question when things start going wrong,' says S S Venkateswaran.
'Please do not threaten us with street violence.' 'Do you have some humanity left in you?'
'In order to stop the BJP actually, you need a party that changes the discourse rather than positing another pole for polarising it further. The answer to this kind of politics lies in refocusing the agenda on development'
India has just had one of the worst quarters in export earnings.
'Where in parliamentary democracies around the world do political parties drag Supreme Court judges in the middle marches of the night to decide who will rule?' asks Sunil Sethi.
The chief minister skipped meals and remained awake the entire night on a makeshift dais along with some senior ministers and party members.
Over two dozen Muslims have been elected to the Lok Sabha. This shows that all is not lost for India's Muslims, suggests Mohammad Sajjad.
'Of the 202 debates, 79 were around attacking Pakistan and 66 attacking the Opposition and Nehru.' 'The PMC Bank scam where thousands of depositors lost their savings got just one,' points out Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The leaders alleged that those who had no contribution in the freedom struggle wanted to spread fear 'in the name of nationalism', suppress the voice of people and were questioning the legacy of Congress.
Modi accused the Congress of criticising EVMs and the functioning of the Election Commission after they were reduced to 44 seats from 400 in Lok Sabha. "They did not question the EVMs after the recent Karnataka elections," he added.
'Modi's campaign has been strikingly devoid of anti-Muslim rhetoric. After the kutta pilla incident, it has been several months since he said something horrible about the Muslims of India. It is the result of democratic constraints. He has to make compromises... He's trying to reinvent himself. He will politically hurt himself if 2002 becomes the definition of Mr Modi again', says political scientist Ashutosh Varshney.
Y V Reddy argues that while the merits of the proposal to hold simultaneous elections to Parliament and all state assemblies appear self-evident, the reality might be very different.
"It is about time that India and its institutions are protected from these 'institution wreckers'," said Jaitley.
'You can't go on creating division and rhetoric of hate.' 'It comes to roost. We are seeing the first glimpses of that in the state elections.'
'The lessons from tiny New Zealand about mobilising to prevent an environment going up in flames around us and combatting the feral Whatsapp politics of hatred are in many ways Gandhian,' says Rahul Jacob.
Official celebrations in most states were restricted to unfurling of the national flag and chief ministers and governors addressing the people, with fewer guests in attendance.
'Even as discord over US-India trade and commerce colours diplomatic relations, defence relations between the two countries remain on a firm footing,' points out Ajai Shukla.
There is no move to use the Army against Maoists, Home Minister Chidambaram said on Wednesday after paying homage to the slain CRPF men in Chattisgarh.
'Mohan Bhagwat is very upfront with his views and arguments.' 'Mohan Bhagwat is competent to deal with Modi's personality cult.'
Kavitha Kuruganti has been fighting for decades to ensure farmers are respected and get their due from the Indian nation. In order to ensure they don't struggle for a living, she works to ensure sustainable farm livelihoods and farmers' rights.
'That would once and for all teach all the film-makers of this country a fitting lesson!'
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
The Congress leader asked the government to not resort to further unorthodox, short-term economic measures that can cause any more uncertainty in the economy.
It is time to pack up, sir! Please resign and save some honour of the Lok Sabha, an anguished Sheela Bhatt reports from the Lok Sabha press gallery after watching the shameful goings on over the tabling of the Telangana Bill.
"Getting the award in the year of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary is personally significant for me. When 130 crore people take a pledge, any challenge can be overcome," the prime minister said.
The Afghan-India Friendship Dam, earlier known as Salma Dam, on river Chist-e-Sharif in western Herat neighbouring Iran, will irrigate 75,000 hectares of land and generate 42 MW of power.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
