Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
'Elections are fought to win.' 'In our party, the leadership takes the final decision, and our leaders are very clear about it.'
'Imran Khan's rule was dismal. Despite this, he has become a cult figure.' 'He sold the dream of a Naya Pakistan to the people of Pakistan, especially the youth, and branded all other politicians as corrupt.' 'Hence, his popularity.'
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A G20 dinner invitation from President Droupadi Murmu describing her position as 'President of Bharat' triggered massive debate on Tuesday, with the opposition alleging that the government is planning to drop India and stay with just Bharat as the country's name.
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
The TDP and JD-U will have a lot to answer inside Parliament, day after day, session after session, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The prime minister's comment on 'revdi culture' was welcome. But I am disappointed he did not follow up on that.' 'All political parties, including the BJP, have been guilty of this.' 'Now, Modi's guarantees, the Congress's 'nyay' path and both ruling and Opposition parties are vying with each other for freebies in my home state Andhra Pradesh.'
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the 'traitors,' who perpetrated the riots would be dealt with an iron hand and steps would be taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur.
'Our civil society here is vibrant, and courageous, although it is beaten up and beaten down, repeatedly.'
Clad in a yellow kurta with a saffron gamcha around his neck, atop an open saffron coloured vehicle, he was greeted by loud chants of "Modi! Modi! Modi Zindabad! 400 Paar Is Baar" all along the roadshow's route.
The go-ahead given to prosecute Arundhati Roy would be seen by supporters of freedom of speech as an announcement that the Right-Wing doesn't feel humbled by the results of the elections, argues Shyam G Menon.
In Srinagar, wearing black bands, scores of PDP leaders and activists, led by party president Mehbooba Mufti, took out a protest march from the party's head office near the Sher-e-Kashmir Park.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
Tharoor's social media post condoling Musharraf's demise evoked a sharp response from the Bharatiya Janata Party which accused the Congress of "Pakistan parasti (worshipping)".
'The High Commission would like to categorically deny speculative reports in sections of media and social media about #India sending her troops to Sri Lanka. These reports and such views are also not in keeping with the position of the Government of #India,' the Indian mission said on Twitter.
One hopes in his next term, Narendra Modi will take up the mission of inculcating respect for following rules in Indians as a mission. Therein lies the chance for India to become a developed country, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
All 39 constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Tuesday reposed faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and resolved to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly under his leadership.
'This decision to go with the BJP is Kumaraswamy's individual decision and not a party decision.'
Sources within the Congress, including those who have been members of the teams that drafted its 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifestos, said the Karnataka government decision lacked any empirical basis.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
The raids, taking place mainly in South India, was termed by the NIA as the 'largest ever' investigation process 'till date'.
In the 1.43 minute-long video, Meerut SP Akhilesh Narayan Singh can be seen talking to three men in a narrow lane. Singh claimed that he had made the statement to a group of people who were raising slogans in support of Pakistan.
'There are many things we need to work on.' 'At the heart of it is, one, the extent of inequality, which is not good for democracy and nation; two, a structural decline on how a country ought to function, how people should be held accountable, whose role is what.'
State BJP chief Temjen Imna Along, widely popular on social media across the country for his sense of humour, and Salhoutuonuo Kruse, one of the two women elected to Nagaland assembly for the first time, were among those who were sworn-in as members of the council of ministers.
'Today, the BJP is using power in such a manner that they not only crush the Opposition, but even their own supporters can't rebel.'
Without naming Gandhi and referring to the Congress leader's remarks made in London -- that structures of Indian democracy are under 'brutal attack', Modi termed it an insult to 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara, the people of Karnataka, India's great traditions and its citizens.
The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa is being speculated since his resignation on Monday.
Addressing a huge rally in Maharashtra's Nagpur on the occasion of the Congress' 139th foundation day, he said unemployment in the country has reached its highest point in the last 40 years.
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.
The American-born Indian scholar, sociologist and human rights activist was well known for her writing on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis.
Yadav said all parties have joined hands against the BJP in the Bihar assembly, and added "now this is going to be replicated across the whole country".
The colourful rally galvanised the BRS workers who shouted slogans hailing the party-led regime's welfare schemes in Telangana and peppy political songs praised Rao's 'national' emergence.
'After a month of working on the new machine, I realised that the black glass on the VVPAT lets the programmer manipulate not just the electronic system, but the paper vote too.' 'And it will not be detected even during the mock poll or the actual voting because of the black glass.'
'Which path should Muslims take politically as they have been completely marginalised?'
It is high time the Indian government signalled discomfort with the UK providing refuge to those accused of financial crimes in India, states Jaimini Bhagwati.
The tally of Congress has been reduced from 122 to 77 and Chief Minister Siddamaraiah lost from his traditional seat, and barely managed to win from another, he said, mocking the opposition party.
Inarguably the biggest gainer in the Grand Alliance, the CPI-ML, often working in the margins of mainstream politics, had 19 candidates in the fray, most of them students and youth leaders.
In another major crackdown on the Popular Front of India, police along with other investigative agencies conducted raids across several states on Tuesday.
