Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial Narendra Modi on Saturday hit back at Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi for attacking him on his links with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, saying he was "proud" of the ideology and the principles based on the "altar of sacrifice and service".
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Expressing desire to bring about permanent solution to the Kashmir issue, the government on Monday said it is willing to have any dialogue under the ambit of 'insaniyat' (humanity) to address the problem and favours good relations with Pakistan.
In his first speech at Rajasthan's Barmer, from where expelled Bhartiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh is contesting as an independent, party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi did not utter a single word against the former party stalwart.
'2019 is just a year away and Modi can do with some peace and tranquility on the external front.' 'There are risks, of course, but isn't Modi a risk taker?' asks Ambassador B S Prakash.
Over a year after the deadline to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trading status to India, the Pakistani government on Thursday declined to specify any time limit to meet the long-pending demand from here.
'The situation is in real danger of swinging back to the fearful days of the 1990s, primarily for want of a well thought out action plan in New Delhi.'
India remains North Korea's 2nd-largest import source after China, according to several estimates by multilateral bodies, says Subhayan Chakraborty.
'To consider BRICS anything more than a temporary club with some common interests would be folly. The goal should be to induce others (Japan, ASEAN, South Africa) to align with us -- a non-threatening, democratic nation, rather than with malevolent China or waning America. For us to consider aligning with either China or the US would be absurd. India is just too big to be a sidekick,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
BJP President Amit Shah -- arguably the second most powerful politician in the nation -- granted a rare television interview to the Network 18 group of news channels. Rediff.com's Rajesh Alva checks out what the BJP boss said in this word cloud assessment of the interview.
Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by...
From corruption to communalism, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's Rs 70 lakh Hublot watch to United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, the electoral potboiler had it all.
The United States has labelled a Pakistan-based money changer as a "global terrorist" for providing financial services to the banned Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group that has been involved in a series of terrorist attacks in India, including the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead.
'Modi's visit is path breaking in the sense that India has come out of the closet and is prepared to deal with Israel openly and in a host of fields, military as well as civilian,' says P R Kumaraswamy, one of India's leading experts on the Middle-East, currently in Israel.
'By demonetising higher denominations of currency notes, we have taken out the vehicle for corruption.' 'But the motive is still there.'
When Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier shone a light on the Pandora's Box that became famous as the Panama Papers, even they didn't know how it would shake up the murky world of finance, indeed the world itself.
The BJP president came down heavily on the Opposition saying a shocking change has happened in the country's politics with those against the prime minister resorting to lies and speaking it loudly all the time.
India will be informing Sri Lanka about an official working with the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo who was allegedly playing a key role in planning terror strikes at the behest of ISI on the US and Israeli consulates in the southern part of this country.
If China's behaviour in the past on ticklish issues is any indication then China could eventually support India's NSG application, says Rup Narayan Das.
Trouble is brewing for government in the monsoon session of Parliament, which is expected to start next month, with the Congress on Monday hinting at stacking up ammunition on issues like failure at the Nuclear Suppliers Group, terror strikes and diatribes of Subramanian Swamy.
Meaningful devolution of spending power to states could spread more confidence on the ground and stir precisely the sort of change Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised.
Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Shinde said Modi used to say that UPA ministers were serving biryani to Pakistani leaders but what is happening now.
It seems China is ready to cooperate with India in the central Asian region through the SCO framework, the reasons for which are manifold, says Sana Hashmi.
The session, which will continue till August 11, is likely to discuss issues like lynching incidents and vigilantism, the Kashmir situation and the border stand-off with China.
The prospect of further falls in remittances is a hindrance for the Reserve Bank of India, as it seeks to bullet-proof the economy against sudden capital outflows
Ram Jethmalani passed away a few days before his 96th birthday on September 14.
'What Trump and Kim have demonstrated is that leaders need not remain prisoners of the status quo and they can, by showing the necessary will and courage, break out of the hang-ups and constrictions of the past and carve out a new pathway for themselves,' says B S Raghavan.
This Haryana village believes it has 'found' the Saraswati river of the Vedas.
With Hamid Karzai stonewalling every US effort to conclude a bilateral security agreement, the Obama Administration is pinning its hopes on India to persuade the Afghan President to sign the deal and end the current political imbroglio on the issue.
'Modi and Obama both had agendas that went beyond the nuclear deal. The threat from the chilly Himalayas had to be tackled in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.'
'I could have never imagined any other prime minister giving time to a separatist leader.' 'I think the Hurriyat should not be ignored. I think like Pakistan, they are being unnecessarily ignored.' A S Dulat, the former RA&W chief who visited Kashmir recently, speaks to Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
'I haven't given up on spreading awareness about toilet and female sanitation, and I won't give up on this either.'
Minister Babul Supriyo wants Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's song form upcoming film Welcome To New York to be removed.
A scrutiny of the PM's statements in the last 12 weeks lays bare a stunning lack of homework for a policy that has affected each of the 1.25 billion people of India.
'Chinese dominance reduces India's influence in South and Southeast Asia and erodes its status globally.' 'For a country striving to create a multipolar Asia, it would be a serious setback,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'If you ask India's finest business leaders, they now tell you -- in whispers, of course -- that the mood has never been so glum after 1991,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'It is a great thing for Test cricket at the moment because we have been talking about it for the last 2-3 years'
Violent clashes broke out between a group of youths and security forces in parts of the city on Saturday, leaving a youth and a policeman injured in stone pelting as separatist groups called a strike in Srinagar condemning the police action on Jamia Masjid on Friday.
If the high security notes introduced in 2015 were kept in the system, the pain due to demonetisation can be ameliorated to a certain extent. But unfortunately, such thought process have no place in the hasty demonetisation decision.
"Any fight with the Congress will remain in the state. At the national level, we will fight together, this I am saying from the heart..." she said.
The annual talk-fest of rich and powerful from across the world in snow-laden Alpine resort town of Davos will be attended by nearly 40 heads of government among more than 2,500 global leaders from over 100 countries.
