Pakistan-India bilateral relations remained frozen for the fourth year over the vexed Kashmir issue but analysts hope the strained ties could be repaired if Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister for a record fourth time in the general elections in February in the absence of his main challenger Imran Khan who is in jail in multiple cases.
'...It is important for you to take a stand.' 'It is a sin to remain silent when the basic structure of the Constitution is being attacked.'
The idea of weaponization got a fillip from an unexpected quarter. In the last week of October 1985, Rajiv met US President Ronald Reagan. Reagan told Rajiv, 'Pakistan has already made a bomb.' When Rajiv started talking about disarmament, the US president cut him short, 'Don't talk theory, think of your own protection.'
Modi and the BJP have been targeting the Congress during the campaign for assembly polls, claiming that the grand old party opposed the scrapping of Article 370.
"Everything may look normal in Kashmir. Everything may look normal here. We may be celebrating the victory, although of course some people believe that that victory or that success of 2024 was perhaps only marginal, perhaps a lot more needs to be done," he said.
Indian Premier League chairman Rajiv Shukla pushed for the resumption of cricket ties between India and Pakistan, saying the game should not be brought into political controversies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought Hindi into vogue in the external affairs ministry and managed a diplomatic coup by inviting SAARC leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, to New Delhi for his swearing-in. Sheela Bhatt's impressions of the Indian prime minister's first day in office.
There is a proposal from the BJP camp that they would resort to a proportion-based increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats for individual states, based on what they now have. On the face of it, this sounds like a fine argument that those demanding a 'freeze' now cannot oppose without reasons and justification, avers N Sathiya Moorthy.
In the last 9 years, the BJP govt has marked some anniversaries and events with more zeal than Congress-led governments.
Gujarat was labelled Hindutva's crucible and Modi was to become the chief 'chemist'. A revealing political saga excerpted from Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay's The Demolition, the Verdict and the Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project.
'Till today, we don't know how many people died of Covid in India.' 'How many migrated from cities to villages during the Covid pandemic?' 'How many corporates contributed to PM Cares?'
'The Congress wants to deprive Modi another term in 2024 and for that they are ready to make any sacrifice.'
The plan hinged on two critical assumptions: India would not be able to replenish supplies quickly to launch a counter-attack. India could not respond in enough strength to dislodge the Pakistanis. Both assumptions would be proved wrong due to the ferocity of the Indian response, reveals former RAW officer Tilak Devasher in his new book, Pakistan At The Helm.
Singh also said that Indian security forces were capable of defending the country's territories.
The Opposition on Monday demanded immediate release of all political detainees in Jammu and Kashmir, especially three former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.
After a spirited eight-hour debate in which 60 members participated, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, with 454 members voting in favour and two against it.
Will January 22 mark a point of no return for our Constitutional secularism? asks Shekhar Gupta.
'When Dr Murli Manohar Joshi wanted to start a course on astrology, Jayant was the first one to have the courage to stand up and say astrology is not science.' 'That's a very rare quality -- to stand up to authority.'
The party had supported CAB in Lok Sabha. Sena MP said the govt did not give satisfactory answers to the concerns raised by the party.
In the event of a Chinese attack on Arunachal, troops and equipment from mainland India will travel on the existing south bank railway till Bogibeel, cross the Brahmaputra on the new bridge and then head further east on the Strategic Rail-Road Link, once it is ready.
Narendra Modi will be the first leader to address a joint session of the United States Congress during US House of Representative Speaker Paul Ryan's tenure.
Facing accusations of pursuing communal agenda against the backdrop of conversion in Agra, government has asserted in Lok Sabha that it was committed to maintain communal harmony and suggested that all states as well as the Centre should have anti-conversion laws.
Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday pitched for "working together" in his maiden meeting with newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said both will have to strive to change confrontation into cooperation.
Few had imagined the BJP would be able to travel this far when it was founded on April 6, 1980.
Congress MP Ghulam Nabi Azad during his retirement speech in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday summed up his more than four-decade-old political career in few Urdu couplets and a brief speech.
Ramesh stressed that the prime minister should participate in the debate on Manipur.
'Pakistan had almost disappeared from Kashmir.' 'Now in the last three, four years we have brought Pakistan back again by not handling Kashmir properly.'
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'The Bharat Jodo Yatra successfully resurrected the Rahul Gandhi brand.' 'There's a critical mass that has built up for the Congress and Mr Modi is feeling the heat on the Adani issue, the raids on the BBC offices, the Opposition getting together.'
An elated Rajnath Singh on Friday gave credit to the Bharatiya Janata Party and persona of Narendra Modi for their spectacular performance in the elections and said the role of senior party leaders, including LK Advani would be decided collectively and with consensus.
"God forbid if they (militants) would have done something. It would not have been possible to have smooth conduct of the elections," Sayeed said.
In his pre-departure statement, he said trade ties between India and Russia can increase even further, to benefit not only the two nations but also the world.
Congress leader Veerappa Moily stated that the negotiation for Agusta began during former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's regime and all his advisors and defence ministers were involved.
Single political leaders, Narendra Modi boasted recently at an election rally, can end corruption. He claimed that only those free of filial ties could end decades of corrupt rule, says Rahul Bedi.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Pakistan made a tactical error in not investing enough in L K Advani, former R&AW chief A S Dulat tells Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his historic visit of the United States of America, here's a look at some landmark visits by Indian prime ministers to the United States of America.
The Bogibeel Bridge, which was a part of the Assam Accord and sanctioned in 1997-98, is likely to play a crucial role in defence movement along the India-China border in Arunachal Pradesh.
'Modi is nobody's fool. He recognises that China has a sort of quality that attracts and repels. It attracts in terms of its performance and it shows in a sense a mirror image to India of what it could be if everything went right in terms of economic performance,' says Ashley Tellis, senior associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and head of its South Asia programme.
How the two South Asian neighbours will interact with each other in the coming months will be decided by the two prime ministers in Washington.
