Sharpening his attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Narendra Modi, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused them of trying to usurp the legacy of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and recalled the Congress stalwart's description of the RSS as "a venomous organisation" which could "finish" the country.
An article published by the party's Mumbai unit has caused a stir as it blames Jawaharlal Nehru for the state of affairs in Kashmir, China and Tibet.
The NSA said the country will always be indebted to security personnel and their families.
"For the next 25 years we need to focus on the five resolves - developed India, removing every trace of bondage from our mind, taking pride in our glorious heritage, unity, and fulfilling our duties," he said.
India dished out a lackluster performance to go down 0-3 to Argentina in the opening match of the Hockey World League (HWL) Final in front of a packed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium in Raipur on Friday.
The President's rule imposed in undivided Jammu and Kashmir was revoked on Thursday following the state's bifurcation into Union Territories, but the central rule will continue for an indefinite period through the Lieutenant Governor (LG) in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
The political-electoral calculus favours spending thousands of crores on vanity projects like Sardar Patel's statue and the Central Vista over building up our military to handle the confrontations and conflicts that loom large, points out Ajai Shukla.
Finance Minister had announced the scheme in the Union Budget.
"I myself come from a non-Hindi state of Gujarat. If some people want to do politics, it is their choice," Shah told reporters in New Delhi.
A leader of Shiv Sena, a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of "compromising" on Hindutva issues and termed BJP's coalition with Peoples Democratic Party in Kashmir as "treason".
"India has given a stern signal to its enemies by conducting surgical and air strikes. This tells us that India is changing and can take the most difficult decisions and isn't reluctant to implement them," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in his Independence Day address to the nation.
Naramalli Sivaprasad's over-the-top style of protest has become a unique tool to generate attention at the national level.
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, whom Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier gave a berth in the Rajya Sabha, was the surprise entry even for senior ministers who were seen asking each other about the background of the man from Punjab.
These people don't know that time has changed and they should not treat people as fools, Modi said.
"The prime minister is afflicted with an unhealthy mindset," Sharma said.
The vanity project, of absolutely no use to most Indians, will suck money that could be used for health and education, says Aakar Patel.
The festering dispute over the accession of Jammu and Kashmir stands out as one of the world's most volatile fault lines that divides regions, countries, societies, communities and ethnic groups, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs, on Sheikh Abdullah's 39th death anniversary.
'If we can award Madan Mohan Malaviya who died in 1946, then why not the Mahatma who died in 1948?' 'Why not go a little further back in time and give the award to Rabindranath Tagore who died in 1941?' 'And should we mark Lokmanya Tilak's 100th death anniversary in 2020 by giving him a Bharat Ratna,' asks Amberish K Diwanji.
'Breaking down silos and ensuring a more integrated governance process is just as important to performance.' 'It has been a major priority in the last six years, especially in national security,' External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar points out when delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture-2020: India and the Post-Covid World.
'The controversy created by a Gujarat minister was totally unnecessary and unwanted.' 'It is a disgrace that a person who happened to be Gujarat's finance minister, spoke this kind of rubbish.'
'Nehru's inability to take religion seriously as a category led to serious errors of judgement in his dealings with the Muslim League, and later, also with the Hindu right.'
'Politicians want pliable policemen who would carry out their orders, right or wrong, lawful or illegal.'
Does IAS officers' work go unappreciated, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Fifty years ago today, December 25, 1972, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, one of the titans of India's freedom struggle, passed into the ages. Kalki Krishnamurthy, who penned the Tamil classic Ponniyin Selvan among numerous other novels, describes his first glimpse of the man who would become an august national leader and his cherished role model.
To remember Jawaharlal Nehru only for his mistakes on Kashmir or China is unfair. A democratic and secular India is in no small measure the awesome legacy of India's first prime minister, says Amberish K Diwanji
Set a near impossible victory target of 490 on a track that is offering help for the spinners, Jharkhand were 28 for one in their second innings with two full days' play left and 462 runs to get.
Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs and revocation of its special status, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held talks with top political leaders from the erstwhile state, and said the Centre's priority is to strengthen grassroots democracy there for which delimitation has to happen quickly so that polls can be held.
The total number of states in the country will be now 28 while the total UTs will go up to seven.
'We cannot ignore the role of public institutions in driving development... I don't see much focus on institutional renewal.'
As of Friday, Gujarat's COVID-19 count stood at 7,403 cases, of which 5,260 were from Ahmedabad district alone, while of the 449 deaths in the state, 343 were from the city.
'Why does Mr Modi only attack Nehru from the Dynasty?' 'At one level, it is pure politics,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
What can be more seductive to lure a populist politician than a mass rally? Modi understands Trump well like few people can, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Public intellectuals who frame the ideological antipathy between the RSS & Co and Jawaharlal Nehru in the light of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and Hindu Raj alone, miss the point by a yard, argues Shaan Kashyap.
'I had expected them to fight this election on the issue of development, but they are not doing that.' 'Now they have decided to belittle Gujarat's development.'
India, the world's largest consumer of gold has created a number of rich jewellers over the years.
Rahul Gandhi is neither Congress president, office-bearer nor Congress leader in Parliament. This technical leeway provides adequate cover for Shiv Sena-Congress ties taking a nosedive, says Rasheed Kidwai.
'Non-separation of religion from politics is India's most daunting challenge'
Although conventional political wisdom would decree that the construction of a 'magnificent' Ram temple at his 'birth-place' would bring the BJP a big yield of votes in the prospective elections, its leaders know by now that the mandir must not exist in isolation in its game plan, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
'Should a leader with such an impeccable record of public life, struggles, meritorious performance and heroism in politics like Babu Jagjivan Ram be weighed on caste and not reviewed for his real worth?' asks Tarun Vijay.
