'Nehru remains central to the polemic between the Congress and the BJP, or stated ideologically, between secular and Hindu nationalism.' 'The reason is that Nehru represents what is optimally possible as a secular politics along with liberalism and democracy in a country like India.'
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday called for a "main front" of all non-BJP parties to take on the ruling alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and asserted that the decision on its leadership can be taken later.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
'The Bihar verdict has shown that the people of Bihar don't desire to go back to the mandir-masjid rhetoric.' 'Jobs, wages and development are the aspiration of the people of Bihar and we hope the next government will keep that in mind.'
'These people are not religious. They do not have respect for other religions... This lady is single-handedly responsible for what is happening in the country... Has a loose tongue'
Amid the raging controversy over a conversion bid by some Sangh Parivar outfits, Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that such incidents would not derail the party-led National Democratic Alliance government from its development agenda.
The complainant, who claims to be a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, had alleged that Gandhi's "commander-in-thief" remark in the context of the Rafale fighter jet deal amounted to defamation.
Addressing a poll rally at bypoll-bound Munugode Rao segment, Rao referred to the TRS MLAs case and said 'brokers' from Delhi came and attempted to bribe the MLAs by offering Rs 100 crore each.
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.
The poll of polls brought out by the NDA gave the BJP and the Congress 66 and 14 seats respectively in Haryana, and 211 and 64 for the saffron alliance and the Congress-NCP in Maharashtra.
Wayanad will continue to support Rahul but not to the same extent as in 2019, when his margin of victory had been enormous. Articulate, to the point and speaking in fluent Malayalam, CPI's Annie Raja, had the people who gathered to see her, listening in rapt attention, notes Shyam G Menon.
Crucial reforms in Muslim personal law, especially laws related to inheritance and adoption, need to be initiated forthwith; historically speaking, without the State's backing, hardly has any reform taken place or allowed to prevail, asserts Mohammad Sajjad.
'There might be some internal tussles that can be expected between any two persons in any party.' 'But I do not see any tussle which might weaken the possibility of dictatorship.'
'Tamil Nadu is a paradox. We have more places of Hindu worship per square kilometres than any other place in the world. 'We break more coconuts for religious reasons everyday than any other place in the world.' 'At the same time, we also have a very strong Periyar-infused movement of rationalism.'
Stalin said one cannot and should not decide the mood of the entire country based on the results of one state elections.
Peoples Democratic Party veteran Mufti Mohammed Sayeed was sworn-in as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir heading a coalition with BJP which, in a clear departure from its earlier stand, agreed to maintain status quo on Article 370 in the common agenda for governance.
'Rahul Gandhi is raising the issue of a caste census though his party has been doing injustice on this front from the 1950s.'
A number of academicians as well as political scientists Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, who were part of the textbook development committee of the NCERT, had asked the council to drop their names from textbooks over 'several substantive revisions of the original texts'.
Modi believes that the Congress leadership does not have the political sagacity to undertake a course correction because of its preoccupation about not losing its current gains in the voter base, observes Shekhar Iyer.
The decision of its two oldest allies to walk out means that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United, is now the oldest BJP ally besides being the most powerful.
Jeetega Bharat has selected 125 Lok Sabha seats across the country where it will assist the Opposition alliance.
When he was chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was able to blunt inter-regional and inter-communal tensions which Farooq and Omar Abdullah could not do. Whether he can repeat it with the BJP by his side would have to be seen, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
Tamil Nadu is the celebrated home of the 'social justice' movement in the country, yet caste differences and violence has only been increasing in numbers and becoming more brutal in recent years, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The other panelists (Praniti Shinde and Priyanka Chaturvedi) were misbehaving with me.' 'Despite that I kept quiet because I have witnessed many such scenes in the 25 years of my public life and debates.' 'Amid all the ruckus, when I heard Praniti calling me out for 'cheap behaviour' I couldn't take such misbehaviour anymore.'
Reacting to the statement, the Congress in Goa accused the TMC of entering the poll fray in the state in order to 'divide secular votes and give mileage to the ruling BJP', and also alleged that Kishor's remarks exposed Mamata Banerjee-led party's agenda.
The former Union minister claimed the prime minister was batting for UCC to divert people's attention from issues of unemployment, price rise and hate crimes.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
The Congress in Kerala on Friday approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) against the decision of Doordarshan to telecast the controversial movie The Kerala Story, saying it was a 'tacit effort' to divide society on religious grounds to further the electoral prospects of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
Why has the BJP taken such great interest in the film? Not to put too fine a point on it, a possible reason is its propaganda value. Since the film shows the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits during their exodus from the Valley, Muslims are depicted in a poor light, observes Amulya Ganguli.
Key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into law this year may violate certain provisions of India's Constitution, a report issued by an independent research wing of the United States Congress has claimed.
The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
BJP state president V Muraleedharan said that the CPM leadership had run out of ideas and was trying to suppress its political opponents by physically intimidating them. Arun Lakshman reports
What these elections prove beyond any doubt (if ever there was one) that Modi's hold over public mind and Shah's mastery of election management are unparalleled. It doesn't seem likely that they will be matched any time soon in the Indian political scene, reaffirms Shreekant Sambrani.
The BJP can only form a government if the PDP splits.
Gandhi, who met a cross section of people from Jammu and Kashmir during his yatra, said J-K has the highest level of unemployment in the country.
Shailaja Teacher, arguably the most famous Covid warrior in India, versus former student leader Shafi Parambil who defeated 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan in the last assembly election. Shyam G Menon reports from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, which some feel is the most politically important contest in Kerala this election.
The Bombay high court on Monday extended till January 25, 2023, the relief granted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from appearance before a local court in a defamation complaint pertaining to his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
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