'A country cannot be run on lines that everyone should be in agreement and those who disagree should be silenced.' 'If this is how they look at democracy, then I can only wish good luck to the future of parliamentary democracy in India.'
The 52-year-old Congress leader reached Surat in the afternoon via a scheduled commercial flight along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and proceeded to the sessions court.
Addressing a big rally in Kolkata to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's Lok Sabha campaign, Shah launched a blistering attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issues of appeasement, infiltration, corruption and political violence, alleging she has "destroyed" the state.
After a series of meetings, Sarma told reporters that BJP's Assam legislature party is likely to meet in Guwahati on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.
A communication to Sharma from the party's disciplinary committee said she has expressed views contrary to the party's position on various matters, which is in clear violation of its constitution.
The chairman raised the issue of mimicry of the speaker and the chairman by an MP and the videography of the act, saying this was shameful and there has to be a limit.
Springing a surprise, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday picked Mohan Yadav, a leader of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and a three-time MLA, as the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, state party president VD Sharma said.
Kalyan Banerjee said that he did not intend to hurt anyone but did not offer any apology for the mimicry act which has been described by Dhankhar as an insult to the post of vice-president, the farmers and his own community.
"I am not allowed to speak in the Rajya Sabha often. Should I say it is because I am a Dalit?" he asked.
Those responsible for protecting MPs have failed in their constitutional duties, said Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
He requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make an announcement that the farm loans would be waived, while a mechanism for the same could be worked out later.
Amidst suspense about his whereabouts, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has reached his official residence in Ranchi, a source in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on Tuesday.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condemnation and denunciation of the statements made by the BJP spokesperson, saying it insulted Prophet Muhammad.
BJP Meghalaya in-charge Chuba Ao said the party's 'Congress mukt campaign' is valid for the state and hence the party will seek clarification from the chief minister.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Shah said the new laws would give priority to providing justice, unlike the colonial-era laws that gave primacy to penal action, and made reporting of crimes even easier by recognising e-FIR, Zero FIR and electronic or digital evidence.
A reference to Morbi bridge collapse of Gujarat was on Friday made inside the Bihar assembly by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who alleged that states not ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party got an unfair portrayal in the media.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah why he was not giving a statement in Parliament on the security breach issue but was giving interviews to TV channels.
The Kolkata connection of Lalit Jha sparked a political debate in the state, with West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar accusing TMC MLA Tapas Roy of being in "convenience" with Jha.
A political row broke out on Tuesday after Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee derisively mimicked Dhankhar during the opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament against the MPs' suspension, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP.
As soon as the House resumed at noon, Joshi said, "In protest against the action of their party's former president (Rahul Gandhi) and in your honour and in honour of the Constitution, we would participate in the Question Hour while remaining standing in silence. We request for your permission".
The country may become militarily impressive, pile on GDP and the durbar of the ruling party may fill with the wealthy indebted to the rulers for their riches. But the spontaneous camaraderie of a free people will diminish and with it, our shared ownership of the country, warns Shyam G Menon.
Party's chief spokesperson K C Tyagi said Kumar has agreed to take over the mantle from Lalan Singh.
A railway station and a police vehicle were torched and several law enforcers injured in stone-pelting incidents on the fourth consecutive day of protests against Agnipath scheme on Saturday when a bandh was also called to press for the demand for rollback of the new scheme for recruitment in armed forces.
Vadra said he keeps away from politics but "I will speak to fight for my name because if there is anything they say they have to prove it".
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Harsh Vardhan on Friday alleged that some people with vested interest have 'dragged' his name into a row over certain objectionable remarks made by his party colleague Ramesh Bidhuri in the Lok Sabha.
A 14-year-old girl was allegedly murdered and her body was burnt in a coal furnace in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district, the police said on Thursday.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Wednesday reiterated that he will stop drinking water from Wednesday evening if his demand for reservation to the Maratha community is not fulfilled by the Maharashtra government.
The suspension of 25 Congress members on Friday again led to protests by MPs from the Left, Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal, who raised slogans and staged a walkout of the Lok Sabha proceedings.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka had the last laugh as it won all the three Rajya Sabha seats it had contested in, out of total of four from the state that went for polls on Friday, while the Congress managed to win only one of the two seats to which it had fielded its candidates.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
The incident took place at Kurumahat in Hansdiha police station area, around 300 km from the state capital Ranchi, on Friday night when a tourist couple from Spain was spending the night at a makeshift tent.
There is infighting among Rajasthan Congress leaders and I do not respect them. They are fake leaders, Bhanwar Lal Sharma tells Rediff.com contributor Shahnawaz Aakhtar
Sanjay Singh, the Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh loyalist, on Wednesday exuded confidence of sweeping the much-delayed Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections, saying the fraternity knows who would be beneficial for the sport and who could inflict damage to it.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday sacked its recalcitrant Bihar member of legislative council Tunnaji Pandey whose utterances against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were putting a strain on the tenuous relations between the two alliance partners.
The Congress on Thursday said it firmly believes that India's democratic processes themselves have to deal with the threats posed to its democracy, remarks that came after the Bharatiya Janata Party attacked the opposition party for its leader Digvijaya Singh thanking Germany for "taking note" of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
The Congress, Left parties, Trinamool Congress and some others were in the forefront of this attack on the government, which is set to garner around Rs 7,900 crore through the decision.
A panel of Union ministers held a fourth round of talks with farmer leaders in Chandigarh on Sunday over their demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP, as thousands of protesting farmers camped at the Punjab-Haryana border.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath ordered the suspension of the sub divisional magistrate, circle officer and all other policemen present at the spot in Durjanpur village in Ballia's Reoti area, police said.
