Stunning moments from across India as it celebrates its 69th Independence Day
Opponents of the CAA and NRC have gone to town accusing the BJP of an ulterior motive (read, disenfranchisement of Muslims) in implementing the NRC. By the same token it can be alleged that anti-CAA opponents have a nefarious agenda in mind that would be scuttled by the implementation of the NRC: Namely the accrual of dedicated vote banks and the restoration of Muslim hegemony over at least parts of India, especially Bengal and Assam, argues Vivek Gumaste.
Nitish Kumar, who along with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, steered the Grand Secular Alliance to a landslide mandate of over two-thirds majority in Bihar assembly poll, will be sworn in as Chief Minister on Novermber 20 for a third term along with his new cabinet.
Discussing in detail the security risk BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi faces, a senior Intelligence Bureau officer tells Sheela Bhatt that Modi's security cover will improve manifold following the Patna serial blasts.
The Deen Bachao, Desh Bachao conference in Patna on April 15 was attended by lakhs of Muslims. Will the electoral dividends from this rally be reaped by Nitish Kumar, the BJP (through Hindu consolidation), by both Nitish and the BJP or will it be reaped more by the anti-BJP forces, asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad took a potshot at Narendra Modi on Monday calling him a Dhritarashtra who is not only "blind" but also "deaf and dumb" and a "coward", as the chorus of criticism against the prime minister's "silence" on Dadri lynching grew louder.
The BJP slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for indulging in 'loose talks' and asserted that security measures for the serial blasts-marred 'Hunkar Rally' at Patna last month was his responsibility in his capacity as the home minister of Bihar.
Indian Mujahideen's Tehsin Akhtar was in Patna at the time of Sunday's serial blasts. He set up teams of three to plant bombs. Vicky Nanjappa reports
'Patriotism won 400+ seats for the Congress party in 1984. How much will nationalism bring in, in 2019, is the question,' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
In a bid to fight his way back out of political wilderness, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad on Wednesday addressed his first major rally in Bihar in a decade during which he called Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a "dictator" whose "downfall" has begun and a "parrot" of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
With Wednesday's Parivartan rally considered crucial to reassert the popularity of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, the party has booked 13 trains to transport people to the event to Patna.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asked the prime minister not to make new promises to Bihar but "show moral courage" and ensure implementation of all the promises made till date.
Blame game over sharing of intelligence has clouded investigations into the serial blasts at Patna's Gandhi Maidan during Narendra Modi's rally on October 27 in which six people lost their lives and 85 others were injured.
In a bid to mobilise support after serial blasts struck its rally in Patna on Sunday, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday began a 'shahid asthi-kalash yatra' of the six blast victims from six different villages that would be taken to different parts of the state before being immersed in Ganga river in Patna.
Slamming Narendra Modi for his charge of 'criminal negligence of security' at his rally, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday dubbed his Gujarat counterpart as an "expert in cultivation of falsehood" and said terrorists in a way helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in its "otherwise flop" rally.
The National Investigation Agency special court on Tuesday framed charges against 11 accused, all suspected to be members of banned Indian Mujahideen and Students Islamic Movement of India, for the serial blasts at Prime Minister (then Gujarat chief minister) Narendra Modi's 'Hunkar Rally' at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on October 27, 2013.
Modi accused opponents of trying to pit one section against the other while his government is working towards taking all people along
After a massive manhunt, the National Investigation Agency on Wednesday nabbed the elusive Students Islamic Movement of India operative Haider, who allegedly played a key role in the Patna blasts targeting Prime Minister elect Narendra Modi's rally last October.
Shatrughan Sinha won't attend, citing 'important personal engagements.' Will L K Advani be present? M I Khan reports on a swearing-in ceremony the likes of which Patna may not have seen before.
The stampede at Gandhi maidan in Patna added to India's notoriety for deaths due to such accidents, when sudden, uncontrollable crowds surge out of control Stampedes at temples and other religious places in India have claimed more than a thousand lives in the last 10 years in the country. Here is a look at some of the deadliest stampede to have happened in India.
'When the story of Elections 2019 is told by an independent writer, the BJP's role in lowering electoral standards will be etched in indelible ink,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.
The two leaders heaped praise upon each other for effectively implementing prohibition in their states, reports M I Khan from Patna.
Organising the logistics for a festival that attracts nearly 500,000 devotees is not easy.
The Rs 3-trillion West Coast or Nanar refinery has all the potential to become India's flagship petrochemicals project, with the planet's largest oil producer Saudi Aramco as its biggest shareholder. Yet the locals don't see the plant as a harbinger of better times.
Patna blasts' suspect Meher-e-Alam, who was detained by the National Investigation Agency from Darbhanga on Wednesday, has escaped from custody.
Investigations in the Patna serial blasts showed an Indian Mujahideen link with the Jharkand police claiming on Monday that one of the two arrested terrorists who was believed to be the mastermind belonged to the nascent "Ranchi module" of the banned terror outfit.
'Never before in Bengal had a single party been re-elected with two-thirds of the assembly,' notes Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien.
With more details of an Indian Mujahideen role emerging in the Patna blasts case, investigation agencies have found that alleged mastermind Tehsin Akhtar had access to 90 improvised explosive devices.
The Patna attack was just the beginning, the alleged SIMI terrorist told NIA agents. His organisation has resolved to attack Narendra Modi wherever possible.
Thousands of hands went up in the air to greet the Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi as he landed in the semi urban constituency of Aurangabad in Bihar after making the crowd to wait for two hours in the open on a hot sunny afternoon.
The Indian Mujahideen, who allegedly carried out the attack, enjoyed the support of local political leaders, suspect investigators. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Amid a political uproar over bomb blasts at Narendra Modi's rally venue in Patna, Congress on Monday appeared to suggest that his brand of politics was allegedly providing an opportunity to disruptive elements to engage in such activities.
'Only the prime minister can take the initiative in reaching out to his opponents. The fact that he has been reluctant to do so, leaving it to the Arun Jaitleys and Venkaiah Naidus to hold out the olive branch, has given the Opposition the chance of pointing to his aloofness,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi came under scathing attack from the Grand Secular Alliance on Sunday in poll-bound Bihar with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Congress President Sonia Gandhi accusing him of "insulting" the state and failing to deliver on any of his promises.
Rallies, an integral part of Bihar politics are now churning out catchy names like 'Khabardar', 'Hunkar' and 'Adhikar' to attract the masses.
Security is a worry but the Gujarat chief minister will continue is campaign ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
'The mobilisation is nothing but a political ploy -- a sort of a fixed match between Hindu and Muslim communal forces, towards polarisation, in a run-up to the next election,' argues Mohammad Sajjad.
'The animosity in the BJP against Swamy continued for a good more than thirty years.' 'It was only after herculean efforts by a reconstituted and more just RSS, that Swamy was finally inducted into the BJP in 2013.'
This is the fifth time that Nitish will be the chief minister of Bihar and this will be his third consecutive term.
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