By getting Jagdeep Dhankhar to resign at short notice, Narendra Modi has sent a message to his own ideological clan that he brooks no one trying to get too big for their boots, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Moderate turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling across five assembly constituencies across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala where bypolls are underway on Thursday.
'It is something like traditional Indian families.' 'The family might be run by younger people, but if the patriarch says that you should consider someone for some task, it is very difficult for the others to ignore it.'
Modhwadia emphasised that he was not joining the BJP due to any coercion or allurement as claimed by the Congress.
'The quality of justice is directly linked to the quality of judges -- if that suffers, justice delivery suffers.'
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday asked what was the need to "impose" Hindi on students and appealed to schools in Maharashtra to foil the government's "hidden agenda to deliberately create a language divide".
One must wonder whether Mr Modi's efforts to wine and dine the Big Two of today's world were seen as a sign of weakness rather than a proffered arm of friendship, points out R Jagannathan.
The Congress's second AICC session in Gujarat post-Independence is being held on the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's party presidency and the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
'They contest to ensure they win the election.'
Dropping references to the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the killing of Muslims in Gujarat riots and Hindutva, and tweaking the reference to Manipur's merger with India are among the latest set of revisions made public by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in its textbooks.
'The people of Gujarat are more religious than people of other states, this gives the BJP an advantage.'
'Often people outside paint a wrong picture of us of Kashmiris. We are not like that. We are cool and bindaas,' said the lady, a teacher, caressing my cheeks in the pressing crowds.
'They will cover up the failures of all the others.'
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Amid this unrest came the verdict of the Allahabad high court on June 12, 1975 that found Gandhi guilty over discrepancies in the electoral campaign, which led to the Emergency on the night of June 25.
'Operation Sindoor is still ongoing. The Prime Minister himself said that blood and water cannot flow together, that talks and terrorism cannot go together. So how can we have a cricket match with a country that indulges in terrorism?'
Russian oil giant PJSC Rosneft Oil Company is in early talks with Reliance Industries for sale of its 49.13 per cent stake in Nayara Energy, which operates a 20-million tonnes-a-year oil refinery and 6,750 petrol pumps in India, sources said. Reliance has held preliminary talks for acquisition of Nayara, which will help it overtake state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to become India's No.1 oil refiner as well as give a meaningful presence in the fuel marketing space.
'It has the potential to sow seeds of furthering discord when the direction of the discourse is aimed at propagating the perceived supremacy of 'cultural nationalism' from a distant past over the prevailing dominance of 'Constitutional nationalism',' argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
'If you align your ambition with India's rise, the peak of your careers will unfold alongside the peak of India's power.'
Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, who died in a tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday, joined the list of several top Indian politicians and prominent personalities who lost their lives in aviation accidents.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Congress-AAP alliance this time aims to give a tough fight and stop the division of anti-BJP votes.
'It showed me that this man had courage. He makes his own decisions, but he also trusted me enough in that moment to walk with me into the crowd,' Modi tells Lex Fridman on his podcast.
The real heroes of Operation Sindoor were not the armed forces or political leadership, but the ordinary citizens of India who refused to fall into the trap of communal provocation, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday that indigenously developed BrahMos missiles destroyed Pakistani air bases while its air defence system, borrowed from China, remained unused, during Operation Sindoor, which exposed its lies on terrorism to the world.
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
The project was allegedly awarded to contractors linked with AAP.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the 2008 Mumbai terror attack marked a turning point in relations with Pakistan when Indians collectively felt that such behaviour from a neighbouring country could no longer be tolerated. Speaking at Charotar University of Science and Technology, Jaishankar acknowledged India's transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade, while Pakistan has remained unchanged, continuing with what he termed as its "bad habits."
Whether AAP bounces back or fades into political oblivion will depend on its strategy in the coming months.
'It is not because of any threats or pressure by anyone.'
Many states are realising that hosting mega events puts the spotlight on them and raises their profile.
Empuraan, with its gimmicky violence and vigilante posturing, is not out to widen your perspective or open up history. All it wants to do is pick your pockets, observes Sreehari Nair.
Surveys suggest that the AAP would win 40 seats in the 182-member assembly if elections are held tomorrow.
Pakistan claims it was a mosque and an educational complex that were hit in the strikes at Muridke, located at about 40 km from Lahore.
Shakti Dubey has topped the civil services examination 2024, with Harshita Goyal and Dongre Archit Parag getting the second and third ranks, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced on Tuesday. The top five successful candidates comprise three women and two men. The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- by the UPSC to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. A total of 1,009 candidates -- 725 men and 284 women -- have been recommended by the UPSC for appointment to various services.
Within minutes of Gohil's announcement of the Congress' action, Der called a press conference at his residence, saying he was not aware when he was suspended by the party and announced he will join the BJP at its state headquarters 'Kamalam' in Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
In more than one way, it's a setback for the DMK and Chief Minister Stalin in political terms. The electoral fall-out, if any, will have to wait until the next summer, only when assembly elections are due in the state, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Congress leader Udit Raj criticized party colleague Shashi Tharoor for his reported remarks that India breached the Line of Control (LoC) for the first time during the 2016 surgical strike on a terror base, saying he should be declared a "super spokesperson of the BJP". Raj argued that India had crossed the LoC in 1965 and 1971, and that the UPA government had also conducted surgical strikes. Tharoor had reportedly said that India breaching the LoC to conduct a surgical strike was "something we had not done before". This is not the first time Raj has criticized Tharoor for his comments on India-Pakistan relations. Last month, Raj had hit out at Tharoor for his reported "no country has 100-per cent foolproof intelligence" remarks, questioning how Tharoor could be giving the BJP a "clean chit" on the Pahalgam terror attack. Tharoor had hit back at Raj, saying the latter is a former BJP MP and "is better qualified to understand who speaks for the BJP".
