While about 8,000 people are in the long list of invitees, the select list features 506 A-listers, including prominent politicians, leading industrialists, top film stars, sportspersons, diplomats, judges and high priests.
Thakur's tenure as chief minister is best remembered for implementation of the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission, whereby quotas for backward classes were introduced in the state in 1978. This panel was the forerunner of the Mandal Commission. Both Mungeri Lal and B P Mandal were from Bihar, which has a long history of socialist struggles.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
The Babri mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by karsevaks on December 6, 1992.
The CBI court had on September 30, 2020 acquitted the accused including former deputy prime minister L K Advani in the case after which two Ayodhya residents -- Haji Mahboob and Syed Akhlaq -- moved a revision petition before the Allahabad high court.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined a plea by sacked IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt seeking the recusal of Justice M R Shah from hearing his petition to submit additional evidence to support his appeal in the Gujarat High Court against his conviction in a 1990 custodial death case.
In the 76 years since India gained independence, 53 recipients of the Bharat Ratna have been there. That's less than one every year, which is a healthy ratio given there is the sanctity of this gem of an award to preserve. But four recipients for the year were announced in a few days in addition to one announced earlier. That took the total number in 2024 to five in less than a month, the highest for any year, post-Independence, notes Shyam G Menon.
Mani Shankar Aiyar says the Congress party and not then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for unlocking the Babri Masjid gates and claimed that the "Bharatiya Janata Party-planted" Arun Nehru was behind it.
Salem had said his sentence could not exceed 25 years as per a solemn assurance given by India to Portugal for his extradition in 2002.
The Allahabad high court will hear Wednesday a plea against the acquittal of all 32 accused, including Bharatiya Janata Party veterans L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, in the Babri mosque demolition case.
The coming assembly and Lok Sabha elections -- the choice of candidates, the campaign strategies and the negotiations with other Opposition parties --0 represent the real test for Mallikarjun Kharge.
Ajit Pawar asked in his speech at his faction's meeting when would Sharad Pawar, who is 82 years old, "going to stop".
Terming the agitation for Ram temple the biggest since India's freedom movement, he said it was aimed at the outcome which the verdict has made possible.
According to trust sources, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat , Maharashtra Chief Minister Udhav Thackeray and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are also on the list of invitees.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
Why did Modi single out the Congress and its leaders for the most pugnacious verbal assault while sparing other regional adversaries? If he is trying to get some parties to break the Opposition ranks, it means that the BJP's present bravado is for effect. Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times, begins a new column for Rediff.com.
Even though the RSS buckled under pressure and let go Nitin Gadkari, it did not yield ground to L K Advani completely. The Sangh preferred to go with Rajnath Singh as the BJP president, rejecting Advani's first choice, Sushma Swaraj. More feuds are expected in the saffron joint family in the days to come. Poornima Joshi examines
"We have prepared a broad platform where we have assessed the top 50 judges of the country who would be considered for appointment to the Supreme Court of India. We have data on judgments and the quality of judgments. The idea is to make the process of appointment in the Supreme Court more transparent," the CJI said.
As it virtually shut the door on Narendra Modi, Janata Dal-United on Sunday indicated it would prefer Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani as National Democratic Alliance's prime ministerial candidate over the Gujarat chief minister.
Sources said that Shah was accompanied by a battery of government lawyers as he met Advani at the 92-year-old leader's residence in connection with the case.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel on Saturday created a flutter with his remark that the next government at the Centre will be formed under L K Advani's leadership, a statement that comes amid growing clamour in the party to project Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate.
As a judge of special Central Bureau of Investigation court, Yadav had on September 30, 2020 acquitted all the 32 accused, including BJP veterans LK Advani, M M Joshi, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh, in the case of demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
A day after senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani withdrew his resignation following the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief's call to him, the Sangh on Wednesday said that it is not interfering or managing the affairs of the right-wing party.
Congress on Tuesday took a dig at Janata Dal-United over its "difficulty" in continuing ties with National Democratic Aliance sans BJP veteran L K Advani, saying Nitish Kumar wants a treatment for the symptom of communalism but does not want to address its root cause.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Wednesday said its volunteers will "actively participate" in Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani's proposed yatra against corruption. "The Sangh has already asked its swayamsevaks (volunteers) to actively support all initiatives and actions against corruption. They had earlier extended support to Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare in their campaigns against corruption," RSS leader Ram Madhav told reporters.
74-year-old Singh, whose candidature was declared by NDA on July 16, filed his papers before Returning Officer T K Viswanathan, who is the Lok Sabha Secretary General.
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 Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday described as "unfortunate" and in "bad taste" remarks made by Congress leader Saif-ud-Din Soz against L K Advani.
Modi was severe in his criticism of the opposition amid the continuing logjam in Parliament and also sounded confident of the ruling dispensation retaining power at the Centre for a third term after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq Ahmad Karim said on Tuesday his article 'Pakistan: Stalking Armageddon?', which was quoted by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on his blog, was written by him in his 'personal capacity'post-retirement and does not represent the views of his government.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party over its attempt to reach out to the minorities, questioning whether it will take action against Narendra Modi for the Gujarat riots or L K Advani will accept his "crime" in the Babari Mosque demolition.
Training his guns on L K Advani, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Thursday alleged that the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and his party had stoked communal hatred and were responsible for "encouraging terrorism" in the country.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
Politicians bid farewell to Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu as India's vice-president at the G M C Balayogi auditorium in the Parliament house complex on Monday, August 8, 2022, evening.
Will BJP campaigners start using the term 'Ram Rajya' to refer to the nation under Modi's rule, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Staying awake and staying dry were among the major challenges faced by the crowd at BJP leader L K Advani's rally in Madurai, discovered A Ganesh Nadar
Chef par excellence Satish Arora recalls his days working as a chef to prime ministers to Chandrima Pal.
'We are very close to become a theocratic State where Hinduism is the official religion of the government.'
Police suspect that four youths planed a bomb on the LK Advani's yatra route in Madurai. The idea was just to create a scare and not attack the Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch, they say ruling out the hand of extremists. Vicky Nanjappa reports
