An analysis of Nitish Kumar's tenure as Chief Minister of Bihar, highlighting his contributions to development and social justice alongside controversies and political shifts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has strongly criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) during an election rally in Birbhum, West Bengal, accusing the party of lawlessness, corruption, and enabling infiltration. He referenced the Bagtui carnage and alleged the TMC has failed to protect local jobs and resources.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, accusing them of lawlessness, corruption, and enabling illegal infiltration. He promised to initiate a special inquiry against facilitators of infiltration and to deport unauthorised entrants if the BJP comes to power in the state.
The previous Congress-NCP government had issued an ordinance to grant a 16 per cent quota to Marathas and five per cent to Muslims.
The Congress party experienced a significant decline in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, winning a mere 15 seats out of 227. Analysts attribute the poor performance to strategic missteps, infighting, and a failure to connect with voters amidst linguistic and religious polarization.
Multi-cornered contests, deep divisions within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, reflected in the Congress and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray fighting separately and lack of a robust plan among its rivals helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai polls as it looks poised to rule India's richest civic body for the first time.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that a 'systematic vote chori' method, evolved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission to 'kill Indian democracy', will be deployed in the Bihar assembly polls as well.
"I don't want a government job but want the culprits to be hanged to death."
Maharashtra Minister Chhagan Bhujbal opposes including Marathas in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota, citing limited reservation available for existing OBC communities and warning of potential protests if their share is reduced.
In a significant move, 130 Dalit families in West Bengal were finally allowed to enter the Gidheshwar Shiv Temple after being barred for nearly three centuries due to caste discrimination. The families, who are primarily cobblers and weavers, had faced social and economic exclusion for their attempts to worship at the temple. Local authorities intervened after multiple rounds of discussions with village elders, temple servants, and political leaders, leading to a resolution of the long-standing dispute.
'Our politics is transparent -- it's about ensuring farmers don't die by suicide, about ensuring agriculture remains viable, about ensuring food security for the nation.' 'If that's politics, then yes, we do politics.'
'When the BJP wanted the election to focus on 'ghuspathiya' and promises that look like pies in the sky, we forced them to talk about jobs, giving free 125 units of power, and addressing women's indebtedness.'
A case under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 364 (kidnapping) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered, the official said.
Experts say the state's economy is grappling with hidden debt, rising welfare costs, and lack of transparency.
The Maharashtra minister alleged that Muslim voters were convinced that Uddhav Thackeray had "forsaken" Hindutva ideologies and the ideals of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray which led to them coming together to help the Congress and Shiv Sena-UBT candidates.
Soon after Gandhi's press conference, the Election Commission said it will respond with full facts in writing.
Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party chief Ashish Shelar attacked the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi ahead of his upcoming visit to Maharashtra and sought an apology for his remarks on 'reservation ' and 'Veer Savarkar'.
Paswan was a minister under six different prime ministers, hardly out of government since he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Is Salman Khan trying to jump on the desh bhakti bandwagon that Akshay Kumar is making a career of?
Farmers from different parts of Uttar Pradesh demanding adequate compensation for their lands acquired by the government marched towards Delhi on Monday but were stopped at the Noida-Delhi border where they sat on a dharna.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has praised the RSS for its dedicated cadre and urged his party to create a similar base committed to progressive ideas. He attributed the NCP's recent electoral setbacks to complacency and a failure to communicate its work for the OBC community. Pawar also emphasized the need for social engineering to address caste tensions and announced that 50% of the tickets for upcoming local body elections will be given to new faces.
Thackeray said there was no certainty that people will vote for the ruling alliance even after schemes like the Ladki Bahin Yojana.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
The residence of Samajwadi Party (SP) Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman was attacked in Agra by alleged workers of the Karni Sena, days after his remarks in Parliament on Rana Sanga triggered a row. The attack comes as the latest instance of violence in India stemming from historical figures and caste-based tensions. The Karni Sena demanded an apology from Suman and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for "insulting" their hero, while Akhilesh Yadav criticized the Uttar Pradesh government for its claims of "zero tolerance" against crime.
Of the 288 seats in the state, BJP had won 105 in 2019 state polls, while the undivided NCP had bagged 54 seats.
Uddhav Thackeray, who played the bold gambit of taking on the ally Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019 and forged an unlikely alliance with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party, was on Saturday left struggling to make sense of his party's rout in the Maharashtra assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, will not be restored even if Congress stalwart and late PM Indira Gandhi comes down from heaven.
For Yogi Adityanath the successful management of the fair is a crucial part of building 'Brand UP' and making the state a $1 trillion economy.
Bihar's development is not uniformly sweeping over the state. There are less visible aspects of the state's society and polity is which this wave bypasses.
"The nakli Shiv Sena wants to bury me alive. They abuse me in such a way that it will be liked by their favourite vote bank," Modi said.
...'hum decide karenge kaun banega mukhyamantri. This decision is not to be taken in Mumbai.'
He also termed the draft notification issued by the state government providing Kunbi certificates to all Marathas as a mere 'eyewash', and said caste is determined by birth and not affidavits.
'If the Maha Vikas Aghadi thinks that they have won 30 (Lok Sabha) seats and that would translate to winning 180 assembly seats they would be living in a fool's paradise.'
The Kalaram temple, located in Panchavati area of Nashik, is dedicated to Lord Ram.
In the backdrop of suicide of a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad University, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Ramdas Athawale today demanded that members of the community be allowed to possess firearms given a "vertical rise" in incidents of "atrocities" against them.
Bhalerao was passing by on Thursday evening when the accused were celebrating the wedding of a man from a so-called upper caste community and some of them were carrying swords, the police official said.
'Party workers sit outside polling booths and they know everything that is happening.' 'Besides, as a voter when you push the EVM button to vote there is a paper slip that comes out showing you who you voted for.'
Bhujbal said he does not feel that there is a threat to the Maharashtra MVA government.
'When honest, wealthy people come forward to serve India, people should feel proud and welcome them.'
'His way of communication is different than the first yatra.' 'Maybe his anger and frustration stems from the fact that no one is asking hard questions to the government and he is trying to do that.'
