'This Budget has a one-year agenda, which you can call the sprint, and the marathon is towards Viksit Bharat.'
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Manipur on September 13, interacting with internally displaced people and unveiling development projects worth Rs 8,500 crore. This marks his first visit since ethnic violence broke out in the state two years ago.
The new Ministers of State sworn in by President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in the Rashtrapati Bhavan include Virendra Kumar, Anant Kumar Hegde and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, former IAS officers Alphons Kannanthanam and R K Singh, former diplomat Hardeep Puri and ex-Mumbai police chief Satyapal Singh. Two other new faces are Ashwini Kumar Choubey, a member of the Lok Sabha from Bihar, and Shiv Pratap Shukla from Uttar Pradesh.
'Mob fury has become very common these days. And these attacks are all planned very well.' 'In all these attacks, you see that they have a very clear cut plan to make the victims as the oppressors and the guilty.' 'The attackers escape and they face no consequences as they have the backing of some political leaders.'
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar clarified that there was no third-party intervention in the ceasefire with Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. He asserted that halting the operation was not linked to trade and refuted claims of mediation by US President Donald Trump.
BJP sources said the formal process to elect current party President J P Nadda's successor will begin in mid-January, following Makar Sankranti, with Nitin Nabin expected to be the frontrunner to file his nomination.
In a measured but scathing attack, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of committing a 'big sin' by creating a controversy over Vande Mataram and claimed that the government pushed for a debate on the national song as the West Bengal assembly polls were approaching.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu held talks focusing on trade, defence, and infrastructure cooperation, signaling a turnaround in relations after a period of strain.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's energy, dynamism and willingness to engage remains a 'prime asset' for India on the global stage but deserves greater backing, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Monday, in remarks that are likely to irk his party and widen the growing cracks in his ties with its leadership.
The Maharashtra municipal elections showed a troubling shift, where votes were traded for cash, convictions no longer mattered, and ideology became an afterthought, observes Ramesh Menon.
The new US national security strategy signals a retreat from global dominance while reaffirming continuity in India's role in Indo-Pacific security and Quad cooperation, points out former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai announced that North Bastar and Abujhmad regions are now free of Naxal violence, with the fight against Naxalism in South Bastar reaching a decisive phase. He attributes this success to trust-building measures and the surrender of Naxal cadres.
'This is not just about Modi saying it, every Indian should say this -- if we want India to become the third-largest economy, every political party and every leader, keeping aside their hesitations, must work in the nation's interest and awaken the spirit of Swadeshi among the people'
The BJP chief exuded confidence that the party would retain power at the Centre in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with more strength.
Modi campaigned on the issue of national security, which cannot be ensured without a strong economy.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that raising the FDI limit to 100 per cent in the insurance sector will help attract more capital, improve competition and increase insurance penetration by making policies more affordable.
'Defaulters like Mallya can't be offloaded, but activists like me are. And that too for raising questions.' 'Today, what is the meaning of development?' 'Take over land, water and forest from the Adivasis and hand it over to corporates.' 'I am surprised how a minister who is supposed to protect the forests and the environment is happy reaching out to investors for more and more clearances.'
'The country that came into existence after Partition lives on hatred for India. It only wants to harm Bharat. However, India's goals are to remove poverty, bring about economic development and become a developed nation'
Congress veteran and former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil passed away at 90. He served as Union Home Minister and held several key posts during his long political career.
When the country has been at war, the Opposition has buried its differences with the government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The Indian government has officially classified the car explosion outside the Red Fort as a terrorist incident, vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice swiftly. The Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has reaffirmed its zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism and expressed condolences for the victims.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar of "collapsing" India's foreign policy and questioned the government's handling of the recent tensions with Pakistan, particularly the US President Donald Trump's role as a mediator. Gandhi's remarks come amidst a war of words between the Congress and the ruling BJP over their leaders' statements on the Indo-Pak conflict.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India will never compromise the interests of its farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers, asserting that he would be ready to pay any price.
The Global Times, a prominent state-run Chinese media outlet, published an article titled "China and India are cooperation partners, not rivals: Xi," highlighting President Xi Jinping's remarks about the bilateral meeting, saying, "as long as the two countries stick to this overarching direction, China-India relations can sustain steady and long-term growth."
Gandhi urged the prime minister to speak out "clearly, boldly and forthrightly" on behalf of the legacy that India has long represented.
'The writing is on the wall for both Shinde and Ajit Pawar.'
Rahul Gandhi slammed the Modi government, accusing it of being against farmers, labourers, students and the poor.
The lawmakers slammed opposition leaders over their remarks on the development, alleging that they were "happy" with the US government's move when "everyone" should be standing together in such a situation.
The Haryana Cabinet has decided to offer wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat benefits equivalent to those of an Olympic silver medallist under the state's sports policy.
'If a common man wants to buy an air purifier for Rs 10,000, then he will have to shell out Rs 11,800 with 18 percent GST.' 'If he is charged GST at 5 percent the same air purifier will cost Rs 10,500.' 'This saves a one time amount of Rs 1,300 -- and that too just to breathe clean air.'
Despite criticism of a lack of transparency and communication from the Modi-led government, BJP leaders point to "good beginnings" on several fronts to defend its performance. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports.
Perhaps because the Modi government had some differences of opinion with two of the economist governors (one of whom was appointed by the Manmohan Singh government), there is a view that its political leadership prefers a civil servant to head the RBI, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday asked India Inc to take advantage of the policies and reforms undertaken by the government and no longer hesitate to invest more and expand capacities. Sitharaman also asked the industry to partner with the government for skilling the youth and also to engage with the government throughout the year, and not just before the Budget.
In 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor, a multi-domain combat mission against Pakistan in response to cross-border terrorism. The operation involved precision strikes, military retaliation, and diplomatic measures, marking a significant shift in India's security policy.
If Xi Jinping can establish control over the PLA Ground Force, relations between India and China will settle down to an even keel. The next few weeks will show whether Xi has finally succeeded in gaining control over the PLA Ground Force. That could bring about the substantive shift in India-China relations that both our leaders have been working for, observes Ambassador Prabhat Shukla.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
'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.
By threatening to punish India with high tariff, Trump is actually planting a tantalising thought in the Indian mind that the Modi government should suitably 'incentivise' him, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
BJP strategists are missing something somewhere, and they have not acknowledged it, to be able to repair it in good time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
