'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
If Indira Gandhi hadn't targeted the RSS, Narendra Modi wouldn't be sitting pretty with his second majority and looking at a third, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
'Even the President does not have the power to overrule the ECI.'
No confidence motions have been moved in the Lok Sabha 27 times in the past, and all of them have either been defeated or remained inconclusive, data compiled by a think tank shows.
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.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha will meet again on Tuesday afternoon in the new Parliament building, with Speaker of the Lower House Om Birla urging the members to abstain from 'organised disruptions' and 'carrying placards' in the new chamber.
They said the proposal to bring a motion was mooted at the meeting of party MPs this morning and Congress leaders are now talking to other party leaders over it.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the country needs a strong government but not of 'one party with brute majority', and batted for a coalition rule.
While Narendra Modi spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor -- 275 days versus Dr Singh's 306 - he has travelled more widely than any other Indian PM.
Ram Bahadur Rai, a veteran journalist and editor of Hindi magazine Yathawat, shares inside information on then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao's plan to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
'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.
The Bill allows stopping of transmission and intercepting messages in case of public emergency, in the interest of the public, to prevent incitement for committing offence.
BJP leaders hit back at the DMK and asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi if he agreed with the insulting remarks of its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partner against the north Indians.
While Modi has spent fewer days abroad than his predecessor (270 days versus Dr Singh's 306), he has travelled more extensively and actively than any other Indian PM.
Wouldn't it be better to join the celebrations with the vast Hindu majority while at the same time criticising Mr Modi/BJP/RSS for politicising it? notes Shekhar Gupta.
Teen Murti Bhavan served as the official residence of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The party said it was 'an inexcusable slip-up', for which responsibility was being fixed and action would be taken.
'Rahul Gandhi should have prevented Nitish Kumar from going.' 'He must pacify Mamata Banerjee if he has a cause of Mohabbat Ki Dukaan.' 'He should bring this Mohabbat Ki Dukaan on the political canvas.'
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
In the three decades since reservation of seats for women in panchayati raj institutions was introduced, the country saw women dismantling gender barriers to take the lead in the political field at the grassroots level and excel in it.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday sought to give credit to his party for the women's reservation bill but Home Minister Amit Shah refuted his claim, saying that the legislation brought by the Manmohan Singh government had lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
Chef par excellence Satish Arora recalls his days working as a chef to prime ministers to Chandrima Pal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a joint session of the US Congress on June 22 during his official state visit to the country, top congressional leaders announced on Friday.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said the media needs to remain vigilant and flag shortcomings of the government with a view to improve the effectiveness of governance.
Initiating the debate from the opposition's side in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said, "I stand here in support of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam."
Very few know of his scintillating mind, the outpouring of fresh ideas, the attention to detail in every endeavour, the extraordinary administrative and organisational skills, and a limitless stamina and energy with which he pursues every interest and commitment, notes Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad.
In 1999, Sharad Pawar, along with P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar were expelled from Congress. The same year, Pawar founded the NCP.
Pawar, who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.
What the INDIA alliance needs is neither a counter to Modi's tall personality and undiminished charisma nor a counter-narrative to his Hindutva agenda, now centred on the Ayodhya temple consecration on January 22, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
In switching over, Nitish has sent out a message that if he could not now become the NDA's PM, then he would need to stay on as CM at the very least, which a third term for Modi would not let him have, N Sathiya Moorthy points out.
After several senior Congress leaders accompanied Gandhi when he filed the appeal in the sessions court, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi asked if it was a display of his arrogance, an attempt to pressure the judiciary or the 'familiar tactic' of browbeating probe agencies.
'In 1984, Pyongyang just had one hotel and one could not move out without an official escort.' 'India was the only country with an embassy, apart from the socialist countries.'
'Politics is a game of public perception and my father felt that by his long disappearances, Rahul Gandhi was losing the battle of perception.'
Other ministers who have presented five straight annual financial statements include Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Manmohan Singh and Morarji Desai.
'I wonder how people who come to power through democratic means turn out this way.' 'But people of India are strong, and those who think they can hoodwink people, are mistaken.' 'You can fool some people for some time, but not all people, all the time.'
'It is not just about numbers. Sometimes coalitions and alliances have symbolic value.'
Salute the brave soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice defending the motherland and whose courage was acknowledged by a grateful nation at the Defence Investiture Ceremony.
As the 2019 Lok Sabha election approaches, some rare photographs from the 1996 election campaign, which saw a Bharatiya Janata Party prime minister for the first time in India's history, albeit only for 13 days.
The Congress would also take inspiration from history as it was from Karnataka that an embattled Indira Gandhi had revived her dwindling political future by winning a Lok Sabha bypoll from Chikmagalur.
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