The Emergency greatly influenced the RSS' makeover from a fringe force in the Indian political imagination to one that could have its own man sworn in as prime minister in two decades' time. A riveting excerpt from Christophe Jaffrelot and Pratinav Anil's India's First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977.
In an apparent message to the G23, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said she is a full-time, hands-on party president and there is no need for leaders to speak to her through the media.
On a day of high political drama when the ruling coalition of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered serious defections, the election commission on Friday set January 8, 2015 as the date for a snap presidential election.
'The voters of Maharashtra have taught a lesson to Modi's arrogance.'
'He will consolidate the Russian hold over the Eastern Russian majority provinces in Ukraine and quickly withdraw from the rest of Ukraine.' 'At all costs, the Russians should avoid attacking and capturing urban areas, else they risk getting into a quagmire,' cautions Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In line with exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Uttar Pradesh, after one hour of counting.
In a blow to the YSR Congress, one of its senior MPs on Sunday joined rival Telugu Desam Party which is set to form the government in Andhra Pradesh, while speculation was rife that another party MP may follow suit.
'Her tussle is a different ballgame from what it was when Farooq Abdullah and Rajiv Gandhi were the main players at the two ends of the power game.' 'The shadow of the party in power in New Delhi over J&K affairs in 1987 was not as menacing as it is in 2018,' points out Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the doyen of Kashmir commentators.
Governments in most of the world saw their approval ratings dip as they struggled to contain the raging virus, which hit economy hard everywhere, but Indian politics followed a different script, with the outgoing year marking further shrinking of a rudderless Congress while the ruling BJP soared riding on Modi's enduring appeal.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
Without doubt, the BJP is miles ahead in marshalling digital tools for electioneering better than any other party, observes Virendra Kapoor.
The high court dismissed the petition of Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification and the Supreme Court refusing to give any relief to them.
Nandigram, 126 km south of Kolkata, is Suvendu Adhikari's bastion, where he has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes or quit politics.
The speaker told Kumaraswamy that "this (SIT) should not lead to a witch-hunt. The probe should be only to establish the truth."
Ahead of the July 19 presidential election, the Election Commission has made it clear that political parties cannot issue any direction or whip to members to vote or not as it would tantamount to an offence of undue influence
Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists seven states where the Grand Old Party suffered a severe setback.
'People say my personality doesn't have sharp edges, but politics doesn't have to be about pulling down your opponents or bad mouthing them.'
The 'AIADMK symbol issue' may be a fit case for the courts and the legislature to provide for a new law for application in similar fluid, dynamic political situations, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Contradicting the emerging narrative, Indian-Americans remain committed to the Democratic Party. Nearly three-quarters of registered Indian-American voters intend to support Joe Biden this Fall, compared to just 22 per cent for Donald Trump," it said.
If Uddhav Thackeray is fazed by the BJP's attempts to build a narrative against his government in order to bring it down, he is not showing it. He has fought against all odds to remain in the CM's chair and faced difficulties with a smile, reports Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
Rahul Gandhi, in turn, thanked all the leaders for reposing faith in him and said he would apply his mind on their request of becoming the Congress president, the sources said.
The politics of hate does not pay. The people are too sensible to fall for such a ruse, says Amulya Ganguli.
Shi explained that she and a group of researchers obtained samples of coronavirus on December 30 last year and performed high-throughput sequencing of the samples and the isolation of pathogens.
'What we see here is puppetry. The string is with the BJP.' 'All the puppets here are dancing to the direction the BJP pulls the strings.'
Ahead of the second phase of polls in the state, Banerjee's letter, which was released by the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday, seeks to drum up support from opposition leaders by stating how non-BJP states have suffered due to the saffron party led Centre's actions.
Noting that the Trinamool Congress which boasts of the slogan 'Maa Mati Mansuh' (Mother, Land and people) actually indulges in extortion, corruption and appeasement, Shah exuded confidence of forming the next government in the state and take it to the path of development.
'The BJP leaders will go crazy if they are thrown out of power. They will lose their mental balance'
The Congress party just lost power in Arunachal Pradesh once again!
For now, the BJP's strategy for Khushbu seems to be one of denial -- denying the rival Congress in the state and also at the national-level a Muslim voice acceptable to Hindu audiences and TV news-watchers. This is much less than the induction of DMK veterans like Duraiswamy and Selvam, who still have a greater chances of winning assembly seats,, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Unless the merger is reversed, the Congress is set to lose its Opposition Party status in the state assembly.
Reacting to the charge by Banerjee, the Congress held her responsible for the growth of RSS in the state.
Facing a truncated strength caused by the en masse resignation of 16 ruling coalition MLAs, Kumaraswamy moved a one-line motion, saying the House expressed confidence in the 14-month old ministry headed by him.
Sharad Pawar has left the door open for his nephew's return by not suspending him from the party for his rebellion.
Yemen's embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said he was willing to transfer power "to the people" but feared a civil war in the absence of political dialogue, as key ally United States voiced concern that his fall would pose "a real problem" for counter-terrorism efforts.
With Aam Aadmi Party crying foul on imposition of President's rule in Delhi, the Supreme Court on Friday asked its political rivals, BJP and Congress, to clarify their position on keeping the Assembly under suspended animation for a year.
Alleging that Prasada had placed "personal ambition" over everything else, Moily said the Uttar Pradesh leader's ideological commitment was suspect from the beginning and the party winning zero seats in West Bengal under his charge showed that he was incompetent.
The Taliban is highly pragmatic and would regard it wasteful to resume military offensive to capture Panjshir. The Taliban's preference, historically, has been to keep the military option as the last resort, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
'Like in cricket, M S Dhoni was the captain and Virat Kohli played under him.' 'Then Dhoni played under Kohli.' 'Now imagine, having a second switch.' 'That is the analogy here, and I find no other example in Indian politics, or even world politics.'
'The power of love is the greatest power in the world.' 'Add a smile and you can conquer the world,' Bengali actor June Maliah, the Trinamool Congress's candidate for the Medinipur constituency, tells Swarupa Dutt/Rediff.com.
